Moel....Feather Mutation Brahma at 22weeks.

[pgpoultry]

Moel is now 22 weeks old. She has a few more feathers than she had at 12 weeks, but still has a lovely fluffy butt with only down on there. Of the four wing feathers that she had both sides, one side fell out They are being replaced by another four with the same up-turned configuration, so will clearly never fly.

She does not seem to be adding any more adult-type feathers, so this is probably what she is always going to look like.

For those of you who have not seen her before, she is the same size as her hatch mates, weighs a few pounds, normal feet, beak, claws etc. Appetite excellent, behaviour normal. Parents had totally normal feathers.

So.....looks like I have a perpetual chick.

I don't know if she will ever lay eggs.

 

[AZBootsie]

She is odd looking....but really cute!!

 

[Cattitude]

What an interesting looking chicken!

 

[dsqard]

I would say just give her time. I have a buff Brahma cockerel that took forever to get his adult feathers. He is almost seven months old and still doesn't have all his adult feathers but he is almost there. Some of them just take longer.

 

[pgpoultry]

I don't think she will feather out normally as the feathers of e.g the wings are spoon shaped upwards and point the wrong way and the 'bum fluff' is very long and has a normalish bit where the quill inserts into the skin, then a Silkie-like part at the end.....sort of extended bum fluff!

 

[jennh]

If she is a Brahma, they DO take longer to mature than most chickens. Mine is now 5.5 yrs old, and was only broody for the first time this spring!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Did you worm her while she was growing feathers? One wormer, fenbendazole, commonly sold as Safeguard, will mess up the feathers that are growing in.

Just a thought.

 

[pgpoultry]

She is a true blue Brahma (Blue Partridge Brahma to be precise). Her parents are normal....here's dad and mum enjoying a bath.

I have a lot of Brahmas and initially assumed that she was a slow-feathering cockerel as some of the boys are pretty slow in getting their feathers.

She hasn't been wormed at all yet.....which reminds me.......but I tend only to use VermX, organic stuff, or Spot On (ivermectin) occasionally for non-layers, males etc.

The body feathers (of adult-like type) curve down onto the body and the wing feathers curve upwards and point at the sky.

Funny little girl, but feisty, green-eyed and lively.