Breeding from within your flock..??

[chknlitl]

When you breed chickens, and get a hatch, can you breed those birds from the same parents or grandparents? Or do you need to breed them from a hen or roo that come from different parents?

 

[joe17]

I asked the same question and I was told it was alright to do.

 

[gryeyes]

There isn't a lot to be concerned about with inbreeding, in chickens, for a few generations.

 

[cbbantams]

We never breed brother to sister.We raise from our original breeders and then put their best daughters back on their father and take the best cockeral and breed back to its mother.This is how we have done things for years.

 

[TK Poultry]

if you breed brother to sister it could cause problems because they are too genetically alike

 

[SilkiesAndSuch]

agreed. Bro to sis = big no no. Grandchildren to grandparents and children to parents is alright, though eventually after a few generations(depending on how recently new blood was introduced to the birds in the past) you will probably need to add some new blood from an unrelated bird or a bird that isn't closely related. It also depends on the breed and the reasons for doing it. Regarding silkies, it is done because inbreeding helps produce better feathers, and better birds overall. Good luck!

 

[SilkiesAndSuch]

What happens is that when you breed birds together that are genetically alike, you end up with inbreeding depression. This can result in a lack of vigor and health in birds, lack of hatchability, genetic deformities, etc. Inbreeding depression can take a few generations of inbreeding to become serious enough so inbreeding for a couple of generations and then adding some new blood is completely fine. When you introduce some new blood, you get the opposite of inbreeding depression-hybrid vigor. Hybrid vigor does not necessarily require crossing birds with a new breed, just adding blood from genetically dissimilar birds(far off cousins or unrelated strains of the same breed and variety, etc) Hybrid vigor results in birds that are healthier, more vigorous, results in better hatchability, and helps keep genetic deformities to a minimum.

When breeding birds, you just need to have a healthy balance of inbreeding and adding new blood. Just know that you need to add some new blood when your birds stop thriving and start to die more easily, have three heads or four feet(just kidding about the three heads, but four feet is not unheard of) and fewer eggs hatch.

 

[chknlitl]

COOL thanks this info will help me to get started.