line breeding

[veggiecanner]

I've been looking at eggs on e-bay and with shipping it's more than I can do right now. Will it hurt to put some of the hens with their father to breed for the summer? How many generations before I start seein defects or production drop off?
The person I got them from said they were from several breeders.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

If your stock are from several different breeders then you should be fine. If nothing else you know what to look for in your future breeders to pair with your current ones. Like you might find out they all have great color/pattern but they matured late or dont have very nice breast....

As we say in the meat rabbit circle "breed the best, eat the rest!"

 

[dc3085]

You can usually get away with a couple of generations. Parent x offspring is typically less detrimental to genetics than sibling x sibling. It depends on a lot of factors how many generations you can go before you will begin to see defects. Breeding for specific colors I have noticed a decline in size after multiple generations in some lines. I have never personally had any issues with offspring physical defects or infertility in inbreeding for 2 generations. Within reason it won't cause you problems.

edit to add: Read this article from UC davis labs. The pertinent information on inbreeding is on page 16-18.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Ya with siblings its the same genes, half mom amd half dad. A parent x offspring is more to work with, 25% mom 75% dad for back to sire or 25% dad 75% mom if back to dam.

And if your hens arent related to your roo... well you could still keep a roo from hen 1 to breed a pen of hens 4 thru 9 which are unrelated still. And a roo from hen 7 to cover hens 1 thru 3.
Just an idea. Lol tons of breedin pen ideas and waitin on my own hens to lay

 

[DaisyQ12]

As everyone else said, it'll be okay for a few generations but after awhile you'll have to add some new blood. The more from different breeders and such is better though and as what I've seen is better and healthier birds as well as better fertility. I think inbreeding shows a lot more physically in mammals.

 

[cookiesdaddy]

I am a newbie, but I thought (from reading) that you want to keep in-line breeding if you want to maintain the big size, isn't this true? So after 2-3 generations what do you do? Find another big roo or hen and breed it with your existing best bird?

 

[tridentk9]

There are two different problems with inbreeding. One is genetic problems. This is what most people think of when they consider line breeding. Extra toes, different colors- problems that are brought about by genes- and for most people they're thinking the recessive genes. Well, except for the rare mutation, inbreeding can only cause genetic problems if the genes for those problems were there to start with. In fact, inbreeding can help you find out what deleterious genes are in your animals. Just remember, all individuals do have some "bad" genes

The second problem is actually worse in the long run. Inbreeding cuts down on the available genes for breeding. Once you lose a gene- it's gone. It also lowers the Major Histocompatability Complex. I'm doing this from a mammalian standpoint as that's how I learned it; a lower MHC increases the risks for lower birth weights, lower litter sizes, increased allergies, decreased lifespan, decreased immune systems. Overall, an increased risk for a poor doer. And it's a risk not a sure thing.

So, inbreeding or no inbreeding? Well- it depends. Are the offspring going to be used for breeding? If so- it just might tell you what genes there are in your lines. The general idea is that you at least keep in contact, if not in control of, all offspring to see what pops up. You'll need to run several on just to see what happens. Ahem- not sure how that part would work out for meat chickens with short lifespans ;-)