Blue silkie foot feathering

[SilkiesAndSuch]

ok. I have two stunning blue silkie cockerals. I am pretty sure they are brothers or at least had the same father and are stepbrothers. Both are dark blue all over, including the foot feathering. However, both have one or two feathers on their feet that are whitish in color. They are around 7-8 months old. Is this possibly temporary and left over from younger feathers? All of my birds from this batch are still getting their adult feathers and are molting like crazy.

Basically, I am asking is there a good chance this problem will correct itself in the future? Is this common? Is it really even a big deal? Both are the children of show winners and are great quality. I will still use them to breed regardless of the foot problem. Thanks everyone!


PS If I cut the feather down close to the base and cut down the shaft of the feather so that it splits and eventually falls off, is there a good chance the feathers will grow back the correct color?

 

[peepswiththepoof]

My guess is that they will lose the white feathers during molt! Good luck!

 

[atimme]

They will probably molt them out unless there's a lot of them. Then they might just have some discolored feathers.

 

[bacres]

They will molt it out.

 

[Smoky73]

Sometimes, just so your aware, stress can cause a bird to grow in white feathers where there were never any before. This is more than likely not the case in your birds seeing they are young, it is probably just a normal chick down occurance and will molt out. However, I have had this happen in 2 of my older silkies, and have had it happen in one of my Dutch bantams. I also have a friend who this happened to as well in her Dutch. We learned about theis from a well know Dutch breeder. Call it shock or stress but under unusually hight stress or shock conditions, some feathers can grow back in white. It also does seem to disappear once the bird molts though.

 

[silkieluver_07]

Quote:
Are the white feathers on the same area on both feet? My one black rosecomb hen developed a couple white tipped feathers and the breeder (and judge) said they were attributed to stress since she had white tips on her eighth feather in her primaries. Are your silkies on wire bottomed cages? While growing in new foot feathers they might have been tender and easily stressed

 

[SilkiesAndSuch]

No my silkies are on sand that I clean regularly. Regarding stress, it very well could be the extreme heat that we Floridians have been experiencing lately....I put a box fan in the coop to help keep the air circulating and I make sure that the automatic waterer is in a shady place and cool to help them deal with the heat, but it has been soooo hot this summer....

The white feathers are on both feet, about one per foot. If it isn't due to the extreme heat I am so relieved most everyone agrees that they should most likely
molt out.

Can't wait to breed them!


Oh by the way, any ideas on how to help them beat the heat a little better? They are constantly under shade and they have plenty of air circulation. Their waterer is automatic, so they never run out of water and it is in a cool place.

 

[Smoky73]

Quote:
Are the white feathers on the same area on both feet? My one black rosecomb hen developed a couple white tipped feathers and the breeder (and judge) said they were attributed to stress since she had white tips on her eighth feather in her primaries. Are your silkies on wire bottomed cages? While growing in new foot feathers they might have been tender and easily stressed

When my silkies have had white int he feathers, they were both in the dark blue silkies and both had white feathers pop up in the crest, which is why I noticed it. My Dutch bantam that got the white feathers got them all over the place. My birds are never placed on wire, unless they are brooding and I am trying to break them. But brooding in the summer can cause its own stress.

 

[Faye Rhoden]

What about cutting the feet feathers of bantams. Is this a do able thing?

 

[JenEric Farms]

Quote:
Don't cut them, pluck them out and they should grow back the CORRECT color.