What constitutes a good breeding program?

[BethJ]

Thanks for that information!
I've read about spiral breeding and how that's the best way within a small flock to produce good healthy lines.

Eggs are a tricky way to get started in a breed, with the variables in incubation. Time of year matters too, fertility may drop coming into fall, especially if there is only one rooster in the pen. Some problems can arise if the breeder is feeding them for laying and not for breeding... higher protein and more nutrition is needed for hatching eggs.

A breeder looking to do the breed justice will have 3 pens of them, for spiral breeding, to get birds who aren't SO closely related. If they have only one pen and aren't tracking who is related to who, it won't be a sustainable line.

Not every chick that hatches is going to be correct... with breeding you have to hatch lot's and cull heavy, with the expectation of keeping 10%-30% of a hatch for breeding. You'll find a better rooster in 20 than in a group of 5, for example.

I was recently gifted 7 LF Double Laced Barnvelders, as a start to be a local breeder of them to supply someone who can't have roosters. I love the feather pattern and so far they have pretty good type and vigor.

Of course it turned out to be 1 pullet and 6 boys, so everything hinges on that one pullet. I'll need to pick the best 2-3 cockerels of the bunch, she'll live with one for the first half of the season and the other for the 2nd half. The 3rd one will have to wait for daughters from her. I'll need to hatch everything she lays. Daughters then go to 2 of the 3 original boys. Building up the groups. The original hen, if she's still doing good, could then go to the 3rd rooster for another batch of pullets. I'll need to toe punch or legband the chicks so that I know which cockerel they're out of.

If you manage to get a pair of them, you'll need to hatch everything, looking for those with good vigor and correct presentation for the breed. You're going to get some duds, you might see some weirdness. You'll have to spend a couple of generations building up the strength of the line. Adding an outside line may help, or it may also bring up some recessive things you don't want to see and you'll have to breed through those for 2-4 generations.

Hatch lot's, cull heavy. Build the line. Establish 3 pens of them. Learn which hens throw what from certain roosters, get to know the birds and what they throw through good record keeping. You can be a better breeder than where the birds came from originally.

When getting into a new breed, expect to spend at least 4 years at getting to know them and establishing a start in them if you only have a pair or trio to get started with.