Rapid feathering gene?

[TurtleFeathers]

Hi everybody -

Is there really such a thing as a "rapid feathering gene"? If so, does it affect ALL breeds or only certain breeds? Does this really indicate hens?

Reason I ask is, I have two BLRW chicks that hatched two weeks ago (thanks Patty!), and they've feathered in faster than any other chick I've seen. At hatching, their primary wing feathers were, of course, still enclosed in a sheath, but they were REALLY long - SO long that they were totally obvious and stood out even thru all the fluff when they dried off. By a week old, they had fully feathered wings and their shoulder and tail feathers were popping. At 10 days, they had feathers poking thru the down on their breasts and thighs. Now I'm seeing feathers coming out on their backs at 2 weeks. At this rate, I'm expecting to have fully feathered and flying BLRW's at 3 weeks!!

I'm just wondering, is this normal for BLRW's? Could I have really lucked out and got two hens out of two eggs? Or do I still have to play the waiting game?

 

[Chris09]

Yes there is a rapid feathering gene. But I beleve you would have to cross a fast feathering breed with a slow feathering breed to make work.. Like a Leghorn X Rhode Island Red cross.
The best person to talk to about this is tadkerson. He is the one doing the sticky on sex-link chickens....

Chris

 

[Krys109uk]

Any breed can have the rapid feathering gene bred into them.
In breeds such as leghorns or Marans one would expect to find rapid feathering gene (k+). One would usually expect to find the late feathering allele (K) in Rocks, Wyandottes, Orps, RIR etc.

The gene is sex linked & slow feathering males are sometimes crossed onto rapid feathering females in order to feather sex.

http://animalsciences.missouri.edu/reprod/ReproTech/Feathersex/sld001.htm

 

[tadkerson]

I finished the section on sex linked traits. Go to the sticky at the top of the index.

Tim