To sell or keep?

[Raleighwheels]

Recently I had two little zebras fledge from their foster parents. Thw two came from a pair that never sat on a nest. The female from that pair died while the chicks were in foster care, and I've been wondering whether to keep one of the babies or not.

The thing is that the female from that pair is the sister to one of my other male zebras, and I already kept one of his chicks from last season.

The chick that I'm thinking of keeping has similar pied markings that have run in that line. Being that I'm just a small breeder, I don't know if keeping two birds that are cousins would be wise.

Anyone have some ideas?

[delray]

I mean I'm not too sure how great of an idea breeding cousins would be. The main problem in pet shops is that they have inbred birds but I don't know how far off genetically cousins are, But I am a TOTAL newbie so let's see what everyone else says. good luck with your babies !!!!

[Angela&Shalamar]

if you have the room you could keep it and alternate letting each cousin take a turn breeding. Otherwise I'd choose the better of the two and rehome the other. For me it just comes down to a matter of space. Inbreeding or line breeding can be done to fix certain charecteristics that you want but done to close for two long can also bring out the worst traits. I think you might be better off getting a new mate of unrelated bloodline.

[MiaCarter]

I think Angela&Shalamar's advice sounds good.

Or, if they come from a nice bloodline, you could trade with another breeder in the area.

[Olympic_Aiairies]

I don't think there is anything wrong with keeping them both as long as you remember their lineage. I definitely would let them breed together. I band all my birds so I know their lineage. I also have a breeding book that records everything.
Personally as long as they don't raise chicks it should be fine. If you're worried about it though I would keep the one with the nicer markings.

[Raleighwheels]

I should have clarified that I have no intention of crossing the lines in the near future. The male that I kept that would be related to these fledglings has a mate already. My plan is to separate the fledglings from the foster parents in the very near future, since they are about weaned, and place them back with their real father so they can learn the way of the zebra.

The issue does come down to space really. I have eight cages, four have zebras, one has owls, and three are societies. I'm having an absolutely awful time breeding societies, so I might rearrange them into two cages, freeing up one cage for the zebra I want to keep.