Linebreeding an extremely rare breed flock

[lenadriver]

Thank you so much, this is fabulous

 

[gjensen]

Breeding decisions of this sort cannot be decided or advised from a distance. Tips, pointers, things to consider, etc. can be shared. There are too many variables that are unknown across the pond.

These decisions are made knowing the individual birds. You may find a variety of reasons to do a variety of things over time.

If there are no more of this breed where you are, the original aim is to build a flock that has enough depth to be sustainable. There would be some debate on how many that would require. Again, this would begin with knowing the birds. How close were they to begin with etc? A breeding flock of 24 females and 4 males are not too many. How many families that you need depends on the size of the families etc. It does not hurt to consider running half again as many males as you plan to use. This acts as a bit of insurance in case of unexpected losses etc.

Building up the numbers while excluding dead end faults, genetic malformations, disqualifications, etc. is priority number one. Once this is accomplished families can be organized by need, strength, weakness, and complementary traits etc. In other words, do not set a family of birds up where they all have the same faults.

Establishing some separation takes time and the only qty of generations can do it.

The quantities that you hatch is often underappreciated. There is genetic variability in the numbers. Running a small flock and hatching low numbers is a dead end no matter what you do. Not to mention this is help towards positive progress.

Managing a sustainable flock of a rare breed when there is no reasonable access to quality birds of the same breed requires a flock of sustainable size. You can get away with less for a time, but it catches up to you eventually.

Skimming through this thread (I did not read it all.) it appears that you should familiarize yourself with the inbreeding coefficient etc. Take some time and get a sense of this. It is doubtful that you know where you are, to begin with, but it will give you an idea of how this works.

It is not true that you cannot breed brothers and sisters. It is not much closer than some of the other familial relationships. There are times and reasons where this is a good choice to make. What you cannot do is haphazardly repeat this from generation to generation. But that should go without saying. If you get an understanding of inbreeding coefficients, you will have a better idea of how this works.

There is a time to line breed, and there is a time to inbreed. Just know when and why. (I am assuming that you want to improve what you have, have a sense of what you have and a sense of where they need to be.)

There are a number of line breeding systems. They all have their strengths and weaknesses. We get different reasons why we do what we do. The system matters, but the selections will matter more than anything.

An example is that there is nothing wrong with flock mating. There are scenarios where this might be a good choice. Again, numbers are important, and the selections vitally important.

Vigor and longevity are always priority number one when selecting, but in cases like this, even more so.