Inbreeding?

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Happy Chooks

Happy Chooks

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Jul 9, 2009
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I am planning on getting some BA eggs to hatch, and I'd like to keep 1 rooster from the batch. I'd also like some BA hens, but would I need to rehome the girls to keep from inbreeding? (assuming that since they are from the same hatchery, they are possibly related)
 
Good question. I have always wondered how those who are breeding avoid this as well. I will be watching the thread.
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Are you talking about a large hatchery, like Ideal? It is very unlikely they will be related, if so.
 
I believe the technical term for intentional inbreeding in livestock and plants is called line breeding. It's pretty much the reason that there are so many different kinds of breeds with different traits. Aggressive line breeding can result in unhealthy birds over time, but considering livestock has been inbred for thousands of years I don't think there is much risk at all. It happens even in wild animals all the time and is a part of evolution. Plus, the odds of a batch of eggs obtained from a breeder or a hatchery being closely related are infinitesimal in my opinion.
 
I was looking at Gabbard Hatching, just because I can choose the breeds I want (rather than a mix).

I'm going to look at Ideal too. Thanks.
 
Quote:
Forgive my cluelessness........

So you mean 7th and 8th generation?

I would only intend on breeding the original parents, not father to offspring. But I am concerned that an extra egg from offspring could accidentally get in the clutch for hatching.
 
Quote:
Forgive my cluelessness........

So you mean 7th and 8th generation?

I would only intend on breeding the original parents, not father to offspring. But I am concerned that an extra egg from offspring could accidentally get in the clutch for hatching.

You have male A and female B
the offspring from them would be male AB and female BA - a 50% mix or 1/2
if you breed them back to the parents you would get ABB and BAA - 75% mix or 3/4
keep going and you get 7/8, 15/16, 31/32.
Clear as mud right?
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There is more to it but that is the jist of it.

So you can go 4 generations with ease - if you start with more pairs of unrelated birds at the beginning your "family tree" is much bigger and you can go many years without problems

Linebreeding is a form of inbreeding, linebreeding concentrates gentic traits in a controled way. It will allow you to keep a closed flock.

Some people just pen breed - which is uncontroled mating and every so many years just add new blood to the mix to keep it going. It works just fine for a barnyard flock of birds, if you are trying to breed to a goal it won't work.


In your case you will be fine, assuming your birds are unrelated from the start, and even if an egg gets mixed in here and there you won't have any problems for years. Your only problem I could see is after 3 or 4 years you will want to replace your main breeders, as they get older the egg production and fertility will drop. Hope that helps explain it better?

Steve in NC
 
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It depends a lot also on a) what stock you start with (whether they've been well-selected to cull out individuals carrying genes for defects and problem traits, or whether they are just sort of run-of-the-mill hatchery products) and b) whether you yourself cull heavily to remove individuals with problems *and individuals who PRODUCE offspring with problems*. The more editorial control has been exercised in the past on your lines, and the more you yourself do, the longer it will be (on average) before you run into inbreeding problems.

Usually if you DO need to bring in fresh blood, you would get rid of the ROOSTER and bring in a new one, rather than swapping hens around. Because only one new bird is required (per breeding pen) if it's the male, whereas you otherwise have to swap out all or many of your females.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat
 

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