My 1.5 cents is:
Try to find more than one breeder with a line or lines of breed that interests you. Then ask around, see how those lines are related. Most folks start with trios or pairs, therefore it is difficult for even the best breeder to carryover many of the genes that make a breed unique as well as enable it to have enough genetic variation for quality long-term survival. It is bad for short-term show use of birds and will cause quarantine related headaches, but acquiring birds from more than one line will greatly enhance preservation of many breeds. Occasional swapping of brood stock between breeders helps a great deal as well. If you can take a flock with a varied genetic background and get it into top show quality through selective breeding, then you will have something to brag about. The varied genetic background can also help production performance and production performance should not be ignored in your selection program of a rare breed, even if it slows down show performance a bit. Performance also is not strictly in respect to egg production as is often a key problem noted for many commercial hatcheries. It can include meat production of some breeds, broodines / parenting ability, fertility, carcass characteristics and foraging ability. The later performances are some practical to ignore when breeding and rearing resources are limited.
I spent a solid year looking around for breeders and reading up on American dominiques before acquiring my first bird. Annoyed a lot folks showing birds and commerical hatchery operators with questions before settling in on a breeding program. Many more kinds of kung fu than you can shake a stick at regarding breeding programs. More than yard birds that few others have is wanted. Want strong healthy flock that looks, sound, feels, and produces like they are supposed to and has a consitution that does not require excessive use of pharmicueticals to control health issues.
And sometimes another person's cull can be gold in respect to genetics (another 0.5 cents).
Try to find more than one breeder with a line or lines of breed that interests you. Then ask around, see how those lines are related. Most folks start with trios or pairs, therefore it is difficult for even the best breeder to carryover many of the genes that make a breed unique as well as enable it to have enough genetic variation for quality long-term survival. It is bad for short-term show use of birds and will cause quarantine related headaches, but acquiring birds from more than one line will greatly enhance preservation of many breeds. Occasional swapping of brood stock between breeders helps a great deal as well. If you can take a flock with a varied genetic background and get it into top show quality through selective breeding, then you will have something to brag about. The varied genetic background can also help production performance and production performance should not be ignored in your selection program of a rare breed, even if it slows down show performance a bit. Performance also is not strictly in respect to egg production as is often a key problem noted for many commercial hatcheries. It can include meat production of some breeds, broodines / parenting ability, fertility, carcass characteristics and foraging ability. The later performances are some practical to ignore when breeding and rearing resources are limited.
I spent a solid year looking around for breeders and reading up on American dominiques before acquiring my first bird. Annoyed a lot folks showing birds and commerical hatchery operators with questions before settling in on a breeding program. Many more kinds of kung fu than you can shake a stick at regarding breeding programs. More than yard birds that few others have is wanted. Want strong healthy flock that looks, sound, feels, and produces like they are supposed to and has a consitution that does not require excessive use of pharmicueticals to control health issues.
And sometimes another person's cull can be gold in respect to genetics (another 0.5 cents).
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