Shiny feather chickens

[frostic]

Hi, I have 3 RIR's and my friend has 6 RIR's. mine have finally got to the size of his. but his are 2 years old. and mine 17 weeks old.

So I was wondering why are my RIR's 3 times darker than his and Mine have very shiny feathers.
he says his chickens never had shiny feathers. I wish i could get a clear picture of them but i dont have a camera.

His chickens get 5 things to eat.
1) standard crumbles for laying chickens
2) meal worms
3) corn on the cob
4) scratch
5) watermelon

My chickens will only eat
1) standard crumbles for laying chickens( just started this because they are 17 weeks old and I was told by 18 -19 weeks they will start laying.)
2) corn on the cob
3) scratch

Is it maybe because I don't feed them meal worms or watermelon that my chickens seem super shiny, darker red and fluffier than his?
also my chickens neck feathers are really long and curl around their neck. its very beautiful. his don't they got little short stubby feathers.

my chickens:



His looks like this:

 

[Silkie2]

depends on how they were bred. i don't think it has anything to do with how they are fed If you got them from a different feed store/breeder then his that could be it. (usually breeders have better looking chickens then the ones at feed stores, or like i said, they could've just been bred differently)

 

[frostic]

depends on how they were bred. i don't think it has anything to do with how they are fed If you got them from different feed stores/breeders that could be it. (usually breeders have better looking chickens then the ones at feed stores)

Well we got them from the same feed store from the same breeder.
just 2 years apart. maybe she has perfected her breed? I'll find out what she says. if her chickens ever get super shiny feathers.

Are the shiny feathers good for like a chicken contest? maybe I have chickens that was bred as show birds? I just want to know as much as i can about RIR's.

Does anyone see this happen in RIR's?

 

[Silkie2]

Well we got them from the same feed store from the same breeder.
just 2 years apart. maybe she has perfected her breed? I'll find out what she says. if her chickens ever get super shiny feathers.

Are the shiny feathers good for like a chicken contest? maybe I have chickens that was bred as show birds? I just want to know as much as i can about RIR's.

Does anyone see this happen in RIR's?

I have a lot of RIRs, some are slender with dark red shiny feathers, some are fluffy with "not shiny" feathers (lol) but i do find that its usually the older ones that are fluffy and feathers that aren't so shiny so maybe its because his are older?

i'm not to experienced with show birds so maybe someone else can help you there.

 

[frostic]

I have a lot of RIRs, some are slender with dark red shiny feathers, some are fluffy with "not shiny" feathers (lol) but i do find that its usually the older ones that are fluffy and feathers that aren't so shiny so maybe its because his are older?

i'm not to experienced with show birds so maybe someone else can help you there.

Well he told me his never had shiny feathers and was not dark. i'll ask her what she knows if shes changed anything while breeding them.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Probably not going to get a good answer without pics.
When you say you have birds from the same breeder but yours are bigger, with darker and shinier feathers sounds like he has hens and you have cockerels to me.

 

[Cyprus]

Probably not going to get a good answer without pics.
When you say you have birds from the same breeder but yours are bigger, with darker and shinier feathers sounds like he has hens and you have cockerels to me.

x2 that I was thinking

 

[frostic]

Probably not going to get a good answer without pics.
When you say you have birds from the same breeder but yours are bigger, with darker and shinier feathers sounds like he has hens and you have cockerels to me.

No mine are hens as well.

I found out that the breeder I got them from she said that she has changed the feed
since he got his 2 years ago but It is normal. She has noticed a change in her chickens getting darker and shiny like mine. she said the only thing that she thinks could be the issue is his feeding schedual. Without seeing his chickens she thinks he is not feeding them right or he is using "filler feed" that is making them malnutritioned. after talking to him this seems to be correct. he said he don't keep feed in the coop like i do. he takes a scoop of feed and throws it in the pen 2 times a day. also that he dont change his water. I change their water everyday because if i don't it gets slimy and stinky. he leaves his water out there for days without changing it. I do believe that I'm just taking better care of mine.

 

[Silkie2]

weird cause i have dark shiny feathered ones and fluffy pale ones and they all get fed the same and i change the water everyday

 

[The Moonshiner]

Like I said its hard to say without pics.
We may have a whole different definition of darker and shinier.
And without the two sets to compare idk.