Inbreeding?

[Kennas_Kritters]

Would breeding emus that are possibly siblings together would it cause any defects in the chicks? I ask this because I have 2 emus that recently got DNA sexed (revealing they are Male and Female) yay! I got these emus from someone who had like 3-4 breeding pairs and he had a bunch of chicks at the time and didn't even really know which chicks came from which pair so that means there is a possibility that my 2 chicks (now just over 1 year old) are siblings. I hate the thought of inbreeding but it's nearly impossible to get emu's in my area. We drove hours to get my pair. I'm also super attached to them both. Will breeding them cause deformities?

 

[NatJ]

Would breeding emus that are possibly siblings together would it cause any defects in the chicks? I ask this because I have 2 emus that recently got DNA sexed (revealing they are Male and Female) yay! I got these emus from someone who had like 3-4 breeding pairs and he had a bunch of chicks at the time and didn't even really know which chicks came from which pair so that means there is a possibility that my 2 chicks (now just over 1 year old) are siblings. I hate the thought of inbreeding but it's nearly impossible to get emu's in my area. We drove hours to get my pair. I'm also super attached to them both. Will breeding them cause deformities?

I do not have any emu-specific knowledge, but this goes for pretty much all species:

Inbreeding only produces deformities if the animals have the genes that cause deformities.

Close relatives are likely to have many of the same genes as each other-- good if the genes cause effects you like, bad if they cause effects you do not like. So a gene that is fine when the chick inherits one copy can be a problem if a chick inherits two copies (one from each parent.)

Whether your pair of emus would produce deformed offspring would depend on what genes they carry, and I have no idea about that.