OK, anybody! I'm on my 7th generation hatch since April, 2014. I just had a hatch with one solid yellow chick. He is a little smaller than the rest but seems to be holding his own. I started with 31 original chicks that I purchased at the local feed store. I have about 96 producing hens now ( kept just a minimal of Roos for incubating) , but can there be a problem reusing the same blood line over and over? All my flock is healthy and producing well, in fact the original hens from last April are still laying almost every day. I am just worrying if this little yellow guy is an indication of prolonged inter-breeding. I'm still learning about my birds everyday and would appreciate hearing from anyone that knows more than I do! Thank you in advance!
Here is a response to a similar question.I read an article pertaining to line breeding, and one issue was lower hatch rate after the 14th generation. James
If the chick is solid yellow s/he will turn into a white feathered bird. White is recessive so there just must be some white floating around in those genes and the right two birds mated to produce one. Look into line breeding (father to daughter or son to mother) rather than sibling matings as this causes inbreeding to happen more quickly (apparently).