What happened? Where did this chicken come from?

[Ringgoldvol]

I have several Partridge Cochins that I got as chicks from a Menonite Village a couple of years ago and have had a lot of hatches but all of a sudden I have this 6 month old that has a really different appearance. Any ideas? The one with the white on its wings is the one in question. The other pic is the roster and hen. It is a lot more leggy and it's legs are yellow. The white on the wings and it isn't squatty like the others. Any ideas?

 

[Wyandottes7]

I'm not sure why it would look like that. My guess that it is just a fluke variation in the color. Is it possible that its father/mother was different than the other birds?

 

[Ringgoldvol]

It's just strange that all of a sudden it happens. The pair has hatched at least 10-15 chicks and all have been hens (shown in the background with the rooster). This may be a rooster. We are just perplexed. There was another that looked exactly like this one but it died suddenly about 2 weeks ago.

 

[BantamLover21]

I'm not sure why it would look like that. My guess that it is just a fluke variation in the color. Is it possible that its father/mother was different than the other birds?

x2

 

[speckledhen]

Hard to say. Genes can pop up in a line many generations later and cause an unusual bird. I've had weird ones out of a known line myself.

 

[WyandotteIndeed]

Well firstly, that is a cockerel. So his color will be significantly more dramatic than the pullets. And I agree with speckledhen, you can get fluke genes from odd recessive combination or genetic variation. Maybe just wait and see what he looks like as a full adult.

I can say that some of the most striking chicken colors were developed by accidental occurance of genetic variation after generations of consistent line breeding and then poof! something interesting pops up.

 

[donrae]

This is exactly why breeders always advise to cull hard. The bird came from perfectly nice looking parents, who sound like they produced nice babies reasonably consistently, and yet you get this. If it happened more often, you'd have to take a look at your breeding stock. But, once in a while, strange things happen. That's why there are breed standards, to weed out birds that look off like this.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote: This is how we got our modern day Delaware breed, not line breeding, but an unusual sport popped out of a Barred Rock rooster over a New Hampshire hen while trying to create a broiler breed. And Mr. Ellis grabbed that white bird and went with it. Genes don't always do what we want them to do or predict they will do. Or I wouldn't have the Tiny Terrorist, LOL.