With my limited knowledge of genetics, if most breeds of chickens, at times have "frizzled" feathering, I'd say it is a genetic trait in the DNA of each breed of chicken, and not a "breed" per se, but a "type" within the different breeds. And by breeding the "Frizzle types" together, you get a higher chance of the gene expressing in the offsping.
Any Chicken Geneticists out there???? Someone who can tell us with some degree of authority on the queston of... Is it a trait with in all chickens, that gets "turned on" in some and not in others? And what the percentage is of the expression of "frizzle" feathers in any particular breed. Are some more prone to "frizzle" than others?
I Googled Frizzle Feathered Chickens, it sounds much like what happens in the AKC with a "new" dog breed. Someone decides to breed different types of dogs together seeking to have certain traits expressed in the offspring. At first, it is not considered a recognized "breed" by people who decide/judge such standings in world of dogs.
Then as time passes and the "hybrid" dog begins to "breed true" and the "inventor" of the new breed developes a "standard" of appearance for that particular "hybrid." The newly developed "breed" begins to increase in number in the population. They are then recognized as a "breed" in their own right. Though, they may at times have offspring that show there is still some of the original genetic material that can express, making that particular animal "unacceptable" for use as breeding stock, because it doesn't conform to the developed standard for the new breed.
Much like people with curly hair, all colors of hair can be curly. And if two curly haired people have children, the odds of them getting curly haired offspring are higher than if one parent has a history of nothing but straight hair for many generations.
Any of that make sense??
From what I have learned, all the common "breeds" of chickens today were manipulated by man to express certain traits that we found desirable.
