I hope this is the correct place to ask this question. I purchased some White Chantecler chickens last year and kept 10 hens and one rooster. I have hatched 12 chicks with this rooster from random eggs from the 10 hens. Next spring can I save one rooster from these chicks and hatch eggs from the 11 hens or is this considered inbreeding. I realize all of the chicks are from one rooster but they come from different hens. I have spoken to a local farmer who thinks it would be best not to use a rooster from these chicks but get one from a hatchery. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. P.S. I am not hatching to show.
Hi there You can breed mother son Daughter father etc. This is called line breeding. Many breeders of show poultry including myself Do this to keep the line good and improve it instead of adding new blood The only one you can not do is brother and sister This is called in breeding And the chicks will turn out deformed or will die after hatching Goodluck
Maybe some confusion here. The farmer has no experience with actually breeding poultry, more than likely. This isn't like mammal breeding such as cattle or horses with which he may have much more experience. It is unlikely that mortality issues would result no matter how you made the match ups for breeding. However...... That said, that purpose of line breeding daughters under fathers and sons over mothers is to distill the huge amount of genetic information down to a more narrow, controlled result. Of course, there isn't any magic in this. The birds should each be judged carefully as to sober breed faults and should be judged for type prior to breeding. The breeding of brother/sister is to avoided because no improvement is likely by making such matched pair. Further, faults that each have, they share. Sibling matings tend to fix those faults in concrete making it more difficult to improve the birds in the future.
I have had a closed flock of large barred rocks top end show stock and have won all prfc national meets when i show. I have bred them since 1980 from holgerson combe and patton lines. I mate the best males to the best females regardless of relation. I have a bumper crop of chicks every year. Rarely anything deformed and extremely low mortality. They lay huge eggs lots of them my males are 9-10 lbs and females 7-8. The fertility is great. They are still going strong after 36 years. Another myth about poultry debunked
Just to get this out there I knew a man who died sadly a couple of months ago And he had that same line of Japanese bantams For the past 70 years. I know afew other people with lines for over 40 years old too. Seems like a long time
