Breeding back-turkeys

[BubAnna Angus]

Do I need to find a new tom each year if I keep his offspring?

 

[onthespot]

Not if the offspring are "normal" whatever that means to you.
Some people have posted about keeping very small flocks, just a few replacements every year, and not adding new blood for over thirty years. If your original stock is problem free, the offspring will be too. The only way to know is to try. You may want to grow out an extra tom from another line, just in case you find out you have a problem and need to switch toms early in the season. Ask me how I know....

X2

 

[Tunastopper]

Personaly I do not inbreed. My stock came from different lines.

Porter has a nice article on inbreeding and line breeding. http://www.porterturkeys.com/inbreedinglinebreeding.htm

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Personaly I do not inbreed. My stock came from different lines.

Many people don't understand breeding methods and there are many different methods that you can use. If you have closed flock of nice SQ birds then you risk your entire breeding program by bringing in "new blood". if you just pen breed and bring in new blood every year you are just multiping poultry not breeding.

Steve​

 

[Tunastopper]

What?

 

[Tunastopper]

Quote:
Many people don't understand breeding methods and there are many different methods that you can use. If you have closed flock of nice SQ birds then you risk your entire breeding program by bringing in "new blood". if you just pen breed and bring in new blood every year you are just multiping poultry not breeding.

Steve

Are you saying I don't know about breeding because I don't breed father to daughter? I find it strange for you to say this without even knowing me. I do understand breeding and found my way works best for me. I have found if you breed father to daughter most of the turkeys are smaller than the parents and you have lots of culling. That is not my goal. I find you have to look at many things that you want to improve in your turkeys and only breed the best to the best. Hybrid vigor makes healthier, more fertile and bigger offspring with little culling. That works for me. I searched all over the country for top breeding stock and I am happy with my results. For your information I do not bring in new blood every year. I have a closed ranch.

 

[Frosty]

I don't think Steve meant that as a personal attack... I could be wrong but I took it to mean that when you are breeding for certain traits, you do have to cull a lot to weed out what doesn't fit your criteria but over time you have to cull less. When you bring in new blood, you are back to square one with a bunch of unknown traits that could show up.

I have a plan to cross BB turkeys with heritage to try for something that can self breed breed but have more meat. I may run two lines and cross White Hollands with BBW hens, and another crossing BBB hens to a Regal Red tom to see if I could get a semi BB Regal (while also keeping some RR pure). Once I get them where I want them, I think bringing in fresh blood would mess things up.

I really wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the gamebirds and waterfowl in the wild are inbred or linebred, just Mother Nature does the culling.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

Exactly Frosty, when you go outside of your closed flock you just don't know how it will effect your flock. Case and point that comes to my mind is NYREDS here on BYC, a very knoweldgeable breeder and APA judge. He has a closed flock of RIR bantams for something like 20+ years. The only to accomplish that is a good solid breeding program.

Steve

 

[Tunastopper]

It sure seemed like a attack to me.

 

[Frosty]

You said yourself that you don't bring in new blood every year, so I guess I don't understand? If you did base your program on bringing in new blood every year, you could buy some really nice looking birds but without knowing the background, you could also bring in traits that you don't like. In that case, you are hatching poults with no idea of what you will get.

I wouldn't argue with anybody that wants to do that, just the results are less predictable. I bought a female Tri-color Sheltie pup on line. Her mom did good at the shows but they quit showing her because she (the dog) didn't like it. The father did very well, apparently liked the show scene, and is an international champion. The pup grew up, is about an inch taller than standards call for, and is heavier set than any Sheltie I have ever seen. Most folks that see her think she is a Border Collie. Just because the parents are perfect, doesn't mean that the offspring will be.