inbreeding ??

[pefferlawchicken]

ok so we are keeping our chicks and starting a flock and we want our eggs to be fertilized so we can hatch whenever we want but the only male we think we have ( we did the feather lenghth sexing) is one of the 5 other birds we are keeping , we think they came from the same hen , so if we hatch eggs from them will they be deformed , can we only hatch eggs from the other different breeds of hen , how does it work or is this just for humans , do chicken incest cause mal formations??

 

[patandchickens]

It depends totally on the genetics of the particular birds in question.

If they are from very unrelated parents, nothing bad is likely to happen in the first generation or two; if they are from a line that has been handled intelligently for years, with all individuals carrying or suspected of carrying deleterious recessives being culled, then nothing bad is likely to happen for a number of generations. OTOH if both parents happen to be carrying deleterious recessives (you have no way of knowing by just eyeballing the birds), there is a little greater chance of problems in the first generation, and more thereafter.

You may have to just have to sort of see what happens and act accordingly.

"Incest" is a totally human cultural concept, btw, has nothing to do with animals. And mating parent to offspring, or (less common for various reasons, but constituting EXACTLY THE SAME degree of inbreeding) brother to sister, is not inherently a terrible thing and in fact if people didn't do it on a regular basis we would not have stable breeds

You may find that you don't want to keep all the hens for breeding from and want to get other ones to add to the group, so that would decrease the amount of inbreeding overall, as well.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[StrawberryHouseMouse]

Unless its a line thats been inbred like over and over and over and over with the same brothers and sisters, generation after generation , you shouldnt get any bad chicks. Just make sure you dont keep breeding them to each other after they have chicks. but once shouldnt hurt.

 

[Mahonri]

Sometimes line breeding can get you the most beautiful birds.