By Kenny Troiano
Copyright © 2020 by Kenny Troiano/Maximus Troy Publications
Some breeders concentrate all their attention on the qualities of an individual brood cock or brood hen, and not on the continuation of the bloodline. These are people that are always in constant search for new blood. They are looking for great performers, but have no idea whether they are prepotent (which simply means, they are able to transmit their characteristics to their offspring consistently), or have an ancestry to draw from, when it comes to great performance characteristics.
Occasionally they are able to find the birds they want. But, what’s the first thing they do? They breed these individuals extensively throughout their farm, hoping to upgrade the overall quality of their flock. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t, but most of the time it’s a complete failure.
This idea of breeding great individuals, despite their ancestry, can be extremely dangerous, because it leads them to be less careful in regards to the selection of their ancestral lines. There are other characteristics and traits to look for besides their performance ability, which is governed by so many different genes at the same time.
It’s impossible to isolate these genes, and pass them onto their offspring with any certainty. Therefore, it’ll greatly slow down the strains rate of improvement. For example, a breeder may have to choose between breeding a cock who shows great promise, and has no obvious faults, but who is the product of a 4 way cross, or a cock that has an impeccable pedigree and has great conformation of body, and comes from a family that is known for their great performance ability. If the breeder goes with the crossbred bird, he cannot expect to improve the performance ability of his fowl to a significant degree.
Relying on pedigrees in the breeding of high quality fowl is important. It is the best way to dramatically improve the quality of one’s strain, in a relatively short period of time. A great cock and a great hen from the same family, when bred together, can provide the foundation that will make a family great in only a couple of years.
In identifying your best breeders, you must concentrate on individuals, but from the same family. However, be careful about using full brothers and sisters, as none of them will carry the exact same characteristics and traits. You cannot assume that you will get the same results from breeding full brothers with full sisters.
You must take time in selecting the best individuals for the brood pen, whether it’s his full brother and sister, or not, as they will carry different genes and, therefore, they will produce different offspring, which will probably vary greatly in their quality too.
The idea of basing one’s breeding program on “great individuals” is very deceptive. The first problem is defining what “great” actually means. Most breeders love their fowl and tend to embellish their true worth. Others have no idea what’s involved in selecting great individuals, because they have no idea what a great bird even looks like.
If you are not careful, you will become careless in your selection process, unintentionally lowering the standards for a favorite cock or hen, with great performance ability, but lacks in other characteristics, which are equally important. He breeds them, thinking they are “great individuals,” when in all actuality they are really only average or mediocre at best.
