From what I understand chickens, like most other animals, should not interbreed between mother and child.
How far down the line is it considered safe for a related birds to breed?
What I am looking at is a self-supporting flock of birds. My goal is to have around 20 hens (I have 13 hens right now), use 5 hens and a rooster for breeding, and 15 hens for eeg laying. Then rotate the hens out every 6 months or so with the rooster.
How do I make sure the gene pool does not get contminated without having 4 different chicken yards?
Or does all of this matter?
Would it be good idea to keep the breeding hens seperate from the laying hens? Or just throw all of them together and dont worry about it?
If the hens are all together, I would not want to be eating eggs that are fertilized.
How far down the line is it considered safe for a related birds to breed?
What I am looking at is a self-supporting flock of birds. My goal is to have around 20 hens (I have 13 hens right now), use 5 hens and a rooster for breeding, and 15 hens for eeg laying. Then rotate the hens out every 6 months or so with the rooster.
How do I make sure the gene pool does not get contminated without having 4 different chicken yards?
Or does all of this matter?
Would it be good idea to keep the breeding hens seperate from the laying hens? Or just throw all of them together and dont worry about it?
If the hens are all together, I would not want to be eating eggs that are fertilized.