~Pro's And Con's Of Feathered Feet~

[Henry&Friends]

pro: Florence Henderson has bell bottom feet.
Con: they get dirty, but she doesn’t seem to mind.

 

[aart]

Does not like feet feathers.
Love the look of light brahmas so have had a few.
Gathering 'dirt' and tracking it in to nests and onto eggs was a big con here.
Plus, as someone else mentioned, lousy layers that eat a LOT.
Can make it hard to assess and treat any leg issues, especially Scaly Leg Mites.
I also have a few a Marans, luckily they are only lightly feathered on the feet and legs.
ETA...oh, yeah...ice balls in winter are terrible! Have had to cut them off.

 

[AltonaAcres]

When it is snowy, my poor cochins get ice balls stuck to there feet. They also can't fly up to the high roosts. The feathers on their feet are hard to keep nice and clean for show. The skin on their feet also gets kind of red sometimes. But feathered feet are so cute and unique!!

 

[Amer]

That’s actually a very good question!
I think it depends on how dry it is where you live. For some people, the only option is keeping them inside, extremely clean and extremely dry. They may be allowed to go outside if you live somewhere very dry with a mild climate. Which isn’t very many places.
I free range on clay soil in the humid continental climate so when I got feather legged birds, I quickly discovered that in rainy springs and falls they are quite bad and in hot summers they are miserable and let’s not even mention the snow.
Eventually I moved to an alternative... instead of d’Uccles I got d’Anvers and if you want feathered legged birds, instead of a Cochin you may go for a less profusely feathered alternative like a Brahma, Marans, or Langshan.

 

[Skippersnh]

I'm with @aart my brahmas don't lay very many eggs but they sure eat alot

 

[ColtHandorf]

Chickens with profusely feathered legs are most certainly not for everyone. Personally I've raised and bred Marans, Brahmas, Salmon Faverolles, and Cochins that all had feathered legs. I didn't have an issue with any of the breeds in the climate I was in. We rarely get snow in Texas although it can be quite wet in the winter, spring, and fall, and hot in the summer. To avoid the Cochins suffering from the heat their pens were almost completely in full shade to keep them cool. I didn't let them free-range in the evenings very often, only because they didn't prefer to go very far from their pen. The Marans, Faverolles, and Brahmas ranged well when they were turned out.

Only including a few pictures to show their feathers weren't in bad shape from being kept on the ground and raised like chickens. They weren't in indoor coops on sawdust floors.

 

[TheChiggens]

When it is snowy, my poor cochins get ice balls stuck to there feet.

That's awful.
And REALLY bothersome for the birds! I remember having to cut hem of.

 

[MomJones]

I have 5 Light Brahma hens and 1 LB Rooster. "Jefe"'s feet always look pink and irritated. I've had him inside for a few salt water soaks at times. Then there's the feather trimming issues: If I cut too close to the leg itself the feather shafts will bleed and bleed. I only trimmed him once to try and alleviate the inflamed toes where the feathers were located. He healed fine but I had to wrap one foot overnight to get the bleeding to stop (powders do not stop that type of bleeding). Anyway, now he just runs around with reddened, irritated looking feet. But what a gorgeous boy

 

[Don 27]

View attachment 1964624 View attachment 1964625
pro: Florence Henderson has bell bottom feet.
Con: they get dirty, but she doesn’t seem to mind.

I have the same chicken breed and the featherd feet have served no purpose except for looks but that only works during the dry time of year. It's something I would rather they skipped breeding into chickens. And their feet bleed during the winter for No reason.

 

[Criticalicious]

I would suggest that the FF have nothing to do with their egg laying ability. Marans are middle-of-the-road layers because they are dual-purpose. Dual purpose breeds can be raised for meat or eggs, which means they like to eat and they lay well, but not as prolifically as breeds that have been bred for that purpose alone. The French and American standards call for FF and the English standard is for clean legs, and no matter which breeding standard, the marans will produce similar number of eggs.