Aloha from Hawaii fellow gamefowl enthusiasts! These are exciting and interesting times we are living in with this new digital world around us. I for one am surely grateful for this new digital gamefowl magazine Purebred Warrior that we are all getting to enjoy right here right now at the touch of a button! Many thanks to those responsible for making this possible!! Now more than ever we are able to reach the both the older and the newer generations of rooster men and women with this new publication and I for one am very glad to be a small part of it. So tell all your friends to SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE! Now onward and upward to greater things!
Aloha from Hawaii Fowl Friends! The Boloman would like to thank Purebred Warrior for allowing this simple Hawaiian Hillbilly to play a small part in this new digital online magazine. Tell all your friends to subscribe subscribe subscribe! Much appreciated folks!
Now, onward and upward! We left of in part 1 of this article describing possible scenarios to follow when you have made a blend (of straightbred or pure fowl) that you consider to be head and shoulders above the rest of the siblings. We talked a bit about things like if the “Special” rooster you are trying to recreate came from a w wwefforts on this project more efficiently. Please feel free to review part 1 of this article at any time because after all… This is a digital magazine and the publications will be there for you for years to come!!! So awesome right? So lets start where we left off, Shall we?
We left off talking about taking the original hen back to her son, then grandson and great grandson etc. This is called inbreeding and should not terrify you at all. It is a tool that most true breeders of gamefowl have used at some point in their processes. When done correctly you wont end up with a one eyed, crooked beaked, rooster with 3 legs and an extra wing facing the opposite direction!! Heres the keyword folks when inbreeding its all about selection! The selection processes we spoke of in part 1 is very important. You want to choose individuals that closely resemble your “target” rooster. Same body, style of movement, structure, substance…etc. Everything that makes that target rooster “special” in your eyes is what you want to focus on when selecting the individuals to inbreed back to the original mother. That wasnt it folks right? You also want to do the exact same process with the original brood cock. Daughter, grand daughter, great grand daughter etc. All resembling the “target” specimen you want to recreate. Once youve done that to lets say….the 4th generation. Youll be at 15/16ths to the original brood cock and hen and in my experience this is generally enough to complete this process.
Although you could take it one or two more generations but it is completely optional at this point. Yes….this process is time consuming, terrifying, exciting and exhilerating all at the same time folks! Picture in your minds eye that a single hen will give you an average of 10 chicks per setting. Half of which may be roosters and the other half hens. By the time you hit the 4th generation cross back on your inbreeding process your looking at raising 40 `birds to breeding age so you can select the best. Thats only on the hen side. Your looking at even more offspring on the cocks side (because your breeding him back to his daughter(s) each of which will give you approx 10 chicks each) to maturity so you can make your selections to continue the process. So its a process that will no doubt take up time, room, feed and all labor involved with housing, worming and general care for the offspring during this process. Yes, it can be overwhelming but it can also be enlightening as well.
What you will end up with after the 4 generations of back crossing will be your birds bred your way!! They are no longer the “olive oils roundheads” that you started with. Oh no sir’s and no ma’ams! They are fully and completely unequivicably 100% your fowl bred your way!
It is my hope that this fact alone will prove to be just enough motivation for the right people reading this article right now to begin this awesome process! There is nothing wrong with being satisfied and proud of breeding fowl that you bought. Nothing at all. But i will say that there is a world of satisfaction and honor with breeding them your way! Especially when inbreeding your way!
Now, lets touch more on exaclty where i left off in part 1. The all important home stretch…the last yard….the finish line….the fortune 500…the top enchilada…the grand finale….what this hawaiian hillbilly calls coming across! I can see all your upside down frowns turning right side up now….becoming actual frowns! Oh yes ladies and gentlemen we are not done yet. Once youve reached the goal of 15/16ths to the original cock and hen you’ll want to come across with the offspring. Picture in your minds eye again a schematic of the original hen and cock on the bottom of a v shape. Then picture 4 generations of offspring stemming from the originals starting at the bottom of a v. As you go upwards from the v shape one side is for the hen and the other side of the v for the cock as you go upward with each successive generational inbreeding. Got it? Ok good. So basically a v with dots in it representing each generation as you go upward.
First dot will be the 1/2, second dot higher will be 3/4 then the next dot 7/8ths and finally 15/16ths. Keep in mind now our goal for this whole process is replicating or cloning the original “special rooster” that this original pair produced. Remember we talked about having the original pair that produces the special rooster in the last article? If either side of that combination were to be lost you will not be able to make more special roosters. This is where we see so many people that have unbeleivable roosters for a few years and then drop off the spectrum almost like magic! Most likely due to one side of the original parents got lost to age or other forms of becoming deceased, dead, finished, stiff, mongoose food, fertilizer…ok ok enough bolo. This is where this process helps you to stretch out the time frame allowing you to make more of that special blend. I can hear you saying “but bolo…how in the world are you saying we are going to make more of that special rooster when we are inbreeding the parents to the opposite side? It dont make no sense hillbilly!” Well lets see shall we?
Now….that we are all totally confused let the hawaiian hillbilly blow your minds even more right now! We were not directly recreating the original “special” rooster…..we were recreating his parents! Whaaaaaat? Boooooom! Microphone drop and bolo walks off the stage fist pumping to the lyrics “bad….bad….leroy brown hes the baddest man in the whole damn town! Badder than old king ko-o-ong and meaner than a junkyard dog!” Sorry folks bolo just had to do that it was too compelling not to. Woooooo! Anyway back on target…..yes chicken peeps this was a process to recreate the original “special offspring rooster” by recreating his parents while focusing on the qualities you as a breeder want to highlight as seen in the “special rooster” you were recreating! This is where the term coming across comes in. We inbred to both the original hen and roosters side while focusing on the target specimen.
Therefore enhancing the qualities you liked so much in the target specimen. Most breeders understand that the hens throw the roosters and the cocks throw the pullets yes? Meaning the mother hen will most influence the male offspring and the father rooster will influence the female offspring. The term used most often is “sex linked” to describe this type of breeding. So, by inbreeding to the original hen side all the while selecting the individuals most resembling the target specimen….we have just super charged her ability to create the target specimen through her sex linked offspring! Same goes for the original cock side folks. Isnt this stuff just awesome!
Now, in all seriousness folks this process has helped countless top breeders for generations to keep their fowl fresh without infusing new outside blood into their line. Yes, it is completely possible to inbreed using this process and others without having to add new genetics to “freshen up” your line. This process will do it on its own while you are adding or deleting your own little tweeks and finishing touches along the way folks. Lets talk more about “coming across” during the next ride on the bolomans bus!
This hawaiian hillbilly will let everyone sit and chew on this for now and we will continue with part 3 of this freakin awesome article in a future issue of “the purebred warrior”!
Till next time…much aloha “love” to all! Bolo is out!