Breeding poultry is not rocket science - and it's quite obvious it takes years of breeding since it takes a year+ for each generation in turkeys. It also doesn't take dedicated line breeding - by simply introducing larger or small birds into an exsisting flock the overall size of the birds in the flock can be changed quickly - that's breeding 101. Careful record keeping and proper breeding is all it takes and yes any Joe or Jane can do it.
Steve in NC
You are right not rocket science, but science never the less.
It does take line breeding to make any of those birds. If you just added a big tom every year that was not related to that line then you would be inheriting all the other bad genes that are associated to that tom's line and you would be loosing some of the good ones that are in your line, so you would have to start all over again as the offspring would not be consistent in growth rate size etc. There is ALOT more to then just picking the biggest one and mating it !!
The books on this subject alone are liking going back to school.
Thanks for bringing this up, as it takes years of education to be able to breed anything and have consistently good results.
Their is not one reputable breeder of any poultry that doesn't use some sort of line breeding program, for these very reasons. If any one knows of one I would love to here about them and talk to them. I have talked with alot of reputable and non reputable breeders and all the good ones are using line breeding in their birds. Every show bird that wins is line breed, all the commercial birds & animals that we eat today all are line bred.
Steve in NC
You are right not rocket science, but science never the less.
It does take line breeding to make any of those birds. If you just added a big tom every year that was not related to that line then you would be inheriting all the other bad genes that are associated to that tom's line and you would be loosing some of the good ones that are in your line, so you would have to start all over again as the offspring would not be consistent in growth rate size etc. There is ALOT more to then just picking the biggest one and mating it !!
The books on this subject alone are liking going back to school.
Thanks for bringing this up, as it takes years of education to be able to breed anything and have consistently good results.
Their is not one reputable breeder of any poultry that doesn't use some sort of line breeding program, for these very reasons. If any one knows of one I would love to here about them and talk to them. I have talked with alot of reputable and non reputable breeders and all the good ones are using line breeding in their birds. Every show bird that wins is line breed, all the commercial birds & animals that we eat today all are line bred.
