Father/daughter mating. Should I let them?

[BubbaBubbles]

Hope I chose the correct thread!

So, I have Trifle (head roo of the entire flock), his main girl Truffles, and their daughter Mable. Mable will be 1 yr this year. Trifle's already started dancing for Mable and Truffles acts very possessive and gets jealous when Mable wants to lay near him. Anyway, I fully expected he'd probably try mating with Mable since she's maturing and laying eggs now. Should I let him keep it up? Even if I allowed Mable to have a chick (she's been broody lately), it wouldn't have any defects would it? Just want to make sure. Would appreciate if anyone with experience in breeding father/daughter or mother/son chickens can share info, too.

 

[fluffycrow]

It takes many generations for signs of inbreeding to pop up, and even then, it's most commonly expressed through low fertility rates, way before any form of physical deformity

 

[sourland]

Unless they come from an inbred line, I would expect that physical defects would be minimal.

 

[sourland]

So would they be decently healthy otherwise?

Likely, but difficult to answer that with a 100% yes. I had a friend with an inbred family of white crested black Polish. Physically his birds were unbeatable, but chick viability was iffy, and most of his roosters lost fertility early on.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

All domestic breeds off animals that have repeatable traits that define the breed have been inbred through parent x child mating to so create the breed. Doing it for several generations is about as close to natural cloning in animals through otherwise normal sexual reproduction.

This is moreso reinforced in chickens where the natural order of a chicken flock is for a dominant rooster to kill or drive off all of his rivals and keep his daughters, granddaughters, ect. for his breeding hens into the perpetuity of his rule over the flock. Chickens don’t disperse far in nature like some other galliformes do (like wild turkey). Every flock in the wild is often its own inbred unit for several yeaes.

So if father and daughter are healthy, they’ll be fine.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Even if I allowed Mable to have a chick (she's been broody lately), it wouldn't have any defects would it? Just want to make sure.

There is no way to be sure. Real life doesn't work that way.

A model that has been used on small farms for thousands of years is that they keep a flock for several generations and hatch chicks. The rooster with his daughters or granddaughters. And they keep replacement roosters from the chicks too. Eventually you can develop problem: less fertility, poorer production, illness, or deformities. How long you can go with inbreeding depends on the genetic make-up. You don't know for sure how closely related those are other than that one is the father to the daughter. I have no idea what your risk is.

Would appreciate if anyone with experience in breeding father/daughter or mother/son chickens can share info, too

Dad kept a flock like that. About every four of five generations he'd bring in some new chicks and add them to the flock. He'd add some pullets and keep one rooster to be the new flock master. He did not have inbreeding problems.

I think your odds are pretty good that you would not have genetic problems but I sure cannot guarantee that.

 

[Rock17]

No experience with this. However have heard several people saying that if you breed brother and sister it can leave chicks very weak and vulnerable to ilness even if they are not obviously deformed or runty

 

[Rock17]

Bantams like pekins are also apparently more vulnerable then the average chickens to inbred weakness

 

[BubbaBubbles]

No experience with this. However have heard several people saying that if you breed brother and sister it can leave chicks very weak and vulnerable to ilness even if they are not obviously deformed or runty

Yeah, I got rid of her brothers ASAP once they started crowing lol because they were harassing her and stressing her out but she seems much happier being with her dad, instead. As far as I'm aware, both father and daughter are healthy but I don't have any information about previous lineage since father was a rescue.

 

[BubbaBubbles]

Unless they come from an inbred line, I would expect that physical defects would be minimal.

I'm actually unsure of any past lineage with both sides.