Genetic Diversity

[Beccatrix]

Hello! We ordered 6 Swedish Flowers; 5 hens and 1 rooster. We'd like to raise for meat and eggs, and are considering 13 hens total and 2 roosters depending on space (I'm worried about losing the rooster in transit or early days). The birds will come from Meyer.

How often do you add new blood to a flock? How frequently do you "retire" the rooster, and is better to get a new one or can you use subsequent generations for a time?

Thanks for any help!!

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you? If you put your location into your profile it helps people give better-targeted advice.

Those are good questions, which I'm in the early stages of learning about myself. I've read about a thing called Spiral Breeding but haven't put anything into practice yet. Hopefully some of the helpful experts will be here soon.

 

[Brooks_]

I too, am in the early stages of raising chickens. I have read several generations before fertility/hatch rate is an issue. That said, I plan to add to the gene pool every other/third year. This is just for my personal use.

 

[Ridgerunner]

How often do you add new blood to a flock?

It depends. That seems to be a standard answer to a lot of questions on this forum, it depends, so bear with me a bit.

For thousands of years a standard model has been for a small farmer to keep a flock of chickens and raise replacements from the flock. Eventually they can run into genetic diversity issues so they bring in a new rooster. Different things control how often. One is what genes are in the flock to start with. If you have problems with them to start with it's best to get rid of them and start over. That's usually not a problem for someone starting like you.

How big is the flock and what is the make-up (hens to roosters). Random mating and hatching will assure some genetic diversity. The more you have breeding the longer you can go. Many hatcheries use the pen breeding system, they may have 20 roosters randomly mating with 200 hens. They can pretty much go forever and maintain enough genetic diversity as long as they don't breed defective chickens. You do need to keep an eye on that. You can go several generations longer with a flock with two roosters and 13 hens than you can with one rooster and five hens. I can't tell you how long though, that's going to depend on the randomness of which ones you keep.

Dad was one of those small farmers. He kept a free ranging flock of about 25 hens and one rooster. I can remember only two times that he brought in new blood in the time I grew up. That wasn't so much due to genetic diversity as that he wanted to improve the quality of his chickens. It would not surprise me if his flock was descended from the original chickens the pioneers brought to the frontier, a lot of game in them. Once he got New Hampshire chicks, another time Dominique, and kept one rooster from them.

Breeders use different methods that require careful recordkeeping and tightly controlling which chickens get to breed. That means breeding pens. I don't want to work that hard.

 

[Beccatrix]

It depends. That seems to be a standard answer to a lot of questions on this forum, it depends, so bear with me a bit.

For thousands of years a standard model has been for a small farmer to keep a flock of chickens and raise replacements from the flock. Eventually they can run into genetic diversity issues so they bring in a new rooster. Different things control how often. One is what genes are in the flock to start with. If you have problems with them to start with it's best to get rid of them and start over. That's usually not a problem for someone starting like you.

How big is the flock and what is the make-up (hens to roosters). Random mating and hatching will assure some genetic diversity. The more you have breeding the longer you can go. Many hatcheries use the pen breeding system, they may have 20 roosters randomly mating with 200 hens. They can pretty much go forever and maintain enough genetic diversity as long as they don't breed defective chickens. You do need to keep an eye on that. You can go several generations longer with a flock with two roosters and 13 hens than you can with one rooster and five hens. I can't tell you how long though, that's going to depend on the randomness of which ones you keep.

Dad was one of those small farmers. He kept a free ranging flock of about 25 hens and one rooster. I can remember only two times that he brought in new blood in the time I grew up. That wasn't so much due to genetic diversity as that he wanted to improve the quality of his chickens. It would not surprise me if his flock was descended from the original chickens the pioneers brought to the frontier, a lot of game in them. Once he got New Hampshire chicks, another time Dominique, and kept one rooster from them.

Breeders use different methods that require careful recordkeeping and tightly controlling which chickens get to breed. That means breeding opens. I don't want to work that hard.

Thanks!! I used to breed rabbits for FFA. I'm thinking a color coded band system for generation, and culling for major issues and health. The Swedish Flowers don't have a breed standard. I know they're not the most broody. Your answer was very helpful!!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I have a flock. See Signature, below. and a culling project. I started with a lot of diversity and around 20 hens, grew the flock up north of 85 birds, culled it down some. Its currently stable around its present size - I have 12 in the incubator, and will use them to replace aging hens as the youngsters approach point of lay - may keep a rooster, if it looks promising. Will eat the rest.

My practice has been to replace my roosters after a year of "doing the deed", and I only keep the best of the roosters I hatch each year - best determined by coloration, weight gain, and behaviors. The rest go to freezer camp for the table. As do the least satisfying hens.

Unlike most of what I do, there's no science behind my choice of timing - I don't have the facilities for line or pen breeding, and its inconsistent with my feed management, which involves lots of free ranging. All that random choice, but the great variation in starting inputs, means it will be years before I need to bring in fresh genetics - but I'm already reviewing what breeds I might want to bring a Roo in from. Eventually.

If I started with a smaller group of less diverse birds, I'd have some concerns about turning the "family tree" into a log, but for now, no worries.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My flocks are mainly built around the males. I keep the males I like and adjust from there. Usually that means at a certain point, I stop keeping daughters and bring in new females to lessen the inbreeding level at least for some of the clutches

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm thinking a color coded band system for generation

Pretty standard. I use 4" zip ties, others like the longer ones. Just clip off the ends and check regularly so they don't get too tight as the legs grow. You need to develop your own marking system for the information you want. With mine, the color on the left leg tells me which year they were hatched. The color or colors on the right leg identify individuals, say I'm evaluating how the pullets lay so I keep records. A single yellow, a single green, or one each yellow and green on the right leg are three different individuals.