6 week olds with no tails yet?!

[dougieee]

Araucana are rumpless....meaning they don't have a tail, not just the tail feathers, but the body part the the tail feathers would grow out of.
That's what I meant...can't find a pic showing the tail on a plucked bird.
Oh, here we go, this might help, showing removal of oil gland but tail is 'circled'.
View attachment 2040786

I do understand what you mean, your saying they actually have a rump its just featherless.
I still say at 6 weeks they should have at least some tail feathers and the absence points towards the hens genetics, i just dont think its possile to always predict how crossbreeding will come out.

 

[PTA Chicks]

Yes,but the only thing my Ameraucana did was steal these eggs from my other hens and hatch them. They were not her eggs.

 

[PTA Chicks]

I noticed today that one (without a tail as yet) has a definitely more pronounced orange comb. He also has much fewer feathers than the other 2. Perhaps theres a bit of a protein deficiency happening. I'll add some supplements to their water for a day or 2 just in case.

The white one without a tail strangely enough has blue-grey legs and no tail. I'm 100% certain my hen only hatched brown eggs so unless she somehow managed to lay a brown egg instead of a blue egg I'm not sure what's going on there. The chick with the tail has a pale comb.

 

[drumstick diva]

The mystery continues ....

 

[FathertoFeathers]

I noticed today that one (without a tail as yet) has a definitely more pronounced orange comb. He also has much fewer feathers than the other 2. Perhaps theres a bit of a protein deficiency happening. I'll add some supplements to their water for a day or 2 just in case.

The white one without a tail strangely enough has blue-grey legs and no tail. I'm 100% certain my hen only hatched brown eggs so unless she somehow managed to lay a brown egg instead of a blue egg I'm not sure what's going on there. The chick with the tail has a pale comb.

I have a Jersey giant pullet who has the same problem. She is over 2 months old and still doesn't really have feathers. I thought it was her sisters pecking her so I separated her and she didn't improve. She acts fine and lives a normal life she just isn't as pretty as the others.

 

[PTA Chicks]

There are tail fluffs! And they both appear to have a tailbone.
Brown without a tail is definitely Male. Comb is darker and bigger every day. The white without a tail has a tiny comb,still very pale,same as the brown one with a tail.

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

Ameraucanas are rumpless right? Maybe that part of the gene is dominant in those ones?

That's a possibility, But if you ask me, It doesn't really matter to me. Chickens are chickens. Having a tail, or none.

 

[PTA Chicks]

Multi vit in the water might be helping a bit. The one obvious boy is still not fully feathered and has some weird fluff/bald patches. The other 2 are all feathers but still only 1 has a tail.
I'm keen to see how these guys grow up. Their surrogate mom is doing a much better job mothering these 3 than her previous clutch.