Feathered legs, where'd it come from?

[maddogdodge]

I've got a 1.5 week old chick who I've just noticed has a few small feathers on the outer side of both legs...
This chick is hatched from my mixed flock... the father is a Bantam Australorp... mother is unknown...

The only chickens I have who have feathered legs are 2 Silkies... I do also have a Maran X Australian Araucana... she does not have feathered legs though

What are the chances this chick is from the Maran X and the feathered legs are a throwback in the genes to the Maran?

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

I would guess it to be from one of the silkies. Although, I'm. It very educated in that matter, so couldn't give you an exact answer. Does your marans cross, was it American or French? Only the French have the feathered legs. Could we see a pic of its head, to see if it has a little bit of head feathers possibly from the silkie?

 

[geina]

my Marar mix hen and roo do not have feathered legs but there off spring do. Even my off spring from white leghorn hen and Maran mix too have white feathers on legs and they lay a beautiful light tan large egg, just in case anyone was wondering. Thanks

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Feathered legs are a dominant trait so one parent must have had them. Now, the amount of feathers on the parents doesn't make a difference. I have had chicks hatch with feathered legs from my mutt flock and known who the parents are and been sure they didn't have feathers legs, but on closer inspection there was just one or two little pins that might've been pulled out. And they had chicks with well feathered legs!

So, it's possible your Maran cross actually does have a couple pin feathers and you're just missing them. If your silkies are pure, the chick should not only have feathered legs but five toes, a crest and if the silkies are bearded a beard. Can we have a full body pic of the chick?

 

[Crazy for Chickens!]

Feathered legs are a dominant trait so one parent must have had them. Now, the amount of feathers on the parents doesn't make a difference. I have had chicks hatch with feathered legs from my mutt flock and known who the parents are and been sure they didn't have feathers legs, but on closer inspection there was just one or two little pins that might've been pulled out. And they had chicks with well feathered legs!

So, it's possible your Maran cross actually does have a couple pin feathers and you're just missing them. If your silkies are pure, the chick should not only have feathered legs but five toes, a crest and if the silkies are bearded a beard. Can we have a full body pic of the chick?

They said it was a cross though, so it might not have ALL those things of a silkie.

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

They said it was a cross though, so it might not have ALL those things of a silkie.

No, they said they have two silkies that could be parents. I'm assuming they're pure in which case they should have all those dominant traits from the silkie side.

 

[Gray Farms]

A first generation Silkie cross would get black skin, small crest, and the fifth toe the vast majority of the time. So I don't think it is a Silkie cross.

 

[maddogdodge]

Thank you all for your responses

To clear things up... I have two Silkie hens, the rooster who fathered this chick is purebred bantam Australorp. So the chick is at least half Australorp... The chick does not have 5 toes or black skin (I assume?). I thought the egg was bigger than a silkie egg when I put it in to hatch but I never really know which of my hens layed which eggs.

I don't know which type of Maran my maran X is... I just picked her up from a local breeder having a clearing sale.

Here's the chick's face - appears to have a normal comb to me?

The father of the chick

One of my Silkie hens

My Maran X... she only has one wing, fox attack survivor.

 

[lilmarie84]

he is pretty I've only ever seen the black australorps

now do you know what the maran is crossed

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

He's from the Maran X. Not crested either.

Your chickens are lovely!