I have a 1st import black hen that occasionally throws chicks with feathered legs though she doesn't have any feathers or stubs on her own legs. She is the only one that I have from that breeder and she has been removed from my breeding program. Her eggs are much darker green than my other girls, so they are easy to tell apart. She has great form and a lovely dark green egg color, so I will keep her around and use her in a project capacity to see if I can get rid of the feathered leg genes while keeping the good qualities. I have heard of a couple of instances in the 2nd import of feathered legs, but didn't get any with feathered legs in my 2nd import chicks.
It is not just feathered legs that speak "Marans influence" to me. It is the size, copper hackles, white or pink base color on the legs, stockier form and eye color of some of the 2nd import.
