d'anver lovers,discuss the breed and post some pics!

[K Epp]

I noticed today pullet I got in February is starting to get her spots so a 4.5 months. The cockerel from the Easter hatch still doesn't have any.

 

[chickee]

I noticed today pullet I got in February is starting to get her spots so a 4.5 months. The cockerel from the Easter hatch still doesn't have any.

Gosh, it takes that long?! Guess I just have to be patient

 

[K Epp]

I'm no expert by far. That's just two birds I have to give comparison to.

 

[speckledhen]

Seems like it takes a couple of months at least for most to start showing their spots, some longer.

 

[K Epp]

I went and gave the cockerel a color inspection. He is getting a few white spots and and getting black in his hackle feathers. The older girl is getting full on black and white spots now.

 

[chickee]

Can't wait for my MFs to start getting spots. They are so pretty when they do

 

[speckledhen]

It's interesting that some get the huge spots and some get small spots. Lucy has huge ones, Mina has small ones.

 

[Boggy Bottom Bantams]

Aubrey, when do the MF get their spots? Mine are all solid so far. Out of 4 I got 1 pullet and 3 cockerels.

Here is the pullet~

4-6 months. It takes a while and that's what you want. Birds that spot up early end up way overly white when grown. A good bird will not be properly and fully marked til their second adult molt actually.

You want some nicely mottled the first year, but all will add white it seems the second year, so you don't want the real white ones the first season. Like Cynthia said, some end up with big spots, some tiny. Tiny is what you want so not to give the appearance of a 1/2 white bird.
Just the tip is all you want.
around 4 to 5 months though most will start showing some signs of white tips coming in

 

[chickee]

4-6 months. It takes a while and that's what you want. Birds that spot up early end up way overly white when grown. A good bird will not be properly and fully marked til their second adult molt actually.

You want some nicely mottled the first year, but all will add white it seems the second year, so you don't want the real white ones the first season. Like Cynthia said, some end up with big spots, some tiny. Tiny is what you want so not to give the appearance of a 1/2 white bird.
Just the tip is all you want.
around 4 to 5 months though most will start showing some signs of white tips coming in

Thanks Aubrey

They were 8 weeks old on June 16th. I sure am enjoying all the different colors. Unfortunately I was wrong about the two porcelain chicks. They both turned out to be cockerels, darn it! At least the beak on the one did straighten out. Oh, and one of the black cockerels is clean faced as I suspected.

 

[speckledhen]

Lucy and Penny are both examples of birds who appear very white now due to their large spots, though I must admit, I love that coloring, correct or not. In the photo below, Carly on left, Penny on right, a good comparison of the different size spots. Both are 3 years old.