The Peruvian problem

So, the advice means: newcomers and less advanced breeders should better avoid inbreeding the Peruvians. Does it also mean it is even wise for them not to breed the Peruvian at all? Are they better off sticking with the American bloodlines? Or wait until the more experienced breeders come up with excellent Peruvian-American blends? Precisely, and then they propagate these hybrids.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Breeders of Peruvian game fowl usually advised us not to inbreed the Peruvian Navajeros. This might be self-serving to them breeders and sellers who surely benefitted from our buying new materials every year to avoid inbreeding. But, the advice also has some merits.

The process of setting a strain may involve inbreeding. Also, inbreeding may result in superior individuals, those that will get the best genes from both the father and mother. But it may also result in producing garbage, those that will inherit the worst genes from both the parents. Indeed, in all kinds of animals inbreeding is full of pitfalls. So it is not totally unexpected that inbreeding is bad for Peruvian game fowl. The point of the advice, perhaps, is that talking of game fowl it is more dangerous to inbreed Peruvians than to inbreed Americans.

Maybe, because based on historical accounts, the so called Peruvian Navajeros are a result of mixing several breeds of game fowl from Spanish, Belgian, Old English Games and Oriental breeds such as Shamos, Malay, and Asil.

Then, it is a known fact that Peruvian breeders hate inbreeding.

These two factors combined, obviously make Peruvian Navajeros less stable as bloodlines than other established strains or breeds. The American Game is relatively much more stable than the Peruvs. Established American strains such as a number of hatches, albanies, whitehackles, brown reds, roundheads, clarets , greys and others have been stabilized or purified by inbreeding, outbreeding and outcrossing. In the case of the Peruvs, it is said that Peruvian breeders just keep on cross breeding. Meaning they are relying on the higher possibility of nicks and breed complementarity to produce their fowl.

This practice is not bad per se, the more genetic variation the better.

However, when you inbred these crossed up individuals the result will be unpredictable. They have many similar traits, both dominant and recessive, both good and bad. When you pair such individuals with each other there is a probability that the bad genes which are mostly recessive will pair and result in deleterious genes.

Yes inbreeding Peruvs is more risky than inbreeding American Game, however, it doesn’t mean it should not be done. Rafael Bazan, a champion breeder in Lima, told this writer that good Peruvian breeders resorted to inbreeding in setting their own strains.

There are breeders in Peru who are known for successful inbreeding of their lines. They are experts though who know their bloodlines from many years of inbreeding with careful and intelligent selection.

Newcomers to breeding should avoid inbreeding the Peruvians. It is even wise for beginners not to breed the Peruvian at all. Beginners are well off sticking with the American bloodlines. There are already many excellent stable American bloodlines that if you breed them, the probability of your going wrong is low. If you breed or use the Peruvian in blending with the American Game, the probability of you ending up in a mess is high.

But, if you are in adventure mode, by all means try blending the Peruvian with your present bloodlines. The Peruvian has the potential to make the American Game better in some aspects that are vital to winning in the long knife.