question on egg laying genetics

[the Pollo Loco]

out of the 10+ hens that i have only one is laying at least one every couple of days... if i save her eggs and incubate them would the same egg laying ability be in the offspring?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd be hesitant to make too many drastic decisions about which ones to keep or not keep this time of year due to potential reduced laying from molts, short hours of daylight, and such, but egg laying is an inherited trait from both parents. The rooster wil contribute to these traits also.

If you hatch eggs from chickens that lay a lot, their offspring tend to lay a lot. If you hatch eggs from chickens that lay well in the winter, the offspring tend to lay better in the winter. This applies to the overall flock tendencies, not necessarily to one individual hen. You never know what genes an individual hen will inherit, so this may not apply to one specific individual hen. But if you hatch enough chicks for averages to mean much, yes chickens tend to produce offspring that have their traits.

 

[the Pollo Loco]

thank you ridgedrunner for that info.

 

[sjarvis00]

We always had better birds for layers by hatching eggs for layers soley by what was laid in teh winter under natural conditions (no additional lighting) The potential problems come in based on wether or not the male used had a similar selection criteria in the past. It could take you a few generations and always save a rooster from teh winter hatches. But what you will end up with are good layers that will lay all winter with no additional lighting input. keep in mind when birds lay well year round they lay fewer eggs weekly (5 rather than 7) We also found that by keeping and hatching only from older hens you can keep and select for rate of lay as older birds and reduce the frequency of flock rotation for production.