Selecting Mates for Improvement

[Kalin McClure]

I’m curious about your personal breeding philosophies.  When setting up breeding pens, do you aim to correct a bird’s type faults by selecting mates with correct type, or mates with the opposite fault in hopes of “evening out” the type?

I’m not sure if that makes sense, so as an example:
If you had a cock with very nice overall type but a short back, would you put him with
1) hens with [nice overall type including] a medium-length back in hopes the chicks inherit it,
2) hens with [nice overall type but] a long back in hopes the chicks meet in the middle and have a medium-length backs?

[John W Blehm]

I would go to the extreme and mate the bird with a back that is too short with one that has a back that is too long or the longest you can find.  Besides this topic search for "compensation mating" on this forum for other topics that at least touch on the subject.
Start Where You Are With What You Have - A Guide to Poultry Breeding - Ralph Sturgeon is a little book that calls Compensation Mating a "tool of the breeder", on page 11.  The author goes on to say "Mate opposites to correct faults".

[Kalin McClure]

John,

Thank you!  I ordered the book right away.

I’ve been flipping through some of my old ag textbooks and unfortunately there’s nothing much in the way of info on standard-bred poultry.  But it has been fun to brush up on some of the genetic info I’d forgotten (or didn’t even really understand at the time).

[Mike Gilbert]

John,

Thank you!  I ordered the book right away.

I’ve been flipping through some of my old ag textbooks and unfortunately there’s nothing much in the way of I do on standard-bred poultry.  But it has been fun to brush up on some of the genetic info I’d forgotten (or didn’t even really understand at the time).

Kalin, I hope my book will help folks like yourself, at least to some extent.    It is in the process of being formatted, page numbers assigned, and then I will do a table of contents just before printing.  Best case scenario?   Available for shipping sometime in June.

[Kalin McClure]

Mike,

I’m really looking forward to it and will be one of the first to order as soon as it’s out!