Expert help needed - recessive leg feathering in seramas?

[TurtleFeathers]

Hi Folks -

Need some help here - I'm alittle perplexed by something...

I hatched some serama eggs a year ago. These eggs were from 3 different breeders in 3 different states and none of them were associated with each other. I kept 2 roosters from Breeder A, 2 hens from Breeder B, and 1 hen from Breeder C.

Last fall, I hatched some chicks of my own from these birds and gave all but 2 hens to a friend (we'll call this the F1 generation). Although my roosters and hens are unrelated, I don't know if any of these F1 chicks were siblings or not, as I housed all my original seramas together.

I haven't hatched any chicks from my two F1 hens yet, but my friend recently hatched her own chicks (F2) from the F1's she got from me. Her F2's are only a couple weeks old now - they're very healthy and look like your every day cute little serama chicks - but some have feathered legs/feet!!

Its not extra heavy leg/foot feathering like, say, a bantam cochin or d'uccle, but its a pretty apparent line of feathers down the outer shank to the outer toe on each leg/foot.

Now, none of the F1's have feathered legs, and neither do any of the original birds from Breeders A, B or C. The original eggs were sold to me as being from "pure" seramas - and to my knowledge, Breeders A, B and C were NOT working with booted seramas, or mixing breeds to get new colors. And ALL these birds (originals, F1's and F2's) have smooth feathers, light skin, 4 toes on each foot, and single combs. This is the first of 3 generations of seramas to show anything other than standard serama traits.

How does this happen? Is it spontaneous, or carried? If carried, for how many generations can this feathered leg/foot gene remain hidden? Could these be "booted" seramas? Or a throw back from a mixed breeding?

Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on this for me. Your advice will help to to figure out where I'm going with my serama flock...

 

[TK Poultry]

Well it can't be spontaneous unless your friend is mixing. It will have to be carried. Are any of your seramas colored "funny". I mean there are hundreds maybe thousands of different colored seramas but is there any hint that maybe they aren't pure seramas....like a physical feature. This might help the "SERAMA MYSTERY"

 

[SunAngel]

I am that 'friend' and nope, no mixing going on here. The 5 Seramas I got from TurtleFeathers were kept in their own coop. I recently sold a pair and kept a trio. These chicks are all from my trio.

The first chick of mine is on the right. It was the first one I hatched here.

These 4 hatched a few days ago and again I noticed leg feathering on a couple of them. You can see some feathering on both chicks on the right.

And none of the original 7 (some of which are the parents of my chicks) that I got from Turtlefeathers had any amount of leg feathering.

 

[catwalk]

I hatched a Serama chick with leg feathering last year, and none of my adult birds display the trait. I gave the hatchling away to the daughter of a co-worker, so I don't know what he looks like today, and I don't remember the cross that produced it. I'm told that it just pops up sometimes. I doubt that it is the same gene(s) that produce(s) leg feathering in other breeds. There is a breeder on the SCNA forum (Dixiechicks) that is developing the booted style, and he can provide the best information. I don't know if the booteds are more valuable than the clean-legged varieties, but I'm sure your birds are pure. Congratulations!

 

[TK Poultry]

Sorry seems like im making all kinds of people mad today. Just trying to air every possibility. So I guess I was kind of right. It's carried. And maybe you can keep them around and start your owm booted seramas. Those would sell quite well (to me!!!)! CUTE CHICKS! like i said sorry if I offenened it seems like I'm good at that tonight

 

[SunAngel]

I don't think anyone was offended. Your ideas were helpful

I just wanted to post pics so everyone could see what Turtlefeathers was talking about.

My problem now is, I am not sure which hen is throwing the feathered leg chicks. And I have 7 chicks and more eggs in the bator, how will I know which might carry the feather leg gene, hmmm.

And how come no leg feathering shows up in Turtlefeathers Seramas or their chicks (the f1's), but it shows up in the f2's?

 

[TurtleFeathers]

How do you know it was the hen? It could have been the roo - or both?

 

[SunAngel]

Oh...hmmm another possibility. Well now I need to get another roo so I can find out lol.

How would I increase the amount of leg feathering if I wanted to develop my own booted Seramas?

 

[Penturner]

I am not completely certain, But is this even a trait that is out of the standard for Serama? as far as I know the only standards I have seen have to do with stance, form and size. Like size A,B,C, holds wing down,tail held straight up, large chested and head well back. Other than that I was thinking nothing breeds true about Seramas At least color, size and feather style do not. and this would fall under feather style for me. But I could be wrong.

 

[catwalk]

Quote:
It depends on how you are doing your matings. Do you breed back to parents? Siblings? Dixiechicks can I'm sure shed light on the subject, but I'm thinking that it's a recessive gene (assuming it's only one gene.) Even though he's been working on them for quite a while, his birds don't have anything near Cochinesque leg feathering. If you want to know who has the gene, you'll need to keep track of your eggs/chicks. Pair the birds, mark each egg as it's laid, and separate the eggs in the hatcher. Then mark the babies with food coloring and write it down. It'll be a lot of work, but it'll be worth it, if you can find a market for it!

I don't believe feather-legged Seramas have their own category. Silkieds are judged separately, and frizzleds have just earned their own division. Don't say, "but Liz said!", but I think booted Seramas are judged with the clean-legged.