My Sapphire Gem Turned Mottled After Molting.

[BigBlueHen53]

Hi guys, has anyone seen this before, or have any idea why this happened? I have five or six Sapphire Gems and this is the only one that took on this strange mosaic appearance after her molt this fall. Instead of all her feathers coming in blue, some came in this odd brownish color. I did not worm anybody during molting or give any medication of any kind. I feed an all-flock 20% formula pellets from Bomgaar's, available all day, with plenty of water available in heated buckets when it's cold out. Crushed granite grit and oyster shell are always available in separate containers. I don't seem to have a problem with bullying or feather pecking. In addition to a total of 28 female birds (14 OG, 14 pullets) there are two 5+ month old Ameraucana cockerels, that are still being schooled by the OG hens. Everyone gets a little treat of mixed grain scratch, BOSS and dried mealworms in the afternoon, and they are released to free range every day from about 11 a.m. till they put themselves away at dusk, though mostly they just hang out under a cherry bush and "chew their cud" since there's not much to interest them out there right now. That's it. Any ideas? She seems healthy and normal but I don't know if she's laying at the moment. She's 2 years old, I believe.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@Granny Hatchet
@The Moonshiner
I'll think of some others that know genetics ...

ETA: @KF0002
Please tag anyone you can think of who might be able to explain this, preferably in layman's terms. The more the merrier!

 

[AinaWGSD]

Hmmm. My first thought is that she didn't molt all of her feathers. The brown ones all look ragged compared to the blue ones. If they're old, sun bleached feathers that didn't molt out that would explain the color difference.

Otherwise whatever caused the odd feather color also caused some sort of structural defect similar to the feather shredder gene. I'm certainly not expert, but I can't think of anything that would affect just some of the feathers and not all of them.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Hmmm. My first thought is that she didn't molt all of her feathers. The brown ones all look ragged compared to the blue ones. If they're old, sun bleached feathers that didn't molt out that would explain the color difference.

Otherwise whatever caused the odd feather color also caused some sort of structural defect similar to the feather shredder gene. I'm certainly not expert, but I can't think of anything that would affect just some of the feathers and not all of them.

Thanks for your response. That's an interesting observation.

 

[MROO]

Hi guys, has anyone seen this before, or have any idea why this happened? I have five or six Sapphire Gems and this is the only one that took on this strange mosaic appearance after her molt this fall. Instead of all her feathers coming in blue, some came in this odd brownish color. I did not worm anybody during molting or give any medication of any kind. I feed an all-flock 20% formula pellets from Bomgaar's, available all day, with plenty of water available in heated buckets when it's cold out. Crushed granite grit and oyster shell are always available in separate containers. I don't seem to have a problem with bullying or feather pecking. In addition to a total of 28 female birds (14 OG, 14 pullets) there are two 5+ month old Ameraucana cockerels, that are still being schooled by the OG hens. Everyone gets a little treat of mixed grain scratch, BOSS and dried mealworms in the afternoon, and they are released to free range every day from about 11 a.m. till they put themselves away at dusk, though mostly they just hang out under a cherry bush and "chew their cud" since there's not much to interest them out there right now. That's it. Any ideas? She seems healthy and normal but I don't know if she's laying at the moment. She's 2 years old, I believe.

View attachment 4270498

View attachment 4270499

DANG, she's pretty!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

DANG, she's pretty!

Why thank you!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Interesting. When I first saw the title I thought it might be like one of my mottled crossbreeds came back with the exchequer pattern after her second adult molt. A pretty dramatic change after a molt. I've seen some chickens come back with slight differences in color or pattern after a molt but nothing as dramatic as that mottled/exchequer hen.

I have no idea what happened. As AinaWGSD pointed out some of those feathers look shredded. The lighter ones.

If I were you I might contact your county extension office and ask them about it. They should be in contact with experts at the Mizzou Ag Department who might be interested in her. I'd love to hear what they have to say about it.

 

[Altairsky]

My older hens sometimes do partial molts and when they do, they appear of 2 different colors. New feathers are much darker than the old ones. I think this is what happened. She will probably molt the rest of the old feathers sometimes in the future. Old ladies might take some time to complete the molt. I'd check if she's getting enough animal protein.

 

[mrskenmore]

I had an Easter Egger hen that was white/Grey and after her first molt went more cream/brown... so I guess it can happen! She is pretty!

 

[Not-so Slick Chicken]

Well, that's not the chicken mottling gene.
(Unless you mean the itty bitty white dots on her head feathers. I'm not sure what that is)

Very interesting, though. None of our SG birds, or eggers with blue feathers, have ended up looking like that.
It almost looks like she has a chocolate gene, but it's only the ratty feathers that are tan.
Mites?
Genetic anomaly?
Does she, and everybody else, seem to be fine?