Quote:
i read about inbreeding/line breeding here several times. and i always see people say "if managed properly", but no one says how to or how they "manage properly". anyone care to give details for those here who are interested in learning more?
Managing properly in this context involves the following:
1. Only using those that are the best of the best to begin the process.
2. Culling heavily each generation; particularly as it is related to health and vigour.
3. Knowing what you are looking for before you begin.
4. Understanding that certain breeds seem to inbreed better than others.
Did I mention culling? lol.
As a rule establishing the line is longest hardest part. You must first produce a large number of birds from your starter birds to identify the problems that exist within the birds. Cull the problems, and retain only the very best birds that are not only better than teh parent stock but also have fewer problems than all the others. this will take years, as an example we have breed from 3 Trios this year which were the trio we started with, and two trios from last year. We kept 4 pullets and 2 cockrells out of over 100 from last year, I breed all 3 trios for a 9 month period and produced over 300 young birds, I kept 2 cockrells and 6 Pullets to this point. each will be test mated (Proginey tested) I expect after that to cull a few more, I will go through the winter breeding season with only 1 male and 3 females all are proven breeders, the Original Trio will likely be culled as the resulting offspring I have at this point are superior to them in many ways.
secondly Once the line is established and the line breeds in a predictable manner only retain the offspring that show improvement and rotate your breed stock less frequesntly and never all at once. I rotate my well established birds in the following manner: Males never rotate out until over the age of 5, I keep them as long as they are productive, females I keep only 3-4 each year for replacements in spring of needed and are only retained after test matings. I also only rotate as many as half of my female breeders each year sometimes none, and only when I have pullets that are superior to what I had or the hens are getting too old to be productive.
you can develop a family from as little as 1 trio seperate the resulting good ofspring into seperate lines under the family and maintain a few pens all related but distant enough to not cause issues when a one line needs something new brought in it doesn't introduce unknown traits or problems they have been under similar selection process for a long period of time.
Given that mathod you can maintain a closed line for longer than most will keep thier birds.
i read about inbreeding/line breeding here several times. and i always see people say "if managed properly", but no one says how to or how they "manage properly". anyone care to give details for those here who are interested in learning more?
Managing properly in this context involves the following:
1. Only using those that are the best of the best to begin the process.
2. Culling heavily each generation; particularly as it is related to health and vigour.
3. Knowing what you are looking for before you begin.
4. Understanding that certain breeds seem to inbreed better than others.
Did I mention culling? lol.
As a rule establishing the line is longest hardest part. You must first produce a large number of birds from your starter birds to identify the problems that exist within the birds. Cull the problems, and retain only the very best birds that are not only better than teh parent stock but also have fewer problems than all the others. this will take years, as an example we have breed from 3 Trios this year which were the trio we started with, and two trios from last year. We kept 4 pullets and 2 cockrells out of over 100 from last year, I breed all 3 trios for a 9 month period and produced over 300 young birds, I kept 2 cockrells and 6 Pullets to this point. each will be test mated (Proginey tested) I expect after that to cull a few more, I will go through the winter breeding season with only 1 male and 3 females all are proven breeders, the Original Trio will likely be culled as the resulting offspring I have at this point are superior to them in many ways.
secondly Once the line is established and the line breeds in a predictable manner only retain the offspring that show improvement and rotate your breed stock less frequesntly and never all at once. I rotate my well established birds in the following manner: Males never rotate out until over the age of 5, I keep them as long as they are productive, females I keep only 3-4 each year for replacements in spring of needed and are only retained after test matings. I also only rotate as many as half of my female breeders each year sometimes none, and only when I have pullets that are superior to what I had or the hens are getting too old to be productive.
you can develop a family from as little as 1 trio seperate the resulting good ofspring into seperate lines under the family and maintain a few pens all related but distant enough to not cause issues when a one line needs something new brought in it doesn't introduce unknown traits or problems they have been under similar selection process for a long period of time.
Given that mathod you can maintain a closed line for longer than most will keep thier birds.
