Talking of true breeding, you must understand what a good gamefowl is
In gamefowl breeding you have to produce your own gamefowl. It is easier if you are only after producing gamefowl just to fight. Or perhaps, you only want to replicate some good bloodlines of famous breeders and call your own. All you have to do is buy materials from good breeders. However, strictly speaking, by doing just so, you will not qualify as a breeder. You may be a propagator, a “mater” or producer. In this case, you only need much money to buy materials and to pay people who can raise your chickens. In short you need not know the why because you can pay for the how.
But we are talking of true breeding here, thus we will discuss true breeding. In true breeding you need both practical knowledge and little science. Yes you need practical knowledge, not really much practical experience just practical knowledge. You also need just a little science, not a degree in genetics, breeding, biology or whatever else.
You need practical knowledge to know what goals to set. In setting goals you have to determine what kind of roosters you want to produce. You have to have an idea of what a good rooster is. You cannot produce winners if you do not know what winners are. Then you need genetics to help you produce the kind of chicken you want. Knowledge in genetics is necessary for one to engage in real breeding, because breeding is governed by the science of genetics.
The most important thing is to breed for superior bloodline type. A bloodline must have bloodline characteristics. Individuals belonging to a particular bloodline must breed true-to-type. Type refers to many things such as body conformation, station, size, plumage and leg color, comb shape, and fighting ability. Each breed or bloodline must have a specific type. Bloodline types differentiates an Asil from a Peruvian from an American Game. This is also why a hatch should be different from a roundhead.
It is not however easy to set type. Moreover in gamefowl breeding wherein fighting ability is most important. Most of these traits that constitute bloodline characteristics are polygenic and, thus, quantitative inheritance. Types are controlled by several genes, each combination creating a subtle but quantifiable progression of given characteristics.
When extremes of polygenic types are bred together, such as a small and a big chicken, offspring can be intermediate in size or variants closer to either of the parents. The F2s if bred together may show even more variability. This becomes more complex in setting bloodline type for fighting ability. Producing gamefowl with excellent fighting ability is maybe difficult, maybe easy. It depends on many variables. Some are lucky that even without ample knowledge in genetics or enough experience in practical breeding, they still manage to get hold of first-class breeding materials to start with. With these materials they can produce good first generation offspring. Their problem will start when the original materials are gone. Or, when they start to venture breeding from the F1s. These F1s may produce a variety of F2s—bad or good.
Now let’s proceed to knowing the subject further because to produce good gamefowl you have to understand what good gamefowl is.
What is good gamefowl?
To plain cockers and gamblers a good gamefowl is a gamefowl that wins. They will simply ask, if a bloodline has won in the World Slasher Cup and other big events. Many small-time gamblers or common sabungeros follow suit and set this as their standard too, although they themselves do not have the capability to join such events. To a peddler, a good gamefowl is a gamefowl that will sell for good profit. That is why these type of gamefowl producers just replicate famous bloodlines and advertise they have pure F1s and seed fowl of such and such. They don’t even bother to check the real meaning of pure, F1 and seed fowl. In fact some don’t acquire genuine materials, they simply drop bloodline names.
However, there are indeed scientific reasons why a game fowl is good. But only a serious breeder will bother to study these elements so he can consistently breed based on these scientific principles
The elements of a good gamefowl are substance form and function. Substance is the genotype. Form is the phenotype. Function is fighting ability and pre-potency. The three, in their best perspective, make a good gamefowl. These three are highly correlated.
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