What todo with my girl's eggs?

[EggSighted4Life]

There are reasons we humans have laws about incest. By accident we bred full brother to sister and got only 1 egg to hatch.

Line breeding is perfectly acceptable in chickens and WON'T cause fertility or deformity issues until many generations of close inbreeding between brother and sister. Not father to daughter or mother to son. That's actually how you avoid issues. Many people including myself, "line breed" and keep a CLOSED flock successfully without EVER bringing in new blood.

Chickens along with many other species don't pop up with inbreeding issues the way humans do, so fast. Maybe your birds were already from generations of CLOSE inbreeding? (no ugliness intended at all)

We as humans have MORAL issues with incest. Animals DON'T have these same morals... and have been breeding for longer than humans have existed.

Here is a link to an easy to follow program. Could even separate the hens for individual mating and start individual pens... to expand on the current genetic diversity with just the 3 birds... yes it's much better if your first generation is not full brother and sister... And EXTREMELY important to select for vigor...
http://www.maransofamericaclub.com/inbreeding-chickens.html

But seems like a vegan (no ugliness intended, please just an open discussion about chicken flock management)... might have a harder time "selecting" for anything.

And I know the OP hasn't given any indication of hatching intentions, thus far... but just as part of that suggestion... what would be done with all the extra cockerels? I do keep a stag pen (to control over mating, and genetics) and If you have the means to support and can tolerate all the extra crowing, boys CAN get along forever even if they weren't raised together. Or not, sometimes it varies. Is there an issue with letting another family harvest for their table? We do eat our extra Silkie boys (Sorry OP, I really don't mean to make you uncomfortable).

Also note that Silkie moms are NOT friendly or pet like and will do their best to teach their offspring to avoid you. But they also teach them to come when you have treats. And once they grow, all seem to be individuals as far as flightiness verses friendliness. And yes, broody's with babies are a lovely sight to behold!

 

[1cock2hens]

put positive energy into the world and positive things happen. my farm is my life, it's not a hobby, if it doesnt produce i go without. I understand all the risks involved and strongly advise anyone and everyone to not follow others blindly just because they act like they know.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

my farm is my life, it's not a hobby, if it doesnt produce i go without.

Gosh, talk about it all depends on the weather.

Farming is hard work, a true labor of love most the time.

I too have realized that SOME of my suggestions are definitely not appropriate for newbs, as suggested by the other poster.

 

[1cock2hens]

Gosh, talk about it all depends on the weather.

Farming is hard work, a true labor of love most the time.

I too have realized that SOME of my suggestions are definitely not appropriate for newbs, as suggested by the other poster.

right! the missouri weather kills me, I have lived all over the united states and even lived overseas and I dont know another place like it, at least we dont get feet of snow. this humidity though ughh.

I do love what i do, its very rewarding to not have to depend on others, fingers crossed I will have an extra good year. I'm feeling positive I'm about to venture into outdoor mushroom growing, I already have indoor growing down and our weather is perfect for them with the high humidity so it should be pretty easy.

I do understand that my way is not for everyone but it is important to show people that there isnt one set way to do things and you arent wrong for doing things different. )

 

[Pensmaster]

Broody hens are contagious I truly wish mine wouldn’t. I collect and sell eggs every day. Even the breeds that aren’t well know to brood. Must be my hillside.

 

[Kat C]

Line breeding is perfectly acceptable in chickens and WON'T cause fertility or deformity issues until many generations of close inbreeding between brother and sister. Not father to daughter or mother to son. That's actually how you avoid issues. Many people including myself, "line breed" and keep a CLOSED flock successfully without EVER bringing in new blood.

Chickens along with many other species don't pop up with inbreeding issues the way humans do, so fast. Maybe your birds were already from generations of CLOSE inbreeding? (no ugliness intended at all)

We as humans have MORAL issues with incest. Animals DON'T have these same morals... and have been breeding for longer than humans have existed.

Here is a link to an easy to follow program. Could even separate the hens for individual mating and start individual pens... to expand on the current genetic diversity with just the 3 birds... yes it's much better if your first generation is not full brother and sister... And EXTREMELY important to select for vigor...
http://www.maransofamericaclub.com/inbreeding-chickens.html

But seems like a vegan (no ugliness intended, please just an open discussion about chicken flock management)... might have a harder time "selecting" for anything.

And I know the OP hasn't given any indication of hatching intentions, thus far... but just as part of that suggestion... what would be done with all the extra cockerels? I do keep a stag pen (to control over mating, and genetics) and If you have the means to support and can tolerate all the extra crowing, boys CAN get along forever even if they weren't raised together. Or not, sometimes it varies. Is there an issue with letting another family harvest for their table? We do eat our extra Silkie boys (Sorry OP, I really don't mean to make you uncomfortable).

Also note that Silkie moms are NOT friendly or pet like and will do their best to teach their offspring to avoid you. But they also teach them to come when you have treats. And once they grow, all seem to be individuals as far as flightiness verses friendliness. And yes, broody's with babies are a lovely sight to behold!

I guess you didn't read my post carefully. I said of our chickens "our chickens are mutts with many breeds in their ancestry so they already had some quite diverse genetics" In fact most of them have probably 6 or seven different breeds in them. I keep a data base on them so we are usually careful not to breed too closely, we just made a mistake once. I produce ancestry charts back 4 or 5 generations for my husband to use in selecting crosses. We don't have inbreeding in our flock and the two in question were certainly not inbred and yet the cross led to a poor hatch. We also previously got eggs for a game bird breed that had a poor hatch. We only got a roo and a hen. We bred them not knowing if they were related (eggs were sent by mail). All the chicks died. Quite probably they were brother and sister and perhaps the person who sold them had an inbred flock. Out crossed to the other non game birds gave us wonderful results.

You obviously have experience and know how to do line breeding. I was giving advice to someone who has their first 3 chickens. Every time we have bought pure breeds they last about 3 years max. Our crosses go 6 to 12 years. We select mostly for vigor, not caring about breed standards. We have 60 birds that we can identify on site because they have so much genetic diversity.

However inbreeding in humans has not gone that well for some, especially the European Royalty, most notably the hemophilia problem, but also the Habsburg Jaw, insanity, etc. Hunter gatherer tribes have incest taboos, and wild animals also have strategies to avoid inbreeding.

We got several chickens from a breeder who was trying to invent a new breed. From the number of chickens he had I am sure he was doing line breeding. His chickens lasted about 2 years. They introduced a curved keel into our flock. It doesn't do great harm but I find it annoying that in his breeding program he allowed that defect to persist. We bought some Marans from another breeder. They lasted 2 years. The first crosses lasted about 4 and now we are up to our usual 6 or more years. Of course we lost some color in the eggs. But for us the health of the bird is most important.

When you do your own breeding, as you note, there is always a problem with too many roos and anyone who wants to do their own breeding should have a plan for that. Many times people who didn't plan for it have tried to get us to take their roos, and to promise not to kill them. We have to kill our own excess roos why should we add to our rooster excess for someone who didn't think it through. We like chicken and so the only problem we have is the hassle of the slaughter and the fact that my husband always wants to keep more roos than I do. I don't like the girls being hassled.

 

[1cock2hens]

@Kat C Uhg, I would recommend doing a lot more research before you continue to give advice on a subject that you are obviously misinformed about. you know how to "breed" mutts, i will give you that but some of the things you say just dont apply or are just hearsay or speculation. your poor hatch from the shipped game bird eggs is to be expected, most people have poor hatches with shipped eggs and the loss of there chicks was probably human error(wether you want to hear it or not), either way it's not responsible to assume it's from the pair being inbred then without any proof deciding to spread that misnomer. people often buy a pair or trio of gamefowl and without adding any new blood keep the family going for decades while maintaing the traits that the fowl were known for. I have so much more to comment on but i don't want you to feel attacked

 

[Kat C]

@Kat C Uhg, I would recommend doing a lot more research before you continue to give advice on a subject that you are obviously misinformed about. you know how to "breed" mutts, i will give you that but some of the things you say just dont apply or are just hearsay or speculation. your poor hatch from the shipped game bird eggs is to be expected, most people have poor hatches with shipped eggs and the loss of there chicks was probably human error(wether you want to hear it or not), either way it's not responsible to assume it's from the pair being inbred then without any proof deciding to spread that misnomer. people often buy a pair or trio of gamefowl and without adding any new blood keep the family going for decades while maintaing the traits that the fowl were known for. I have so much more to comment on but i don't want you to feel attacked

Am I misinformed on the results of inbreeding by European Royalty?
Am I misinformed on the strategies for avoiding inbreeding by wild animals for which I provided a link from Wiki and which I have read about in quite a number of books?
Am I misinformed about the taboos that even hunter gatherer tribes have for incest for which I provided a link from Wiki and which I have read a lot about?
Do I not know which of my birds die young (pure breeds) and which live longer (our interbreed crosses) even though I have a data base on 1,099 birds that we have hatched with full information on the breeds used and the specific parents, grand parents etc?
I know that when a wild population gets below a certain number they consider it lost because there are not enough individuals to provide the diversity needed even if they breed them in protection. On Wiki's entry on minimal viable population it says "for a theoretical simulation of a population of 50 giant pandas in which the simulated population goes completely extinct, 30 out of 100 stochastic simulations projected 100 years into the future are not viable. Causes of extinction in the simulation may include inbreeding depression, natural disaster, or climate change. "
Just exactly what am I misinformed about?
I know people do linebreeding to get traits to be homozygous but there are risks
"There are dangers to linebreeding, one of which is that if too intense it will result in fixation (homozygosity) of undesirable genes." http://www.instituteofcaninebiology.org/blog/lush-on-linebreeding
I am sure you do careful linebreeding. I am not saying people shouldn't do it although I would never myself do it. I just think a first time chicken owner with with 3 chickens needs to be aware of the dangers and that breeding from three original chickens could result in problems. Not necessarily. I understand that. What is so bad about suggesting after a year bringing in a new unrelated silkie rooster
I don't want to make you any more defensive than you are but you seem to not know some information about inbreeding in nature.

 

[1cock2hens]

there is no reason to get upset. yes you are misinformed... those topics have nothing to do with line breeding domesticated fowl, you are just muddying up the conversation with irrelevant information. I grew up on a poultry farm and still live on a farm, I have literally raised millions of birds, your numbers dont interest me and everyone knows that wiki is not a source reliable enough to cite in serious debate. i;m done with you, thank you for your time

 

[Kat C]

there is no reason to get upset. yes you are misinformed... those topics have nothing to do with line breeding domesticated fowl, you are just muddying up the conversation with irrelevant information. I grew up on a poultry farm and still live on a farm, I have literally raised millions of birds, your numbers dont interest me and everyone knows that wiki is not a source reliable enough to cite in serious debate. i;m done with you, thank you for your time

I didn't muddy up the conversation with irrelevant information, I countered your assertions and supported my view with links. You could find other research that supports your claim but it is much easier to just dismiss me. I will make sure I never comment on any of your posts again.