Silkie Feathered Ameraucanas adventure

[upintheholler]

I hope no one is planning on breeding brother to sister in this group...? with the problems we are having just getting these outta the shells if they are breed to each other I feel it would be a complete disaster.

 

[averytds]

for the little one.


I've got a dozen B/B/S AMs ordered for breeding. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't think that anyone had planned to exclusively breed them to each other. Unless I missed something, but it's still such a small group that I don't think so.

 

[Jubaby]

Donna, I'm glad to hear that one of the chicks made it. I hope it's doing okay today. I was away from the computer all weekend.

 

[upintheholler]

Hey, good morning!!! Well, the chick is still alive, but doesnt seem to be as strong this morning as it was last night before I went to bed.. any ideas, suggestions?

 

[averytds]

Have you tried Polyvisol? Or grinding up some egg yolk and adding to the feed?

 

[speckledhen]

Breeding brother to sister should not cause any trouble unless you've done it for generation upon generation upon generation till they are extremely inbred. It's not the same as incest when you're talking chickens; no two-headed chicks, in other words. I've done it, bred siblings and half-siblings.

 

[upintheholler]

Quote:
Great minds...
I started the baby on the vitamins and a bit of sugar water last night, I have been doing the eggs and starter today. She/he seems to be doing some better right now.
Thank you for the advise.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Quote:
Thanks Cyn. That is line breeding correct?

 

[speckledhen]

Well, linebreeding is technically breeding mother to son or grandson and father to daughter or granddaughter, I believe. If you have a brother and sister who are splendid examples of the breed, it is actually not a bad idea at all to breed them and you may get some awesome birds. Conversely, since they came from the same lines, bad traits in that line will most likely surface in their chicks.

 

[averytds]

Quote:
I hope he/she perks up soon.




I'm not really concerned about inbreeding affecting hatch rates at this point. Currently, I have dismal hatch rates when it comes to shipped eggs. When you throw in all the other variables at play, there are too many things that can be to blame.

Julie has a fairly automatic incubator and the advantage of fresher non-shipped eggs. Her hatch rates and offspring appear fine. If she were having problems, I'd be more inclined to worry.

My concern is with getting the trait out into more birds so it doesn't get lost entirely. One predator or illness and no more gene to work with. The small numbers now can only reproduce so fast.