Chicken genetics and breeding

[Guest]

Forum Members,

If your could decide what would be found in a book on chicken genetics and breeding, what topics would you include?

Would there be anything different, from other books you have seen, included in the book?  

How about organization of the information?

What information would help you become a better breeder of chickens?

Tim

[Guest]

I would love to see a comparsion of breeding techniques & methods and how \"real\" people have used them to develop or improve lines. My husband just got down a couple of books that were written about our horse breed, \"Fox Trot Trackings\" and \"FTT Two\". They are really historical, but my!, have I learned alot from those oldtimer stories about breeding method! You know , I\'ve read many charts and a couple of books to learn the basic genetics of poultry, but Mike Gilbert can tell us more in a paragraph about how to breed for an Ameraucana and in a way that will appeal to the \"average\" person (... more book sales for you!)

[Guest]

It would be nice to have a photo comparison section starting with the E-locus then adding a single and then double dose of the gene being discussed, since different genes do react differently on different E-locus it would be helpful.  Start with day old pics showing the difference in down color, then juvenile color patterns finally adult.  The recessive genes that don\'t show in one dose at any age can of course be omitted.  Then combinations of genes to  demonstrating interactions of various genes at different ages on different E-locus.

Also a \"myth busters\" section, to discuss old/out dated theories followed by the current beliefs.  This way for those of us that started with old ideas, can correct our old way of thought.

glen

[Johnny Parks]

Just remember to keep it simple for the beginners like me.  You have a monumental task of explaining the complexity of genetics for people like me who know absolutely nothing about genetics.  Like the above post.....generational pictures would be nice.  Wishing you all the best for your book.  Johnny

[Anne Foley]

Two suggestions: 1. illustrations (color when needed) and 2. a complete methods explanation from the author for any new or revised statements contradicting current belief (ie. how many males used in test matings, numbers of chicks hatched from specific matings, methods used to assure parentage,  etc.)

[Guest]

Thank You for the suggestions.


I have been teaching high school students for 24 years the subjects of biology and chemsitry. Some students are brilliant and others are  lets say incapable of learning. I hope this experience will help me in writing the book.

I purchased a recently published book on chicken genetics to see what the author had to offer. He wrote a small paragraph on dominant white, my writings include 7 pages, single spaced with a font size 14. I site numerous studies and explain why the experiments obtained the results. Dominant white is a tricky gene so there is much to explain. I will set the pages to the side, work on another part of the book and come back and read them again. I do this often to make sure I explain things in a logical manner. Writing in this method is very time consuming.

Keep offering suggestions.

Tim