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You mean rumps ("parson's noses") They all have tail feathers, but I think you mean the sticky-up sickle feathers. Anyway, some Araucana do have rumps. The rumpless gene is deadly if the chicken inherits both rumpless genes, so any rumpless Araucana has one rump gene and one rumpless gene to pass on. I forget which is the dominant gene. And then add to that the deadly tufted ear gene, and you get very few living rumpless & tufted araucanas. Hence the rareness of show birds in the breed.
I'm just learning all this now. Feel free to correct me.
You're really close! It's the tufted gene that is lethal if inherited from both parents. The rumpless gene is non-lethal, but can easily be lost without careful breeding.
To make matters more confusing, there are different standards in different countries. For example, Australia and England do not call for rumpless OR tufted genes (actually the tuft gene is highly undesirable there because it is lethal). And the English standard calls for a vaulted skull, resulting in a small feather crest on top of the head.
But I digress. The chicken that the OP is asking about is a pretty EE girl that has been rather beaten up. She's missing half her tail feathers (as in broken off, not rumpless), and I can see pecking wounds on her comb. I'd estimate her age at 12- 14 weeks. Poor thing, I hope she gets better soon!
You mean rumps ("parson's noses") They all have tail feathers, but I think you mean the sticky-up sickle feathers. Anyway, some Araucana do have rumps. The rumpless gene is deadly if the chicken inherits both rumpless genes, so any rumpless Araucana has one rump gene and one rumpless gene to pass on. I forget which is the dominant gene. And then add to that the deadly tufted ear gene, and you get very few living rumpless & tufted araucanas. Hence the rareness of show birds in the breed.
I'm just learning all this now. Feel free to correct me.
You're really close! It's the tufted gene that is lethal if inherited from both parents. The rumpless gene is non-lethal, but can easily be lost without careful breeding.
To make matters more confusing, there are different standards in different countries. For example, Australia and England do not call for rumpless OR tufted genes (actually the tuft gene is highly undesirable there because it is lethal). And the English standard calls for a vaulted skull, resulting in a small feather crest on top of the head.
But I digress. The chicken that the OP is asking about is a pretty EE girl that has been rather beaten up. She's missing half her tail feathers (as in broken off, not rumpless), and I can see pecking wounds on her comb. I'd estimate her age at 12- 14 weeks. Poor thing, I hope she gets better soon!
