noobie question: eggs from the same bird.

[MobyQuail]

Quote:
So, we know 24 eggs could be from 24 hens or 12 hens to 6 hens...4 roos, 3 roos, etc. they may be related or not. so I guess we don't know how related the donating flock is.

lets say, they have 12 hens and 3-4 roos, that gets you the 24 eggs to hatch. if 75% hatch, we have 18 birds to work with, of varying parentage, you see what I am getting at.

Your first generation may be ok, but you may want to bring in an unrelated roo or two down the road, quarantine them, then breed them to your best hens.

just what I did, to get a broader gene base to start. course, I do intend to line breed if I want to as well.

 

[1shotcleaner]

are they yard birds "all running together" or set up in breading pens ? if yard birds they will all mix and be fine for 3-4 generations continued restocking thats like 6-8 years. if pen breading try to get pure stock from a local breeder and some from as far away as possible.then the chicks will be good and can be added to the breeders as well as sold as pure stock. unless you are showing or selling pure stock ,i wouldent be concerned .they will be fine. 6 eggs same rooster and hen 4 diffrent cross chicks and 1 matching the hen 1 matching the rooster, go figure you can start your own breed.