In this episode, we talk about defects and why they are detrimental to the success and future of our fowl, and why it’s important to recognize and cull all fowl expressing defects. The truth is, most breeders are not aware of half the defects that exist. It could be sitting right in front of them, and they would not see it.
Are they just yard blind, or just unaware of what they are looking at, not knowing it’s, in fact, a defect. In this episode we will discuss just that. We will talk about the defects that exist, the importance of locating and recognizing these defects, and why it’s important to cull them. We will even talk about ways to improve a strain that is affected by defects.
Defects come in many forms. They can be environmental, or caused by poor nutrition. But, even more problematic, they can be genetic. Which means, they can be passed to their offspring. If they are genetic, they are normally recessive, and therefore you do not want to take chances. However, some are multi-gene traits, which means, there is hope, and those can be dealt with in a different manner.
Although this episode is a great introduction to learning about defects, we do have a great program and a series of companion courses in the Breeders Academy that will show you all the defects that exist, and guide you through the process of recognizing and eliminating them from your strain.
So, let’s get started.
Here is what we talk about in this episode.
- Why are defects so harmful to the strain?
- Why is it imperative that we know them all?
- What breeds are most affected by defects?
- We will discuss the various defects that exist throughout the different parts of the body.
- And we will discuss defects related to health and the environment.
We then take the discussion a step further by examining:
- What are the most common defects?
- What are the defects most commonly missed?
- Which defects are the most misunderstood?
