Why Test Y67 and Y111

You obviously want to go further on learning your paternal family DNA history which is why you joined this project, but the only way this will happen is if you are able to contact strong matches on your Y DNA lists especially at higher levels of STR marker lists. This is one of the main reasons why Y67 and Y111 is recommended, in order to identify males who are likely connections. Please be aware that NOT EVERY MATCH on your Y37/67/111 results will be a true match for you. Some of the males listed (especially at the more distant Genetic Distances) at each level can be "false matches" and are being displayed only because of coincidental mutations, not because of shared recent ancestry. This is called "genetic convergence" and is actually quite common in the R1b tree, due to the population success R1b has had around the world. The lower the number of markers tested, the higher rate of false matches you will see, which is why Y12 and Y25 are so difficult to use, except under very specific circumstances. There are instances of males in this group who have up to 50% of Y DNA matches at 37 STRs and above that are actually from very distant branches of the R1b tree

Why Test BigY

This is where the BigY test come into play The BigY will identify the matches to your private/unique mutations. If you have ordered a BigY test, you have essentially FINISHED all the SNP testing that would be recommended or normally should be done at FT DNA. This test identifies all the SNP mutations in their database that you are positive for, as well as mutations which are private/unnamed (listed as a position number on the "Unnamed Variants" tab of your BigY results screen). It is these unnamed variants where the next step of your haplogroup designation occurs, as when another male tests positive for one of these, it will be named as a new SNP/haplogroup. This will move you further down the haplotree on a new branch. Ordering any further SNP tests (packs or otherwise) is NOT needed or recommended.

What is Needed

That being said, one of the best ways to grow the Hickey tree and make further discoveries is to have more individuals with STR matches invited to the Hickey Project, and see if they are interested in further testing. That is the only way we will ever learn more about ourselves and our history. I would like to encourage members to search their Y37/67/111 match lists for strong candidate matches who might enjoy going forward. That also applies to those males on your Y DNA match lists. Try to check as best you can on the Hickey Project DNA Results tables to see if these individuals are already members. If they are not, contact them if you will and ask if they'd like to join and learn more. This also goes for BigY matches. If you have BigY matches and you can't seem to find them in the Hickey DNA Results tables, it would be great if you sent a friendly email and inviting them to the Hickey Project and consider additional testing. With them as members, their private mutations can be further analyzed create more complex branching patterns to help us further down the tree. We've already had some good success with this.