Why Use Line Breeding to Keep Your Stock's Traits Fixed?

I mix up the dry feed and store in a barrel, then mix in the soaked oats just before feeding. This mixture is put together by using a good sized pan for measuring and dumping the grain in a big pail where it is mixed, then dump the pailful into a 55 gallon oil drum where it is mixed some more. Gamefowl Genetics: An Insight On the Best Breeding Methods Involving Gamefowls by Napoleon Nalcot Paperback $9.75 Available to ship in 1-2 days. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

1. Bobby Boles Asils are very well tempered fowl and are easy to handle. These are extremely smart birds with very dense bodies perfect for infusing with American Gamefowl. Our Bobby Bole Asils come pea comb and medium station. Before placing orders CALL/TEXT (831) 200-4090 to check availability.
2. Best gamefowl conditioning method. Breeding Game Fowl is a Good Business but Not to Others Chicken Gamefowl Conditioning Lecture by Sonny Magtibay: pin. 196 best I Chicken images on Pinterest Raising chickens Brown Red Game Fowl: pin.

Old school cockfighters have preserved several different breeds of chickens for a long time. During that time they maintained type and vigor toan unparalleled degree. The methods of breeding to maintain a champion breed actually involve INBREEIDING to understand how to preserve a bloodline's traits.

A famous cocker, Tan Bark once said that “Good breeding is only a matter of intelligent selection of brood fowl…” (Tan Bark, Game Chickens and How to Breed Them, 1964, p. 27). The gamefowl breeder must ALWAYS select for vigor and type regardless of the breeding system in use. Old cockers always strove for prepotency. The goal of any system is to predict with reasonable accuracy the outcome of any particular mating.

For this reason, no gamefowl breeder worth his salt will consistently USE crossbreeding. Cross breeding is only a choice when the cocker has maxed out the potential of his Bloodline's traits and needs to infuse new traits that cannot be accessed except by cross breeding. Old records from breeders consistently indicate that when they do cross breed they do so using the same strain of fowl they were hoping to improve.

Gameness is always the top choice of traits. One method utilized by William Morgan, of Morgan Whitehackle fame, and some of the English cockers is called “3 times in and once out.”

This is actually a way of inbreeding to produce a “pure strain.”

The following chart will explain how the system works.

1. First Generation Hen Cock ½ hen ½ cock

2. Second Generation Hen to son Cock to daughter ¾ hen ¾ cock

3. Third Generation Hen to grandson Cock to granddaughter 7/8 hen 7/8 cock

4. Fourth Generation Hen to grandson Cock to granddaughter 15/16 hen 15/16 cock

5. Now in the 5th generation you breed the 15/16 hen to the 15/16 cock.

Then, choosing the best hen(s) and cock(s) you start over again from the top.

If the cocker chooses to continue line breeding these fowl were what they termed “seed stock” or broodfowl. Seed stock was never used as fighting gamefowl or battle fowl. Instead, they were crossed to a different strain to produce their “battle cocks.” Battle fowl are never used in breeding pens if this system were employed.

In this particular system of 'seed stock' line breeding you choose the three to five best hens and begin the clan mating system. You line bred your best pullets to one cock. Line breeding for experienced game cockers produce excellent offspring with no loss of vigor or gameness.

Old school Gamefowl cockers were able to beat the system so to speak by loading the dice for the inbreeding process—all textbooks on poultry genetics will tell you that inferior results will result from an inbreeding system.

Several key answers can be pinpointed for the success of the inbreeding system.

• First, A cocker must inbreed only from his most vigorous specimens

• Second, weak or substandard offspring are culled ruthlessly.

• Third, in any form of line breeding the youthfulness of the stock used is crucial.

• Fourth, the same mating is maintained (One cock to one hen) for four or five years. Therefore in 20 years it is possible to have only produced four or five distinct generations. If cockers chance upon a cock and hen mating that produces winners in the pit, then they are mated year after year.

• Fifth, keep accurate records of every mating and practice just single matings.

• Sixth, only attempt close inbreeding on free range coops. Give the birds every advantage of producing constitutional soundness and vitality

Many cockers practice variations of the line breeding systems. When practicing the rolling-mating, cockers often include side matings of line breeding. When using the clan system the large breeders often kept five to seven clans. (called “yards”). With clan matings, a matriarchal system is used. “New” clans are created or yards of full sisters when a particular hen within the clan produces exceptional sons. That one hen becomes prepotent in the new yard with her daughters.

Of course there will be ridicule and dismissal of these methods by modern experts. But for serious preservationists and small flock owners, gamefowl line breeding methods are tried and true as well as the surest ways to turn simple matings into serious breeding and systematic flock improvement. Traits of winning birds are FIXED or maintained over generations despite the books telling you that the traits will lose gas.

The most awesome thing about raising gamefowl is that the breeder can choose his own system of breeding to create your “own strain” which is a finely tuned mix of inbred fowl with the best traits of that line as the system will permit. And you can even experiment!

Feedback

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.comments powered by DisqusTips about Gamefowl Breeding

Inbreeding

Inbreeding mates gamefowl within a single bloodline or
a single broodhen and fighting stag mating. There are different methods available
1. Mating brother and sister- 25% (intensive inbreeding)
2. Mating half brother and half sister-12.5% (moderate inbreeding)
3. Mating uncle and niece;aunt and nephew-12.5% (moderate inbreeding)
4. Mating grandparents and Grandchild- 12.5% (moderate inbreeding)
5. Mating first cousins-6.3% (mild inbreeding)

Remember the purpose of inbreeding is to fix genes and produce the best traits
for your stock. genes are what make the hereditary traits of the bird appear
in its conformation,health and fighting style.

Gamefowl Breeding Methods Chart

When you inbreed fowls, there will eventually be recessive gene-dominant by-products
and these must be ruthlessly culled. Genetics is an exact science and one only need
keep very comprehensive records to single out what traits and what genes come from which fowl from bloodlines being crossed.

Gamefowl Breeding Techniques

Norman Method--Line Breeding

This method relies on line breeding the broodfowls before crossing. Line-breeding is inbreeding mates to one individual broodfowl. And in each generation, the breeder 'double ups' the genes of the offspring. By line-breeding we try to produce individual(s) as genetically as close to the original broodfowl sire as mentioned earlier. If you are a backyard breeder, chances are you do not have enough space to accommodate too many broodfowl for line-breeding.
In this case, line-breed only to one broodfowl. Choose your most potent stag and hen as far as fowl traits appear, and breed back to that individual. Then you can cross the line-bred progeny with other broodfowl.


Cross Breeding

Crossbreeding is the mating of different bloodlines to each other. This manner of breeding is made to combine the good qualities of 2 different broodfowl bloodlines.If your gamefowl has good gameness and needs better cutting traits or endurance, this is when you infuse new blood via cross breeding.
Three methods of cross-breeding gamefowls are:
1. STRAIGHT-CROSS--In this method, two strains are mated. If one likes the power-speed blend of Ruble Hatch and Black Traveler, the two are crossed and the male offspring will take after the hens.
2. THREE WAY-CROSS--A family of Kelso that cuts better in open sparring and needing more wallop or power hitting, can be matched with an even cross like a Hatch-Claret and breed it over the Kelso hens. The progeny out of this mating will retain the desired traits of the Kelso, cutting ability of the Claret, and the power of the Hatch.
3. FOUR WAY CROSS—Two straight crosses are matched like the mating of a Hatch-Claret to a Kelso-Roundhead cross.
One sure thing to watch out for anyone who does cross-breeding is that cross breeds or hybrids almost eventually pass along their worst genetic traits, so keep strict records so that dominant traits are kept within the crossed bloodlines and cull weak birds.


Out-Breeding

Another breeding method worth mentioning is Out-Breeding. Out-Breeding is the mating of the same strain of fowls that belong to different breeders but kept almost pure. If you have a strain of Kelso and you do not want to inbreed or if you have maxed out the traits from your matings, you can procure a Kelso cock from another breeder and breed him over your Kelso hens. Progeny from these matings will still be pure Kelsos.



Oriental Grade Breeding

Some backyard breeders blend native Orientals with Western gamefowl. The IVY Method of grading Orientals favors the 1/4 Oriental either in a two or three-way cross. You only need a single Oriental cock to produce 1/2 grade hens.
The key to success in the production of native Oriental grades is as always selection and culling. Select gamefowl with perfect timing that could cut and always top the opponent on every fly. The native cock you should breed should have grade A-plus, gameness when fought at two years old. Oriental types are worth breeding because they are easy to condition for fights and are very resistant to diseases.