What if your stock is limited???

[Knock Kneed Hen]

I hear people breed parent birds to offspring, sibling to sibling, etc.... How much can you do this in the chicken world? How many generations?

I have neighbors that ended up with a bunch of chickens with NO TOES because they let the little flock just indiscriminately keep breeding amongst
themselves for years. Poor little chickens walked around on peg legs.

 

[chickendales]

Quote:
there nothing wrong breeding parents back to there kids as long as once in while u add new bloood
ur nabors birds feet frobly freeze off it probly not from in breeding

 

[saladin]

The key to your answer was in your use of the word 'indiscriminately.'

The only way to successfully inbreed/linebreed is thru ruthless culling.

Parent to offspring is generally carried thru 3 times and then there must be a new mating.
Old adage is you can breed sibs once every 7 or 8 generations. I know of some who do it more often.

I prefer Uncle x niece or half sib matings as this is not as close as the ones you refered too. But have done them also.

Some breeds hold up better under inbreeding than others do.

How long can you inbreed WITH SELECTION? Depends on how large a flock you began with and how closely related they were to one another.
Say 6 hens and 2 cocks (not closely related). As long as plenty were hatched and culling was practise..... this could be carried on for a very long time (20 plus years).

Also, remember that one season hatch is not necessarily one generation. If you breed the same cock and hen for say 4 or 5 years then you only have one new generations just spread out over 5 seasons. Thus, it is possible in 20 years to only have 4 generations!

 

[al6517]

I never breed siblings until they are once removed by breeding to something else first. Parent to chicld and grandparent to child is fine but siblings should have a space in there somewhere first.