In this episode of Bred to Perfection, we are talking about what constitutes contamination and the effects it can have on your strain and the future of their breed. Whether you are creating a strain, or working to improve an established strain, the introduction of the wrong blood can set you back for years. It could even destroy the strain forever. Join us as we talk about what this means and how to prevent this from happening to you and your strain.
We also talk about the functions and benefits of using sub-lines. I know you will find this interesting as well.
I was teaching breeding at a seminar and was approached by one of the students. She had a question for me that I found very interesting. She said that a cock from a different breed, then her main breed, found its way into the wrong brood pen. She was worried that there might be some bloodline contamination, and she did not know what she should do about it.
I told her, she probably wouldn’t like my suggestion, but she should eliminate all the questionable offspring and start over. That she might lose a year, but that it would be better than losing her strain.
It turned out that she was not only a good breeder, but the leading breeder of her particular breed and variety. In fact, I saw her birds up-close and in feather. I was able to hold them and look them over. Wow, what beautiful birds. I’ve never seen that breed look so good.
I’m sorry about being vague about the breeder and her breed, but it’s not important who this is, but about what happened. This is a lesson many breeders can learn from, and I don’t believe it’s necessary to embarrass her or make her look bad. It was a mistake most of us have made or could easily make.
But on with the story. Again, my advice was to cull the entire production of offspring for that year and start over. Unfortunately, she took the advice of someone else, who told her that my approach was extreme and unnecessary. His thought was, since the other bird was rose-combed and yellow legged, and dominant to single-comb, they would be able to identify and recognize the foreign blood, and eliminate those.
The problem was, all the eggs were incubated and brooded together, and they did not know who the parents were of each chick. And, they didn’t know that the rose-combed bird wasn’t pure homozygous for the rose-comb trait. So, not all the crossed chicks are going to express the rose-comb trait.
So, what was the result? They didn’t notice any infected birds in that generation. The questionable traits were not expressed until the following year. That was when they started seeing the yellow legs.
Because of that decision, she is now fighting to eliminate the forein blood. She’s a great breeder, so I know she will get a handle on everything, and should be able to fix this in a few generations. But, this is not true for everyone. Not all breeders, especially beginners cannot do this. That strain would be ruined forever.
The old saying, “Don’t take wealth and money advice from a poor person.” Well this holds true for breeding as well. “Don’t take breeding advice from a nonbreeder.” The person she took advice from was not a breeder. In fact, I’ve seen his breeding program and I could not make sense of it. His methods did not establish what it takes to create a true strain.
He is very knowledgeable on many levels, when it comes to knowing alot about different breeds and how to raise them. However, it doesn’t mean he is knowledgeable about breeding.
What are the consequences of contamination? So, what constitutes contamination and the effects it can have to your strain, and the future of the breed? In this episode we will discuss:
- The choices you make today have serious consequences in the future, and this was never truer when infusing outside blood.
- Once foreign blood is introduced into a family you can never get it out completely.
- Contamination destroys the integrity of the strain.
- Contamination destroys the value and worth of the strain, and it takes an experienced breeder to fix it?
How to prevent contamination from happening to you:
- Know the fowl you are breeding. It’s important to know your strains:
- Characteristics and traits
- Breeding tendencies
- Common defects
- Protect the integrity of your strain by securing your brood pens, especially if you are breeding and raising more than one strain or breed.
- Never take a chance with the unknown – any bird that is not related to yours is an unknown factor.
- May introduce weaknesses or faults
- May introduce undesirables (characteristics and traits)
- Only use outcrossing as a last resort.
- Never experiment with your main strain – Always make sure to use sub-lines.
- Band your birds (numbers and colors), and keep good records. It’s important to know who the parents are for every bird on your farm.
- Use breeding programs that allow you to Know the parents of every bird on your farm.
