Breeding from chickens hatched from a commercial breeder

[kengland]

Hi,

I have 9 Delaware birds (8 hens+1roo) purchased from a local farm store. They buy their chicks from a large commercial hatchery in New Mexico.

Anyhow, my goal is to breed the birds to replace my flock over time. My understanding is that these chicks are really not related because of the size of operation.

Are chicks generally related when they come from commercial hatcheries? If not, and I breed a flock of offspring, I have to end it there unless I fertilize the eggs with a different roo, correct?

Thanks folks!

 

[sourland]

Since hatcheries deal with large numbers of breeder birds the chances of your chickens being related is minimal. Given this scenario one or two generations of inbreeding should present little or no bad results. Inbreeding and line breeding is a common tool utilized to develop uniform families.

 

[Arielle]

You have a good starting plan. Once you start inbreeding, you need to have a oan to cull more heavily as things crop up. Chickens thrive better when they are not inbred; and cross breeding different breeds of chickens increases the survival rates, growth rates and such.

I would look for a new rooster when this boy is the father of your next generation. You can breed the girls back to the father and the boys back to the hens. I buys you another generation.