I was hoping we could talk about HENS TAIL POSITIONS today.
I hope you won't be offended if I use your picture as a jumping off spot !
1.) I have never seen any hen have that stray feather that this girl has . . . On the roos we call that feather something special - - SOMEBODY JUMP IN here and remind me of what that one crazy feather is called ? ?
2.) When we are trying to decide our birds tail's angle . . . do we include or exclude the stray feather ? ? If it was LEGAL to pluck this splash marans stray feather out - - - the remaining feathers would be at a much lower angle.
3.) ALSO, What should a HENS tail look like - - what angle or shape should we be looking for ? ? Does anyone have a good example of a good hen's tail angle ? ? I know from the back the tail should be open, not pinched.
Thanks everyone. If everything goes well in 14 more days, I will be hatching a couple of dozen of marans and I want to be able to evaluate some of them on my own as they mature. I have a pretty good feel for what faults to look for in the roos. Not so confident on the hens . .. .
I'm not offended at all. She's a pet, and will never be bred, so it's all good. I find all this stuff quite interesting. I thought it sort of looked like maybe she was just missing a few tail feathers, and that they may grow in, and fill the gap?
Now that I really look at the photo, they are just kinda crazy, sticking up all on their own out there, aren't they?
Lilacfeather: She is a pretty girl! I would breed her
Sometimes those stray feathers just stick up for awhile and then fall out. Had a couple roos do that. If not, you could always breed her to a splash or blue male with a low tail and see what happens..
pink chick: That baby looks a little bluish on my monitor as well. Could just be the pic lighting or it could be dark blue.
Hey, I was looking at the shanks on my golden cuckoos. I found some feather stubs along the shanks of one of my darker golden cuckoo females!! Yeah.
I'd almost bet the farm it's a cockerel! A couple from my first clutch were colored like that, and today at 4 months, are black as pitch with very dark copper.