Hello all. Let me start by saying that I am not planning on being a big time breeder or plan on breeding show birds. Just a small hobby farm flock. I am just starting and bought buff orps from a local farmer. He was close and only charged $3 for the chicks who were already a week old. I got 10 but he gave me the 10th for free because of a leg deformity. It seems to be a hip issue and it is rotated laterally. It seems to have figured out how to hop and balance well enough. As I was inspecting the chicks I noticed that three were kinda runty. One had pasty butt, which was an easy remedy. The other has a much more subtle leg issue. It's at the equivalent of a human knee. It's not bent funny or anything. It just doesn't seem to want to put much pressure on it. So I'm not sure if it's an injury or something else.
Now onto my actual question...do I already need to bring in fresh blood for breeding? I know siblings can breed together but are these leg issues an indicator that these chicks have been inbred to a great degree or am I making mountains out of mole hills? These chicks were straight run so I will have a mix of roosters and hens to potentially use for breeding.
Now onto my actual question...do I already need to bring in fresh blood for breeding? I know siblings can breed together but are these leg issues an indicator that these chicks have been inbred to a great degree or am I making mountains out of mole hills? These chicks were straight run so I will have a mix of roosters and hens to potentially use for breeding.
