Initial Clan mating

[Lesco Brandon]

I'm planning for clan mating / clan breeding. I've done research into it but still have some unanswered questions. I thought maybe I could bring them here and see if some of us can benefit by sharing thoughts and experiences.

In a nutshell clan breeding is "at least three breeding pens of the same breed and a clan is a flock of related females that always stay in the same pen for breeding. Male and female chicks take the clan of their mother, cockerels are used only once in each pen never to return and after year two they are culled or sold."

My questions:

1. When you start the clans from scratch do you get chicks from the same place and divide them into three clans or do you have to get unrelated chicks from three different places or three different breeding lines?
2. After a breeding is complete and that you have chicks from three clans. If you wanted to integrate them all together, do you take those three cockerels and put them in a separate coop until next breeding season while keeping all the hens from all the clans to live as a flock until the next breeding of do you keep all the males with all the hens?
3. Let's say after the third year of breeding and selection I find a cockerel in clan two that is better than the existing clan 2 cockerel and I decide to replace him with the younger one. Should I do the same with the other clans cockerels or can they remain in their respective positions?

Thank you

 

[Amer]

I am going to start clan mating this year.

1. When you start the clans from scratch do you get chicks from the same place and divide them into three clans or do you have to get unrelated chicks from three different places or three different breeding lines? Either or. I am going to separate related birds into clans.
2. After a breeding is complete and that you have chicks from three clans. If you wanted to integrate them all together, do you take those three cockerels and put them in a separate coop until next breeding season while keeping all the hens from all the clans to live as a flock until the next breeding of do you keep all the males with all the hens? Whatever you want to do as long as the hens are separate from cockerels you aren’t breeding with them for at least a month.
3. Let's say after the third year of breeding and selection I find a cockerel in clan two that is better than the existing clan 2 cockerel and I decide to replace him with the younger one. Should I do the same with the other clans cockerels or can they remain in their respective positions?

Yes.
I think you misunderstand the concept though.
The hens and pullets stay in their clans for life.
So 1, 2, and 3.
Cockerels take the number 1, 2, or 3 from their number. But cockerel 1 is bred with clan 2, cockerel 2 is bred with clan 3, and cockerel 3 is bred with clan 1.

Or you understand the concept and I don’t understand what you are saying.

 

[Lesco Brandon]

I am going to start clan mating this year.

1. When you start the clans from scratch do you get chicks from the same place and divide them into three clans or do you have to get unrelated chicks from three different places or three different breeding lines? Either or. I am going to separate related birds into clans.
2. After a breeding is complete and that you have chicks from three clans. If you wanted to integrate them all together, do you take those three cockerels and put them in a separate coop until next breeding season while keeping all the hens from all the clans to live as a flock until the next breeding of do you keep all the males with all the hens? Whatever you want to do as long as the hens are separate from cockerels you aren’t breeding with them for at least a month.
3. Let's say after the third year of breeding and selection I find a cockerel in clan two that is better than the existing clan 2 cockerel and I decide to replace him with the younger one. Should I do the same with the other clans cockerels or can they remain in their respective positions?

Yes.
I think you misunderstand the concept though.
The hens and pullets stay in their clans for life.
So 1, 2, and 3.
Cockerels take the number 1, 2, or 3 from their number. But cockerel 1 is bred with clan 2, cockerel 2 is bred with clan 3, and cockerel 3 is bred with clan 1.
View attachment 3704291
Or you understand the concept and I don’t understand what you are saying.

Since you are starting clan mating this year, where are the three clans coming from? All from the same place/line or three different lines?

 

[Amer]

Since you are starting clan mating this year, where are the three clans coming from? All from the same place/line or three different lines?

I have two lines.
The hens are from the original line but the pullets and cockerels are a product of that line crossed with another. I did an outcross because I didn’t have any new males and the one I did have was old with poor fertilty.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I am clan breeding my silkied Cochin bantams, but this is my first year of doing so, so I don't really have any more answers than those already given. I agree with what Amer has said so far.

My starting birds all originated from the same farm, but hatched over the course of 3 years or so, so there could have been changes in the flock my birds originated from between those years. I don't know for certain how related any of my birds are to one another, in other words.

On question 3, I have no idea, so I'm interested to see others' answers there. I had not planned on changing out all of my breeding males every year or even all at the same time, myself, but didn't really have any solid reason for that choice other than it being more convenient for me.

 

[Amer]

I am clan breeding my silkied Cochin bantams, but this is my first year of doing so, so I don't really have any more answers than those already given. I agree with what Amer has said so far.

My starting birds all originated from the same farm, but hatched over the course of 3 years or so, so there could have been changes in the flock my birds originated from between those years. I don't know for certain how related any of my birds are to one another, in other words.

On question 3, I have no idea, so I'm interested to see others' answers there. I had not planned on changing out all of my breeding males every year or even all at the same time, myself, but didn't really have any solid reason for that choice other than it being more convenient for me.

You can always "marry" a pair or do a subline or line-breed one of your good males while continuing to switch out males every year for the main clans.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

I lack the pen space at the moment to do something like that, unfortunately. I'll have to think about this more. I had planned on keeping each male for 2 years of breeding instead of just 1, but now I'm a bit concerned that will mess up the whole point of the system.

 

[Amer]

I lack the pen space at the moment to do something like that, unfortunately. I'll have to think about this more. I had planned on keeping each male for 2 years of breeding instead of just 1, but now I'm a bit concerned that will mess up the whole point of the system.

Well, they’re your birds.

 

[Pcmandooo]

I have two lines.
The hens are from the original line but the pullets and cockerels are a product of that line crossed with another. I did an outcross because I didn’t have any new males and the one I did have was old with poor fertilty.

If you outcrossed to bring in vigor to the original line, it might be better to breed the “best” outcross cockerel back to its mother then select a cockerel from that backcross and maybe take that back to its mother again until you have thinned the new blood, culled for the defects, and produced a superior cockerel. Then you’ll be sure of the genetics you’re about to bring back into your original line once you transition into clan mating or whatever the next phase may be.

 

[Amer]

If you outcrossed to bring in vigor to the original line, it might be better to breed the “best” outcross cockerel back to its mother then select a cockerel from that backcross and maybe take that back to its mother again until you have thinned the new blood, culled for the defects, and produced a superior cockerel. Then you’ll be sure of the genetics you’re about to bring back into your original line once you transition into clan mating or whatever the next phase may be.

The cockerels I have now are the product of one backcross but not any more.