Selective and Line Breeding Chickens

Hey everyone, I am going to purchase some American Bresse Chickens next month. I would like to breed them. But I am afraid of loss in desirable Bresse traits over time if I do not have  a breeding program in place. I know that a lot of the Bresse on this continent have already started to degrade due to inbreeding at the hatcheries that sell a lot of them, so being able to have a good program to identify and draw out desirable mutations to get them back closer to their French origins would be ideal (perhaps along with some American south climate adaption sprinkled in as well).

The problem is... I don't know hardly anything about breeding. Does anyone out there have any suggestions for me? experience to share? learning resources to recommend?

Thanks in advance

Hi Riley,
I start so many of my posts with "I am not an expert", which is true in this case as well. I will give you my thoughts until the real experts show up :)

I would start by getting familiar with the breeding process in general before worrying too much about keeping track of and breeding for traits. While I have heard that AI is a thing, even with chickens, I would not recommend it. I would stick to having a rooster in with the hens, and either using broody hens (my preference) or an incubator of some kind. In theory, hatching and raising chicks is not that difficult. I have done both methods and in both cases I was fairly successful, but I learned a lot from actually doing it that I missed from books and youtube. I would work on getting high hatch rates, and raising healthy young chicks to adulthood before worrying about keeping records. Just my 2 cents.

I would also suggest (if possible) splitting your flock in two, or even maybe 3 flocks. Have several smaller flocks that are segregated would help in case of disease or predator as well as the ability down the road to have multiple "strains" to mix and match as you go.

Good luck.

I don't know enough about breeding chickens to know why, but line breeding in my case inevitably caused the chicks to have problems with their feet after the 2nd generation.  I would consider bringing in a new rooster every other year or so if possible.  

I suspect you could pull a lot of useful information from the landrace threads.  

Hi Riley, congratulations on taking a step towards getting Bresse chickens.  This page might help you get started on having a breeding plan, https://www.ambresse.com/the-process-of-selective-breeding.html.  Now, may I suggest you be careful not to put the cart before the horse?  I bred high-end German Shepherd Dogs for many years.  There's a lot that goes into good breeding practices whether it's dogs or chickens.  You need to be familiar with the lines, and have some understanding of genetics.  

I'm looking for Bresse currently and considering breeding also, but I'm starting with educating myself on the breed - it's history, susceptibilities, strengths, and development.  I wish you the best, and maybe we can stay in touch and trade notes.

Bonnie

Currently researching Bresse so if any of you have updates or experiences to share, please do!