@Tbird84 Thanks a ton for asking this question. I too am planning for later this year to start a breeding program. I was going to start with one breed. And I was going to go small and slow as that's about as much as I can handle. I guess if I might add in a few basic questions. From how many sources would you get your starting breeding group? Or am I overthinking it on diversity of the gene pool. Sorry to hijack the thread.
I've honestly never paid much attention to having multiple sources. I've concentrated on having the best individuals I can find to begin with. Most of the breeders that I've talked that have been successfully breeding for many years follow this general plan: start with 4 good pairs (call them A, B, C, and D). Hatch as many as you can. Make sure the chicks hatched are marked so that you know which pair they come from. Record number of eggs laid and hatch rate. If a certain pair has a low hatch rate (and if you're certain that it's not due to mistakes you've made in incubating the eggs), cull that pair. Evaluate each group of chicks from each pair. Ask yourself if any are as good or better than the parents. If they're better, keep the parents for the next year's breeding. If they're as good, but no improvement, decide if you may want to pair them differently. Let's say you have your 4 pair and pair A and B both produced a few that improved on the parents. Pair C's chicks are good, but no better and pair D didn't produce any that you would want to breed. You'll definitely want to keep A and B and have to think about C. D would be sold. In this case, what I would do for year 2, would be to take the best 1 or 2 daughters from group A and B and breed back to their fathers and take the best son and breed back to the mother. If those sons and daughters were a clear improvement, then I'd probably also sell pair C. You could also have them as extras if you lost a breeder and need a replacement. Continue to keep good records on amount laid and hatch rate. If everything is good, you do the same thing again. Take the best from each pair and breed them back to their parents. You should be seeing improvements every year. At some point, there may come a time when egg fertility falls or egg production. At this point, you cross your lines-your best from A crossed with your best from B. If you can, have 2 or 3 pairs which will become your new A, B, and C groups. This is line breeding. After a few years of breeding your best chicks back to their parents, you will start getting very consistent, good birds. Let me say though, that it only works if you keep good records and are culling those that aren't up to standard. There are breeders that have been doing this for 30 years or more without ever bringing in another bloodline. If you do cross to a completely differently line, you will be starting over just like it's year one again. Unfortunately, you can't look at a bird and tell what traits they'll pass on. Make sure you know the SOP for your breed thoroughly. If you don't know what results should be, you're not going to know which to cull and which to breed. Besides body structure, make sure you are breeding the healthiest of your chicks. It doesn't matter how good they look if they're sickly. Like I said, all this is advice from breeders who have raised consistent winners year after year for many years. I finally got advice when I got frustrated over getting such inconsistent results. I'd been breeding from different individuals every year, not culling hard enough and not being picky about pairing up the best. I still have a ways to go, but I'm definitely hatching more every year that are closer to my goal. I know this is kind of long, but hopefully it will help you out some.
