Haha, I guess I am brave or stupid to even respond to this question on this thread again but here I go.
First of all, I am NOT against a closed breeding population in any way shape or form. I never called anyones inbred birds muts. The goal of a breeder is often to inbreed, line breed, whatever you want to call it (yes I know the difference between the two), but breed birds with known genetics in order to control the genetic diversity because that is the way you end up getting the best offspring. This is why Walt has been so successful with his birds, at this point after 30 years of a closed breeding population he should have far fewer dramatic culls because in the beginning most of the dramatic detrimental genes the birds carry are finally expressed through controlled and planned breeding of relatives to each other and can be culled. Kudos to Walt and all the many many other people that have achieved success in the show ring, that takes a lot of dedication and knowledge of their birds. One of the challenged breeds I took on a few years ago I hatched over 800 birds the first generation and culling was easy because there were so many obvious and glaring faults. With that breed I now still hatch several hundred each generation but the culling is getting more fine tuned and difficult because the 'low hanging fruit' has removed so the smaller details of specific color patterns, type, size, comb etc are harder to identify until they are adults. This is an indication the the genetic diversity is being reduced and the population is becoming more homogeneous genetically with each generation.
To answer your question about out-crossing, again, I could back track and just go with the flow but I still believe, AT TIMES, that out crossing to different breeds might become necessary in certain breeds where quality is difficult or impossible to obtain or traits are nearly absent from that line. Again, this should be carefully controlled and carefully planned and only done when necessary. Never did I suggest just willy nilly cross breeding birds. The majority of my breeds I raise I started with 100+ day old chicks, often of marginal quality, and through hatching mass numbers I make genetic progress. Most of these I have never even brought in new genetics from a different line within the same breed. It is not necessary and I have been able to make great progress with the birds I began with. Partly because many of these breeds are less common so the stock I started with had great variation in quality so the genetic variation form the offspring was great. A couple of the breeds I did supplement my line with blood or genetics from another line of the same breed and variety, but I don't even do this if i don't have to. Why introduce unknown genetics into population when you don't have to. In most cases I am comfortable enough with my stock and the genetic opportunities that exist within my birds I just continue to work with what I have.
My original thought was soundly beat up and pounded into submission by the question I posed. I do believe there are cases when we have to bring in new blood (Minorcas on Andalusians was an example someone else used) or even go the route that Kathy has to just recreate the breed (Delawares) from the beginning. Maybe this is done because quality just can't be found in that breed at all or it is missing valuable characteristics. I tend to lean towards fixing the breeds by whatever means necessary rather than just let them drift away because they have become too difficult to obtain or work with because quality has diminished so dramatically.
So is out-crossing to other breeds encouraged by me? ABSOLUTELY NOT. But on the flip side, am I vehemently opposed to it in times when the breeder feels he has no where else to turn? Not at all. But, to each his own. I am just glad there are enough people passionate enough to post there thoughts and emotions all over this board. If they have as much dedication to preserving the breeds as is indicated by the posts here than then our Heritage breeds should all be in good shape from here on out.
Good luck everyone.
