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!
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!