Breeding half-siblings

[Blisschick]

I have two sets of OEGB's, both with the same father, but different mothers. 3 cockerels and 2 pullets are from one mother, and 2 fawn pullets are from the other. Would there be any problem with breeding one of the cockerels back to the fawn half-sisters? I know full blooded sibling breeding is discouraged for genetic reasons.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
As per another recent thread, there is actually no difference in relatedness between parent-offspring matings and brother-sister matings... there are some other reasons people don't typically do brother-sister matings, some of them situationally-appropriate good reasons, but it ain't any worse than parent-offspring which people do all the time.

Also, high levels of inbreeding (at least for a generation or so) is not necessarily bad, it just depends what your goal is.

That said, crossing half-sibs is really common and involves a lower degree of relatedness than parent-offspring matings which are pretty common too in animal breeding. If it serves a sensible goal then I would not personally hesitate at all to do it. It's really common in linebreeding programs.

Pat

 

[kinnip]

I wouldn't hesitate to do it.

 

[speckledhen]

I'd do it, too, and have.

 

[seriousbill]

It's not nearly as much of a problem as full sibling breeding. But, as with any line breeding, if the shared father has any flaws, you might be setting those in the offspring. But, if he's a superior specimen with no major problems, it could be a good strategy to get more consistency in your stock.

 

[Blisschick]

Quote:
As per another recent thread, there is actually no difference in relatedness between parent-offspring matings and brother-sister matings... there are some other reasons people don't typically do brother-sister matings, some of them situationally-appropriate good reasons, but it ain't any worse than parent-offspring which people do all the time.

Also, high levels of inbreeding (at least for a generation or so) is not necessarily bad, it just depends what your goal is.

That said, crossing half-sibs is really common and involves a lower degree of relatedness than parent-offspring matings which are pretty common too in animal breeding. If it serves a sensible goal then I would not personally hesitate at all to do it. It's really common in linebreeding programs.

Pat

Thanks, that answers my question. I just don't like to do full sibling matings because of my limited stock, and I worry that the negative effects of inbreeding would stack up against me pretty fast. My goal is to eventually produce my own line of OEGB sports, and I know that some of the offspring of the BBR-Fawn matings will produce more BBR, which I could mate back to the BBR girls, and any fawn offspring back to one of the other two BBR males. I could potentially end up with a sizeable flock from selected matings, but I don't want to botch the whole thing from the beginning. I've had the situation with my BLRW's in breeding roos back into the flock where I think things aren't going as well anymore, even though it's only been two years. I realize that any one roo that I use is only related to the roo that sired him and one hen in the pen, but I want to avoid that situation with my OEGB's.