LIttle reassurance/verification help please

[bunsnpupsnchick]

Hi










Thanks to the wonderful help from previous postings it was thought my chicks which look like this one was a partridge or gold laced cochin. However, I've notice some 'hock' or at least hock-styled feathering over the past week or so. It's not on all the cochins either...just these ones. I only got a pic of 1 of them right now to show, but are they just developing their legs feathers earlier or are these really baby hocks???? I can't recall about how my sultans developed theirs, but I probably didn't pay that close of attention as I knew what they were.

Also, from what I've seen in the pics I've been looking at I'm thinking partridge more so than gold laced. Still not 100%, but they're only 2.5 weeks. So, I'm really surprised by the leg feathers!

Thanks for any help/verification/reassurance!!!

 

[junebuggena]

It's called vulture hocks. It's caused by a recessive gene that pops up every now and then in feather legged breeds. Not a big deal for a backyard flock keeper. It is a major fault if you were planning on breeding or showing, though.
The chick is still a Cochin.

 

[bunsnpupsnchick]

It's called vulture hocks. It's caused by a recessive gene that pops up every now and then in feather legged breeds. Not a big deal for a backyard flock keeper. It is a major fault if you were planning on breeding or showing, though.
The chick is still a Cochin.

Thanks! No plans right now for either breeding or showing...still kind of experimenting with breeds to see what I like, etc.

That did bring a question to mind for breeding though....I know people work on various projects to bring/develop different colors to the various breeds. With this being a recessive gene that popped up, does that mean it would be a good candidate to bring this color to a d'uccle/booted bantam? I know they were used by some to bring the mille fleur color to cochins. I was figuring still a cochin unless I was mistaken & not finding a gold laced or partridge in either d'uccle/booted bantams. They're still super cute in my book....especially the darker red one I have.

I haven't really begun to look into genetics yet, other than color curiosity if I were to have any of my current adults hatch an egg...mixed breed for certain in that case.

 

[junebuggena]

It's possible, but the Cochin body type is very different from the D'Uccle body type.

 

[bunsnpupsnchick]

It's possible, but the Cochin body type is very different from the D'Uccle body type.

True. Bantam wise the only others I can think of with vulture hocks are the silkies & sultans...though I'm sure there's a slew that I've no idea about.

As I said...just a brain wonder/wander.

Thank you again!