Barnevelder breeders lets work together and improve the breed

[RachaelS]

What is "tail fluff"

? And why don't you want it? Thanks!

 

[RachaelS]

And.................I think I got my first Barnie egg

, can't tell for sure since they are all together, but it was a lot darker than my BPR eggs and it was lightly speckled. My oldest Barnie turned 34 weeks yesterday!

 

[acw123]

Congrats on your first egg! I have a couple that lay a somewhat speckled egg. I think the tail fluff is the white "under fluff" that some of the roosters have at the base of their tail/back.

 

[RachaelS]

So fluff is a bad thing?

 

[tls_ranch]

Roosters with no white fluff are prefered over ones with white fluff. It also is involved with proper coverts, saddle, tail set and maybe undercolor as well. I would say that the excess fluff could be considered common "fault" with Barnevelder's and some other breeds too. It kind of distracts from the overall "picture" a bird makes in the show pen. A "good" rooster should have very little or even better no white fluff showing once he's full grown.

No fluff: (not my roo...this guy's from overseas)

My vB/Johan roo: very little fluff showing. One of his son's is looking really nice too and I hope he'll be even better than his sire.

My original vB roo: he had too much white fluff But otherwise was a good roo

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
Not bad, just not desirable. Something to breed out. From what I understand from Don (snowbird), it's caused by a defect in the tail coverts. A lot of breeds have it including Barnevelders, Welsummers, Marans, etc.

Edited: I didn't read down far enough to see Trisha already answered.

 

[RachaelS]

2 responses are better than one

both of my Roos have fluff but they are only 30 weeks so it might go away?

 

[mountainvieworchards]

It has been my experience that the white fluff becomes more noticeable as the rooster matures. I usually cull for it early if I see it and if I have alternatives. Have any of you seen any white primaries showing up in the Ledford line? I had a roo this year that was 50% Ledford and he grew one white primary feather. He was also showing a some of the white tail fluff and was dark in hackle and saddle like Trisha's original Ledford rooster shown in the picture above. I have not seen any white primaries or white fluff in my Johan birds. I like the taller more upright stature I am seeing in Johan/Ledford cross roosters.

Andy

 

[pinkchick]

Here's my Johan boy, no fluff.....well no fluff showing, but he has fluff under those coverts.

I read somewhere that fluff is of vital importance in assisting with the natural preening process of the bird. These fluff feathers are barbs and they assist or aid the bird in dispersment of the oil from the preen gland when the bird runs it's beak over the gland. I wonder why some birds show it and some do not......bringing up Snowbirds thought of a deformed feather....or perhaps its just that the covert feather itself does not lay correctly over the fluff to cover it as it should. You know sorta like when we humans have cowellics (spelling sorry) and/or our part only goes one way, I wonder if the feather folicles can be off or just pointed the wrong way, thus altering how they lay.

 

[pinkchick]

Quote:
Congratulations!!!!! That's great!


You know I was going over my calendar the other day and noticed that I was waaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyy off on the age of one of my pullets that I am waiting on start lay. Here all this time I thought that the one pullet that I hatched from Johans eggs this year was only going to be 5 months old...... boy was I WRONG.....she just turned 6 mos. old on the 9th and no eggs yet. I'm such a goof ball from time to time.