Bob, what you are saying hear ‘as I see it’, is simply that one should be ethical and I agree. If someone got (for example only) Don Nelson birds and felt the need for whatever reason, and sometimes there are legit reasons, to introduce new blood, then it would not be ethical to call them Don Nelson line simple as that and anyone worth their salt as a breeder would know that there are time tested breeding processes and heavy culling involved ANYTIME an outcross is made.
Most of the confusion is simply from human nature. Most people understand ‘their’ point of view and assume that there is only one ‘right’ way on any subject. For example (maybe not the best one, but you get the point): Three people could look at a barred rock chicken. One says it’s black, another says its white, and yet another says it’s black and white. Who is right? ALL THREE are correct! An interesting read that on this aspect of being human is addressed in “The 7 habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey. Add to the mix personalities and perspectives like ‘do as I say not as I do’ or ‘it’s ok for me, but not ok for you’ and well, there you go.
Then add in the fact that many folks are more interested in their own opinion than taking the time to actually consider what someone else has to say. To get to ‘the truth’ you simply have to learn to drop the lies, ‘the truth’ is there waiting. The person who says the barred rock is ‘ black AND white’ may be ‘more’ correct than the one who says its black or the one who says its white, but that does not mean that the other two observations are WRONG.
Another issue is that some folks are so wrapped up in their own opinions and possibly lack social skills that anything other than ‘their way’ is infuriating to them. He might say, ‘no, it’s neither black nor white, its black AND white!”. Is he right? Well, only partially. As I said before ALL THREE ARE RIGHT. We may even have to concede that he is ‘more’ right to say the chicken is black AND white. However, when he says the other two opinions are WRONG and he is RIGHT, guess what, he becomes WRONG again! That is, or should be, the purpose of argument to begin with, to arrive at the TRUTH. People who have personality problems give ‘argument’ a bad connotation. Take away the attitude problems and argument is a good thing.
How does this affect the discussion of whether it is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ to outcross, ever, for any reason? Well I can (and have) challenged the idea that there is never a reason to bring new blood and doing so is WRONG. Anticipating imperfections in our character (none of us are perfect) I would always put out a disclaimer like, “I HAVE NO PLANS TO OUTCROSS ANYTHING, HOWEVER I CHALLENGE THIS IDEA THAT BRINGING IN NEW BLOOD IS NEVER NEEDED FOR ANY REASON AND IF YOU DO YOU ARE MUCKING UP MY BREED AND YOU MUST BE ANOTHER ONE OF THESE NOVICES WHO CAN’T LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE etc. Invariably, I will get responses like, ‘you do whatever you want to with your….’. First, I already said I had no plans to do this and then explain that you ‘assumed’ that I even had these fowl to begin with, which in this case, I don’t. To add to the other communication problems, now we have ‘reading for comprehension’. What I’m attempting to point out is that all three opinions about what color a barred rock chicken is, started out as CORRECT. Don’t make your point INCORRECT by taking on the position that ‘it is neither black nor white, it’s black and white’ because now you are wrong again. Let me put out my disclaimer here lol. Bob, I’m NOT saying ‘you’ meaning ‘you’ personally. In fact, I agree with most of what you say. I’m speaking in general about the different camps of thought on the subject of out crossing and whether it RIGHT or WRONG. Here is what I think:
First, I don’t think any line of fowl have been ‘kept pure’ for a hundred years. I’m sorry, but that’s my opinion. I know human nature and ten decades and numerous breeders, accidents, need to experiment, or even the NEED for new blood which will present itself eventually because of poor breeding practices intentional or accidental. Maybe a fox ate most of your flock and your breeding brothers and sisters for the third generation and you live on a small deserted Island and this unrelated Cock swam up, whatever.
Second, why do anomalies pop up when crossing, for example, two lines of RIR to begin with? Because they are different genetically. You would be ‘stirring the pot’ so to speak. Is it wrong? Again, is it black? Is it white? Is it black and white? One person is crossing Don Nelson reds on Silkies and selling them on ebay as Don Nelson Heritage RIR. I think we can all agree that this is wrong. Another person got some of ‘Jimmy Jacks’ line, they are small, lay three eggs a year when the weather is nice and some years they get one to hatch, otherwise they have good color and type. He happens to have another line of ‘Bobby Joe’ RIR that lay two hundred eggs a year and hatchability is pretty good, but their type is not so good. He knows the proper breeding practices for introducing new blood and is prepared to eat the culls and cull heavy for the next five years (after which is going to continue to cull heavy lol) and after five years he begins to let a few birds go as ‘Franks line RIR’. Would he be WRONG? I don’t think so. The barred rock can be black, it can be white, and it can be black and white.
Now I’m waiting with chagrin for replies and the inevitable, “you do whatever you want to with your birds I don’t care, but I’m going to do it the RIGHT way and why do you insist on talking about this anyway cause I get mad when you talk about it, not when someone else talks about it, but trouble makers like you MAKE me get mad, has nothing to do with my character I can get along with ANYBODY as long as they think, believe and act like me because I could never learn anything from anybody else!” lol.
Sorry for being long winded, but I’ve already typed it so I’m not going to delete it! Hope everyone has a great day. Have fun with your birds. I’m going to see if I can cross up some chicken ducks lol!
