So I have 6 chickens that will hopfully turn into 5 hens and a roo. My question is, since they all came from the same batch of chicks (or I think they did) should I worried about inbreeding once they get older and he begins to fertilize the eggs? I know inbreeding in humans is bad so i was just wondering if the same applied to chickens? I have awhile to go before I actually need to worry about this, but I figured I would go ahead and ask now.
No I wouldn't worry. Inbreeding, even in humans, does not manifest for a number of generations. It is "icky" for people. But "line breeding" is a normal thing in the animal world. You can strengthen some traits by line breeding but you can also bring out bad traits. If you bought them from a small breeder then they are probably related. If you bought them from a hatchery, feed store, or large breeder, it is unlikely that they are literally full blooded. If you don't know for sure, you will want to introduce new blood in a few generations.
Funny that this seems to be a popular topic today! I just answered this question upthread. Inbreeding is a very common breeding technique, and won't result in mentally deficient or deformed birds unless you have bad breeding stock to begin with. Here's a discussion of various breeding techniques. http://www.the-coop.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=28027
