Faverolle with confused feet

[BarkerChickens]

We have an 11 week old salmon Faverolle cockerel with confused feet! His left foot has 4 toes!

His right foot is the normal 5 toes though. We just noticed it yesterday when I was showing my brother how salmon faverolle's have 5 toes. He looked kinda confused and my hubby said, "uh...his feet are different from one another".

All of our other faverolles have "normal" feet (5 toes). He is purebred, so what's up with his different feet? He is our only faverolle roo too!

 

[BarkerChickens]

anyone?

 

[BantyHugger]

Birth defect i guess. That or a genetic flaw.

 

[ChickensInTheNorthWoods]

You can always name him "tony 4 toes" if it turns out to be a roo.

My guess would be a genitics issue.

 

[BarkerChickens]

Can Faverolles carry a 4 toe gene (since he is a purebred)? I find it very interesting that it appears on only one foot!

With my limited genetics education, it seems that if it were genetic (oppose to birth defect) that both feet would be 4 toed. However, people can be born with 6 fingers on one hand and it is genetic, so I guess it kinda makes sense. Does anyone know if it is a recessive or dominant gene? (I figure it is dominant, we can cull 4-toed offspring).

 

[BarkerChickens]

Quote:

He is a roo. Actually his name is Fishhead because his head always smelled like he stuck it in a freshly gutted fish (until we switched their feed a few weeks ago). If we were knelt down getting into the brooder or their coop, we could always tell when he was nearby....puuu!

ETA: He doesn't stink anymore...just has funny toes.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

The polydactyly gene can express in a number of ways. Ideally you will have 5 toes per foot, but sometimes you can have more and sometimes less. I know someone who recently sold a 10 toed PQ silkie: 6 toes on one foot and 4 on the other. My son was once given a silkie that had nearly an entire additional set of toes atop one foot.

As long as the toes are correctly arranged, I wouldn't worry about it other than to not show it (DQ), and if you have a better quality bird, use that one for breeding. Or breed the nine toed bird to one with perfect toes.

 

[BarkerChickens]

Quote:
Thanks so much! While I was thinking of polydactyly gene in humans, I didn't make the connection in my head that it is the same thing in chickens! The asymmetry in polydactyly makes perfect sense! All of our hens are 5-toed, so all should be well!

 

[pbjmaker]

I have a silkie cross like that - the dad has an extra toenail on his smallest toes and the mom is a d'uccle (I think) This lil guy has 4 toes on one foot and 6 on the other. We just decided he was working on conservation of numbers and that a group of 4 and 6 is the same as a group of 5 and 5.

 

[Sharisr32]

It is genetic --- 4 Toes may still be a good breeder - But some will carry that 4 toe gene --

I still keep a few Favs Including My Blue Fav Pair Mr + Mrs. Coon Bait who won AOV Champs at Ohio NAtionals in 2008 - they are a fun breed the thing to check for is the quality of leg feathering is it all the way down on the 4 toe leg ? if not do not breed this is a very hard Dq is to breed back out.