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Ok, so now that there is a greater understanding of genetics why aren't they changing the way they decide things, taking all into consideration? I am someone on the outside looking in as far as showing chickens so I apologize for the uneducated way I'm seeing things as I don't want to offend anyone but I realize the logic behind double pen breeding for show purposes but it just seems that if we take a breed of animal or even a species for that matter and put them all together they should breed true and if they don't then something is wrong. We aren't doing the breed any favors by breeding this way and whats the use of doing it just to show when they will never breed true (according to the SOP)on their own? When I was a keeper at the San Diego Wild Animal Park one thing I observed was that every species and/or sub species always bred true. There was very little variation between each animal in the herd and each baby born from those animals. The only way to tell them apart was their ear notches and males and females or a Rhino that had half his ear torn off in a fight. I know purebred animal breeding and showing has gone on for years and actually I am getting into something that could get very in debth so I'm just going to say sometimes I think there is a little bit too much human manipulation. Just let nature take care of some of this stuff and let her tell you what to do. But as far as showing, the APA rules, so goes it.
Grace,
I agree with a lot of what you just said there. New eyes do see things differently for sure. The problem is here that this breed has had a short span of years, especially in this country. Here in the USA, there is a limited gene pool as well, so the problems we are encountering at this time, are probably going to go on for a period of time until someone gets (and releases) a new set, or sets, of genes. The animals you speak of have been in existence for many years. Until we can breed Marans as typically as Beagles, which look like a stamped version of each previous generation, there will be problems and faults. It can be done, but it takes time. While I hope the Marans does get APA approval, in the back of my mind I keep thinking, it may be too soon.
I don't have experience with chicken show breeding, but I do know it took many years for breeds of other animals to be recognized by their respective club authorities, as a "consistently" produced breed or variety. Just saying....
I guess one of the things I was trying to say was nature didn't use double pen breeding. This said, is the use of double pen breeding not just to create an SOP bird but also looked at as a way to shortcut the development of a new breed therefore temporary? Once the roos and hens breed true in their prospective pens there will be a point where they will all breed true? It seems I need some more education in this method of breeding because after reading posts on these breed threads it sounds like if you breed a bird based on double pen breeding it will be a disaster to ever think they will breed true when placed together. It looks to me that you are actually creating two separate breeds. The roo being one breed and the hen being another.
