Landrace/adaptive breeding discussion

[fluffycrow]

I was asked to do a presentation on adaptive breeding in a few weeks. Could any of you help me by providing a good picture of one of your birds, what stage you're at (grex, proto-landrace, etc.), your general location, and which breeds are included in your population? Only if you feel comfortable with it.

I don't like my photos circling too much, certainly not outside BYC (plus, I'm not sure my birds are what you're looking for?), but good luck securing some photos, and good luck on your presentation

 

[LaurenRitz]

No problem. If necessary I'll just use my own birds. I just figured the presentation would be better with more examples.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

No problem. If necessary I'll just use my own birds. I just figured the presentation would be better with more examples.

Do you want the pics posted to this thread?

 

[LaurenRitz]

If possible, or send them to me privately.

 

[LaurenRitz]

For clarification, these will not be posted online or anywhere electronic. I suppose there's a possibility that someone might take pictures on their phone, but the presentation will be in person.

 

[LaurenRitz]

I had a thought. A couple times my girls went broody and snakes got into the nest. Once, the hen broke broody. The next time (different hen) she tried to protect her nest and a bunch of the eggs got trampled.

I watched her drag the crushed eggs out of the nest and eat them.

From a survival standpoint that makes sense. Get the damaged eggs out of the nest and prevent them from being discovered by predators.

I wonder if egg eating is another example of a broken broody instinct? The obsessive urge to "clean the nest" separated from actually being broody?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Current stage is grex. Year 3 of my culling project. Started with golden comets (themselves a hybrid), rainbows (which look to be primarily a Rhode Island/Orpington cross), Silver Lace Wyandotte, Dark Brahma, and RUG, "rooster of unknown genetics".

Pictured above are two shots of the most recent hatching, you can see some of the traits are beginning to commonize, however I still ended up with one very very dark bird with red undertones, and one very very light bird with Limited pattern Gene display.

Pictured below are two (and one above) pictures of the older birds from last year's hatching. I anticipate that the too light hatchling and the too dark hatchling will look something like the adult birds below.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I had a thought. A couple times my girls went broody and snakes got into the nest. Once, the hen broke broody. The next time (different hen) she tried to protect her nest and a bunch of the eggs got trampled.

I watched her drag the crushed eggs out of the nest and eat them.

From a survival standpoint that makes sense. Get the damaged eggs out of the nest and prevent them from being discovered by predators.

I wonder if egg eating is another example of a broken broody instinct? The obsessive urge to "clean the nest" separated from actually being broody?

Could be. Usually when eggs get damaged or go missing the hen will abandon the nest and start laying in a new spot. I can’t really test though whether a hen will keep using a nest by removing broken eggs. Here in Florida, fire ants will swarm a nest if eggs get broken, so a hen won’t return where eggs have leaked and ants are eating the contents.

I do know my hens of various backgrounds won’t lay in a nest box where chicks have recently hatched if I don’t remove the shells and clean out the old bedding. I’ve found that odd. Its very consistent though. Even when fireants haven’t bothered the nest.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

View attachment 3851384

Can you tell me about the black one with the brown on its chest?