Black Orpintons with a bit o' white

[mthrclckr]

I have black Orpington bantams, but two of my 10-week-olds are still sporting a bit of white on the tips of some of their feathers. How big of a fault (show-wise) is this, and should I stop hatching from the pair that these chicks came from?

The following photos were taken maybe 3-4 weeks ago.

Here's the cockerel:

Here's the pullet:

I'm reasonably sure that those white-tipped feathers will eventually fall out and be replaced with black ones. But I'm wondering if I continue with this line, can I expect this problem to get worse with successive generations? I mean, to the point where they're actually getting *permanent* white feathers?

Thanks.

-Naomi

 

[Black Feather]

I don't have a problem with white tipped feathers on babies as long as they are gone by the time the bird gets it's adult feathers. I think it also depends on the line of birds. Is it a good, strong show line? or does it have a lot of problems in other areas? If it's a high quality show line then I might be more forgiving, but if it's a poor line then I would cull them out.

Urban Coyote

 

[onthespot]

seveal people are working on mottled or erminette orpingtons. I would see how they grow out before I culled. They may be valuable to someone else's project.

 

[mthrclckr]

Oh, okay. Cool... I really don't know a heck of a lot about their lineage. All I know is that the grandparents to the photographed chicks did well at shows. However, they belonged to somebody else and I got hatching eggs from them. I don't show, so I really don't know if the parents are SQ at all.

I would never cull them. If anything, I'll keep them as pets. But that would be cool if they'd be useful to somebody else for a mottled-Orp project. I'll have to wait and see how they develop.

I actually no longer have the rooster that fathered these chicks, and I'm hoping that my other pair puts out good-quality offspring. I guess I'm more curious to know if the chicks should not be bred further. But I did just hatch out two more chicks, which would be "younger siblings" to the pictured chicks. I have a feeling that one of them is going to have lots of white, too. Strange, because the parents were good and black with beautiful beetle green sheen.

Okay, thanks!

-Naomi