Making Lemonade [Selective Culling Project - very long term]

[3KillerBs]

PS, my best breeder candidate Blue Australorp boy is very dark on the head and back (a little exaggerated in this photo because he's damp):

The paler boys are the less desirable ones:

 

[U_Stormcrow]

and I just realized how bad that picture was. Sorry. Will try again.

 

[NatJ]

I wish all the breed clubs posted the expected DNA codes for their breeds.

Most breed clubs probably do not know what the expected DNA is.
If you have chickens that look right, and you breed them together to get more chickens that look right, you do not really have to understand the genetics.

And for some breeds, there is more than one way (genetically speaking) to get chickens that look right. As an extreme but obvious example, a recessive white chicken could have any combination of other genes for feather colors, and no-one would ever know unless they crossed it to something else.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

and @Lauravonsmurf I don't even attempt to figure out the genetics anymore. But I knew going in it was more complex than i wanted to deal with, and that my management wasn't suited to controlled breeding - that's why I settled on culling out, instead of breeding in.

I am figuring I am going to have to do similar. It helps knowing what genes might hide (pesky recessives if you don’t want that gene) or will not show in an f1 cross… but might resurface with the right back breeding.

 

[Lauravonsmurf]

Most breed clubs probably do not know what the expected DNA is.
If you have chickens that look right, and you breed them together to get more chickens that look right, you do not really have to understand the genetics.

And for some breeds, there is more than one way (genetically speaking) to get chickens that look right. As an extreme but obvious example, a recessive white chicken could have any combination of other genes for feather colors, and no-one would ever know unless they crossed it to something else.

Yeah, and I learned years ago here in the old USA if you accidentally breed a bird that ends up looking like an awesome version of X breed, you can show it as X breed even though it is not from that breed pool… the Wild West it is… That is why I roll my eyes when people go in about Show Lines not being mutts, sometimes they are mutts… … sometimes they are carefully preserve carefully tracked lines… same with private not being shown flocks, sometimes Willy Nelly breeding, instead sometimes they are carefully documented pure lines.

You have to find out what a breeder is doing or not doing to know for sure what you got and potential gene pool looks like.

Bur yeah the CCL folks decided to put the science to work (probably because the breed was a genetic study) and share.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I don't know if you've mentioned it ir not, but would you encourage broodiness if it happened? Or do you see it as unneeded because you can incubate?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I put no value on it either way. If it shows up, I won't try and get rid of it. If it doesn't, I won't lose sleep over it.

and I found another hidden nest today - under a blackberry (natives - thorns!!!) bramble - so if I had a broody, that's where her butt would sit.

 

[SpicyDisaster]

Awesome thread, thank you for this documentation and sharing your journey!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Awesome thread, thank you for this documentation and sharing your journey!

Thank you for coming along with - were it not for the comments, I'd be much less focused upon it. Your presence helps me, even when you aren't offering advice on who to cull (or not)