Purist, not sentementalist
Are you a purist breeder? A purist is someone who breeds nothing but pure bloodlines. Often a purist is a sentementalist who wants to keep in pure state certain old bloodlines he loves. But you may also be a purist breeder by breeding for pure of desired traits, not pure of bloodline names. Hence, you are not a sentementalist.
By being so, you may avoid the risks of intense inbreeding and take advantage of crossbreeding. In game fowl breeding the safer side is cross breeding. Crossbreeding is simpler, less risky, and more efficient method than inbreeding. However, like inbreeding, crossbreeding must also be done intelligently. If there is inbreeding depression there are also negative impact by crossbreeding.
The advantages of crossbreeding are well known and well-documented and can have a big impact on your net return. One benefit is heterosis (hybrid vigor). Heterosis is when the offspring surpass the performance expected based on the parents. Another advantage of crossbreeding is the probability of capitalizing on the strength of the different bloodlines. This is breed complementarity. Different bloodlines have different strengths and weaknesses. By evaluating and assessing these strengths and weaknesses, the breeder can come up with a crossbreeding plan that will result in offspring possessing the best traits of the different bloodlines, minus the weaknesses.
These advantages notwithstanding, breeders are afraid of blending too many bloodlines as this may result in crossed up offspring. They fear too many bloodline crosses will cause too many different characteristics in the offspring. Instead of fixing traits, the result will be mixing traits. However, will you get crossed-up roosters just because you are mixing many different strains of game fowl such as roundhead, sweater, kelso, and others? Not really. First of all, when you do this you are, strictly speaking, not even crossing breeds but just line crossing strains of the same breed. Roundhead, kelso and the others are all strains of the same breed the American Game. Crossing breeds is when you cross American Game with Aseel. Or American Game with Peruvian.
The different strains of American Game although they differ in names have much in common. The built, the manners, the overall looks, the genetic substance, and many other things are common in these different strains. They vary in plumage and leg color and in comb types, fighting ability and a few other specifics, but as a whole they are the same. That is why they are considered of one breed.
So when you mix American Game strains you are not altering much. There is not much danger of a crossed-up generation. And, also and more important is the fact that what produces crossed-up individuals is not the mixing of different strains but the mixing of different traits. When you keep breeding like-to-like or positive assortative mating, there is not much risk of getting cross-up individuals. Yes, even if the brood cocks and hens used came from different strains of American Game.
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