Signs of "Line Breeding"?

[AHappychick]

I think that it is fine to cull heavily but new blood must be introduced once and a while for the good of the breed if almost 50% of chicks have the same defoprmalities then it is time for a new line to be introduced then let the line breeding and culling continue, but if you are going to just keep the same line for several years with out fresh blood you will be culling a great many birds.

 

[wclawrence]

Agreed. You HAVE TO cull heavily. But that is true whether you are outcrossing or tightly inbreeding.

 

[DiVon80]

L&Schickens :

pips&peeps :

Quote:
You got your birds from a different breeder than the OP and I.

I know Lisa, and she would want to know that there is a problem. I think she just acquired the birds last year, so this is her first breeding season with them. I am sure that she will be working on fixing it in her stock.

I have not told Lisa about my webbibg problem. I like her adn didn't want to hurt her feelings. BUT I have a true WHITE Marans cockerel and when I asked about him to her she said he was splash. I have since sent more pictures of him to her and he is no splash, he is white. He also has very little feathering on his legs. I also have a cockerel with no tail. I almost think some of my eggs were out of Marans hens, but by an Auracana roo of hers. She has not replied to my e-mails about the white roo. I guess I should tell her about the webed feet and bad toes I got, but I don't really want money back or anything like that.

Oh my all of this may have been over mixed breed birds? Mixed breeds with these problems? WOW! Mixed breed birds!! Explain to me where the marans come from ? What breeds are you using to create this breed? I am going to do some research of my own. You guys have me interested now.

 

[DiVon80]

Hi! Found the French standard. Also I googled these birds found sights where people are being very devious. Sell dark eggs that are mixed as pure... for more money. Now this is about 10 min. of searching. This is sad....There seems to be many money people with this breed. I would not buy hatching eggs! I would go to a breeder who follows the French Standard. Buy a breeding trio. One note there was nothing about feet in the standard. I may have found a summery but, it was at there site. I am wondering if some of these deformities are nutritional . Since the mad cow scare most poultry foods took the meat protien out and swapped it for soy protein? I got new babies and have been reaserching diet for them now and the future. I know I am getting off the subject but, I have been hearing a lot of neg. on soy.

 

[Krys109uk]

I don't think using soya in poultry feed would cause nutritional defects per se....a good nutritional balance will have been researched by the feed manufacturers.
Animal by-products have not been allowed in chicken feed for many years in Britain & probably EU. Soya probably isn't the most bioavailable form of protein for chickens but I think with suppliments it is made to work.
Another option whch some breeders use is to feed game feed which contains fishmeal.

 

[kkaymci55]

Quote:
yep, thats where I got mine

 

[DiVon80]

Quote:
Hay there has been issues posted here with people wanting to get away from ssoy based feed. Go to watering and feeding you flock. there is a thread on soy based food. I am kinda new to the computer and don't know how to get it from there to here. Game feed/fish meal good Idear. Never thought of that. Do you know if the higher protein will be a problem? Do you get it for the babies?

 

[Krys109uk]

Hay there has been issues posted here with people wanting to get away from ssoy based feed. Go to watering and feeding you flock. there is a thread on soy based food. I am kinda new to the computer and don't know how to get it from there to here. Game feed/fish meal good Idear. Never thought of that. Do you know if the higher protein will be a problem? Do you get it for the babies?

We only had soya based feeds available for many years. While chickens are omnivores & meat protein might be more natural, I can't say we had a problem with the soya feed.
The feed we used was very carefully formulated &, as be bought in bulk, we spoke with the nutritionists if we had any queries.
The higher protein content from fishmeal in the gamebird starter was fine. However it was seasonal & when, after September or October when the gamebird starter stopped being produced we switched over to their turkey starter. The chicks started getting pasty bottoms so I spoke to the company nutritionist who explained that while the protein content in the turkey starter was lower than in the gamebird starter it was soya protein & less bioavailable. As I understood it, the chicks apparently, being unable to cope with the higher amounts of soya protein, absorbed what they could & pooed the rest out the other end basically. Thus we moved over to the chick started designed for chickens, lower protein content.....end of problem.

They were highly specialised feeds I'd particularly liked the gamebird feed because it included probiotics & other good stuff but did not contain any drugs such as coccidiostats etc.

 

[AHappychick]

I have been in touch with Lisa at cree they did not notice the toes but are mixing up the blood line a bit (with Bev davis) so I am thinking they will be working this out and will have better luck next year. She was very nice and offered me a new roo from that cross but I turned her down. I have been very pleased with dealing with her and through out this whole toe thing I still would buy from her again.

 

[Rosewynd]

Those things - appearance, and a long healthy life - should NOT be different. They should go together. After all, what good is a beautiful animal if it has no longevity?

kaya's farm :

i am not against line breeding or whatever you want to call it however the goal of an animal that follows a standard of appearence is diffrent than an animal that stands to live a long healthy life.​