In-breeding

[tyawelch]

How much do I have to worry about in-breeding when it comes to chickens. I have two roosters, a Barred Plymouth Rock (BPR) and a RIR. I have four BPR hens that are probably sisters to the BPR rooster since they came from the same store, and thus hatchery(?).
I have two RIR hens that are possibly sisters of my RIR rooster. Since we live on an island and only 1 local store gets all the chicks we buy from two regional hatcheries, you see my concern. We had two hens go broody and I have kept 5 of the hens from that, so 5 hens that are definitily offspring of my two roosters. I have them segregated, but my wife thinks i should integrate the 5 hens into the main flock, but I am concerned about further inbreeding if my two broodies raise future clutches from some of these chickens that are daughters of my roosters. Am i justified. Is inbreeding a problem?

 

[Fred's Hens]

Eventually, perhaps, but you have some genetic diversity there to start with. Of course, you can keep clean lines of your Rocks and clean lines of your RIR.
But you also have the "makings" of Black Sex Link there as well.

I wouldn't worry too much for at least 3 generations.

 

[sourland]

Given the thousands of chicks that hatcheries produce and the numbers of breeders needed to produce that many eggs the chances of your chickens being related is slim to none. That being said, inbreeding in chickens is not a problem unless carried to extremes. I once had anfriend who had an inbred line of white crested black Polish derived from a single pair. He went at least 30 generations with this line. Yes, there were fertility and lack of vigor problems, but resultant birds were truly beautiful specimens.

 

[tyawelch]

the makings of black sex links?

 

[Gypsy07]

RIR Rooster and Barred Rock hen will give you chicks that are sexable as day olds. Pullets will be one colour and roos will be another. I can't remember what the different fluff colours are right now. The pullets grow up to be mostly black which I think is maybe why they're called black sex links.

 

[AnimalFriend<3]

The black sex-link males will have white dots on their heads and the females will be black. (Really good laying hens!)

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Quote:
Ya'll ever think about lettin' some limbs grow on a few of the family trees?