Quote:
I am preparing for a show and have to leave at 6am tomorrow, so I will give you the short answer. Your first paragraph is correct. I then work on the two "groups" as if they were separate. Improving each independently and I only cross them if I need to solve a problem. By doing this I know exactly
what I have and I don't have to introduce any other blood. I am an old time breeder like Bob and I may not have the fastest eye in the West, but I can put birds together that generally improve. I know from experience that the same pair of birds don't always produce the same results in the second year even third year. The same male and female (I am using a pair as an example because I trap nest) that could have produced good birds for you in year one may produce offspring that looked like another male got in with the female. It generally takes 4-5 years to get offspring that look cloned.
Actually you may want to take a bird that appears to look inferior (with the same bloodlines) to be used to correct ...lets say a tail problem, since that is common. Example: you have a Rock line and the male tail is getting too low (common problem) I use a high tailed female. Then you are back in business again.
I think I have said this before, but again. Breeding chickens is not like breeding any other animal. This is entirely my own opinion based on many successes with poultry and several years doing it. Genetic rules are not absolute in poultry. As my colleagues at the university I retired from would say......"It is true until it is proven wrong".
We can talk more about it when I get back, since this kind of discussion can go on for some time. Bob can probably add more detail to my comments. He doesn't have anything else to do.
Walt
I am preparing for a show and have to leave at 6am tomorrow, so I will give you the short answer. Your first paragraph is correct. I then work on the two "groups" as if they were separate. Improving each independently and I only cross them if I need to solve a problem. By doing this I know exactly
what I have and I don't have to introduce any other blood. I am an old time breeder like Bob and I may not have the fastest eye in the West, but I can put birds together that generally improve. I know from experience that the same pair of birds don't always produce the same results in the second year even third year. The same male and female (I am using a pair as an example because I trap nest) that could have produced good birds for you in year one may produce offspring that looked like another male got in with the female. It generally takes 4-5 years to get offspring that look cloned.
Actually you may want to take a bird that appears to look inferior (with the same bloodlines) to be used to correct ...lets say a tail problem, since that is common. Example: you have a Rock line and the male tail is getting too low (common problem) I use a high tailed female. Then you are back in business again.
I think I have said this before, but again. Breeding chickens is not like breeding any other animal. This is entirely my own opinion based on many successes with poultry and several years doing it. Genetic rules are not absolute in poultry. As my colleagues at the university I retired from would say......"It is true until it is proven wrong".
We can talk more about it when I get back, since this kind of discussion can go on for some time. Bob can probably add more detail to my comments. He doesn't have anything else to do.
Walt
