Potential Inbreeding

[Carolina Chicken Man]

I bought 10 BO chicks from a local farm. I believe that the owner buys hatchery eggs and incubates.

They were supposed to be all hens, but of course sexing not being 100%, one is a male.

I do not have to worry about this now, but if I decide to raise some baby chicks, how big of a concern is it that he is a brother or half brother to my hens.

If I had gotten lucky and they were all hens, I had planned to maybe buy a rooster from a 4Her at the state fair in Oct.

Also, what can I do with the roo, I don't want to kill and eat him. I have been thinking about running an ad on CL and see if someone wanted to swap.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

If they are from a hatchery then you dont really have to worry about inbreeding. We mate half siblings together all the time and father to daughter, son to mother, that kind of thing. There are a few breeders out there that will tell you to inbreed until you get 3 eyes, but I dont recommend it. If you are unsure, stick an ad on craigslist and ask for a trade, your BO roo for someone elses BO roo.

 

[Carolina Chicken Man]

Quote:
I thought in-breeding was always bad, particularly brother to sister. Your reply sounds like it is fairly standard practice. Did I understand correctly?

 

[NYREDS]

In breeding is generally not a good idea-what he described in line breeding, there's a difference. I have line bred my Rhode Island Red bantams for over 20 years w/o introducing any new blood. They are as good as any you'll find and better than most.

 

[Carolina Chicken Man]

I'm confused. ( Nothing new there though)

 

[greyfields]

Chickens are affected by inbreeding like other mamals can be. Don't sweat it too much. If you can trade the rooster for a different one someday, do it. But, don't freak out if brother/sister mate either. There simply aren't genetic diseases in fowl caused by inbreeding like they are in humans and other livestock.

Also, even if you buy from online hatcheries, many of them are getting their hatching eggs from the same few breeders. It's possible every chicken you ever get could be 'inbred' from the same source.

And finally, there are truly no "breeds" of chicken. No such thing as a purebred.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Yes, I meant line breeding, sorry for the confusion. I read in the book 'Song of the Dodo' about inbreeding full siblings and the author said that with poultry inbreeding wont have any effect for many generations, but with poland china hogs the litters were smaller and predominantly male by the third generation of full sibling mating. So as greyfields said, chickens arent affected by inbreeding like mammals are. Sorry for any confusion I may have caused.

 

[Arklady]

The Genetic dna in chickens and other small birds like pedgions and the like, is very loose so there is fudge room. When your hatched chickens are too small for what they should be then you can worry about fresh blood in your flock.

As a rule I always try to find a different Roo than what is hatched but its not always that easy. When you are isolated like I am its not always easy to get fresh blood. For now I am doing ok with mine and I have added no new blood for any of my birds.

Arklady

 

[lilcountry]

I have a question along the same line..so just to borrow for a minute..are you suppose to breed the same varities of chickens? Like the roo must be the same as the hens if you are going to have baby chicks? And if you dont when the chicks come are they considered a mix or are they called what either the hen or roo is called?

 

[Arklady]

You can breed what ever chicken you have to any other chicken but if they are not the same then they are called mutts or sexlinks and will not reproduce properly as far as colors and breeds. If you want your chickens to look the same then you need a roo that is the same as the hens.