I'm a complete novice, currently chickenless but obsessed with learning everything about them.
When it comes to raising purebred flocks how are the bloodlines recorded? I haven't found alot of information on this and am curious about how it works. Is it similar to other types of livestock (cattle or horses) where the individual parents and resulting offspring are registered with their breed registry as individuals or is it done some other way? Just wondering how it works for chickens.
This can be as complicated or easy as you need in your breeding program, or as you want to make it for your own satisfaction. There is no central breed registry like the AKC Stud Book. Nor do separate breed clubs have such registries. Some National Breed Clubs in poultry sell leg rings which are numbered( or you can buy them on
eBay or somewhere) to ID each bird. Some people use colored leg bands to denote which flock or family the birds descend from. A lot of creativity out there in poultry breeders.
First choose your basic breeding system depending on your needs in the flock and how closely they are related. Inbreeding is not as much a problem in poultry as in mammals. Poultry have a much wider genetic base and many more sex-linked genes than mammals. In fact to start your flock you will want to buy your foundation as started birds. Which have been culled at least once by the breeder. Or retired show or breeder birds which have a generation or two of breeding left in them. .
Now, how to choose a strain, once you have chosen the breed? Poultry plumage patterns can take a long time and much wise culling to stabilize. Penciled, barred, mille fleur, speckled and other patterns can take decades to stabilize into regularly occurring proper patterns over multiple generations. Plus the breeder should have built the house first before painting it so the birds should be vigorous and capable of their historic work, be it eggs, meat or both.
What you are looking for is a veteran line-bred strain. One which wins in quality competition over multiple generations. ( lot of birds competing). Where the color pattern is properly and reliably inherited over the generations. Look at the Amer. Poultry Assn. website for Hall of Fame Breeders and Master and Grand Master Breeders. Also check the show listings to see who is winning at the years big shows like Columbus, Oh and Northeast Poultry Congress in MA . Check at the National Breed Club website to see who they consider their most honored breeders.
Tell your breeder of choice you want birds to found a flock on their strain. That you need birds which can be bred to each other. In poultry we inbreed to set traits, then line breed as needed to stabilize virtue.
The bird you get may already be past the inbreeding thang and just ready to line breed. A word of caution here,
do not, repeat, do not cross strains to found your flock. It is a novice mistake and can set you back years or even a decade as you struggle to restabilize the gene pool. All those sex-linked genes and wider genetic base we discussed earlier.
Obtain quality representatives of a vintage line-bred strain and line breed them. Listen to the strain's breeder and have them help you with the 1st 2 generations breedings until you figure out how the strain inherits and throws virtue. Read up on your chosen breed so you can discuss them correctly with the breeder. Read the classic books by a breeder of that breed.
The breeder of your foundation birds can help you with establishing the correct breeding plan for your birds. Take look at the breeder's record keeping. If it worked for him/her and brought his/her birds to this level of excellence it might be a good model for you too.
Best Regards,
Karen in western PA, USA
