Line Breeding After Inbreeding

[LilJoe]

Hello,

I decided to transfer my question from the American Serama Thread to its own. So here it goes...
I am breeding to the SOP and I bred a rooster to his sister (brother × sister). The only chick of theirs that hatched was a gorgeous cockerel. I was thinking about breeding him back to his mother (who is also his aunt) to see of I get better chicks/ strengthen some traits. Would it be okay to do this or should I had fresh genes?

 

[cmom]

I line breed. I do not breed brother, sister. If I need another male, I make arrangements to usually pick one up at a show from the breeder my original birds came from. I do show my birds and I strive to keep my lines pure, I breed for show quality. People often make the mistake of crossing lines for NEW BLOOD. Sometimes it may work out and some very nice chicks may hatch out and other times traits come out that are undesirable.

 

[ShannonR]

Use your own best judgement. What undesirable traits do the cockerel and hen you are considering breeding him to show? And what traits are you trying to maintain with this pairing? What other options are available? You will get the bad traits perpetuated along with the good ones, and maybe a few recessive surprises as well.

 

[cmom]

Since you already have a nice young cockerel, breed him to his mother and see what you get. I have some coops and pens for my breeders and the birds I don't breed go into general population coops and pens.

 

[centrarchid]

OP, I occasionally do as you are considering. Breeding a son back to the mother works best if the mother carries the genetic mix that is close to the ideal. If she is not such a bird, then you will not get what you are after. Beyond that, the approach is a way to preserve what limited genetic variation you have as you are making more that are like the mother in that line, but less like the P1 father.

 

[LilJoe]

I line breed. I do not breed brother, sister. If I need another male, I make arrangements to usually pick one up at a show from the breeder my original birds came from. I do show my birds and I strive to keep my lines pure, I breed for show quality. People often make the mistake of crossing lines for NEW BLOOD. Sometimes it may work out and some very nice chicks may hatch out and other times traits come out that are undesirable.

That's what I'm afraid of if I do get another rooster or pair... There's a really good breeder in California that I'm considering getting birds from but am unsure. I got my original birds from Oklahoma, but I feel like a lot of her birds have traits I do not want.

Use your own best judgement. What undesirable traits do the cockerel and hen you are considering breeding him to show? And what traits are you trying to maintain with this pairing? What other options are available? You will get the bad traits perpetuated along with the good ones, and maybe a few recessive surprises as well.

OP, I occasionally do as you are considering. Breeding a son back to the mother works best if the mother carries the genetic mix that is close to the ideal. If she is not such a bird, then you will not get what you are after. Beyond that, the approach is a way to preserve what limited genetic variation you have as you are making more that are like the mother in that line, but less like the P1 father.

This is making me rethink.... the father is better than the mother. For some reason I was thinking she might not be showing some traits that she has in herself and that if I bred her to her son then they would show.
Since the father is better, I'm thinking the best decision is to breed the cockerel's parents together and hope I get a really nice pullet to breed back to the father.

 

[Gray Farms]

You'll be fine. Chickens can be linebred and inbred for generations before ill effects will show up.

 

[LilJoe]

You'll be fine. Chickens can be linebred and inbred for generations before ill effects will show up.

That's what I thought... just wasn't completely sure. Thank you

 

[Gray Farms]

That's what I thought... just wasn't completely sure. Thank you

Glad to help

 

[cmom]

That's what I'm afraid of if I do get another rooster or pair... There's a really good breeder in California that I'm considering getting birds from but am unsure. I got my original birds from Oklahoma, but I feel like a lot of her birds have traits I do not want.
This is making me rethink.... the father is better than the mother. For some reason I was thinking she might not be showing some traits that she has in herself and that if I bred her to her son then they would show.
Since the father is better, I'm thinking the best decision is to breed the cockerel's parents together and hope I get a really nice pullet to breed back to the father.

For years I wanted some pure RIR. One year finally at a show, there was a fellow selling some birds from a line I had been looking into. I bought some from him. I raised them for a few years and they just didn't have the look I was looking for. I went to another show and saw some birds supposedly from the same line, I fell in love with them, just what I was looking for. I looked up the breeder and made arrangements to purchase some and he would bring them to the next show. I was not disappointed. I bought 3 females and a male. This was quite a few years ago. I don't have the original male but have some generations. I absolutely love them. I hatch out a lot of chicks each year, (around 300 usually) grow them out and pick out my future breeders. Some I can tell earlier that they don't have the traits I'm looking for and I sell them. I have general population pens for the birds I don't sell. I sell most of the males and only keep a main male and a backup for each of my chosen breeds. Soon it will be time to load up the incubator. Good luck and have fun...