Breeding & Interbreeding?

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

Ok so I have a question regarding breeding.

Is it okay to interbreed in the poultry world? Or is that considered a no-no?
We recently had our first chick & duckling hatch here. We want to keep them, but am unsure on the mating/breeding.
Dad would be breeding the females; if males, they'd be breeding their mom. So if that's a no-no, then we probably will have to sell or process.

 

[GCrumb]

Yes, common practice.

If you go on that way for years and years you may have to add new birds from another source eventually.

In livestock jargon "inbreeding" is between siblings and usually a no-no, while 'breeding back' offspring to parent is 'line-breeding' and is something you do if you wish you could clone the parent. In terms of the maths-of-genetic-relatedness they're the same and a bad idea, especially if any genetic disease is present, but you'll probably have many generations of normal healthy ducklings with closely related parents and never notice any problem.

 

[New duck mommy 2021]

I hatched 5 ducklings from my mom and dad ducks
Then the son did mate mom and I hatched those eggs
My birds have zero issues
I was told siblings are a no no
But a few generations of mom to son
Dad to daughter is fine

 

[nuthatched]

That's called line breeding and it's a normal process.
If you intend to let them or yourself hatch eggs, you'll have to get comfortable with the fact that culling, whether by getting rid of or eating is often a necessary part of the process.

 

[GCrumb]

Oh, hah. So parent-offspring matings and sibling-sibling matings both have
inbreeding coefficients of 25%, but if you mate sibling-to-sibling and then sibling-to-sibling from those offspring it goes up fast, much more so than having one individual be both parent and grandparent etc for generations.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Sibling to sibling matings are used often. They can be as problematic as adding a new line of birds to a flock. You won't know what genetics are hiding in your flock until you try.

It's about unwanted recessive characteristics. Autosomal red, side sprigs and other non standard to breed triats that pop up when two recessive genes unite on the same loci or triats that require multiple loci express in a bird. Recessive genes have a higher chance of doubling up if sibling to sibling matings are used. The point is mute if your stock does not carry the offending gene you are guarding against.

Line breeding and breeding in general is for working to a standard of perfection. Back yard mating typically is for propagation with no intent of working toward a standard. There are no freak genetics that show up with inbreeding. There will be a decline in vigor and fertility if too closely bred for too many generations. Depending on the genetic diversity of parent stock this could take five generations or a decade with random matings in a closed flock. With proper line breeding this decline of vigor and egg hatchability can be detered for decades.

 

[aart]

Alll that^^^^^
...just don't let your male ducks mount your female chickens.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

The important thing to keep in mind is there is not a concern of gene mutation and three legged chicks. It's merely tracking and being mindful in mating to be able to spot unwanted characteristics and being able to trace it back to cull those carrying the gene from the mating pool. None of this has merit for back yard propagation. For breeders it's about small test mating samples to see what is hiding in the genes before going all in and keeping aunts and uncles around for genetic diversity. To breed is to narrow genetics then maintain all those desired traits while maintaining enough diversity for longevity of the stock.

 

[BlessedChaosHomestead]

Thank you all!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I was told siblings are a no no
But a few generations of mom to son
Dad to daughter is fine

I'll try to phrase this another way. The amount of loss of genetic diversity between two full siblings and a father-daughter or mother-son is exactly the same. If they are half-siblings the loss of genetic diversity is less so from a pure loss of genetic diversity breeding half-siblings is the "best".

If you breed full siblings there is a 50-50 chance of any specific gene being passed down to the offspring. If you breed parent-offspring there is a 75% chance of a specific gene being passed down because the parent and offspring share so many more genes. So if you have a superior parent you have a better chance of the superior genes being passed down with a parent-offspring match. That is why line breeding is so often used by breeders.

If you are not breeding for specific traits, full sibling matings are no worse than parent-offspring matings so I do not consider them a no-no. Actually half-sibling matings are superior to full siblings or line breeding if you are not after specific traits.

Is it okay to interbreed in the poultry world?

One way chickens have been kept on small farms and such for thousands of years is to keep a flock and raise your own replacements. This works for several chicken generations. But eventually they get so interbred that they start to lose fertility, productivity, and strong immune systems. So they bring in a new rooster to restart the genetic diversity.

How long they can go between bringing in new stock will depend on how many chickens are in the gene pool. The more chickens contributing the more diverse the gene pool is. Many of the hatcheries we buy from use the pen breeding method. They may have 20 roosters and 200 hens in one pen randomly mating. They can go decades without a significant loss of genetic diversity.

But choose your breeding birds carefully. Do not allow defective birds to breed. You do not want those in your flock genetics.