rumpless? drrr?

[kinnip]

I have a crazy, mixed up house hen who is losing her tailfeathers. I really thought she was through with her adolescent moulting, and these feathers do not appear to be growing back. She does have some rumplessness in her crazy, mixed up pedigree. I'm expecting an egg in the laundry basket any day now. Can rumplessness arrive with sexual maturity?

 

[CheerfulHeart2]

I am not sure what to think about this one...

ETA (In other words, I have not idea, but will give you a bump)

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Rumplessness is something they are born with. Not something they develop over time. Rumpless also means they have no tail bone. Her not having tail feathers does not necessarily mean she is rumpless.

 

[kinnip]

Quote:
Indeed! I only have one truly rumpless bird. She has no parson's nose. I have several partially rumpless birds (talk about ugly). The rumpless one never had tail feathers. The partially rumpless ones lost their tailfeathers pretty early in development. This bird really appears to be losing all her tailfeathers very near sexual maturity. She is a fully feathered bird with only four tailfeathers left. I've never seen her bother one out. They just seem to fall out on their own. I sincerely hope she doesn't end up with four tailfeathers for the rest of her life.

 

[Goose and Fig]

I have a BR that was at the absolute bottom of the pecking order until I sold off my RIRs. She looked soooo bad we named her Dumpy. It took about 8 months, but she almost looks normal now. The tail feathers were the last to come back.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

Quote:
Indeed! I only have one truly rumpless bird. She has no parson's nose. I have several partially rumpless birds (talk about ugly). The rumpless one never had tail feathers. The partially rumpless ones lost their tailfeathers pretty early in development. This bird really appears to be losing all her tailfeathers very near sexual maturity. She is a fully feathered bird with only four tailfeathers left. I've never seen her bother one out. They just seem to fall out on their own. I sincerely hope she doesn't end up with four tailfeathers for the rest of her life.

Is molting a possibility? Maybe another bird is pecking them.

 

[kinnip]

Quote:
Indeed! I only have one truly rumpless bird. She has no parson's nose. I have several partially rumpless birds (talk about ugly). The rumpless one never had tail feathers. The partially rumpless ones lost their tailfeathers pretty early in development. This bird really appears to be losing all her tailfeathers very near sexual maturity. She is a fully feathered bird with only four tailfeathers left. I've never seen her bother one out. They just seem to fall out on their own. I sincerely hope she doesn't end up with four tailfeathers for the rest of her life.

Is molting a possibility? Maybe another bird is pecking them.

She's on her own in the human casa. Moulting is totally a possibility. I think she's about 18 weeks old. Our house isn't properly weatherproofed and it's been a really nasty year. I just expected to see some new growth. There doesn't seem to be any. Maybe the weather has prompted a premature moult? None of my youngsters have moulted so many times in their first year, so far. They get fully feathered and just keep on until the next year. Maybe we really need to look into weatherstripping. It's been a bad year for GA.