Rooster changed from black and white to white

[All4Eggz]

It's the same bird. If you look closely the first bird has white skin. Comb is also exactly the same.

He is gorgeous OP! Though I do prefer his old blue/maybe funky splash/maybe mottled or something color.

Enlighten us @The Moonshiner

You're right, when you look closer you can see that the splash almost fades away.

I see part of his tail missing in the second photo. Maybe he is regrowing feathers from a molt?

 

[Izengolf]

It honestly is the same bird. I came down now to take pics of left and right side. He is regrowing his feathers from a moult and the tail ones haven't come back yet but he has some black pin feathers on the back of his head.

The man I bought him from had all kinds of birds but different breeds were in separate enclosures. He did have splash. I miss his original colouring, he was super shiny and flashy.

 

[All4Eggz]

It honestly is the same bird. I came down now to take pics of left and right side. He is regrowing his feathers from a moult and the tail ones haven't come back yet but he has some black pin feathers on the back of his head.

The man I bought him from had all kinds of birds but different breeds were in separate enclosures. He did have splash. I miss his original colouring, he was super shiny and flashy.

If he has black pin feathers, then he will regrow back some of the black.

 

[Izengolf]

I just went back to the picture from the day I got him when he was a young rooster being beaten up by the older ones. He was mostly black and grey in April 2020 before the moult that fall. I hadn't even realized how much more white he became last fall.

 

[The Moonshiner]

*cracks knuckles*

Something weird to do with splash.

Am I right Moony?

I don't believe it has anything to do with splash.
I don't believe its a matter of gene play at all.
I've had birds of different varieties start getting unexplained white feathers. Usually not near that dramatic but I've had one turn completely white. I've got a barred hen now that has progressed to about half white after her first real molt.
Idk what causes it but to me it just seems like there's something there that's turning the color off but idk why.

Can I phone a friend on this one?
Ring ring ring. @MysteryChicken

 

[tripletfeb]

I don't believe it has anything to do with splash.
I don't believe its a matter of gene play at all.
I've had birds of different varieties start getting unexplained white feathers. Usually not near that dramatic but I've had one turn completely white. I've got a barred hen now that has progressed to about half white after her first real molt.
Idk what causes it but to me it just seems like there's something there that's turning the color off but idk why.

Can I phone a friend on this one?
Ring ring ring. @MysteryChicken

Interesting! I had a feeling I was wrong which is why I called in Overo. She was the only one I could think of at 3:00 am

 

[tripletfeb]

So, they get white when they age, like us humans?

 

[The Moonshiner]

Interesting! I had a feeling I was wrong which is why I called in Overo. She was the only one I could think of at 3:00 am

She's the only one I think of at 3:00 am too.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

I've recently learned of something called Smyth Line Vitiligo in chickens. I suspect that's what this is since it's far too extreme for the increase in white you'd normally see in a mottled bird after a molt and he doesn't even appear to be mottled before his first molt.

I find it interesting that it took out all the color except for the autosomal red leakage. That stuff really is impossible to get rid of, lol.

 

[Izengolf]

I Googled Smyth line chickens but didn't get a clear answer. Is that a name for a genetic condition or an actual breeding line that has a defective gene? If the latter, this rooster came from an old man in rural Romania with a passion for all kinds of birds so I wonder how it got here, very interesting!