Tail has always been down...

[Jeffross1968]

I have a young pullet (I think) about 10ish weeks old. She's a mix between an EE and production red. Even very early on, she's always walked around with her tail pointing down. Otherwise, healthy and perfect in every other way. I thought I remembered reading something about a chickens tail being down meaning something, but can't remember what it was. Anything to worry about?

 

[6RandomBrownLayers]

I don't know but I'll bump you. Good Luck!

 

[berniezahm]

Araucana or Rumpless Araucana are the chickens from which EEs are descendants. True araucana chickens don't have much if any tail. I have an araucana rooster that looks like someone pulled all his tail feathers out. Probably your pullet inherited that tailless or rumpless trait. , right along with the blue/green/olive egg color.

 

[Jeffross1968]

Quote:
Is that a trait that could be latent in it's mother but still passed down to it?

 

[berniezahm]

Quote:
Is that a trait that could be latent in it's mother but still passed down to it?

Yes I believe so. The only thing I know for sure concerning the Araucana genes is that the blue egg gene is a lethal trait, if the chick inherits a double blue gene. If a embryo inherits the blue gene from both the hen and rooster (another words the embryo has the double blue gene) the embryo/chick will die in the shell on the 19th day of incubation. Some araucana cross chickens do not lay a blue or green egg, they can lay a pale tan/brown egg that some people see as light pink. The offspring of that hen can still lay a blue or green egg however. So some traits can be carried but not be expressed in every generation. Sometimes I think I read to much about chickens. Hope this helps.

 

[Jeffross1968]

Wanted to update this with a picture...she's 3 months now, and we think she's going to be a pretty girl. What do you think? I wish the picture was better, but you can see how her few tail feathers point down. She is basically rumpless except for those couple feathers. She has really interesting colors which are hard to see here. Almost a blueish gray in places.