Yes I have had a rough year with varmints killing chickens but luckily we found the major culprit and hopefully have that issue resolved. It was a new neighbor's dog down the road who was just allowed to roam all over and do whatever. When we told him that she had killed so many of our chickens he said he would "get rid of her." What he chooses to do with his dog is his business, but people shouldn't own dogs if that is their mentality. The dog killed 8 game cocks, 3-4 Legbar pullets, 3 Black Copper Marans pullets, and a black copper cockerel. And those are only the ones I have noticed were gone. We keep our dogs fenced up so they don't roam and get into trouble, even though that means varmints tend to pick some off out of the perimeter of the fence. I would have loved to let our dogs out during the time we were suffering so many losses so they could take care of the varmint, but I don't want to run the risk of my dogs getting shot in the process. Always some kind of chicken drama..
Anyway, sorry to ramble. I will look the cockerel over for parasitic white as soon as I can. It is pouring rain here today so I'm stuck in the house. The last time I checked him for white he didn't have any. I don't plan on getting rid of any pullets that I have but I will cull through the cockerels, several of which have horrible halos and white underfluff. I gave one pullet to a friend that I had documented was mossy as a chick because I didn't want to use her for breeding. Otherwise the rest are here to stay hopefully if we can keep the varmints at bay.
On the subject of squirrel tails, no Marans male I have ever had that ended up with a squirrel tail showed the squirrel tail until he was around 8-9 months old. I don't even hold my breath on a male until they are at least that old anymore. I am just tired of getting my hopes dashed. Hence all my hesitation on breeding him until later on in the year. Chickens make me more pessimistic by the day. lol
That's very interesting. The mottling gene is recessive, yes? Perhaps one of his birds is the culprit for throwing offspring recessive for the mottling gene? That is how these things happen, all it takes is a line to throw some sports that can be used to create something new. Mottled Marans sounds like a fun project.
The mottled hens have thrown lots of chest spotted chicks, so I'll need to move them anyways. I'm wondering just how spotted the progeny will be since the mothers hardly showed any signs of mottling before a certain age
