Inbreeding and Line-Breeding Poultry

[t1namar1e]

From what I understand, you'd want to got son to mother and daughter to father.

 

[t1namar1e]

so this year in january i hatched out a few rhode island reds...which i put their parents together and had them sit on the eggs...when the chicks were 5 months old i took them and showed them at my county fair...the judge said they were some of the best reds hes ever seen...(i took a cockerel and a pullet)...scence they did so well i wanted to breed them together and have some more good looking chickens to sell or to show...and i was wondering if i could breed the brother and sister together and still end up with a perfectly normal chicken?

From what I understand, you'd want to go son to mother and daughter to father.

 

[3riverschick]

so this year in january i hatched out a few rhode island reds...which i put their parents together and had them sit on the eggs...when the chicks were 5 months old i took them and showed them at my county fair...the judge said they were some of the best reds hes ever seen...(i took a cockerel and a pullet)...scence they did so well i wanted to breed them together and have some more good looking chickens to sell or to show...and i was wondering if i could breed the brother and sister together and still end up with a perfectly normal chicken?

What a nice compliment on your birds!!
Hold off on the bro to sis breeding. It is too close for what you need right now. Go back to the breeding that produced the winners and breed those 2 birds as long and
as much as you can. Always take advantage of a winning combination. Sell chicks to other serious breeders more than 500 miles away so you will have the combination in more than one place. Bob Blosl , the late great BYC teacher, stated one time ( and other veteran poultry men agreed) that birds from the same flock, when raised by different breeders at least 500 miles apart.. after 5 years, the selection efforts of the different breeders and the different climates in which the flocks were raised...made it possible for the breeders to exchange birds from the original flock and use them for linebreeding. Yup....Even tho they were from the same original flock... the differences in selection and management over such a distance made the birds end up different enough they could be used for linebreeding after several generations and 5 years apart. You want to linebreed on this winning combination. Nature has given you a gift so exploit it. In 5 years, go to a breeder with whom you seeded get from this year and get a couple of birds several generations removed from your present birds to breed to your present birds. Continue to replicate that new breeding and seed them with other breeders 500 miles away. Keep repeating the practice every 5 years and linebreeding on the blood of the original pair.
Best Regards,
Karen

 

[freddyyoung]

Hi, I have two lines of the same breed(2 trios) and I'd like to not have to bring in new blood, how would I go about this? Many thanks

 

[GaryDean26]

There are a half dozen common breeding plans that you could use. What are the goals for your flock? Meat and eggs? Exihibition? Other?

How many pens of this breed of chicken will you be working with? Two? Four? Ten?

How many chicks are you capable of growing out every year?

Do you want a lot of records and a pedigree for your flock or do you want a minimum of record keeping requirement?

 

[freddyyoung]

Thank you for your help, I would like to get as close to the French standard as I can, and obtain good egg colour. I could spare 2 pens I would think.

 

[freddyyoung]

However, if it is better to start off with just one unrelated trio, I could do that too

 

[chickkrzi]

Here's a link for line breeding game birds.
Also has a nice chart that's easy to follow.

http://www.ultimatefowl.com/wiki/index.php?title=Line_Breeding

 

[GaryDean26]

Thank you for your help, I would like to get as close to the French standard as I can, and obtain good egg colour. I could spare 2 pens I would think.

It sounds like the breed that your two trios make up are Marans.

The Marans of America Club has a two pen plan on their website HERE. It starts with four hens and one cockerel. This would normally be four full sisters for the hens and a nephew to the hens as the cockerel to maintain consistency in the hatch group. You could modify this slightly to use your two trios though.

Another two pen plan that uses trios was posted HERE by the Marans Chicken Club USA. It may lend itself better to what you are starting out with, but I am sure that you could be successful with either plan or one of your own.

Let us know which plan you choose.

Oh...and I assume your are from England ( "colour" vs 'color"). By French Standard do you mean that you are going to breed feather shanked birds, or will you stick the the PCGB standard for clean shanks and breed to the English standard for the Marans?

 

[freddyyoung]

I will stick to the feathered shanks. Thank you for your help, and yes I am from the uk