Blue Star/Sapphire Gem with feathered legs?

[Painted Calls]

That foot feathering is too sparse for a Cochin unless a very poor quality specimen of the breed. Marans or Marans-based olive-egger are much more likely possibilities. Knowing where they originated from would definitely help to narrow things down, though.

Agreed!

 

[amaxey4]

I ordered a blue star from Ideal poultry around the same time you did and the one I was thinking was the blue star also has feathered legs. I also did order a blue cuckoo maran and it has feathered legs. Now that they’re getting their adult feathers the coloring is definitely not the same between the birds and I would think the blue cuckoo mar and coloring would be similar. Was Ideal Poultry certain their blue stars don’t have feathered legs?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

According to Ideal's website, the parent breeds of their blue stars are Blue Andalusian and Barred Rock. Neither of those breeds has feathered legs, so the blue stars should not, either, unless they're doing something very wrong with their breeding program for the parent breeds.

 

[coffeeaddict]

I ordered a blue star from Ideal poultry around the same time you did and the one I was thinking was the blue star also has feathered legs. I also did order a blue cuckoo maran and it has feathered legs. Now that they’re getting their adult feathers the coloring is definitely not the same between the birds and I would think the blue cuckoo mar and coloring would be similar. Was Ideal Poultry certain their blue stars don’t have feathered legs?

Yes they were 100 percent certain the feathered legs were not Blue Stars. I had ordered 5. Three had feathered legs and two did not. They told me that all five were likely blue cuckoo Marans. How different is the coloring on your two? From what I understand, the Blue Star coloring can vary a bit between birds. I decided to keep mine and forgo Blue Stars sadly. My five Marans do vary slightly in color. Most are a very light blue gray and some darker.

 

[janiedoe]

I got these from Ideal Poultry. They do carry Blue Cochins, EE’s, OE’s and Blue Cuckoo Marans.

I have a welsummer from ideal that has some feathers on her legs. She still looks and lays like a welsummer otherwise. They carried lanshans up until this year, so maybe there is some of that in the mix. Also they carried feathered leg cuckoo marans for several years, before switching to the clean legged ones.

 

[3KillerBs]

Yes they were 100 percent certain the feathered legs were not Blue Stars. I had ordered 5. Three had feathered legs and two did not. They told me that all five were likely blue cuckoo Marans. How different is the coloring on your two? From what I understand, the Blue Star coloring can vary a bit between birds. I decided to keep mine and forgo Blue Stars sadly. My five Marans do vary slightly in color. Most are a very light blue gray and some darker.

My Blue Australorps vary considerably in color from quite light to dark charcoal. Unless a breeder works with a line specifically focusing on uniformity of color there is going to be a variety of shades.

 

[janiedoe]

My Blue Australorps vary considerably in color from quite light to dark charcoal. Unless a breeder works with a line specifically focusing on uniformity of color there is going to be a variety of shades.

That's a very good point.
I personally like that the blue color has so much variety. I think that the variation is what attracted me to the bbs color.

 

[DanielMunroe]

Based on your description, it is possible that the Blue Star chicks you received may have feathered legs as adults. However, fuzzy legs can also be a characteristic of certain breeds such as Silkies, which have fur-like feathers on their legs and feet.

 

[DavidReaves]

I got these from Ideal Poultry. They do carry Blue Cochins, EE’s, OE’s and Blue Cuckoo Marans.

I got 3 supposedly Blue Star chicks from Ideal's March 1st hatch. It looks like all three of mine have lightly feathered shanks. They have dark beaks and dark feet. Unfortunately, I haven't handled them a lot and I don't have any good photos other than this arrival photo. The other chicks in the box are barred rock and Welsummer.

 

[DavidReaves]

I ordered a blue star from Ideal poultry around the same time you did and the one I was thinking was the blue star also has feathered legs. I also did order a blue cuckoo maran and it has feathered legs. Now that they’re getting their adult feathers the coloring is definitely not the same between the birds and I would think the blue cuckoo mar and coloring would be similar. Was Ideal Poultry certain their blue stars don’t have feathered legs?

Same-- three Blue Stars with feathered shanks