What happened to their tails????

[vkp23]

Ok so I have two chicks I hatched out around the 2nd feb. I can tell they are both girls. The daddy is a white rock roo, momma is either an RIR or a BO. Both girls have NO tail feathers. What is the deal with that???? I do believe that the BO is their mommy because the daddy has yellow feet. The RIR has yellow feet too. The BO has whitish feet. But the baby's feet are blueish like and EE or auracana (spell check that) plus with the no tail. I don't get it. I have no other EE's other than 3 pullets that are the same age as these guys. Any ideas??

 

[canada-goose]

Strange. I think we need pictures!

 

[vkp23]

I'll get some up in the afternoon. I would the am but I gotta go shopping in the am.

Here is a pic of one of them from about 4-5 weeks ago, not a good one. But I will get better pics of them later. Never mind the EE back there. This ones feet are a little more yellow too, but the other has pale blueish feet.

 

[jerryn]

They wern't victums of canibilisum were they? -- sometimes when chicks a bored they will start picking the tails of a few chicks, if you don't catch it early enough they can kill them.--I find by putting a fresh clump of green grass sod in with them them will give them somthing to do.--if you do run into a chicke with a picked and bloody rear end --( or some time wings) put some vasiline, vicks, or even grease on the wound and they will quit bothering it.--but the main thing is to give them somthing else to do.---thus the sod to pick and scratch apart.

 

[vkp23]

Quote:
They have been like this from birth. None of the chicks are getting pecked on by the others. Even the one that's the smallest doesn't get pecked. Every one else has their tail feathers and none of the chicks are missing feathers on the wings. No blood, nothing. So I highly doubt that's it. Like I said they have been like this from birth. In fact, one of the chicks (I think the one pictured) hurt her beak on the shell of her egg as she was coming out. (My hens have VERY hard shells. I think that could be from all the minerals in our dirt that they like to eat on plus they get layer mesh.) Any way, her beck did get peck on a little because of the little red boo boo she had, but they quit pecking at her and though her beak is a little odd shaped, she is other wise healed. So really I don't think they are getting picked on. They just have like very short tail feathers that curl down, making them look like they have a bunny tail.

 

[ve]

Slow feathering gene

 

[vkp23]

Quote:

That still kind of confuses me. Wouldn't the others from the mother or the father be the same? None of the others are like this that are colored the same. And that still doesn't explain the more blueish feet on the others. I mean they are half way to maturity and are fully feathered but with a bunny rump. IDK, the whole gene thing confuses me.

 

[Chris09]

Do you have pictures of the Rock, RIR and Orp?

Chris

 

[Happy Chooks]

I don't know, but I had the same issue with a BR I hatched. I was told that it was probably an issue from incubating. He never grew a tail. He got saddle feathers in, but no tail. His brother was completely normal.

 

[Illia]

I think one thing a lot of people don't realize is that rumpless genes quite often pop up in any breed. I think that's what you have here.

(also, blueish feet don't signify Araucana. . . yellow and willow legs do. And the chick would have to have a lot more than just colored feet.

)