Breeding for Egg Production

[davidchickens]

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[gjensen]

To do it right, you have to keep good records and know what is from who.

Then you have to test multiple males, and see how this trait is inherited.

To make real progress with birds that already perform well, you really need to be doing it on a very large scale. Otherwise you are doing little more than maintaining their status.

There are many genetics books that emphasize the commercial side of the birds. For what you seam interested in something printed in the range of the 40s -50s would help establish the basic concepts.

There is the Hogan method that you will hear a lot of. A book called "Call Of The Hen.". These concepts are better suited for a small flock. They are best reserved for identifying who comes into lay first, who quits first, who is most consistent, etc. POL, Length of Lay, How long they stay in molt, etc are all things relevant. Easy to identify in a small flock.
It is not especially difficult to improve a flock of mediocre layers. It is especially difficult to make improvements on something that is already good. The shear numbers that it begins to require is part of the difficulty. And it requires meticulous records, and knowing precisely the performance of individual birds. Particularly the males if you pen mate. This means keeping several males and proving them by rotating them throughout the year, and tracking the performance of their offspring, to include their sons.

I played with this earlier in my chicken keeping, and am still fascinated by the concepts and processes. I did find to really do it and get somewhere required more devotion that I was able to give. And then at the end of the day, you could in no way get close to what is already being produced on a mass scale.

To summarize, it is reasonable to expect being able to improve a 140 egg per year flock to 180. Once you get past the 200 mark, it takes a lot to make real progress. Starting with a flock that is already in the 240 range would be difficult to improve over what has already been done. It is easy to not realize what work it took to develop them to this point.

It is an interesting aspect of the hobby. You may enjoy a couple of the books that are out there. Then you are actually learning from those that made a living doing it, instead of humble hobbyists like ourselves.

 

[davidchickens]

Thanks. I agree you often find very good information in older sources. It will be difficult to do, but I'll take the advice you gave me. Thanks! Wish me luck on this grand experiment!

 

[call ducks]

It's late - I will post my thoughts on the matter in the morn.