Theoretical, Science Fiction Question

Discussion in 'General breed discussions & FAQ' started by 3KillerBs, Oct 10, 2009.

  1. 3KillerBs

    3KillerBs Songster

    Jul 10, 2009
    North Carolina Sandhills
    If you were taking chickens to the stars as farm animals on new colony planets how many of a given breed would serve to make a sound foundation stock that can be bred indefinitely without serious genetic issues cropping up.

    Also, if a disaster happened, what would be the absolute minimum necessary to save the breed?

    I'm writing a SF story for National Novel Writing Month and its going to be a sort of Swiss Family Robinson in space thing with lots of farm life on a new planet stuff. I'm trying to figure out how many animals to put on the ship.
  2. warren

    warren Songster

    Sep 29, 2007
    I don't know the answer, but Noah took 7 of each clean bird. I think it means 7 males and 7 females, but am not sure on that.
    I would imagine that if you took pedegree birds, which are inbred to give them their characteristics, you would need more, but if you could take the original wild birds they would have a wider range of genes which you could then inbreed to reproduce the pedegree birds later on.
    I am no expert so I might be talking rubbish, but I thought I would set the ball rolling.
  3. Year of the Rooster

    Year of the Rooster Sebright Savvy

    Jun 27, 2008
    West Central Ohio
    Inbreeding with chickens isn't as bad than if you were breeding cows or pigs or other mammals. Many breeders use Father to daughter/Mother to son etc. etc. (line breeding) successfully without problems. Brother to Sister though, hightens characteristics (good and bad) and is not usually used.
  4. Chickndaddy

    Chickndaddy Songster

    Jul 26, 2007
    East Texas
    It might interest you to read some of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. In the book where the colonists go to Pern it talks about bringing various animals (cows, horses, chickens, geese, ducks, dolphins, etc...) from earth in deep sleep. The Chronicles of Pern and Dragonsdawn will be the two to read.
  5. amazondoc

    amazondoc Cracked Egghead

    Mar 31, 2008
    Lebanon, TN
    Quote:If I was going on a colony starship, I wouldn't take all that many actual animals -- but I'd take as many frozen embryos as I could stuff in all the nooks and crannies of the holds. In the case of birds, maybe I'd take frozen sperm and ova and do the fertilization after they were thawed instead of before.....
  6. PurpleChicken

    PurpleChicken Tolerated.....Mostly

    Apr 6, 2007
    Quote:This is really fascinating. I wasn't sure what to expect when I clicked this thread but Amazon got me thinking.

    Could hatching eggs be frozen somehow and incubated later? The biggest problem on a ship would be feed and water. Is this what You mean by frozen embryos or is there another way to do it?
  7. amazondoc

    amazondoc Cracked Egghead

    Mar 31, 2008
    Lebanon, TN
    Quote:With mammals, it is fairly easy to deep freeze embryos -- then thaw and implant them later. That's how a lot of ladies get pregnant these days. [​IMG]

    With birds, I think you'd have to freeze the sperm and ova -- or whole ovaries -- and then fertilize and implant them later. I don't *think* you could actually freeze the embryo in a bird, since in birds the embryo doesn't really form until after it's already in the egg.

    If you take whole animals on the ship you've got to worry about space, oxygen, food, water, waste disposal, illness, and even simply the labor of taking care of them. And after you land you've still got all those worries, aside from the oxygen issue. But if you just keep a minimum number of animals alive, you can implant those frozen embryos whenever you want.
  8. Goose and Fig

    Goose and Fig Grateful Geese

    Apr 19, 2009
    Fall Creek Falls TN
    All I have to say is- if your ship runs anything like the USPS, you can forget about taking eggs [​IMG]
  9. CelticMoon1

    CelticMoon1 Songster

    Jul 25, 2009

  10. 3KillerBs

    3KillerBs Songster

    Jul 10, 2009
    North Carolina Sandhills
    Quote:I'm very familiar with that one -- Dragonsdawn is a great favorite of mine. [​IMG]

    I decided against having the level of biotechnology that let them whip up genetically engineered animals at a moment's notice. I'm doing it the old-fashioned way and having them bring breeders and rely on careful selection.

    Nothing wrong with McCaffrey's way -- but I don't want to write her story over again. [​IMG]

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