Just something I wanted to share from Neumann Farms.
In parti-colored varieties, absolute color uniformity is often a sign of absolute genetic uniformity, which is the enemy to disease resistance and fertility.
This is a fine line to walk in breeding parti-colored varieties. On one hand, people who select according to the standard would tend to select more birds that adhere to the standard color. However, doing so can quickly result in genetic uniformity, which then requires people having to outcross. Such is the case with silver Ameraucanas. There are no successful closed flocks of silvers that are not the result of a recent outcross. Several breeders have outcrossed to black or splash. I outcrossed to Easter Eggers. Outcrossing outside the variety/breed is a time consuming (~5 years) and laborious task with many culls and high cost in feed.
Maybe we need to rethink these boom-bust cycles of pigeonholing oneself in the pursuit of perfect color, and then desperately outcrossing once you've painted yourself into a corner. After coming out of my long and arduous outcross, I have elected to MAINTAIN diversity so I can keep a closed flock and not have to outcross again. It is far less time consuming than outcrossing and the quality of the best birds is far more consistent over time. How can one maintain diversity?
1. Always keep more than one male. You're heading down a one way street with one male. If possible, keep several.
2. Let your birds of the same variety landrace after breeding season and keep a minority of birds from that hatch. For people who show their birds, keeping their entire flock together is an appalling thought for the condition of showbirds and flies in the face of conventional breeding wisdom. HOWEVER, in a group pen (they need a lot of space to play this out) where multiple males and multiple females are together, the most genetically fit and compatible birds will mate. Yes, there will be fighting and bloody combs and somebody might even lose an eye. Welcome to the jungle. Any birds will mate if you throw them together in isolation, but when they have choices, they choose mates for maximum chance of viable offspring. The chicks out of landraced birds are more vigorous and robust and are better layers and have better fertility. If you want to maintain genetic diversity within your flock, you can let nature help you by keeping SOME landraced birds. Now keeping ALL landraced birds will quickly lead to deviations in color and type away from the standard. This is how many hatcheries got a hold of good quality standard stock and after several years, the quality of birds declines and there are wild variations in type and color. However, these birds are generally very robust and good layers. That's because they're landraced out of group matings.
A breeder must still maintain control with the majority of birds in order to make progress breeding to the standard. However, I'm a big fan of harnessing the power of mother nature. Life is a driving force. The practices of selective breeding to a standard is a deviant force. Life naturally chooses diversity. I choose to harness the power of Life to propel my breeding program forward. Once you need to get outside birds to continue, you have lost your driving force. It is my goal to never get birds from anybody else and to have a closed flock forever, one that gets better and better every year. For me, maintaining diversity is the path forward. It is a slow path, but sometimes taking the long road leaves you in the best shape when you arrive at your destination.
In parti-colored varieties, absolute color uniformity is often a sign of absolute genetic uniformity, which is the enemy to disease resistance and fertility.
This is a fine line to walk in breeding parti-colored varieties. On one hand, people who select according to the standard would tend to select more birds that adhere to the standard color. However, doing so can quickly result in genetic uniformity, which then requires people having to outcross. Such is the case with silver Ameraucanas. There are no successful closed flocks of silvers that are not the result of a recent outcross. Several breeders have outcrossed to black or splash. I outcrossed to Easter Eggers. Outcrossing outside the variety/breed is a time consuming (~5 years) and laborious task with many culls and high cost in feed.
Maybe we need to rethink these boom-bust cycles of pigeonholing oneself in the pursuit of perfect color, and then desperately outcrossing once you've painted yourself into a corner. After coming out of my long and arduous outcross, I have elected to MAINTAIN diversity so I can keep a closed flock and not have to outcross again. It is far less time consuming than outcrossing and the quality of the best birds is far more consistent over time. How can one maintain diversity?
1. Always keep more than one male. You're heading down a one way street with one male. If possible, keep several.
2. Let your birds of the same variety landrace after breeding season and keep a minority of birds from that hatch. For people who show their birds, keeping their entire flock together is an appalling thought for the condition of showbirds and flies in the face of conventional breeding wisdom. HOWEVER, in a group pen (they need a lot of space to play this out) where multiple males and multiple females are together, the most genetically fit and compatible birds will mate. Yes, there will be fighting and bloody combs and somebody might even lose an eye. Welcome to the jungle. Any birds will mate if you throw them together in isolation, but when they have choices, they choose mates for maximum chance of viable offspring. The chicks out of landraced birds are more vigorous and robust and are better layers and have better fertility. If you want to maintain genetic diversity within your flock, you can let nature help you by keeping SOME landraced birds. Now keeping ALL landraced birds will quickly lead to deviations in color and type away from the standard. This is how many hatcheries got a hold of good quality standard stock and after several years, the quality of birds declines and there are wild variations in type and color. However, these birds are generally very robust and good layers. That's because they're landraced out of group matings.
A breeder must still maintain control with the majority of birds in order to make progress breeding to the standard. However, I'm a big fan of harnessing the power of mother nature. Life is a driving force. The practices of selective breeding to a standard is a deviant force. Life naturally chooses diversity. I choose to harness the power of Life to propel my breeding program forward. Once you need to get outside birds to continue, you have lost your driving force. It is my goal to never get birds from anybody else and to have a closed flock forever, one that gets better and better every year. For me, maintaining diversity is the path forward. It is a slow path, but sometimes taking the long road leaves you in the best shape when you arrive at your destination.
