Do I need new genes?

[Mrs.Puff]

I have a bunch of banties. Mixed up ones. A couple EE's, a Mille fluer d'uccle roo, a brahma hen, etc. And I have a second generation. So my first generation is from three different hens, and two roosters. Now I have one of the original roosters, and one second generation rooster, whose sire is the other original rooster. And I have 6 new hens. When should I introduce some new genetic material, or is it okay to just let the roos I have continue to breed with my hens, even though they're closely related? I was thinking of getting a few hatching eggs and sticking them under one of my broody hens this spring. Should I even worry about that?

 

[needmorechickens!]

If your asking me if you should get more chickens then the answer is yes! of course my answer has nothing to do with your gene pool....we all just needmorechickens!

HEHEHEhehehehe

~Rebecca

 

[Teach97]

I like to get new jeans...especially when the old ones get holes...oops wrong genes...

...get more chickens just cuz they are new chickens!

 

[Mrs.Puff]

You guys are terrible. I don't want a whole bunch of new chickens, but I will get some hatching eggs from someone else if I need to.

 

[wegotchickens]

You're fine with the gene pool you have now, I believe. Sounds like you have enough diversity that line-breeding shouldn't cause you any problems.

BTW, I'm not an expert, I've just been reading up on this a lot.
If you start to see defects, that's when you need to change things up. But I doubt you will see that.

 

[Mrs.Puff]

Thanks Lori- that's reassuring.

 

[wegotchickens]

No problem!
From what I've read, breeding brother to sister for any length of time causes issues. But breeding son back to mother (or daughter to father) isn't a big deal, and is used to strengthen desirable traits. But if all your chickens come from different sources, then you have a pretty big gene pool to swim in!