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This page is devoted to bringing you useful information on all aspects of the great sport of cocking. These are excerpts from my new book “The Gamefowl Breeders Manual and Cockers Guide - Chronicles of Kenny Troiano - A Practical Dissertation of American Gamefowl and their History - Vol. One", I welcome all comments and suggestions. Please feel free to email me at: maximustroypublications@yahoo.com I will get back to you as soon as possible.
SELECTING HIGH QUALITY FOWL By Embracing Variation, We Avoid Trends that lead towards Mediocrity By Kenny Troiano The Importance of Selection: Selection is probably the most important ingredient when it comes to breeding gamefowl. In actuality, it’s the main equation, for without it everything else fails. I find the subject of selection not only interesting but extremely valuable. This is where true improvement in your family of fowl takes place. Selecting the best fowl for the job, culling the inferior individuals, keeping them healthy and breeding the best to the best, using proven breeding techniques. The idea is to reproduce and improve high quality fowl that will stand up to the rigors of time. In short, whether it is because of Mother Nature or a manmade design, it still comes down to two important factors; “Selection” and “Survival of the Fittest,” and man can play a bigger role than you might think! Except for the relatively few who can afford to expand their interests in the true breeding of superior gamefowl, regardless of their economic returns, the aim of practically every cocker remains the same, and that is to make their breeding operations as successful as possible! The breeding of gamefowl may be accomplished with a number of objectives in mind: such as the production of healthy offspring that will eventually become great fighters and in turn become great broodfowl, broodfowl that will produce the winners we are looking for year after year. Although our main goal is to produce exceptional fowl primarily for pit purposes, we should consider their role as show fowl as well. Because the way things are going, it’ll be the production of good quality show fowl that will eventually save the day. Whatever your objective may be, the incentive is always the same, lots of successes to offset the financial cost of your efforts, and on the money you’ve invested in this type of operation, and it’s the fundamental principles of breeding that will determine those results. However, in order to achieve continued progress in your breeding program, it is necessary for the breeder to be able to identify superior broodfowl. Whether it be the cock or the hen, they are both very important. He must breed them in such a way that they will produce the largest possible number of progeny that possesses the desired characteristics for which the gamecock is known and bred for. The ability to identify cocks and hens of superior breeding is the first requisite of a successful breeding program. This is just as true in breeding for perfection in standard bred excellence as in breeding for excellence in pit performance. On many gamefowl farms, it seems as though, far too many breeders are breeding birds of inferior qualities, and are used and reproduced each and every year, because many breeders apparently have never adopted a logical basis on which to select their broodfowl with. What they don’t understand is that mediocrity tends to reproduce itself. The results obtained from many breeders are largely matters of chance, because, in too many cases, the mating’s are made by guesswork, due to the very little amount of evidence upon which to base the intelligent selection of the proper cocks and hens to breed. How to eliminate some of the guesswork in selecting broodfowl and how to breed cocks and hens of superior qualities for the development of superior strains is described further in this literature. So sit back and enjoy the article. The Significance of Variation: The fact that there is great variation among gamefowl strains is of particular significance when it comes to inheritance. Without variation, progress in breeding would be impossible. Without variation, the selection of superior individuals would be impossible. Without the proper selection, improvement would be impossible. Simply put; variation makes selection possible and selection makes improvement possible. Variation is the raw material on which the breeder works his magic. In almost any flock of birds, there is always a sufficient amount of variation, so that the least desirable individuals can be separated from the most desirable ones. But the breeder must always keep in mind that, except for most of the color characteristics that exist with gamefowl and certain of the morphological characters, the actual differences between two individuals are caused partly by environmental influences as well as by heredity. It has been my observation that environmental influences not only exist but they exercise their effects on such characters as hatchability, rate of growth, and proper development. This makes the problem of selecting birds for breeding purposes more difficult because the breeder may mistake the effects of the environment for the effects of the genes and thus save some birds for breeding that may actually prove to be poor broodfowl. The Possibilities of Selection: As far as the various physiological characteristics are concerned, it is safe to say that any two birds will differ genetically to a greater or lesser degree. The problem for the breeder is to be able to identify which of the two is superior, and has the ability to transmit those desirable genes to their offspring. It should be kept in mind however, that selection can do nothing toward creating new genes. Nevertheless, the selection of the best individuals for future breeding purposes makes possible the separation of desirable genes from each of the parents and the recombination of these desirable genes in their progeny. One of the inherent difficulties involved in breeding gamefowl is that the breeder usually considers several different characteristics simultaneously when he is making his selections. What he should keep in mind is that the larger the number of characters on which selection is based, the lower the intensity of selection for each of the characters that he is trying to improve by selection. In other words, the more attention paid to unimportant characteristics, the less valuable the selection will be for the more important characteristics. Since the average gamefowl breeder, in most cases, is much too eager in trying to maintain a standard of excellence with his fowl, with respect to each of their many characteristics, such as general appearance, feather and leg color, comb types, conformation of body, temperament, performance, and gameness, it is obvious that a very large number of genes are involved, inasmuch as there is probably a large number of genes responsible for the development of each and every one of these characteristics. Very rarely indeed does any individual bird excel in all or even most of these characteristics. In fact, most birds excel in but a few of these characteristics at one time. Therefore, it’s the genes that determine these characteristics which are in varying degrees heterozygous (coming from the word “hetero” - meaning “different”), and that is seen in practically all the birds we have today. The object of the gamefowl breeder is to produce birds each having as many as possible of the desired genes. In other words, being homozygous (homo – meaning “the same as”), so it goes without saying that having the desirable characteristics in each of our birds is the number one goal of every breeder. We all want fowl that are uniform and consistent. There are several obstacles, however, that prevent the average gamefowl breeder from being able to select from among all the birds he has to choose from, those which when used as broodfowl would produce the kind of progeny that possesses to a high degree the various qualities that we desire. The difficulty of deciding upon how much importance should be attached to minor points of breed and variety characteristics, such as the color of their leg, color of plumage, or even their comb type often leads to the sacrifice of points of real value from the standpoint of transmitting qualities of importance such as their conformation of body and pit performance. Selecting birds on the basis of their relative perfection in breed and variety characteristics is commendable enough in itself, but the main lesson for the gamefowl breeder is that the more attention given to these matters the less progress can be made when breeding for more important qualities. The Importance of Progeny Testing: Another obstacle in selecting the best potential breeders in your yard is that the record of the performance of an individual often serves as a very poor measure of your birds breeding worth. This has been shown to be true with respect to individual records of exceptional pit performers, when a particular cock was used as a brood cock and was selected based of having won a large number fights, all in a twelve month period, as is the case with most gamefowl breeders who are trying to develop high performing strains. The pedigree of an individual can often give a false sense of security regarding its breeding worth. Usually the pedigree contains little information about the qualities of a single individual and practically no information regarding the breeding worth of that individual. The relative value of the various ancestors is what you need to look at, not the individual. The most reliable criteria in evaluating the breeding worth of a cock and hen that is being used as broodfowl, is the “Progeny Test.” There is nothing mysterious about progeny testing for the selection of future broodfowl. They must be tested in the pit and when bred, you must make sure that their offspring is exceptional too. All this must be done before they can be thought of as exceptional broodfowl. Let me illustrate this by reference to a practical experience, one that I witnessed myself, and what most of us have wondered about. You have a particular cock that seems perfect in every way, he looks and acts the way a gamecock should. You’re planning to use him as a brood cock, however, you’re not sure of his breeding worth and you’re afraid to test his performance in fear of loosing him. But because his father was exceptional, his grandfather was exceptional, and the great grandfather too, does this mean he will be a great producer as well? My answer is No! He also must be tested, he must be tested in the pit to prove his worth as an exceptional fighter then bred to be sure he can translate those qualities to his offspring. This not only proves his worth but his fathers as well. Another way to progeny test your future broodfowl, besides their performance, is for their general make-up, their development, their ability to produce well-build and well put-together birds that are good in body and in mind. For example, some gamefowl have pea-combs, but occasionally birds with straight-combs may appear among the progeny produced from a certain mating of a cock and hen. Since pea-comb is dominant to straight-comb, there being but a straight-gene difference, it is obvious that the cock and hen parents were each heterozygous for pea-comb. They each had a gene for pea-comb and for straight-comb, but they had pea-combs because the gene for pea-comb is dominant to the gene for straight-comb. So if the breeding of a certain mating produces undesirable characteristics, the breeding of those individuals should be discontinued. If the appearance of a straight-comb if offensive to you, maybe you should discontinue your efforts and start over with something else. This is just an example, not that pea-combs are better than straight or anything like that. Let’s get back to this comb problem since I brought it up. I want to make sure everyone understands how this works. It is most important to bear in mind the fact that these gamefowl that are heterozygous (different) for pea-comb may not be noticed in their general appearance from gamefowl that are homozygous (same) for pea-comb. The only way they could be known is by test breeding them to see what they produce. The birds heterozygous for pea-comb, when bred together, would produce progeny in the proportion of three with pea-combs to one with straight-combs. Birds homozygous for pea-comb when bred to straight-comb birds would produce only pea-comb progeny, but birds heterozygous for pea-comb, when bred to straight-comb birds, would produce approximately equal numbers of pea-comb and straight-comb offspring. The progeny test indicates the genetic constitution of the parental stock, especially when comb types are for concern. Neither the performance record nor the pedigree serves as a reliable criterion of the breeding worth of an individual, although both provide useful information when considering the relationship of the results obtained from progeny testing. Pedigrees are necessary if the gamefowl breeder wishes to practice inbreeding, if not, try to avoid breeding that would be too close, such as brother to sister breeding. Natural Selection: When the decision of which brood cock is bred to which brood hen, which is made entirely by the person in charge, in this case the cocker, what is applied here is known as artificial selection. Because of the breeder’s intervention, his goals are achieved much faster with this method of selection than in their natural state. Results are also better and more specific, since selection is usually programmed by the breeder according to his particular breeding goals. However, there is another method known as Natural Selection which the breeder can simulate with a certain amount of success. Although, success is quicker when it’s controlled by a competent breeder, natural selection does have its good points too, especially with a breeder who hasn’t learned the finer points of selecting the proper broodfowl. In the wild, survival of the fittest ensures the continuity of a species, and that includes the chicken. This is because the fittest passes their best genes on to their progeny, making sure that these too have what it takes to survive, even in the harshest of conditions. In ensuring the continuity of their species, a Wild Jungle Fowl Cock does not just pair up indiscriminately, haphazardly or aimlessly with other wild hens, they choose! And consequently, so do the hens. As soon as a cock has chosen the hen that he wants to pair up with, he will have to compete with other cocks in order to win the courtship of that hen. For the breeder, this method may be simulated in a more or less controlled condition in order to make sure that only the best brood cocks are mated with the best brood hens. With a little interference from us, the cockers, this process can be a modified into a version similar to their natural state of selection. This method is based on the assumption that even in modern gamefowl strains, the brood cock chooses its mate and vice versa, and that in choosing its mate, the brood fowl has its own criteria that include characteristics that are necessary for survival, such as good conformation of body, one that’s efficient in nature; good plumage for protection from the elements; and particularly gameness, which is associated with territoriality. Gameness is a trait that may be seen in hens as well, usually while they are establishing their peck order. A hen, in particular, if she has a choice, will not allow herself to be bred by the lowest cock on the totem pole, especially one that is dominated by the rest. We like to call these cocks’ “dunghills,” and for good reason too. This ensures that only the best cocks become parents of future generations. One way to accomplish this is to allow your brood hens to look for their own mate among a number of proven brood cocks, which are all on cord walks spread throughout the yard. However, chickens are by nature, polygamous, a trait that may be related to their natural instinct, which makes sure that their own kind continues generation after generation. Since a hen may be bred by not just one but many brood cocks, and in the absence of any sort of breeding record, what may be produced are considered nothing more than a bunch of crosses, which gives no insurance that a particular progeny is a product of your higher quality brood fowl. A simpler method that would allow for some recording of pedigrees is to put together in a pen an excellent brood cock and a group of brood hens which come from a very good family. The birds should be closely watched, noting which hen the brood cock is always with, including times of nighttime roosting. Based on the statement I mentioned earlier, the hen that is always with the cock is considered as being the top of the pecking order in her particular group, and that the brood cock has chosen her based on its own instinctual selection process. By trap nesting the hens, the eggs laid by this hen could be separated, marked and incubated and the progeny can be raised as replacement brood fowl or for potential battlecocks. The Inheritance of Plumage Color: Plumage color is a major factor that can differentiate one bloodline from another, and it is best to keep your colors true when trying to maintain a strain. However, there are breeders who are not all that particular with the plumage color of their birds, as long as performance is there, they could care less what their color is, and that’s fine, for it is their prerogative. Plumage color is a trait that follows a simple form of inheritance, and is either dominant or recessive. However, there are instances when the two genes controlling a particular plumage color are co-dominant: that is, neither of the two genes that carry different plumage colors is dominant over the other, which results in the progeny showing a mixture of the two plumage colors. Although extremely rare it does happen. However, in the case of Grey over Red, it’s the Grey plumage that is dominant over the Red. Greys may either be homozygous (same) or heterozygous (different) while Reds always have to be homozygous, especially if the color is to be expressed. Therefore, breeding a Grey bird to a Red bird, it’s the Grey color that is produced in this mating, and is in its pure state as far as plumage color is concerned. However, most Greys are thought to be not pure Grey at all, and therefore, are apt to throwback off-colored progeny from time to time. A homozygous Grey cock mated to a Red hen will produce progeny that are all heterozygous Greys, and that’s a fact! In Search of Multiple Traits and Traits of Special Interest: When it comes to the breeding and selection of his gamefowl, very seldom will a breeder focus his attention on a single trait only. Usually their breeding programs lack direction and dedication to a certain set of goals. The idea normally is to have all the traits needed in order to win. This goal is not impossible, but it is extremely difficult to achieve. It takes a lot of time, much patients and a bloodline with the capabilities to improve. Selection for a single trait makes breeding and selection work much easier, since the selection of gamefowl starts with good broodfowl. Such traits should be seen in a majority of the first generation offspring, their progeny. The progeny that do not show the traits you are looking for should be culled. This ensures their perpetuation in the following generations. The problem is that it does not take only one prominent trait for a cock to win in today’s best competitions. Ideally, it should be game, agile, and intelligent; it should pack awesome power along with tremendous speed, but still be an excellent cutter, and have the conformation of body that makes him highly efficient for the job at hand. Going for all these traits at the same time will only drag the selection process to a halt. That is, improvement in all of them will be extremely slow to even be noticeable. This is because of the negative relationship and correlation between most traits, where an improvement in one trait may mean a setback in some of the others. You may decide to concentrate on one trait at a time for one or two generations. Again, this may lead to a situation where progress in the earlier trait is lost if the birds selected show inferiority in the following trait. To be able to include all the desired traits in a selection program and expect some improvements generation after generation, the best that can be done is to decide which traits will come from the father side and which trait will come from the mother side. This requires intense observation and prior knowledge of inheritable traits, like gameness, which is generally understood as coming from the hen. Once this is done, selection for the brood cock will be different from that for the brood hen. When the brood pair having diverse traits is mated, the progeny will hopefully show an improvement in all the traits of interest to the breeder. As discussed earlier, since the broodfowl which have been selected for one trait would likely be inferior if selected for another, breeding will hopefully correct this, and this is a method called “Corrective Breeding by Compensation of Inheritable Traits.” Except for traits such as for egg production, egg fertility and hatchability which are observed only in the hens, and therefore, require a different selection method, particularly on the cock side, virtually all phenotypic traits that have to do with fighting ability and gameness have to be present in both the cock and the hen to ensure the production of good pit performers. Most of the traits gamefowl breeders are interested in are subjective in nature. Gameness and intelligence are based on visual observation and judgment, and are not measured quantitatively. As a result, what is game to one person might not be game to the other. For quantitative measurements and the use of correlations for non-measurable traits it may be necessary to smoothen the process of selection itself, because the use of these methods has not yet been dealt with. At the moment, selection is based on repeated visual observations of a given trait. Therefore, it is important that brothers are pitted a number of times to record the consistency of their performance, which has a lot to do with their natural ability. This is the closest a breeder can get to being able to actually measure gameness as well as their intelligence. Because of the complexity of the selection process when it comes to breeding gamefowl, and due to the multitude of traits that are simultaneously being considered in a single program, I advise the beginner to spend some time observing the qualities that most breeders are interested in, until he acquires the ability to distinguish between a good and a poor broodfowl based on these qualities. Although the actual breeding of gamefowl is the best exercise one can perform in becoming a capable and skillful breeder, this may become a costly exercise if one does not succeed in his first attempt. Alternatively, going to the pits and observing how game birds actually fight, and talking with well-known breeders, it will give the beginner the knowledge he needs in becoming a successful breeder himself. This does not mean, though, that whatever knowledge he obtains will make him a good breeder. He still has to translate this knowledge to reality, which at times, is either difficult to do, or that the reality is either not what was supposed to happen or is not what he expects to happen. As you can see the selection process is wide-ranging and very comprehensive, and it’s the most interesting part of breeding gamefowl. It has the ability to improve and make our fowl what we want of them, and what we want them to be. Once again I hope this article has inspired and has given you the knowledge that will help you in improving your fowl. For now I wish you the best of luck, so take care, and we’ll see you next month, and remember folks, the future of our sport rest in your hands and your hands alone! So let’s all do our part and together we just might save our sport. Your friend Kenny Troiano
Copyright © 2006 Kenny Troiano. This and all other pages created by and containing the original work of Kenny Troiano are copyrighted, and are thus subject to fair use policies, and may not be copied, in whole or in part, without express written permission of the author maximustroypublications@yahoo.com
