Inbreeding and Line-Breeding Poultry

[BlackPanther]

In short, breeding half brother and half sister, or breeding a cockerel back over his dam, or a pullet back under her sire is a common breeding strategy. The problem is that if the starting trio or quad used is way, way "off", this strategy isn't nearly as effective as it is when the foundational birds are high in quality and may, in fact, be counter productive.

If what one begins with is funky, then one is merely breeding funky to funky it just gets more funky. This is how bad traits like flat chest, high and pinched tails, bad barring, poor heads, excess feathering and other faults get stamped into offspring. If the foundational started stock share poor traits, the offspring really get stamped. One could breed such birds for a life time and not make much, if any, progress. This is what the old timer breeders tell all of us. Their advice is good.

Thank you! That is the kind of information I was looking for!
Thanks for re-reading

I was getting a bit confused there. No problem, I'm sure we've all done that once or twice.

I've heard that the construction of the chicken is more important than the color; I hope that is true. My PRs are not barred; they're blues with, it appears, some barred in their ancestry. My additional rooster is a splash so I'm not sure what he classifies as other than Plymouth Rock.
I know that different color variations have some differences in how they should look and function (f.e. , buff Orpington variety is said to be the best for egg production) but being as my birds belong to the overall classification of breed "Plymouth Rock" I would think that I should be able to make them remain a Plymouth Rock if I keep their build up to snuff. Please correct me if I am wrong in this.


I've been attempting to acquire a Standard here but I've been a bit of a miser about actually dishing up the money so a free one would be lovely!

Basically I'm just attempting to solidify their correct structure before I go into color corrections -- and other such things, -- which I know I will have to.



The birds are young and these pictures are somewhat old, but the coop is a swamp from the rain so I will try to get updates as soon as I can. These pictures are taken with a good-quality camera so go ahead and click on the pictures if you need to see better.

 

[Fred's Hens]

This is an example where lot of people are failing the breed, ie, the Orp.

It isn't the Standard's fault. The Standard was developed nearly 100 years ago by folks who kept the real bird, who loved the bird and who stated it's objectives, form and function. That hatcheries fail the breed because they often turn them into egg machines with no character, no form and all egg laying function which was NEVER the intention of the breed, so bit it.

A similar criticism could be leveled against many breeds being bred for fancy and shown. It is fairly common knowledge that many judges will always place the bigger bird over the smaller, but correct to the Standard bird, almost every time, all things being equal. This is a gross injustice but it happens almost every day. Shame, shame. If your goal is to be point chaser, breed 'em huge. That's the message being received and the Standard be darned. Have you seen White Rocks lately?

This is quite widespread in Large Fowl. This current situation will not cause me, however, to breed to "somewhere else" beside the Standard. To where would I set the GPS? If you set the GPS to somewhere else, that's fine, for breed them anyway, in any color, and to any type you wish, but be honest enough to take the Breed's name off of it.

I'll breed to the Standard (which is FORM and FUNCTION) thank-you, because function will follow form.
If that means someone else wishes to take our offspring and play other games? Well, that's their business.

 

[BlackPanther]

This is an example where lot of people are failing the breed, ie, the Orp.

It isn't the Standard's fault. The Standard was developed nearly 100 years ago by folks who kept the real bird, who loved the bird and who stated it's objectives, form and function. That hatcheries fail the breed because they often turn them into egg machines with no character, no form and all egg laying function which was NEVER the intention of the breed, so bit it.

This is quite widespread in Large Fowl. This current situation will not cause me, however, to breed to "somewhere else" beside the Standard. To where would I set the GPS? If you set the GPS to somewhere else, that's fine, for breed them anyway, in any color, and to any type you wish, but be honest enough to take the Breed's name off of it.

I'll breed to the Standard (which is FORM and FUNCTION) thank-you, because function will follow form.
If that means someone else wishes to take our offspring and play other games? Well, that's their business.

Could you clarify this a bit for me? I'm new to breeding so frankly I'm afraid quite a bit of this went over my head. Just for the record I do want to produce a proper Plymouth Rock if possible with my non-breeder-quality starter stock.

 

[BlackPanther]

 

[Fred's Hens]

Hey BlackPanther, good to see you today.

Interested in doing some great reading? I've got a link for you. The SOP is copyrighted which is why you don't see it plastered all over the web. However, there is an awesome Standard that dates to earliest days of the Barred Plymouth Rock. Awesome because in over a century? There's been really inconsequential change in it. Really cool.

Here's an eBook of the Standard, I believe 1913. I've read it over and over and over again.

http://archive.org/stream/americanstandard00ameriala#page/n3/mode/2up

Here's the eBook of the Breed Book. Incredible stuff.

http://archive.org/stream/plymouthrockstan00amerrich#page/n3/mode/2up

 

[father time]

gallorojo would right in his advice on breeding. but in order to improve the breed and keep with the standards you must not let inferior birds out. its best to not let any one have them and start flooding the market with less than desirable birds. thats what destroys a line or breed of birds. if you cant cull dont breed.

 

[BlackPanther]

Hey BlackPanther, good to see you today.

Interested in doing some great reading? I've got a link for you. The SOP is copyrighted which is why you don't see it plastered all over the web. However, there is an awesome Standard that dates to earliest days of the Barred Plymouth Rock. Awesome because in over a century? There's been really inconsequential change in it. Really cool.

Here's an eBook of the Standard, I believe 1913. I've read it over and over and over again.

http://archive.org/stream/americanstandard00ameriala#page/n3/mode/2up

Here's the eBook of the Breed Book. Incredible stuff.

http://archive.org/stream/plymouthrockstan00amerrich#page/n3/mode/2up

Hello, Fred! Thanks for taking the time to talk to me and help me along with some of this more complex stuff

Also, I take it you are a Barred Plymouth Rock fancier!

I'd have to say my favorite is the blue

 

[Michelle82]

If people did that. I would never have gotten a hole pin of mixed breed pavement special birds for free a long, long time ago. I would never have discovered the joy of little chicks hatching, never learned about each breed my mixed chickens sort off came from. That is a lot of never. A third of my farm life would have been gone. All because some farmer gave me a pin full of mix breed pavement specials. There are a lot of very poor people out there, with a lot of very poor children and a single chicken is possibly the cheapest pet you get. I think culling is over rated. If the chicken is viable give it a life.

What is inferior to one, could be amazing for another. So If you agree or disagree I'd love to hear from you.

 

[unkadan]

If people did that. I would never have gotten a hole pin of mixed breed pavement special birds for free a long, long time ago. I would never have discovered the joy of little chicks hatching, never learned about each breed my mixed chickens sort off came from. That is a lot of never. A third of my farm life would have been gone. All because some farmer gave me a pin full of mix breed pavement specials. There are a lot of very poor people out there, with a lot of very poor children and a single chicken is possibly the cheapest pet you get. I think culling is over rated. If the chicken is viable give it a life.

What is inferior to one, could be amazing for another. So If you agree or disagree I'd love to hear from you.

Michelle, in reality the fellow that gave you those first chickens for free was culling his flock. You don't have to kill them to cull them, but don't give or sell them if they are "pavement breed" and call them something other than that,,,,nothing wrong with raising mutts.

Barnyard mixes have fed folks and provided entertainment for as long as these critters have been living in the yard.

 

[Michelle82]

That I agree with. Give them away, sell them for what they are worth, just don't lie. That's great. If culling could be to kindly discard, oppose to Off with their heads.