Quote:
Amen.
Yes, if you have a breeding pen of just those birds and you follow that person's breeding program selection to a T, you may still have their line or strain. However, if you've done anything based off your own opinion, after just a few short years, it's a whole new bird really.
Especially if you add in any new blood, that is no longer that breeder's line/strain.
I agree also with one of the other posters saying that if you have consistency you've got your own strain. A blood "line" can be traced back forever, but a strain of fowl is changeable. Also, we should stop saying we have someone's line after we've done our own selective breeding that didn't follow their exact criteria... That's like me claiming I'm royalty because my greatx5th grandparents were. It just isn't so.
Line and strain are two different things if I'm correct. It seems like you're saying that a line is longterm, and a strain is just a few matings bred, then they become yours? I thought it was the other way around, which was stated earlier. I think that if you hatch from those birds and breed that offspring it is your LINE, and it takes more years for it to become your STRAIN.
Of course, this discussion is full of different opinions. When I mentioned EB Thompson I was referring to strain.
You are correct, Nick.