My Polish has cute feathers between her toes...

[ChooksChick]

Has anyone else got a Polish with tiny feathers between their toes?? I'm just curious...

My girlie, Aretha, is a muffed/bearded Silver Laced Polish from Estes, and she is the sweetest, most lovely darling- we adore her!

We noticed a bit back that she has 3 or 4 tiny little feathers between her outside 2 toes on each foot.

What's going on with that?

 

[SunAngel]

How odd. A little while ago my DD came in with my 3 month old Welsummer from Ideal and showed me where it had feathers between its toes. I thought maybe it was just dirt or mold even, but nope, has tiny little hair like feathers between all its toes lol.

 

[Justino]

my polish roo had those too.... weird lol

and my "buff orp" has the same type of tiny feathers all up her legs!

looks almost like fur lol

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Those are called stubs, and are a DQ.

 

[ChooksChick]

Sonoran,

Do you know if it's just something latent, possibly not that rare, or is it because of something back in the lineage of the bird, like a cross somewhere?

It doesn't matter a tiny bit, because she's just one of my backyard decorations and a beloved pet, I'm just curious.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I'm not really that familiar with it as most of my birds are supposed to have feathers on their feet. A year or two ago I remember asking a show superintendent about the term and getting a thorough discussion of what they are and that most breeders will check over their birds and pluck any stubs. I assume that it would be something to select against in breeding.

 

[becky3086]

I am now going to have to check all my Polish. Very glad you posted.

 

[Vcomb]

its actually fairly common. rather than breed away from it most people just use tweezers and pluck them out if they're going to show. i had one hen hatch out with an extreme case in which she had stubbs going clear up the side of her shank.