YHF is right! Don't even bother starting with eggs or chicks.
You won't be the exception to the rule, sigh. Get
started birds,
breeders who are being retired and have a season ro two of breeding left in them
adult birds.
Here's the motto to start you out on the road to success:
Make sure you buy from a vintage line-bred strain which is winning in quality competition
over multiple generations.
Here's why. I am an expert a screwing up trying to start an SOP flock. Made just about every mistake in the book
before I finally followed the exact advice above and got a good start in my new breed, Sussex fowl.
Why?
1. vintage line-bred: this strain has been skillfully concentrating virtue in a pedigree
for an extended length of time. This has 2 advantages.
a. line-breeding is a "safe" way of "inbreeding" which concentrates virtue without losing diversity or too closely concentrating faults in a gene pool.
b. The length of time it takes to create a "vintage" strain means the top breeder has stabilized the genes in the gene pool so they replicate pretty reliably from generation to generation. This is especially valuable when working with complicated colors like speckled or double laced varieties which must have that stability to properly replicate thru the generations.
2. winning in quality competition: This means the big shows like Columbus, The Bluebonnet Classic, Northeastern Poultry Congress, Louisville KY, Newnan, GA, etc. . Taking on all comers over and succeeding to Champion Row. Or if a rarer breed, at least to Best of Breed over large entries.
c. Over multiple generations : Not just winning in one generation either, This breeder has proved his/her quality breeding program holds its virtues and stability by winning over multiple generations.
Of course you expect to pay more for your birds when starting this way. But the end result will be worth it. After I failed 5 times to start an SOP flock in another breed, Walt Boese, a Sussex breeder from Montana contacted me and wanted to know if I wanted to start a flock of his SQ Light Sussex. I had been studying the Sussex breed and was excited to say yes. Walt hatched a trio for me and raised them for almost a year to show condition them for me before sending them. I spent 100's to get them here from Montana. It was worth every penny. The birds have performing wonderfully and this season I am in my 2nd generation with his strain. One doesn't save money by starting with egg or baby chicks. One just buys their self disappointment and heartbreak. Blood tells.
Make sure you tell the top breeder you are seeking foundation stock. You respect and want to work with their strain....and mean it! Do not cross strains to found a flock. You will rue the day! I can't warn too severely about this. There is plenty of genetic diversity in the poultry world to appease your artist's eye while linebreeding on an established strain. There's a reason why these top flocks are line-bred. It's because linebreeding creates genetic stability which allows the breeder to tweak the gene pool to its highest levels of perfection. Crossing strains negates that stability and it can take many years to get it back depending on the complication of just the color pattern itself, let alone other genetic traits.
Best Regards,
Karen in western PA, USA
I am getting eggs this week. I think it would just bbe fun to experiment with the color genetics. Who knows, might end up with somethign great at the end!
