Line breeding in Brazil

[Nera Bianco]

We are newbies to raising chickens (and to living in Brazil!). I've done some research here and noticed that many people are breeding for show, etc. We have no interest in showing. Our goal is to simply keep the bugs and termites under control (serious bug issues here!).

We have what are called "caipira" chickens which are like the "back country" breed found on ranches (we live in the central highlands). Last November, we started with a male and 3 females which were probably related, but we're not at all sure. These girls quickly had 3 daughters and a rooster and then another flock of 8 that we are still a little unsure of the sex. The first "son" and his dad mount every gal in site. From these mounts on the original 3 daughters and mothers, we now have like 25 new chicks (and we really tried to find and eat as many eggs as we could!).

We recently got a new rooster from a completely different flock. He looks very different and may even be a slightly different "breed". I at first thought bringing in some genetic diversity was a good thing, but after reading posts here, I'm not so sure. All of our birds have so far seemed very healthy, even though there has definitely been some inbreeding. Any suggestions? Should I be concerned about introducing a new rooster? (He keeps to himself and there has been no fighting with the other males, but he is also younger).

 

[Canieldonrad]

If the intention is for insect control you should not need to worry about introducing new males to the flock. Most of the people who suggest keeping your own line of birds, do so for show purposes. I would suggest getting geese and guinea fowl if they are easily available in Brazil. The geese will eat a lot of large vegetation, cutting back on quite a few insects. The guineas will eat just about anything that moves in front of them.

Typically in poultry you can inbreed brothers to sisters for 3 generations before major problems occur. Most people keep 3-4 matings(small groups of birds). Where one male will be over one hen, and all of their daughters for a couple of generations. After a couple of years they replace the males with sons, who will switch to a different group of females.

If you keep a large group of females and a couple of males I don't see there being any issues for a long time.

 

[Nera Bianco]

Awesome ~ thanks so much for the advice. We've never tried geese or guinea but we have tried turkey. Unfortunately, our dogs love them way too much (but they never bother the chickens). We raised a small turkey with a sort of teenager chicken. They made a nice pair until the teenager became a grown up. Now she has 10 chicks of her own and we sent our (female) turkey out to get mated at another residence. ! Can I assume that mixing turkeys with chickens is o.k. too? Do you know? I've read conflicting advice, although much seems related to more delicate species of turkey in the US.