PURPLE hen???

[AZBootsie]

Quote:

That is good news!!
Yesterday I took a camera out to my Blk Ameraucanas to get pics of purple sheen, but couldn't find any. I was bummed until I read your post.

 

[pgpoultry]

Phew....glad I'm only seeing blue/green on mine, too.

 

[hoppy]

Quote:
I guess that's one way to sell a bird!

 

[ChickiKat]

my BSL is very green in certain lighting.... beetle sheen is a good term for it.

 

[exop]

It has to do with the balance of protein in the feed, if I remember correctly... corn has a different balance of amino acids, and is missing some essential ones. A feed with a high proportion of its protein from corn (and not enough other balancing proteins, eg. from fish meal or animal sources) can cause purple barring. So can too much scratch grain. A feed with a good balance of protein (and adequate amounts of protein) would give a green color.

This year I tried separating out a couple of my cull cockerels at about 12 weeks old, to try "fattening" them for two weeks on grain. Later I relented and decided to keep one of them. You can see the change in his feathers from when he went to balanced, high protein grower feed, to a corn, wheat and milk based diet, sometimes just corn. The feathers go abruptly from green, to purple, and even a band of bronze. I thought the milk would help make up the deficit but it seems not much.

 

[Larkspur88]

Hm. I wonder what's more desirable in Silver Phoenixes. I had two and sold one and I sold the one that had a purple and green sheen to it. The purple was awesome, but his tail feathers kept growing in UPSIDE down. So I kept his brother who has the green sheen only.

 

[watchdogps]

So Violet may not stay violet when she is healthier? Oh well, she's named.