curled up back feathers

[MLG1900]

Hello, This chick was hatched from a blue birchen maran rooster and the mother could have been a blue birchan maran or a welsummer. I sexed hen by feathers when hatched and suspected female. I don't know what the deal is with these back feathers though. Feathers right above her tail stick up instead of laying flat. Any thoughts?

 

[Trish1974]

I have an australorp with one forward curled feather right in front of her tail. It even grew back that way after her first molt. I don't know why it's that way, but I like it. Her name... Curly!

 

[JedJackson]

How odd. She almost looks like one of those fluffy English Orpingtons or a Cochin cross. And I do believe it is a she and not a cockerel. She may just be a genetic anomaly. Whether the feathers will become more normal with molting is hard to say.

I also am not sure whether the mother is a Welsummer or blue birchen Marans. Your girl looks all black with no signs of silver or gold in the hackle. She has clean legs, though. If your birchen Marans have feathered legs, then that might indicate the Welsummer is the mom. On the other hand, I would expect some gold leakage if that were the case, and there is none.

It's an interesting bird. I hope you update us with photos as she matures. I'd like to see what happens with her.

 

[MLG1900]

How odd. She almost looks like one of those fluffy English Orpingtons or a Cochin cross. And I do believe it is a she and not a cockerel. She may just be a genetic anomaly. Whether the feathers will become more normal with molting is hard to say.

I also am not sure whether the mother is a Welsummer or blue birchen Marans. Your girl looks all black with no signs of silver or gold in the hackle. She has clean legs, though. If your birchen Marans have feathered legs, then that might indicate the Welsummer is the mom. On the other hand, I would expect some gold leakage if that were the case, and there is none.

It's an interesting bird. I hope you update us with photos as she matures. I'd like to see what happens with her.

Thank you! You sound very knowledgeable. Her adoptive mother is a BO. It was my very first time having a broody hen and my friend gave me six eggs. I think she did a great job hatching 4. Snake took two eggs before incubation completed. I thought I had the most beautiful baby chicks. Unfortunately, she is the only one that has survived this long. currently 9 weeks. I lost my favorite silver one from a snake and the other two my dog must have thought they looked more like quail then chickens. Here are some of the photos of my first egg hatching experience. You can see that I started with 3 black and white chicks and one silver. The remaining chick had the least white coloring though. And she did not always have this odd back feathers. And Bertha, the mom , I dyed her comb blue so that I can identify her from my other 3 BO. I wasn't sure if it was the same chicken in the box all the time, LOL!

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Pullet

Note:
Feather sexing only works for specifically bred hybrids. (sex links)