Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
purchase a particular breed of chicks from two different hatcheries located at great dis-
tances from one another, you may find that the chicks actually originate from one place
— one of a few where the breed is being preserved.
When this occurs, you are going to lose some of the diversity in the breed's popula-
tion because you don't have a diverse pool from which to pick the breeder birds. This
becomes very apparent in breeds with particular traits such as odd comb, unique body
shape, or exceptional feather patterns. What breeder Joe might think is the ideal bird,
does not gel with what breeder Sal believes is exemplary of the breed. For breeding pur-
poses, Joe selects birds for traits that are different from those Sal. They have different-
looking or different-acting birds that both still fall within the guidelines of the breed
standard. After years of independent selection, they end up with two groups of birds
that aren't all that similar any more. When this occurs, and you have the opportunity to
choose pairs of birds with representatives from both sets of gene pools, you can avoid
an inbreeding situation rather quickly by crossing those two lines.
Males and females have clearly different body shapes which depend on the breed.
DIFFERENT HATCHERIES, SAME BIRDS
Even though you may order chicks from Hatchery 1 in one part of the country and
Hatchery 2 in another part of the country, the entire breeding flock and your chicks
may come from and be drop-shipped from one place. You can sometimes check this
out by looking at the postmarks on your boxes of chicks when they arrive, although
you may not be able to detect the chicks' origins from the actual shipping labels.
