Googled this and see they have a lavender aspect.
Have seen more than a few lavenders with funky feathering.

The more I look into this, the more I think this is for sure a genetic problem with her feathering. My poor girl! 😢 I’m going to do what I can for her still. She is a fighter!! I will contact the breeder to make sure she is aware, since she seems like someone who would want to know.

“The Isabel color is in fact Lavender in 2 doses x gold / red.”...from: https://www.orpingtonclub.nl/?page_id=7103

“The Lavender gene is very closely linked to a gene that causes retarded feather growth, especially in the tail area”...from: https://www.countrypure.net/LavenderOrpington.html

This link is a slide show of problems with the Lavender gene in Orpingtons.
https://www.orpingtonclub.nl/?page_id=6627
 
Be curious to hear what she says about it.

So I contacted the breeder, and she said she was aware of some of the problematic genetics in her Isabels- but appreciated me letting her know what I was seeing in my Isabels that I got from her as chicks. She has been breeding that coloration for only four years, and she said sourcing better/unrelated stock in Canada was difficult since many came from an original single import to Canada. She said the Isabel coloration was difficult to achieve with any kind of consistency, hence she was starting over. She has purchased new stock recently to start from scratch, though she said that these birds looked much paler than what she had before. She also described how much time, space and money it takes to breed- which coming from a horse breeding background I can certainly appreciate. I am confident that I will purchase stock from this breeder again. It takes courage to admit that you are not achieving the desired results in your breeding. I also appreciate that she is working towards “getting it right”, so that she will have consistent high quality stock.
 
Fascinating. First time I ever heard of a "shredder" gene. Good pics showing what it looks like. Hope you are able to keep her warm in your climate!
 
Odd. She almost seems to have the "shredder" gene often associated with lavender bird feathers. What a creative coop!

Ya she definitely has the shredder gene. I have looked at a lot of pictures to compare. Can you explain “pin feather wing patch“ more in depth? From your comment it sounds like it happens in roosters mostly? I am a new chicken owner, so there’s a huge learning curve.
Thanks for the compliment on my coop. Will have to let my hubby know since he is so proud of it. So far the coop is doing quite well at staying a few degrees warmer than the outside temps. I have to do my window coverings yet to prevent more heat loss from the windows, but so far so good...which is a huge relief since my hen with the feather issue so far seems to be managing better than I had anticipated.
 
Ya she definitely has the shredder gene. I have looked at a lot of pictures to compare. Can you explain “pin feather wing patch“ more in depth? From your comment it sounds like it happens in roosters mostly? I am a new chicken owner, so there’s a huge learning curve.
Thanks for the compliment on my coop. Will have to let my hubby know since he is so proud of it. So far the coop is doing quite well at staying a few degrees warmer than the outside temps. I have to do my window coverings yet to prevent more heat loss from the windows, but so far so good...which is a huge relief since my hen with the feather issue so far seems to be managing better than I had anticipated.
From what little I know, I have only ever heard of the pin feather wing patch being displayed in males. Never seen a hen with it. Moonshiner breeds Isabel leghorns and hopefully will be able to chime in.

Your hubby has every right to be proud of that coop!
 

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