Brahma with Silkie Feathers....Update at 13.5 weeks.

[swheat]

Quote:
I don't think it is silkied, as you mentioned the the normal feathers on the wing. I can determine my silkied cochins at the very earliest by the wing feathers. Very interesting to see how he turns out !! Could it possibly be slow feathering gene ?? just guessing. Good luck with him!

 

[pgpoultry]

Oh, just to say ' he' is very definitely she. I think i was so sure that the slow feathering would be male that I wasn't looking at the stripy pattern on the head, the tiny comb and the 'delicate' feet for a 'Brahma'.

I do hope that she does not have defective genes which do not allow her to be fertile as the 'blue fluff' is SO attractive.

 

[critterranch]

i think it is just slow feathering i had a bramha bantam roo that took 4 1/2 months to feather. that is what he looked like. his hatched mates were fully feathered around 8 weeks. he just ended up being slow.

 

[pgpoultry]

Almost two weeks have passed since I posted on this chick.

The Silkie-type blue feathers are longer, and slightly darker feathers of the same fluffy type have appeared on her wings. The three permanentish-looking but wrongly shaped feathers from the left wing tip have dropped out and have not been replaced. She still has the three on the right wing tip.

No sign of any other permanent-looking feathers elsewhere.

She remains otherwise fit and active, eats well and has no other apparent defects.

I'll post pics. again of her next week when I have my own computer back (not so sure of how to do it on my daughter's machine)

 

[draye]

Quote:
The bottom picture here looks like the feathers on the wings are growing in upside down.

 

[pgpoultry]

Yes the few feathers which are looking anything like permanent feathers are spoon shaped with the open end pointing upwards rather than downwards. As she now only has these on one of her wings, they are not very durable.No sign of any other permanent feathers coming in.

I've kept chickens for years and have never seen anything quite like this funny little soul.

 

[Scrabbled Egg Acres]

I thought this 11.5 week old cockerel was just slow to feather, but it does not seem to be the case.. His blue body feathers seem now to have permanent feather bases, and are not just baby fluff. The few 'normal' feathers that he has on his wing tips are not , in fact, normal at all. They have a shallow spoon shape, with the wide part of the 'bowl' pointing upwards. The little feathers on his head, neck, and legs look fairly OK. He should be a Blue Partridge Brahma cockerel, and the stage of feathering of his contemporaries is shown by the well-feathered little guy behind.

I have never owned a Silkie, and we have no near neighbours. My chickens are pure bred Brahmas and Naked Necks with a few crosses.

Does anybody know how and when the genetic change to Silkie-type feathers occurred? Could this be an example of a spontaneous genetic mutation to a similar feather type?

I guess most folk would say he should be culled...cockerel with defective feathers....but I won't. I may have to knit him a winter jumper, though! (And probably a raincoat)