Generational project but for good personality?

[TinyRaptorDodos]

I’ve been thinking about starting a generational breeding project but instead of breeding for good looks, durability and egg laying ONLY… I would breed for good personalities. It’s not a common thing at all but similar to dogs I have noticed personality is genetic and can be passed down. Obviously my flocks babies would also be cold hardy seeing as I only keep cold hardy breeds but if the main goal was for good health AND good personality, do you guys think people would be interested? Should I try to add something onto my goal?

 

[Gigachad poultry]

I’ve been thinking about starting a generational breeding project but instead of breeding for good looks, durability and egg laying ONLY… I would breed for good personalities. It’s not a common thing at all but similar to dogs I have noticed personality is genetic and can be passed down. Obviously my flocks babies would also be cold hardy seeing as I only keep cold hardy breeds but if the main goal was for good health AND good personality, do you guys think people would be interested? Should I try to add something onto my goal?

I think if you're looking to sell eggs or chicks saying you breed not only for looks and quality ect ext but also good personality would be an awesome thing to be able to say! If you're showing a breed a poultry show for example I think it would help if your bird you're showing isn't flapping around crazy or being crazy and instead was calm and had a nice personality! I try not to breed my chickens when the rooster us aggressive because I as well feel like it's passed down by genetics.

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

I think if you're looking to sell eggs or chicks saying you breed not only for looks and quality ect ext but also good personality would be an awesome thing to be able to say! If you're showing a breed a poultry show for example I think it would help if your bird you're showing isn't flapping around crazy or being crazy and instead was calm and had a nice personality! I try not to breed my chickens when the rooster us aggressive because I as well feel like it's passed down by genetics.

That’s a good idea! I don’t have the proper breeds quite yet, I’m thinking at first the project will start out similar to Easter eggers- just a whole jumble of breeds(so selling them would go as “barnyard mixes, bred for laying, cold tolerance and friendly personalities). But once I have more money to afford a large breeding farm I would totally start getting show breeds and picking who to breed based off personality! In fact there is a project here that is getting quite popular called “Alaska ninja chickens”, maybe I could make a deal with the breeder to continue the project (it’s on its 10th generation) but with the friendly ones.

And yes it totally is, I had an old rooster who was just hatched super mean to kids... like he cut my youngest sisters nose mean. His chick grew up into a big ‘ol rooster and he was just as mean to kids even though he grew up without any around!

 

[Gigachad poultry]

That’s a good idea! I don’t have the proper breeds quite yet, I’m thinking at first the project will start out similar to Easter eggers- just a whole jumble of breeds(so selling them would go as “barnyard mixes, bred for laying, cold tolerance and friendly personalities). But once I have more money to afford a large breeding farm I would totally start getting show breeds and picking who to breed based off personality! In fact there is a project here that is getting quite popular called “Alaska ninja chickens”, maybe I could make a deal with the breeder to continue the project (it’s on its 10th generation) but with the friendly ones.

That's really cool! I've been saving up the money to get breeds that are to the SOP (Standard Of Perfection) by the American Poultry Association standards! I use to have lots of barn yard muxes but one of them caught my attention and I've been tons of research on breeding poultry! I'm going to try and start breeding what I did to cross him! This way I can slowly get that cross to breed true and then I can get the "new breed" recognized after 5 years if selective breeding!!! I just hatched the second generation a week ago!!!

And yes it totally is, I had an old rooster who was just hatched super mean to kids... like he cut my youngest sisters nose mean. His chick grew up into a big ‘ol rooster and he was just as mean to kids even though he grew up without any around!

Wow that's really crazy! I've always had really calm roosters since I do like showing little kids my chickens and I want everyone to be safe when I show them my birds so my rooster have always been very calm! My barnyard mix rooster that's in my project is very calm and so was his dad! I have gotten eggs from breeders and one breeder I got maran eggs from had a mean rooster and the rooster I got from that batch was really mean!

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

That's really cool! I've been saving up the money to get breeds that are to the SOP (Standard Of Perfection) by the American Poultry Association standards! I use to have lots of barn yard muxes but one of them caught my attention and I've been tons of research on breeding poultry! I'm going to try and start breeding what I did to cross him! This way I can slowly get that cross to breed true and then I can get the "new breed" recognized after 5 years if selective breeding!!! I just hatched the second generation a week ago!!!

Wow that's really crazy! I've always had really calm roosters since I do like showing little kids my chickens and I want everyone to be safe when I show them my birds so my rooster have always been very calm! My barnyard mix rooster that's in my project is very calm and so was his dad! I have gotten eggs from breeders and one breeder I got maran eggs from had a mean rooster and the rooster I got from that batch was really mean!

My current rooster is as sweet as sweet can be he runs out to greet us and will occasionally eat out of our hands. He gets so excited seeing me come out(very food motivated ) he’s a Swedish flower. The maran I had before was crazy mean, he attacked EVERYONE, then I had a Brahma and he was sweet but he was too rough on my hens, my hen refused to leave the coop until I got rid of him… then I had another one who was an Alaskan ninja chicken and a gorgeous one at that but he was super anti-social. So in the end I stuck with Biscotti and even while he’s going through his hormonal phase, the only time he’s even bitten anyone was when I was petting him and found a sore spot, even then he only grabbed my finger in his beak and moved it I can’t wait to see how offspring from him, my Brahma and my Salmon Faverolle are! Especially my Brahma, she is incredibly sweet

 

[Gigachad poultry]

My current rooster is as sweet as sweet can be he runs out to greet us and will occasionally eat out of our hands. He gets so excited seeing me come out(very food motivated ) he’s a Swedish flower. The maran I had before was crazy mean, he attacked EVERYONE, then I had a Brahma and he was sweet but he was too rough on my hens, my hen refused to leave the coop until I got rid of him… then I had another one who was an Alaskan ninja chicken and a gorgeous one at that but he was super anti-social. So in the end I stuck with Biscotti and even while he’s going through his hormonal phase, the only time he’s even bitten anyone was when I was petting him and found a sore spot, even then he only grabbed my finger in his beak and moved it I can’t wait to see how offspring from him, my Brahma and my Salmon Faverolle are! Especially my Brahma, she is incredibly sweet

Aw he's so handsome!!!

 

[NatJ]

I’ve been thinking about starting a generational breeding project but instead of breeding for good looks, durability and egg laying ONLY… I would breed for good personalities. It’s not a common thing at all but similar to dogs I have noticed personality is genetic and can be passed down. Obviously my flocks babies would also be cold hardy seeing as I only keep cold hardy breeds but if the main goal was for good health AND good personality, do you guys think people would be interested?

Should I try to add something onto my goal?

You could pick a specific pure breed, and breed for all the usual things PLUS good personality. I'm not saying there is any wrong with mixing breeds, just mentioning pure breeds since you did ask for things you could add to your goal.

I think you are right about there being some genetic component to temperament. Some breeds already are known for having better personalities (on average) than other breeds, probably because of people who did exactly that: bred only birds with good temperaments that also had the correct other traits for the breed. It is not common for hatcheries to do this, but private breeders sometimes do, and almost certainly some people have been doing that for as long as people have kept chickens (if you are going to butcher some chickens each year, then of course you start by butchering the ones that you don't like as well or that cause you trouble: that logic tends to lead to gradual improvement over time in whatever traits the person considers important).

 

[NagemTX]

I know this isn't Ameraucana but Steve Neumann does this with his Ameraucana breeding and feels its just as important as the rest of the SOP. Demeanor of the breed I think is spoken of in the SOP for most birds. *I'll have to check tomorrow.*

 

[SourRoses]

I know this isn't Ameraucana but Steve Neumann does this with his Ameraucana breeding and feels its just as important as the rest of the SOP. Demeanor of the breed I think is spoken of in the SOP for most birds. *I'll have to check tomorrow.*

Curious what you found?

If it's already in there, it should count for more points to push prioritization up across the board (all breeds).
I've wondered many times why some breeders I've spoken to treat temperament as an afterthought. I kinda think the demeanor of domesticated animals should be more important than particularities of color or shape.

And they should be specific in descriptions! Ameraucana are distinctly curious and Orpingtons gentle.

If they had to write the current average temperament within some breeds, some would be kinda funny... "roosters savage to humans" "hens scream when being handled". When you keep 5-6 breeds it becomes obvious what parts are genetic.

So I totally agree with the premise here!
I'm trying to keep the Orpington gentleness strong in my mix project. It's easiest to tell in the cockerels. When they handle like pullets still after 3 months old, they seem to stay gentle. At least so far

 

[TinyRaptorDodos]

I've wondered many times why some breeders I've spoken to treat temperament as an afterthought. I kinda think the demeanor of domesticated animals should be more important than particularities of color or shape.

And they should be specific in descriptions! Ameraucana are distinctly curious and Orpingtons gentle.

If they had to write the current average temperament within some breeds, some would be kinda funny... "roosters savage to humans" "hens scream when being handled". When you keep 5-6 breeds it becomes obvious what parts are genetic.

Agreed! Similar to how dogs get behavioral tests before being bred, it would be super helpful to have nice calm chickens that aren’t screaming every time they’re touched or at least have an idea of how the rooster will be, I bet it would decrease the population of agressive dumped roos!