Lighter skin is because at least one parent had only one copy of Fm. If both parents had only one copy, you could get a completely light skinned bird. Sometimes skin darkens over the first few weeks. This is especially true for light toes/parts of toes. But if the bird does not have even dusky skin, it probably does not have Fm at all. I remember thinking about plumage colour when you posted, and which roosters were probably the father, but I don;t recall your post specifics.Here is what I "think" happened, let me know what you think of my theory. All 3 chicks came from my pullet (splash) as all eggs from my hen have been infertile, she refuses roosters. The big white and the little white one have the black dad (came from same breeder as the splash pullet, I suspect potential inbreeding)... and the darker colored chick must have the splash rooster.... can that be? the darker chick has white on its head in a couple of places and under its belly. but I'm probably wrong bc really I dont' know much about this yet, I'm learning. But it is a completely different color and the other chick that hatched out who died, was also the whitish color.
Do you think that the lack of pigment in the white chicks are from inbreeding? and that is why the darker one is black like it should, because it has a different dad?
