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Big!
It's been my experience that what they have upon hatch is what they have.....I haven't had one clean legged chick or bird ever grow shank feathering in..... but I have had 2 fully feather shanked roosters who lost all their leg feathering when they molted. It took forever, but of course they grew back in.
You can still use a clean shanked or sparsely feather shanked bird if you would like too, the only thing that is going to happen is...you will get some clean shanked birds in the offspring. Feathering is pretty easy in the realm of things considered Marans to breed back into the birds. Whether or not they need to be culled is all in the eye of the beholder and what your goals are with your birds. If your are breeding to show or to standards then you would want feather legged birds.......but don't let one very nice clean legged bird slow you down if you think that bird will improve the next generation of offspring.....it may take a little more time, but building the barn and making sure the walls and roof are structurally sound are priority in my book, painting it and putting on trim can be done later.
Pink, or anyone else -
If I understand correctly, feather shanks are a dominant trait. Is it possible, or in your experience, does feather shanked parent throw a clean legged offspring?
Thanks ~ Sandy
Hi!
Yes. They sure will and can, so don't be alarmed if you hatch out a chick with clean shanks that came from 2 fully feathered parents. Feathered shanks are dominant, but as Randy (Berkeleysprings) so kindly posted, you can see it explains that they have 2 dominant and one recessive, plus other factors.
I agree with Randy and Don completely..try to use a heavier feather shanked male if you have one, but if all you have is a heavily shanked female you can acheive introducing feathered shanks again or improving upon what you have by using a female too. IMO, atleast one of them has to have good feathered shanks to start with, I have found that using my heavily feather shanked females with my clean legged male, I get a nice ratio of feather shanked birds vs. the clean. From time to time a couple chicks will pop out with very sparsely feathered shanks or clean.....as long as they have at least one feather or feather stub, I'm good to go. My nicely feather legged male over nicely feather legged females or a couple of very heavily feather shanked females can produce the gamit....very sparse...to heavily feathered to the occasional clean legged chick. Note: I do get more clean legged chicks out of the intentional crossing of the clean legged roo than I do from the 2 fully feather legged birds.
It's been my experience that what they have upon hatch is what they have.....I haven't had one clean legged chick or bird ever grow shank feathering in..... but I have had 2 fully feather shanked roosters who lost all their leg feathering when they molted. It took forever, but of course they grew back in.
You can still use a clean shanked or sparsely feather shanked bird if you would like too, the only thing that is going to happen is...you will get some clean shanked birds in the offspring. Feathering is pretty easy in the realm of things considered Marans to breed back into the birds. Whether or not they need to be culled is all in the eye of the beholder and what your goals are with your birds. If your are breeding to show or to standards then you would want feather legged birds.......but don't let one very nice clean legged bird slow you down if you think that bird will improve the next generation of offspring.....it may take a little more time, but building the barn and making sure the walls and roof are structurally sound are priority in my book, painting it and putting on trim can be done later.
Pink, or anyone else -
If I understand correctly, feather shanks are a dominant trait. Is it possible, or in your experience, does feather shanked parent throw a clean legged offspring?
Thanks ~ Sandy
Hi!
Yes. They sure will and can, so don't be alarmed if you hatch out a chick with clean shanks that came from 2 fully feathered parents. Feathered shanks are dominant, but as Randy (Berkeleysprings) so kindly posted, you can see it explains that they have 2 dominant and one recessive, plus other factors.
I agree with Randy and Don completely..try to use a heavier feather shanked male if you have one, but if all you have is a heavily shanked female you can acheive introducing feathered shanks again or improving upon what you have by using a female too. IMO, atleast one of them has to have good feathered shanks to start with, I have found that using my heavily feather shanked females with my clean legged male, I get a nice ratio of feather shanked birds vs. the clean. From time to time a couple chicks will pop out with very sparsely feathered shanks or clean.....as long as they have at least one feather or feather stub, I'm good to go. My nicely feather legged male over nicely feather legged females or a couple of very heavily feather shanked females can produce the gamit....very sparse...to heavily feathered to the occasional clean legged chick. Note: I do get more clean legged chicks out of the intentional crossing of the clean legged roo than I do from the 2 fully feather legged birds.
