Genetic testing, health exams, and trackable pedigrees for breeding chickens? Has anyone else tried this?

[Abigatorsaurus]

So I plan to get more involved with my chickens in a few years, and would love to breed and potentially exhibit some of my favorite, less common chicken breeds. Namely Bielefelder Kennhuhn. While they are a dual-purpose breeds, I just absolutely adore their sweet personalities and how calm mine have always been!

One thing that really interests me would be structure a chicken breeding program differently than how I’ve seen hatcheries and at least backyard/hobby breeders. More specifically in regards to health testing.

While many good chicken breeders/hatcheries produce birds that are NPIP and vaccinated or treated against Fowl Pox, Marecks, and Coccidiosis, I haven’t come across anyplace that either does regular vet checks on or genetic testing on their parent stock. Again, I realize that these are chickens and they are not yet as widely beloved as say a dog or cat, therefore extra costs for testing and exams have been able to be looked over because hey, the chicken is still doing chicken things — it must be fine! But I would love to better the breed and create healthier birds for my own flocks — hence this post.

My goal with my farm would be to at least NPIP certified, and to vaccinate every bird against Marecks, Cocci, and Fowl Pox as appropriate. However, I cannot for the life of me find very many resources for genetic testing for birds/chickens. The closest I found was IQbirdtesting, and while they do mention chickens, it seems to be more for pet birds. However, since it’s the only one I found so far, I will add that to my list of potential health testing that I would ideally perform on my chickens. While not all of these diseases may not be as prominent or severe in chickens, it is what testing I found to be available. One $70 test package includes testing for Psittacosis (MOMP), Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD), Avian Polyomavirus (APV), Avium Bordetella, Pacheco’s Disease, and Psittacine Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD), in addition to genetic sexing (jokes on them, Bieles are auto-sexing at hatch). Ideally I would test every bird before breeding (at least initially, and then once I have established that my birds are genetically clear of the disease/not carriers, I would likely switch to sporadically testing my existing birds in addition to testing all birds introduced to the breeding program) and those that aren’t fit to breed (either due to genetics or not fitting the SOP/wrong temperament) would be moved to my “retirement” coop or eventually sold/butchered.

I would also love to hire an Avian vet to come out for at least basic checkups on my parent stock, especially as they are a larger breed and I had my beloved 4 year old rooster die of a suspected heart attack. So I would love to hear if there are any genetic tests or noninvasive vet exams for birds that include screening for potential cardiac disease or illness/irregularity. I would also love to hear if anyone knows if there are any orthopedic or joint X-ray evaluations (similar to OFAs for dogs) that would make sense for chickens. Again, because they are a larger breed and putting on that weight can stress out their system — therefore I’d like to do some examinations on them, even if it is just a vet biannually feeling for abnormalities around the joints or evidence or scar tissue/injury on my breeding birds. Assuming the vet does just a basic examination (i.e. no vaccinations/wormings/etc) on each bird, I’d estimate an average fee of $15-40 in vet fees per animal, and probably around $60-100 in misc fees (travel/medical waste disposal/etc).

Again I know this would be a massive undertaking both financially and physically, but if I can increase the longevity of the birds I produce and better the chances of healthier birds, I want to.
I would appreciate any feedback or questions, as again, this whole project is still a ways out!

Photo of my beloved rooster, Buzz, at age 2, visiting a daycare to educate the kiddos on chickens! He loved all the petting, and was always such a wonderful example of what patience and training can accomplish with any animal.

Another photo of Buzz, age 1, enjoying a cuddle and belly rub session on my lap.

Holding Buzz (age 3.5) at my parents’ farm. I had to leave him there when I moved states, and it was his last summer before he passed in March. This was the last photo I have of holding him, when I went back for a doctors appointment (hence the cotton balls).

Buzz as a day old chick, after the shell membrane had dried out and he needed assistance getting out. Needless to say, this chicken was such an overwhelmingly positive influence in my life, and I would love to create more friendly, lovable, and functional birds like him. I do have a few of his descendants still at my parents’ farm, and maybe I’ll be able to keep some part of him alive in my flock when I do start this endeavor!

 

[Pyxis]

My goal with my farm would be to at least NPIP certified, and to vaccinate every bird against Marecks, Cocci, and Fowl Pox as appropriate.

Just to let you know about these vaccinations, the Marek's vaccine is made using a similar turkey virus, not actually Marek's. That means it's 'leaky' - birds can still get the disease and pass it on, but they are (mostly) protected from the symptoms. This vaccine is actually part of what has lead to especially 'hot' strains - ones that are very deadly. Normally a strain like that would wipe out a flock quickly and not pass on beyond that. But with the vaccine, it lives in vaccinated birds unnoticed until they get around unvaccinated birds and then bam - a very deadly strain quickly takes them out. Not to say don't do it, just letting you know that you can vaccinate your birds, but that doesn't mean they won't still also get Marek's.

The cocci vaccine is also not truly a vaccine. The chicks are actually infected with live, unattenuated cocci, and as such it can actually cause the illness, as well as stunted growth.

One $70 test package includes testing for Psittacosis (MOMP), Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD), Avian Polyomavirus (APV), Avium Bordetella, Pacheco’s Disease, and Psittacine Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD), in addition to genetic sexing (jokes on them, Bieles are auto-sexing at hatch). Ideally I would test every bird before breeding (at least initially, and then once I have established that my birds are genetically clear of the disease/not carriers, I would likely switch to sporadically testing my existing birds in addition to testing all birds introduced to the breeding program) and those that aren’t fit to breed (either due to genetics or not fitting the SOP/wrong temperament) would be moved to my “retirement” coop or eventually sold/butchered.

I'm not sure I would bother with this testing. These diseases are all much more commonly found in parrots (hence most of the names being something to do with 'psittacine' - that means parrot). You could, if you wanted, get them all tested for diseases they are more likely to have, like MG, Coryza, IB, etc. Zoologix labs will do a poultry panel for all these diseases. Last I checked, the price on the panel was $98.

Assuming the vet does just a basic examination (i.e. no vaccinations/wormings/etc) on each bird, I’d estimate an average fee of $15-40 in vet fees per animal, and probably around $60-100 in misc fees (travel/medical waste disposal/etc).

Chickens are considered exotics, like other birds. It's $50 just to get my bird in the door at the avian vet, and it'll likely be the same or similar for any avian vets you find. They're also more like small animal vets - no house calls. They don't travel like large animal vets do, so you're probably unlikely to find one that would come to you. You'd have to go to them with all your birds.

 

[NatJ]

I haven’t come across anyplace that either does regular vet checks on or genetic testing on their parent stock.

You don't need a laboratory to do "genetic testing" on a chicken to see whether they carry harmful recessive genes, because you can use test mating instead.

Just breed a bunch of chicks and look at them. If you really want to be sure, breed a bunch of daughters back to the rooster, and sons back to the hen. Any problems will show up. Then you can decide who to cull and who to keep for breeding.

If you only produce a single foal from a horse, or one litter from a dog, test-mating doesn't work so well. The one foal might show the problem or might not. If you expect a certain problem to show in about 1/4 of offspring (common with recessive genes), you might not actually see it in a litter of 8 puppies. But with chickens, you can easily hatch 50 to 200 chicks from a hen each year, and many more from a rooster. So it's pretty easy to check things by test-mating, and breeders have been doing exactly this for a long time.

Another good point about test-mating: instead of having to choose which things to test for, you are testing for everything at once. If a rooster is bred to a bunch of his own daughters, and you hatch a large number of chicks, and they are all healthy, then you have effectively tested that rooster for EVERY POSSIBLE inherited problem, even ones that no-one yet knows about.

Again, I realize that these are chickens and they are not yet as widely beloved as say a dog or cat, therefore extra costs for testing and exams have been able to be looked over because hey, the chicken is still doing chicken things — it must be fine! But I would love to better the breed and create healthier birds for my own flocks

If anything, I think people have focused MORE on health in chicken breeding than in dog breeding. People will keep a beloved pet dog even if it has health issues, but the chicken usually gets killed, which definitely keeps it from passing on the associated genes.

It is common for serious breeders to produce dozens or hundreds of chicks from one pair or one breeding pen, then select the very best few to breed the next generation. Breeding only the best is how you make progress, no matter how you select the "best." But with those kinds of numbers, problems do tend to show up, so then you know about them and can breed/select away from them.

I would also love to hire an Avian vet to come out for at least basic checkups on my parent stock,

If you've got an avian vet in your area, that might work.

Otherwise, you could do what most chicken keepers do: learn enough to do their own basic checkups. It makes sense to take a dog to the vet for a checkup, because the vet sees a lot more dogs than you do, and has studied more about how to recognize problems in dogs. But if you are actually raising chickens, you see more chickens per year than the average vet sees in their entire professional life. And most vets do not learn about chickens, so if you learn about chickens you will be better-educated on chicken health than most vets.

if I can increase the longevity of the birds I produce and better the chances of healthier birds, I want to.

The usual method to breed for longevity and health is to breed from the oldest birds you have that are healthy, and cull ones that are not healthy. ("Cull" can mean kill, but it doesn't have to. Just keeping the "culled" birds in a separate pen and never hatching eggs from their pen works just fine as regards passing the right genes on to the next generation.)

Buzz as a day old chick, after the shell membrane had dried out and he needed assistance getting out. Needless to say, this chicken was such an overwhelmingly positive influence in my life, and I would love to create more friendly, lovable, and functional birds like him. I do have a few of his descendants still at my parents’ farm, and maybe I’ll be able to keep some part of him alive in my flock when I do start this endeavor!

No matter how much you love the individual chicken, if you really want to breed healthy chickens, you should not breed from ones with problems. People tend to become fond of the animals they spend the most time with-- so the ones that have trouble hatching, and the ones that need any other kind of special care, tend to become favorites. But those are exactly the ones that should NOT be bred, if you are serious about producing chickens that are healthy. They can be great pets, but they are not great breeding stock.

I would appreciate any feedback or questions, as again, this whole project is still a ways out!

I'm obviously coming at this from a different background than you, more of a farming and livestock-breeding background, with less of a pet mentality. I have no problem with people who want to keep chickens as pets, and who do not choose to eat their chickens. It's just not the way I do things.

I like to eat chicken. So when I consider breeding, I always assume that I would produce large numbers of chicks, and eat most of them.

Some people say it's unfair to kill a chicken just because it is male, or because it has a minor problem. But I already know I am going to butcher many chickens to eat. So I see no reason to keep a chicken with problems when I could choose to keep a chicken with no problems. No reason to keep extra roosters when I could keep more hens. (etc.)

 

[DarJones]

U.S. labs to my knowledge only offer a sex determination text for birds. I have looked diligently and not found anyone else doing chicken chromosome/gene level profiling in the U.S.

The only place currently doing DNA profiling of chickens is in Germany (Justus Liebig University). They currently offer a test for the blue egg gene for which they charge roughly $30. They are working on a test for the Rose comb allele on chromosome 7 and expect to have something available within a year. I would dearly love to be able to index my chickens for Rose Comb (chromosome 7) to see which version of the allele they carry along with a test for single comb (chromosome 1). Someone will say "oh, you can just look at them to see if they are correct". Sorry, it doesn't work quite that way. There are several modifier genes that in certain conditions prevent seeing what the genetics carry. If I could 100% guarantee that a chick was homozygous straight comb on chromosome 1 and homozygous rose comb R2 allele on chromosome 7 and homozygous for the blue egg gene on chromosome 1, I could easily save thousands of dollars in costs to hatch hundreds of chicks and select from the offspring for the required traits.

 

[Serama Mama Chicken Depot]

So I plan to get more involved with my chickens in a few years, and would love to breed and potentially exhibit some of my favorite, less common chicken breeds. Namely Bielefelder Kennhuhn. While they are a dual-purpose breeds, I just absolutely adore their sweet personalities and how calm mine have always been!

One thing that really interests me would be structure a chicken breeding program differently than how I’ve seen hatcheries and at least backyard/hobby breeders. More specifically in regards to health testing.

While many good chicken breeders/hatcheries produce birds that are NPIP and vaccinated or treated against Fowl Pox, Marecks, and Coccidiosis, I haven’t come across anyplace that either does regular vet checks on or genetic testing on their parent stock. Again, I realize that these are chickens and they are not yet as widely beloved as say a dog or cat, therefore extra costs for testing and exams have been able to be looked over because hey, the chicken is still doing chicken things — it must be fine! But I would love to better the breed and create healthier birds for my own flocks — hence this post.

My goal with my farm would be to at least NPIP certified, and to vaccinate every bird against Marecks, Cocci, and Fowl Pox as appropriate. However, I cannot for the life of me find very many resources for genetic testing for birds/chickens. The closest I found was IQbirdtesting, and while they do mention chickens, it seems to be more for pet birds. However, since it’s the only one I found so far, I will add that to my list of potential health testing that I would ideally perform on my chickens. While not all of these diseases may not be as prominent or severe in chickens, it is what testing I found to be available. One $70 test package includes testing for Psittacosis (MOMP), Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease (PBFD), Avian Polyomavirus (APV), Avium Bordetella, Pacheco’s Disease, and Psittacine Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD), in addition to genetic sexing (jokes on them, Bieles are auto-sexing at hatch). Ideally I would test every bird before breeding (at least initially, and then once I have established that my birds are genetically clear of the disease/not carriers, I would likely switch to sporadically testing my existing birds in addition to testing all birds introduced to the breeding program) and those that aren’t fit to breed (either due to genetics or not fitting the SOP/wrong temperament) would be moved to my “retirement” coop or eventually sold/butchered.

I would also love to hire an Avian vet to come out for at least basic checkups on my parent stock, especially as they are a larger breed and I had my beloved 4 year old rooster die of a suspected heart attack. So I would love to hear if there are any genetic tests or noninvasive vet exams for birds that include screening for potential cardiac disease or illness/irregularity. I would also love to hear if anyone knows if there are any orthopedic or joint X-ray evaluations (similar to OFAs for dogs) that would make sense for chickens. Again, because they are a larger breed and putting on that weight can stress out their system — therefore I’d like to do some examinations on them, even if it is just a vet biannually feeling for abnormalities around the joints or evidence or scar tissue/injury on my breeding birds. Assuming the vet does just a basic examination (i.e. no vaccinations/wormings/etc) on each bird, I’d estimate an average fee of $15-40 in vet fees per animal, and probably around $60-100 in misc fees (travel/medical waste disposal/etc).

Again I know this would be a massive undertaking both financially and physically, but if I can increase the longevity of the birds I produce and better the chances of healthier birds, I want to.
I would appreciate any feedback or questions, as again, this whole project is still a ways out!

View attachment 2784157
Photo of my beloved rooster, Buzz, at age 2, visiting a daycare to educate the kiddos on chickens! He loved all the petting, and was always such a wonderful example of what patience and training can accomplish with any animal.
View attachment 2784162
Another photo of Buzz, age 1, enjoying a cuddle and belly rub session on my lap.
View attachment 2784177
Holding Buzz (age 3.5) at my parents’ farm. I had to leave him there when I moved states, and it was his last summer before he passed in March. This was the last photo I have of holding him, when I went back for a doctors appointment (hence the cotton balls).
View attachment 2784185
Buzz as a day old chick, after the shell membrane had dried out and he needed assistance getting out. Needless to say, this chicken was such an overwhelmingly positive influence in my life, and I would love to create more friendly, lovable, and functional birds like him. I do have a few of his descendants still at my parents’ farm, and maybe I’ll be able to keep some part of him alive in my flock when I do start this endeavor!

This is off topic but I have a chicken twin of your beloved Buzz. This is chick chick he is very special. I'm trying to figure out what his breed might be what was Buzz. He was born June 18th 2021 on my 37th birthday!

 

[NatJ]

This is chick chick he is very special. I'm trying to figure out what his breed might be what was Buzz.

I think OP's rooster Buzz was a Bielefelder.