"classic Method" of creating your own strain

[minister man]

Does creating your own strain work the same with all animals and birds? I found this neat plan that seems very workable, but it is explained about mice. I am wondering if it will work for chickens too do you think? They reffer to it as the " classic method"

Starts with 4 animals; 1 buck and 3 does

All three does are mated to the same buck. of these three litters, keep one buck of one litter and mate the does of the other litters with him. Of these litters, again keep one buck of one litter and does from the other litters, mating the does with the buck, Ect.


Does this sound like something that would work with chickens?

 

[Sumatra55]

Yes this would work, I have several pedigree'ed research lines that have been Line bred since 1963. Granted there fertility is horrible and some have some very weird things going on with them. So technically it can and is done frequently but it is better to introduce "new" blood in to the lines to help reduce issues associated with inbreeding.

 

[minister man]

Ok, so what it you went to two groups like this, and then every 4-5 years change the male from one of family to the other and vise versa?

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I think it would work. Any method of linebreeding in which you keep with your own small pool of stock over multiple generations would effectively create your own strain.

Here is a rabbit linebreeding chart I find myself considering a lot for poultry, too: http://www.nockrabbits.com/LineBreedingChart.html

 

[iajewel]

Do you just want your own line? or do you want good chickens? You have to know something about line breeding you don't just pick a male and breed to all the females and poof you have something. You have to not mate flaws to flaws, decide what you are working on and cull with in those groups to create something you actually want, and as others have said, if you don't add new blood on occasion that fits your program, you won't have a program as they will all be sterile. I would give it some thought and study line breeding before I did that.
This said, I have done a lot of line breeding in cattle, goats, rabbits and poultry and have had many champions from it. It can work. Just do your home work.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

Quote:
All very true! Sorry, I take for granted that this goes without saying. Linebreeding/inbreeding can only work if you start with stock that is complimentary and fairly free of flaws and cull ruthlessly.

 

[Timmy]

If you take someones line and line breed them you still have that persons line. I think the question is what are you trying to achieve here? If you want good birds try to breed good birds and don't worry about starting your own line.

 

[minister man]

eWhat I "want" is a flock of heritage type birds. There main purpose will be to lay white eggs. Because most all purebred poultry around here has to be flown in and I can't afford that. I have purchased a trio of Silver spangled Hamburgs froma show breeder, and hope to start a flock from them. So I am really thinkg more about conservation type breeding. I have bought books from rare breeds canada, the ALBC, and have read articles from the SPPA, but the more I read the more confused I get. I just want to go from a trio to a flock. I have found some imformation in some old books about selecting for egg production. It seems that most groups recomend that a person has 3 -4 families with the females replacing thier mother and the males rotating. But I don't know how to get from here ( with a trio) to 3 familes ? So that is what I am looking to do in a nut shell. So how do I do it?

 

[Timmy]

I would go ahead and line breed the birds you have to raise the numbers of your flock, selecting the best bird with the traits you desire Weather that be type, color, egg production or all three. Then as the opportunity presents its self bring in fresh blood lines from that breeder or other breeders. Line breeding's not a bad thing and you can do it for many generations with out any problems, but with out genetic diversity you can only improve your birds to the extent that your gene pool will allow and the birds will still be the "line" of the breeder you got your original trio from.

 

[minister man]

Ok, I have been studing linebreeding for a long time. Here is what I have already learned. You can't get out of a group of birds what is not in there. From what I understand, I need to make sure that, while not all the birds will be great in all the qualities I need, all the qualities that I need must be great in one of the birds. What I mean is that one female might be weaker in one point, then one of the other females must be strong in that point. Then all the strong points are in there, and it is a process of breeding enough birds to get the genes for the strong points to come together.

Because I am not raising show birds, I will me making a list of the disqualifications of hamburgs, and eliminate them from the flock, but then my selection will be based on production. The ALBC has an article about learning that. So, I know I can't just take any bird and breed it to any bird, I know that I have to pick which birds from each matings.


Having said that, I am now thinking that if I mate the females seperately, hatch as many as I can......... then pick the best 2 females and best 2 males from each mating. Pen those 4 females seperately and use the best male from the other mating on those females that will give me the 4 pens. From there keep adding the best female back in the pen with her mother, and move the males, untill the flock gets larger. What do you think?