White feathers now brown

[Leftygirl]

My 5 yr old all white feathered chicken just molted, and numerous feathers came in with dark brown tips. Ever heard of this? She looks healthy, just different!

 

[All4Eggz]

Pictures of before and after?

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

My 5 yr old all white feathered chicken just molted, and numerous feathers came in with dark brown tips. Ever heard of this? She looks healthy, just different!

Yes, pictures would be more than helpful!

Pictures of before and after?

 

[Iluveggers]

 

[RoosterWhisperer]

 

[Lizzy733]

Pics please?

Feather growth can be affected by stress and nutrition. Hard times tend to show up in feather growth and can be a good indicator that a bird has experienced a rough patch.

Not saying thats the case for your bird, but fun little trivia.

White birds can also have 'yellowing' stains just like white dogs. Ironically, a white dog shampoo meant for removing yellow stains is the best remedy for them too and I use this to shine up my silkie from time to time. (She has one leaky splash feather that shows up on her back from time to time, but its not very prominent.)

While feather color can vary slightly from season to season, I've not heard of any drastic color changes like you're describing.

I suppose we'll all be waiting on pics for the time being.

 

[KelseyBoxer]

My first chickens were amber link chicks. They were yellow and grew into all white chickens. There was one (out of six) who was really friendly. I believe it was after her first molt she became Java, the brown chicken! Amber links are hybrid chickens and her mixed heritage colors came thru.

 

[3KillerBs]

What breed are your white birds?

My California White had very few of the expected black specks as a young pullet but seems to have more now as an adult (she's also got a lot of sun-yellowing and dirt staining as she's desperately in need of a good molt).