Genetics and Projects and luck or skill?

[masked rider]

Question of the day... I am pretty good at science and was pretty good with genetics. I understand most of the concepts and the crosses, but I am curious how many "breeders" actually understand their "projects"? I see ads all the time for Rare this or Rare that split to brown or some such. I see people on the forums forever giving advise on this cross or that cross or how to create this breed or that one, but

in the end, what percentage of chicken folk really have a real clue about the genetics or is it really just pure luck? I say luck mostly because people are forever selling all their project birds and starting over.

So, in short you, should you avoid breeders with "projects" because chances are they really don't know what they are doing?

Just a question because their cannot be as many experts around as their seem to be on chicken genetics....

Thoughts?

 

[cubakid]

Many people have a basic understanding of how the genetics work, especially when it comes to thier project, you can always ask and see if they actually know.

 

[big medicine]

I suspect there is considerable range in peoples knowledge, commitment, and motivation, involving these projects.

I know in my case, my genetic knowledge is basically limited to what pertained directly to my projects. Information I needed to know. I sought out, and learned. At the other end of the spectrum, there are some very knowledgable posters here, such as Henk.

 

[Henk69]

Just a question because their cannot be as many experts around as their seem to be on chicken genetics....

Thoughts?

Agreed, else we wouldn't worship the experts from the beginning of the last century so much...

 

[coffeekittie]

I'm only chiming in because I'm one of those potential breeders who is relying on books and experts to learn about the specific traits I'm wanting. I'm NO expert, and yet want my "project" birds to be exactly what I'm aiming for. I do think it's a good idea to ask the individuals how they came up with their information, as I bet some do go merely by "looks" and not underlying genetics.