Glad your back and getting better.Howdy! I'm back! I've actually been away for a while because I had to undergo surgery. It's been a rough road of recovery, but I'm slowly getting back to my old habits, good and bad.
Naked Neck/Turken Thread
- Thread starter josh44
- Start date
Howdy! I'm back! I've actually been away for a while because I had to undergo surgery. It's been a rough road of recovery, but I'm slowly getting back to my old habits, good and bad.
Is the surgery gonna help you engage in bad habits easier than before?
Hope recovery progresses better n smoother. Missed reading your nice posts and pictures of your colorful flock. Take care.
Howdy! I'm back! I've actually been away for a while because I had to undergo surgery. It's been a rough road of recovery, but I'm slowly getting back to my old habits, good and bad.
Surgery!? Oh no, I hope everything came out ok! Glad you made it back!
So I have this one chick with feather growth that kinda baffles me. I don't know if anyone remembers, but my base flock was up in Utah for awhile mixed in with a cousins flock. I had a naked necked brother and sister, two EE sisters, and a mixed breed rooster. I collected eggs as soon as I got home because they had a couple nice big RIR roosters and I wanted some offspring from them. Unfortunately we had a few power outages while the incubator was running and out of quite a few eggs I ended up with only 4 chicks. But they are very strong and healthy!
The one in question was the one that hatched first. A nice black cockerel that has remained the biggest so far. I'd been trying to figure out which ones were his parents and it's looking like he had the same parents as the other cockerel, my naked necked rooster and one of the EE hens. (Which is why I'm posting this in the Naked Neck thread) What's weird was that while the rest were growing their feathers in normally, he was only growing his flight feathers. He was two weeks behind the rest of them on growing in body/coverts, and for awhile looked like a true dinosour. He's the one on the perch here, at 4 weeks old.
They're now 8 weeks and he's finally fully feathered but some things are just a little off. The saddle feathers he grew already look adult-ish. They're shiny and extra pointy, I've never had a cockerel grow them like that this soon. And that DUCK TAIL! His brother has a totally normal tail.
I can tell by the tiny feathers growing right above his feet that my naked neck rooster is the father because only he and is sister had feathered feet, and I can tell that his sister isn't the mom because he has the puffy cheeks of the EE girls.
His brother is going to look like a spitting image of their dad.
Anybody ever seen feather development like this? Any idea what to expect when he gets older? Could he be carrying some weird gene that could be passed on to his progeny?
The one in question was the one that hatched first. A nice black cockerel that has remained the biggest so far. I'd been trying to figure out which ones were his parents and it's looking like he had the same parents as the other cockerel, my naked necked rooster and one of the EE hens. (Which is why I'm posting this in the Naked Neck thread) What's weird was that while the rest were growing their feathers in normally, he was only growing his flight feathers. He was two weeks behind the rest of them on growing in body/coverts, and for awhile looked like a true dinosour. He's the one on the perch here, at 4 weeks old.
They're now 8 weeks and he's finally fully feathered but some things are just a little off. The saddle feathers he grew already look adult-ish. They're shiny and extra pointy, I've never had a cockerel grow them like that this soon. And that DUCK TAIL! His brother has a totally normal tail.
I can tell by the tiny feathers growing right above his feet that my naked neck rooster is the father because only he and is sister had feathered feet, and I can tell that his sister isn't the mom because he has the puffy cheeks of the EE girls.
His brother is going to look like a spitting image of their dad.
Anybody ever seen feather development like this? Any idea what to expect when he gets older? Could he be carrying some weird gene that could be passed on to his progeny?
Most here know about my ongoing fight w/ my Brinsea incubator. I had a small clutch in it this time w/ 10 eggs making it to lock down. (I knew many from this batch were infertile and some were older eggs). Well I got to noticing the plastic barrier between the heating / fan elements and the chick area was solid under the fan area (slotted in other areas for air movement) so this time I filled the water wells like usual, then at lock down I started syringing water carefully onto the ledge (plastic barrier) under the fan. I kept putting more water as it dried out. Well this time I had 4 chicks hatch w/o assistance and only one to shrink wrap (saved w/ assisted hatch) the other 5 died late (last few days before hatching began). I know these numbers aren't great, but this is amazing for me since I've had to "birth" nearly every chick hatched out of my $%^&& Brinsea.
Mixes are fun for some of those "allrighty, what's going on here?!" surprises.
It seems like a normal case of cockerel with the slow feathering gene. It's widespread in the hobby, more common in some large/dual production breeds like brahmas, barred rocks etc. but is not that rare in many other breeds or mixes. While they are super slow to feather out as chicks, as adults they don't really look any different from others. However it is sometimes deliberately included in some lines as it is thought to help with patterning- the one I can remember right now is help in making barring super crisp, with straighter bars with well defined white and black and white areas. I can't remember how or if it helps with a light brahma in any way, though..
Oh that's a huge clue, somehow. Interesting! I wish there was some way to get you another one to check if performance is the same or not.
p.s. any more nakeds?
No no nakeds this time, and all my nakeds from before were lost along w/ the other chicks. BAD BROODY MOM I didn't catch in time!!!!!
Mixes are fun for some of those "allrighty, what's going on here?!" surprises.
While they are super slow to feather out as chicks, as adults they don't really look any different from others. However it is sometimes deliberately included in some lines as it is thought to help with patterning- the one I can remember right now is help in making barring super crisp, with straighter bars with well defined white and black and white areas. I can't remember how or if it helps with a light brahma in any way, though..
Ok, so it's nothing to worry about then, phew!! Does this mean he has an increased chance of growing to be a good sized almost heavy bird? Because that would be nice, and it would definitely make him a keeper for my purposes.
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