Buff Orpingtons with dark tail feathers

[Redhead Rae]

One of my BO roosters has one black tail feather and several of the hens have darker tail feathers. They are hatchery birds, so I'm not expecting show quality, but is this bad breeding or are they actually BO crosses?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

One of mine has one white feather. My hens range in coloring from darker orange to light yellow. Hatchery stock can be a bit inconsistent, but generally they lay better than better bred birds.

A full side shot of your birds might help to see if they look purebred.

 

[ChickNanny13]

I've got 4 hatchery BO (23wks), their coloring is very inconsistant but they are so sweet! Love the breed, was hoping for some Lavenders but contents with these Buffs. The got some black on their tail feathers....

 

[Redhead Rae]

These pictures are a couple of months old, but you get the idea.

This is the rooster that has the black tail feather. This is a 2 month old picture (he is 6 months old in the picture) and his tail has gotten a lot fuller and you are able to see the feather.

This is my other BO rooster and you can see parts of a couple of the hens. (6 months)

Here is one of my hens. She would have been 5 months in this picture.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They are beautiful examples of hatchery birds. Love the breed, I never get tired of looking at them.

 

[Redhead Rae]

Thanks! I think I want to work them into my "mutt" chickens selecting for size, friendliness and broodiness and not worry too much about maintaining "pure" buffs. I want to be able to hatch all the chicks we need with broody mamas if possible. One of the hens is now sitting on a batch of eggs for me. She is 8.5 months old

 

[Redhead Rae]

This is what they looked like yesterday. They are currently 8.5 months old. I couldn't get a good picture of a hen with a dark tail, but you can see the black in the rooster's tail very clearly.