Partridge Rocks

[LiL John]

I have several different breeds of chickens and my Partridge Rocks seem to have difficulty feathering out on the back. is this normal?
I feed them the same as all my other chicks they are @ 3 months old. some have feathered fine but some have not. their feathers seem to aways been a little different than any of the other breeds I have.

 

[walkswithdog]

Mine have never had a problem. Where'd you get your birds?

That said MALES will feather slower on the back in some lines. Or you could have bought into an entire line of slow feathering birds, which would suck.

What % protein are you feeding - I feed gamestarter 28% and they're mostly feathered in at six weeks.

I got birds that I was NOT pleased with from a couple of hatcheries, slow growth and feather development being some of the issues.

The last two groups came from Ideal and I was more than pleased. Now I raise from my own, so no more troubles.

 

[Majestic Lane Poultry]

Mine are also originally from Ideal. And I have not had those problems. I feed SS chick starter for the first 6 months.

 

[cybercat]

Since PR are one of the heritage breeds. They are suppose to be a slower developing breed. So you will have feathers coming in slower or later than many other breeds. It take these chickens a full year to see how they will turn out. Which is Normal for all heirtage breeds. They should not under any circumstance develope as fast as a leghorn or any other egg laying breed. You might want to read the ALBC site for how heritage chickens should grow as they have many good articals on the site.

 

[Chickndaddy]

Since PR are one of the heritage breeds. They are suppose to be a slower developing breed. So you will have feathers coming in slower or later than many other breeds. It take these chickens a full year to see how they will turn out. Which is Normal for all heirtage breeds. They should not under any circumstance develope as fast as a leghorn or any other egg laying breed. You might want to read the ALBC site for how heritage chickens should grow as they have many good articals on the site.

That makes sense concerning their growth rates, but not the rate at which they are feathering out. Jersey Giants, Orpingtons, and other breeds develop slower than commercial breeds as far as weight is concerned, but they are still well feathered.

I believe you probably just have a line of birds that are slow to feather. I got some Buff Brahmas from a hatchery (don't remember which one) and their backs were completely bald at two to three months. Their wings, necks, heads, chests, and feet feathered fine, but their stomach and back remained bare for quite some time.

My White Javas had a similar problem as well. Although they feathered out at a normal rate, they stayed tiny forever. I usually raised them up with my bantam chicks so the larger chicks wouldn't trample them or pick on them. It's just a line thing. Out crossing to Black Javas probably would have helped my White line by increasing the gene pool and vigor.

I would recommend getting another line and starting over or to cross with your own if you plan on breeding. If they are just going to be layers, they should eventually feather out completely.​

 

[LiL John]

Thanks for the info guys...I feed them Purina start and grow....what I dont understand is, out of @10 or so half have feathered out fine the other half is having trouble....purchased these from Mcmurray.

 

[Missouri Maiden]

I haven't had a problem with feathuring but size, I have four and two of them are normal size and the others are really small. But really fisty!

 

[zippy11455]

I've got both Partridge Rock and Colombian Rock. At 5 weeks the Partridge Rock are barely feathered at all, while the Colombians are almost fully feathered. Both are the same age and came from the same hatchery. They look like there is at least a 2 week difference in age between them, but I know there can't be since they were both purchased at the same time as day old chicks.

 

[walkswithdog]

In a PR group from the same hatchery it's likely that the batch that's slowest to feather on the back are males...

 

[tadkerson]

The slow back feathering is a genetic trait. I have had it show up in my rhode island red. It may be sex influenced because it was expressed in my males and not my females ( that is a guess on my part). I did not have very many so it could be recessive or a polygenic trait. That would be my best guess.

Tim