When you buy chicks from Ideal or McMurray, are they all related?

[Kelly G]

I'm getting close to making an order with one of the hatcheries, probably from My Pet Chicken because they'll let me make a smaller order of five chicks. My question is this...will all five chicks that I purchase be from the same clutch and from the same hen/rooster combo? If so, they'll all be full siblings - and breeding siblings would not, geneticallly speaking, be a good idea...

Thanks, in advance, for your time.



ETA question put in bold text

 

[ticks]

Breeding sibs will make the offspring more prone to disease if there is any in that bloodline. Brother to Sister, Sister to Brother breeding is not nearly as dangerous to the offspring as Parent to offspring. It is hard to say if they will be related from MPC

 

[coffeelady3]

I would thing that all the chicks would come from incubated eggs, which means that all the eggs would be collected and put together in the incubators. The chicks that get sent to you would be randomly chosen from hundreds of chicks coming from hundreds of different hens and roosters. While it may be possible to have related chicks, I would think the chances of that happening would be EXTREMELY remote!

 

[Robin L]

Thanks for asking this question Kelly, I was wondering the same thing.

 

[can you hear me now?]

I was thinking the same thing. I have been told that this happens many times that breeders usually use the most hardy chickens to breed with anyway. I know that it doesn't completely get rid of a chance of disease but the bloodlines of "bought from somebody chickens" are usually pretty good and disease free for the most part. sorry I think I am rambling now so I will leave this at that.

 

[Kelly G]

Thanks, so much, I appreciate your quick input. Like you guys, I'm aware of all the problems of inbreeding...I'm just wondering what everyone's experience/knowledge is about this when ordering from a hatchery. However, I'm in a difficult position....it's not like I can just order one rooster from another company to provide genetic diversity - the best I can do is go to the state fair next year (it's held right here in Tampa).


I'll keep checking back for additional posts and information. This board is a tremendous resource - I'm SO glad I found you all!

 

[Kelly G]

Robin -
My aunt lives outside of Drummond...not far from Telemark...I think that's close to you, isn't it? My uncle coordinates a big bike race out of Ashland each year. I LOVE it up there! I spent all my summers growing up in that area...I played all day with kids from the Ogibwa tribe (my aunt is an artist and she was commissioned to paint the tribal elders - the works are now in the Smithsonian...and I can't draw a straight line!) and rding horses. I have such fond memories...

 

[hinkjc]

Kelly, I'd say ordering from a larger scale hatchery would reduce your odds of related pairs. Places like McMurray must hatch hundreds and perhaps even thousands of chicks a week, so the odds of every hen/roo being related would be slim.

I couldn't speak for MPC, since they seem small scale. If they are as small as I assume, then the chance of related pairs would increase.

Someone mentioned breeding parent to offspring as being more dangerous than brother to sister. I disagree. It is better to line breed parent to offspring. Sister to brother mating is more dangerous in my opinion to set defects in a strain.

Jody

 

[Robin L]

Quote:
Im about 25 miles from Drummod, so not far at all. Wow what a great childhood you had! Also wow on your Aunts paintings, how cool is that. I cant think of the name of that race right now but do know what you are talking about.
I grew up uotside of Superior but hubby grew up here as did his parents. Im so happy to "meet" you!

 

[TheKidAndDame]

Quote:
MPC is often just a middle man in these chicken transactions. I used them for my first chickens since I only wanted 6. My chicks actually came from Meyer.