Inbreeding quail

[silentrunning]

Does it degrade the quality of the quail if they are inbred? I want to get some more females from the same stock as the roos that I now have and their is a good chance they will have some of the same bloodlines. This is my dumb question for today.

Doug

 

[monarc23]

Hi Doug,

I look at it like this.... if you buy from the same breeder, that breeder has already (in most cases) bought from another breeder that was already inbreeding his quail and so on and so forth... so yes I do believe after a period of time we could see very low hatch rates, deformed chicks, or low fertility in birds just because of this fact. That is why if I were you i'd get the hens from the same stock you'd like but if you're able to talk to the breeder you buy from... ask them if they replenish their stock everynow and then with birds from unrelated (or far off related) lines. If you can't ask them, just to be safe it may be great to bring in maybe a roo from someone elses line or just simply get yourself some chicks or hatching eggs from someone else (and if you want to dive in deeper...as THEM where they got theirs from and as long as it's not from the same person you got yours from i'd say you're safe to cross them.

I have been inbreeding some intentionally here to get the colors I want, but its' already planned ----and actually just waiting for the new blood to start mating--before I have new blood in most of my lines.

I grouped all my pens up so that theres always atleast a few birds that aren't from the same lines as the majority...and I will continue to add every now and then a few unrelated birds and swap birds for other pens every now and then to keep the "hybrid viggor" going (it's not really hybrid vigor but it's not a copy of a copy of a copy ...*which gets faded over time*).

kay im done making no sense now

LOL

 

[silentrunning]

Thanks Monarc. I have two reasons for asking this. I have a beautiful jumbo roo that is worth keeping and breeding. The lady I got him from has two jumbo females that I would like to get and pair with him. Based on your answer, I think I will go ahead and get them. Second reason is that in my first hatch I am finding some of the birds have very unusual markings - one is almost all white. I would like to try to continue this pattern if possible. My hatch rate has been near 100 percent so far with the only failure being the first 2 eggs out of a young hen. I'm afraid that my wife and I are starting to enjoy this quail thing way too much.

Doug

 

[saddina]

Keep some quick records on things like % hatch out, chick mortality, # of eggs laid, etc. (excel will happily graph this out for you). If you notice a decline in your flock, it may be time to bring in fresh DNA.