Question about breeding from a very small group of birds

Just like the question says...

If you only have a very small number of birds, say a trio, how do you go about expanding your flock while being careful not to inbreed too closely? I know breeding siblings together is best avoided, so presumably you would hatch a bunch of offspring, then separate them into two groups, mating the original mothers to a son and the original father to the daughters. But where would you go from there? Would you try to keep those two groups separate, or would you breed the offspring from them to each other?

Or would you separate the two females right at the start and hatch eggs from them separately, so you would know for sure which hen was the mother of which chicks, therefore making it possible to maintain greater genetic diversity with future matings?

I imagine there must be more than one way of doing this. Any and all answers/explanations would be appreciated. With family tree type diagrams if necessary!

I would hatch a bunch of eggs. Keep all the females, roast all the males, and buy myself a different (and very high quality) rooster to put with all those daughters.

The daughters of the second rooster would go back to the original rooster.

How many chickens do you need? If you hatch every egg of those 2 original hens you will end up with hundreds of chicks and perhaps as many as 300 new hens. Unless you are going into commercial production, you have enough birds to cull hard and to be very selective.

If I wanted to start with just a trio, I would pay the money to buy the very best trio I could find. I sure wouldn't want to go to all the work of building a flock based on hatchery quality.

This info is great, thanks

I got my start with most breeds in only a trio. The way Ive done it is to hatch from the trio, keep the best daughters and the best son. Mate the son with the hens and the daughters to the father. Just keep switching out birds every year and you'll be set.

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This rolling mating system is a basic traditional system used for ages (with variations). I do like the addition that Oregon Blue gave you though: an unrelated excellent cock the second year.

This is another option though a bit more difficult to follow, but before I give it: do you know how closely related the original trio is? That would help.

2nd Option

Take the two hens a band them different colors (let's say) Red and Blue.

Mate the original cock to the Red hen only in 2012.
All the offspring male and female are banded Red. At maturity cull down to the best 2 stags and 3 or 4 hens. These are your Red Family.

In 2013 mate the Blue hen to one of the Red Family stags.
All the offspring male and female are banded Blue.

Then repeat. Just never breed a Cock of the same color to the same colored hens. Each time you cull replace the original hens in that Family if the offspring are better.


This system means that you will only be breeding to hens in their second year of life (except the first time). This will help to insure longevity into your flock. Plus, you will keep any outstanding hens breeding them in the 4th year and perhaps even their 6th year.

The flock is being inbred but at a controlled rate. You are not utilizing the closes of relations (brother x sister, father x daughter) as will be done in the Rolling Mating system.

Here the closes you'll get is grandmother x grandson. Most will be cousin matings or uncle x niece matings.

Again, the relations you'll be getting will be based on how closely the original trio is related.

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the rooster could be move back and forth between 2 hens that way u could hatch from both hens the same year, hen can be well be fedal for more then a week after take male out

i personaly ususly buy new cock birds every fall

In the second breeding option you don't want to breed both hens; it makes for to much work trying to keep up with which chicks belong to which hen. The whole purpose of the colored Families is to keep them seperate.

Buying a new rooster each year is an option. I don't do that because I don't want to possibly mess up my strains. I inbreed as closely as possible to set my traits. Of course, if you are getting your cockbird from the same breeder/strain each year then that would help to do it too.

Nothing wrong with the way you do it cd just not my way.

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u can toe bunch the babies that way u breed both hens or use wing bands
i just feel it waist have a hen sitting there doing nothing for a season what she died u didnt get any thing out it