Lavender orpingtons without tails?

[PtldChick]

I've been raising three lavender orpington chicks for five weeks now. I got them from a local breeder at 2-3 days old. They are almost all feathered out and two of them have no tail feathers. I mean none. I can feel their tail bone and no feathers are growing in around them. Like a rumpless orpington.

Any ideas why this would be?

Confused in Portland...

 

[hinkjc]

If they have a tailbone, they are not rumpless. It is not uncommon for slow feathering birds to get their tail feathers last. Some don't get them until they are almost mature, 14=16 weeks or longer for the sickle feathers.

 

[megalomaniac]

Been there, done that. The rumpless rooster I had had a lot of trouble with poo sticking to his rear and had a very strange gait....

WAY too much junk introduced into the 'lavender' line a few generations ago by unscrupulous breeders. I even had a lavender hen hatched from a brown egg that ended up laying blue eggs.