A question of muffed birds

andythescot

Songster
11 Years
Nov 29, 2009
199
59
201
Central Mass
Do any/many of you cut/pluck your birds muffs in the summer months? I've seen a lot of pictures of birds, especially EEs, with no muffs. So I'm wondering if people do that so they stay cooler in the summer months.
 
Sometimes, with muffed breeds, you'll get some chicks that hatch, and for some reason, the have no muff. Maybe the genetics were off in that particular bird. I don't know of anyone who trims the muffs.
 
I have true Ameraucanas and one of my black girls was born w/ no muff! All her siblings have big fluffy muffs but Lola has no muffs and no tail.. And if you notice sometimes after a muffed bird eats/drinks their muffs are not really visible.. it gets 'slicked' down..
 
I've heard of some people trimming crests so their chickens can see better, especially Polish hens. Not usually muffs, though. With hatchery chickens, they don't all have the big muffs that show quality chickens have. Mixed breed chickens like EEs sometimes don't have any. Some hatchery silkies don't, either.
 
Quote:
I have a splash Ameraucana roo right now that only has half his muff as he allows his girls to groom it for him.
barnie.gif
He looks strange without it!.
 
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I trimmed muffs when the kids were chicks. They kept getting soggy wet in the waterer, so I trimmed them down to prevent chilling. These days I would be hard pressed to catch the 2 muffed EEs I have (they're pretty flighty), so I don't worry about their muffs anymore.
 
Thanks everybody! Do the muffs grow back? Because in the summer my EEs are always huffing and puffing, since they only have their little ol' peacombs to relieve the heat.. but they should be toasty in the winter!
 
Some muffed / bearded breeds produce clean-faced individuals because it's a dominant gene (meaning that the clean-faced ones are recessive and pop up from time to time). People don't trim them, but what does happen with some chickens is that their beards/muffs get wet when they drink, and then when they eat little bits of food stick to them, and then the other chickens have a little snack of it, and eventually there's no beard left. And for some reason the girls love to eat those little muff feathers on the roosters!
 

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