Question about inbreeding.

[Darius123]

Hi! So i want to mate in the future my Brahma cockerel with my brahma pullet. The problem is that this batch had a Brahma chick witch had stunted growth, face deformity and vision problems, unfortunately the little fellow died. This makes me think that the line of this brahmas i want to breed has some generation of inbreeding. My question is, should i carry on with the inbreeding, or that little guy was the clear sign that this genetic line needs some new genes to it?

 

[cherrynberry]

@MysteryChicken

 

[MysteryChicken]

Hi! So i want to mate in the future my Brahma cockerel with my brahma pullet. The problem is that this batch had a Brahma chick witch had stunted growth, face deformity and vision problems, unfortunately the little fellow died. This makes me think that the line of this brahmas i want to breed has some generation of inbreeding. My question is, should i carry on with the inbreeding, or that little guy was the clear sign that this genetic line needs some new genes to it?

If this is a severe case of inbreeding, & the results are devastating, you have to stop inbreeding, & add new blood to the flock.

 

[Darius123]

If this is a severe case of inbreeding, & the results are devastating, you have to stop inbreeding, & add new blood to the flock.

Yeah but that was my question. I dont know exactly for how long this birds have been inbreeded, and im afraid due to that chick that had some serious issues that if i breed my cockerel with my pullet, i will have many like him. Do you think that the little one was just a exception or a sing that i cant breed them?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Yeah but that was my question. I dont know exactly for how long this birds have been inbreeded, and im afraid due to that chick that had some serious issues that if i breed my cockerel with my pullet, i will have many like him. Do you think that the little one was just a exception or a sing that i cant breed them?

You just don't want to do further inbreeding. Knowing how long they've been inbred is nearly impossible without information from previous breeders.

Adding new blood should fix the issue you're having, but if you're still having issues, discontinue, & start over. Nobody likes starting over.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You wont know if there is a problem until you breed them in some numbers. One hatched chick with problems is not a harbinger of doom.

Not knowing the quality of birds, if they are breeder stock or hatchery stock and so on there isn't much to tell you. What I can tell you is bringing in new blood to an established line of birds can cause more problems if keeping to the standard of perfection is your goal. Crossing lines is iffy business. Sometimes they niche well and other times many faults express themselves. If you find you need new blood you'd be better served obtaining unrelated birds from same line to bring in. Or if your birds are not up to par per the standard of perfection just starting out with new birds would be a good bet.

But then it's all about your goals and you don't know if there is a problem until you hatch some chicks.

 

[Trish1974]

I agree 100% with Egghead_Jr, Just one deformed chick doesn't necessarily mean inbreeding. It could have been an incubation issue or just something random.

My first line of black Araucanas had been inbred for several years. The breeder informed me of this when I purchased them. I asked how long she thought I could continue breeding them and she said "when they shrink you've gone too far". I hit that point last year, 3 years after inbreeding those same inbred birds. Infertility was my biggest problem. A few were too small, but I never had anything hatch deformed.

Like Egghead Jr said, bringing in a new line will wreak havoc. I had to do so in my whites, and 40% of the chicks I hatched from the combination of lines this year had partial tails.

I would try to hatch several more chicks to see the outcome before you jump to conclusions.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I agree 100% with Egghead_Jr, Just one deformed chick doesn't necessarily mean inbreeding. It could have been an incubation issue or just something random.

My first line of black Araucanas had been inbred for several years. The breeder informed me of this when I purchased them. I asked how long she thought I could continue breeding them and she said "when they shrink you've gone too far". I hit that point last year, 3 years after inbreeding those same inbred birds. Infertility was my biggest problem. A few were too small, but I never had anything hatch deformed.

Like Egghead Jr said, bringing in a new line will wreak havoc. I had to do so in my whites, and 40% of the chicks I hatched from the combination of lines this year had partial tails.

I would try to hatch several more chicks to see the outcome before you jump to conclusions.

I seem to have experienced the Shrinkage with my project Orpingtons. I have an Orpington chick who is like 15 weeks old, & is pretty much still the same size as she was at 8-9 weeks.

The odd thing is I went 3 generations, & back crossed to Buff Orpingtons.

If I remember correctly she's 13-14 weeks in this picture.

She's the smallest bird I've ever introduced into the adult flock.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

I seem to have experienced the Shrinkage with my project Orpingtons. I have an Orpington chick who is like 15 weeks old, & is pretty much still the same size as she was at 8-9 weeks.

The odd thing is I went 3 generations, & back crossed to Buff Orpingtons.

If I remember correctly she's 13-14 weeks in this picture.
View attachment 2824348She's the smallest bird I've ever introduced into the adult flock.

The problem is likely due to something else other than genetics since you’re dealing with a larger gene pool.

 

[MysteryChicken]

The problem is likely due to something else other than genetics since you’re dealing with a larger gene pool

Not Really. My genepool was actually pretty restricted. Most of my other birds were produced by Full Sibling Breedings.