rooster and mating with female offspring

[write2caroline]

Yes , some one posted a pic of a four legged chick on the chick page.
Caroline

 

[kano]

No. It's the first generation. Most breeds had used the interbreeding . Fathers with daugthers, grandfathers with grandaugthers. But you have to refresh the blood from time to time. (I have a flock of zebra finches for 5 years,wich come of 1 male and 2 females. I've had hundreds without any sign of weakness.

 

[Mahonri]

Most breeders like to introduce good looking non related roos to their flock every two years... some do every year.
Others who have spectacular roos will breed them to daughters looking for more spectacular specimens. That's what I'm doing at present with a couple of my Ameraucana pullets...we'll see what I get in January.

 

[JOSEYWALES]

Not really a big deal. Stop at the first sign of deformation which probably wont show up for several generations.

 

[Ridgerunner]

All breeds of chickens were developed by breeding related chickens to each other, even those that started due to mutation. Chickens that take the grand prize at major chicken shows were developed by breeding fathers to daughters or grand-daughters or sometimes brothers to sisters or other such relationships. Linebreeding is one type of inbreeding used to develop championship birds, but it is not the only model ever used.

When you breed related chickens, you reduce the genetic diversity. As Mahonri said, most people bring in new blood on a regular basis to help keep the genetic diversity up. Whether that is every year, every two years, every four years, or when they think it is time based on the chickens they see hatching varies. No hard and fast absolute rules. I think the genetic diversity is a lot more complex than just recessive-dominant genes. Flocks that don't have it seem to lose vigor over time. That does not mean it is always evident in the first generation. It could be, but then it could be several generations before you see it.

The defects that eventually show up may be physical, crossed beaks, crooked toes, something wrong with their body and fairly easy to see. It could be another trait, harder to detect. A common problem a few generations down the line is fertility of hatching eggs. They could become sickly, easy to catch diseases. If your stock has am undesirable trait that shows up in the first generation, I'd suggest getting totally new stock and starting over. There is probably a recessive gene that will be hard to get rid of.

It is not as gloomy as I am probably making it sound. If you only select to keep and breed your best stock and do not allow the ones with the traits you don't want to breed, you will probably be OK. Just bring in fresh blood every now and then. You just have to pay attention to which ones you keep.

Good luck!

 

[WhetzelMomma]

So how do you recommend avoiding this? My thought has been that I might ask a fellow farmer friend of mine (and the place I got my original pullets from) for fertile eggs instead of allowing one of my hens to brood a set of eggs from my flock. Is that the idea?

 

[9 Feathers Farm]

Quote:
There is no need to do that. If you have fertilized eggs from your own flock go ahead and use them. Every known chicken breed orginated from "in breeding". If you go to a chicken show, the judges, the showers most of the people there will tell you that some "inbreeding" was the cause of their prize winning birds.

 

[WhetzelMomma]

Thanks for the info!! I've been wondering about this, and thinking to some degree it must be normal, because I doubt that pioneers had a lot of chickens to trade back and forth with when it came to breeding and keeping their flocks.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
I recommend brooding your own eggs. Keep the ones for breeding that meet your requirements and do not hatch eggs from the ones that do not meet your requirements. For example, my main goal is meat but I also want decent egg layers. I eat the smaller chickens and keep the larger ones for breeding. I also pay attention to which ones lay more than others and balance that with the size, sort of a tie breaker. During my last two hatches, I noticed I only had one egg hatch from a certain hen while I had 5 or 6 eggs hatch from most of my other hens. My next generation will come from the hens where most of their eggs hatched. The one chick from that hen is destined for the pot. I do not need her genes in my flock. I select my rooster mostly for size, but his mama is one that had most of her eggs hatch and lays well. One of my hens finally went broody. Some of her daughters will have a place in my flock. I want those genes. You keep the ones that meet your goals and get rid of the rest, or at least do not allow them to breed. And you occasionally bring in new blood to keep the genetic diversity up.

I don't know about your fellow farmer friend. Does he/she raise his/her own replacement pullets? If so, then they are possibly inbred. But if you breed yours for two or three generations, then bring in new stock from his/her flock, it is much like introducing new blood.

I saw a specific question, "What can go wrong?" I was trying to answer that specific question without being too gloomy, but it is hard to talk about things that can go wrong and stay positive. I also wanted you to know that it is not only physical traits you are looking out for. It can also be behaviors, performance, or something more subtle.

 

[WhetzelMomma]

Thanks for the good information!! I new about breeding for traits, and that's one reason I'd like to use my stock. The friend of mine that I could get fertile eggs from has only hatched her eggs once, and so any eggs I get from her would be sisters of the hens I have now so to speak. They are all GREAT hens, and the Rooster I have is totally unrelated to all my hens. He's been an amazing rooster so far, and so as far as he goes, he'll be passing on good traits that way. So will all my hens, but I also trust my "alternate" source as far as traits go. She's good about culling unwanteds from her flock. She's also raising her flock for the same reasons as I am. Meat/Eggs. I guess my options are even more broad than I was originally thinking, which is GREAT news! Thanks again for all the great information!!