What quality books would you recommend to be able to learn about chicken genetics & breeding chickens? I'd like some suggestions on quality books for someone that can explain the basics without being "dry" textbooks. I thought the APA would have some, but they don't have any listed on their website. I'd like to learn the basics so that I can understand what's written in the various posts. I found the reference to the calculator, but lack the knowledge to use it. There was a thread about turkey "genetics 101" that was helpful. I was unable to locate a thread that was specific to chickens. If there is a thread about "chicken genetics 101", I missed it and would appreciate it if someone could guide me to it. If there isn't one, it would be great if someone has the time to educate some us of newbies. Thank all of you for your assistance. ( This is an amazing website!)
i like using the chicken calculator... http://home.kpn.nl/h.meijers69/kruising.html learned a grip playing with that thing... when i found that site, i was on it for HOURS!!!...
Quote:this is ALL you need at this moment.. http://books.google.com/books?id=VM...&resnum=1&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false after you have read all of that book, let me know and I'll help you out...
The best book, but pretty heavy going. I have found that I only understand and remember that genetics of what I'm breeding at that time. Perhaps a little more, but too much genetics information brings on cognitive overload for me. I would decide what you are going to focus on and then go from there. I would recommend The Genetics of Chicken Colours as a starting point. It's got lots of pictures to illustrate what's being spoken about. http://www.chickencolours.com/pagina3.html
Pick out a breed and variety to work with. Then learn the genetics of the breed and variety. Chicken genetics is complicated. Good luck. Post questions on this forum and I or another member will answer your questions. If you feel uncomfortable posting questions on the forum-you can PM me. Tim
the calculator on this page is pretty self explanatory and simple just play with it. http://kippenjungle.nl/kruising.html
Crawford 1990 is uploaded. There is a sticky topic at the-coop.org > genetics and selective breeding with a lot of references and books http://sellers.kippenjungle.nl http://chickengenetics.edelras.nl http://kippenjungle.nl/Overzicht.htm (overview page of domesticated animal genetics) http://kippenjungle.nl/basisEN.htm This last page is bit of the antichrist version of the chickencolours.com approach of explaining...
Thank you all very much! This ought to more than keep me entertained this fall/winter. It's going to be difficult to decide which breed to focus on. I think it will be Ameraucana's. . . .but all the breeds all so interesting. We've got way too many roos (imagine that! We do have several white crested black polish (with one roo), cochins, a brahma girl, and other unusual ornamental egg layers (from McMurray). Many of our Ameraucana's are blues. I think I read somewhere on this site that most commercial hatcheries do not offer blues (from Chick Hatchery), so if they are hard to get that may be the direction that we decide to take. We'll have to see how this winter goes and how the different girls lay. We're still in hobby mode, need to educate ourselves and decide if/what we want to focus on with chickens. Thanks again for all the resources! Liz
