There may have a 1 time been another form of rumplessness but dominant rumplessness is definately non lethal, however I will say that if you breed short backed rumpless birds to short backed rumpless birds you will eventually get birds who cannot sustain life because there is not enough room in their bodies to have all their parts working correctly. It is very important to keep in mind conformation when breeding araucana. A very short backed bird if hatched will usually only live a couple of weeks. You can easily tell the short backed ones because their wings when they start to feather in are way longer than their bodies instead of ending nicely where their butt rounds down. It is not the rumpless gene that kills them, it is selectively breeding for shorter and shorter backs, which create to small of a body. This could cause death befor hatching.
Weird. I wonder what the gene actually does to cause this. The tail-less gene in Manx cats operates the same way the tufted gene does in Araucanas, and the way I was told rumplessness operated in our birds in college. I wonder if it was a different gene.... Anyway, I didn't mean to hijack the thread
Weird. I wonder what the gene actually does to cause this. The tail-less gene in Manx cats operates the same way the tufted gene does in Araucanas, and the way I was told rumplessness operated in our birds in college. I wonder if it was a different gene.... Anyway, I didn't mean to hijack the thread
