My buff laced brahma cockerel is almost 5 months old and has some odd feathers. I'm not sure why, maybe it's genetic (inbreeding or note purebred?) maybe it's a health issue, tried looking through old posts and couldn't find anything like this.
A little history on him. I got him and his "sister" April 11th from a breeder. They were supposed to be about the same age +- a day. Within a couple days I noticed he was a little lethargic and gave them sugar water to boost his energy. It seemed to do the trick but his development was always well behind his sister, I assumed because he was male. It took forever for his adult feathers to fully come in.. about 2-2.5 months. He sported a really ugly duckling look for awhile.
His white feathers seem like they are not fully "feathered" if that makes any sense and hang at odd angles, the buff colored feathers seem mostly normal. I thought maybe this was caused by his lag/whatever made him lethargic. I added a vitamin/nutrient supplement to their water at the dosage for chickens when he was 8 weeks hoping if it was caused by a deficiency this would help. They've always been on medicated amprolium feed, was on starter/grower up to 4 months and then switched to all flock feed. He is almost 5 months now and his feathers are the same. Most of the pics are from about 7-8 weeks old and one recent. He kept giving me the stink eye so no close up pics today. He is supposed to be a brahma but he doesn't have a pea comb. None of the other chickens have this feather issue and all are healthy.
Could this be a genetic issue do you think? Maybe too much inbreeding? Maybe crossbred with another chicken?
Or is this a health issue? Maybe he can't absorb certain vitamins/nutrients?
A little history on him. I got him and his "sister" April 11th from a breeder. They were supposed to be about the same age +- a day. Within a couple days I noticed he was a little lethargic and gave them sugar water to boost his energy. It seemed to do the trick but his development was always well behind his sister, I assumed because he was male. It took forever for his adult feathers to fully come in.. about 2-2.5 months. He sported a really ugly duckling look for awhile.
His white feathers seem like they are not fully "feathered" if that makes any sense and hang at odd angles, the buff colored feathers seem mostly normal. I thought maybe this was caused by his lag/whatever made him lethargic. I added a vitamin/nutrient supplement to their water at the dosage for chickens when he was 8 weeks hoping if it was caused by a deficiency this would help. They've always been on medicated amprolium feed, was on starter/grower up to 4 months and then switched to all flock feed. He is almost 5 months now and his feathers are the same. Most of the pics are from about 7-8 weeks old and one recent. He kept giving me the stink eye so no close up pics today. He is supposed to be a brahma but he doesn't have a pea comb. None of the other chickens have this feather issue and all are healthy.
Could this be a genetic issue do you think? Maybe too much inbreeding? Maybe crossbred with another chicken?
Or is this a health issue? Maybe he can't absorb certain vitamins/nutrients?
I cropped the pictures a little bit maybe that will help.
