Line breeding program

[Dr.Dale]

A few months ago I was reading an old thread and found a picture or a pdf that someone had posted of a line breeding program. It was a pretty eye-catching cartoonish graphics and described the various pairings in detail for something like five generations, but I cannot find it now. Does anyone know the picture I am talking about (sorry the description is so vague)

 

[Wickedchicken6]

A few months ago I was reading an old thread and found a picture or a pdf that someone had posted of a line breeding program. It was a pretty eye-catching cartoonish graphics and described the various pairings in detail for something like five generations, but I cannot find it now. Does anyone know the picture I am talking about (sorry the description is so vague)

Could this have been the thread you are looking for? It contains a variety of charts.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-and-lots-of-reading-updated-nov-13th.343605/

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Are you looking for clarification of parts to line breeding or just want to find that particular chart as it's eye catching?

We can certainly clarify any questions you have. One thing I want to point out is those charts are not meant to be followed to a "T". They are merely a guideline to show you how it works and some even go as far as trying to show percentage of "blood" from original Dam and Sire. This of course is vague at best as you flip a coin, have 50/50 chance, of what is coming from each parent.

 

[Dr.Dale]

Could this have been the thread you are looking for? It contains a variety of charts.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-and-lots-of-reading-updated-nov-13th.343605/

That was not it, but totally helpful info!

 

[Dr.Dale]

Are you looking for clarification of parts to line breeding or just want to find that particular chart as it's eye catching?

Well, let me explain the motivation. I have some very high quality stock (Silver Appleyard ducks from Dave Holderread). I don’t need to improve quality, just maintain it. My wife is feeling overrun with birds so I would like to maintain with as small a population as feasible.

Originally I was planning on a spiral clan system (3 families with 5-7 females per family) but I don’t think my wife will tolerate that. So I am looking for a “leaner” program. The one I mentioned just stuck out in my mind because of the nice graphics.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

As with any breeding program you'll be selling off or eating the rejects. Even maintaining a line you should be hatching fourty or more birds per year.

Get numbered leg bands and make life easy. I use a separate small pen and coop for breeding. Put the selected females, 2 or 3 of them in there until the eggs are no longer fertile then add the sire to them. Now you've known parentage. Keep records of who came from what mating. In this way you know what parings make for best birds and those that don't niche.

With the above implied/practiced then loosely follow a basic breeding chart. Keep in mind you are running two sides, a side increasingly gaining the original dams genetics and a side increasingly gaining the sires. After so many years of this cross them. to mix the genes again and start anew, slowly gaining the sire of that mating one side and the dmas the other. After another five years mate the two sides again.

So you see, with minimal record keeping and maybe making your own chart to visualize the line breeding you are doing a line breeding program is not that hard to maintain.

 

[Dr.Dale]

As with any breeding program you'll be selling off or eating the rejects. Even maintaining a line you should be hatching fourty or more birds per year.

Yes, we are planning on hatching ~140/year with our expected rate of eating, selling, and miscellaneous losses. We just don’t want to keep a huge standing flock, so we will breed a lot and keep only a very few.

With the above implied/practiced then loosely follow a basic breeding chart. Keep in mind you are running two sides, a side increasingly gaining the original dams genetics and a side increasingly gaining the sires.

What do you mean by this?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I meant to loosely follow a standard line breeding. Make your own but keep original sire side and original dams side separate in breeding for several generations. Cross them and start again. This will keep you genetically diverse. Look below and see how diverse the 5th and 6th generations are. There is no need to bring in new blood. You can go for decades if you keep good records and diversity up.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

This is a system devised for linebreeding on a small, two-enclosure scale. I hope you find it as helpful as I did!
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw2qQ6mNrAfSCwnhXLHxJOAj

 

[Dr.Dale]

That is helpful, especially with all of the background details. I would have to scale it down further, but I could make that work.