why is my hens tail going black?!

[Johnn]

i have an ex battery hen, Babs, and shes just been through molt and shes got her feathers back now and she had a black tail and in the 3 years i have had her she never had it before

?

 

[Fred's Hens]

If she is a reddish bird, I guessing she's throwing back to her New Hampshire/RIR roots? Is she a rusty red bird? A white leghorn type bird?

 

[Johnn]

shes just like golden ginger if you type in battery hen to google she will be the colour of them

 

[Johnn]

you cant see to well but thats her

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yup. That likely a Bovan, Hubbard, ISA type production sex link.

In those mixes, they use a specialized parent stock. These birds have been selectively bred for the commercial hen industry for almost 30 years. Lots of selection and breeding goes into them. The parent stock uses a Red rooster over a silver(white) hen. Since they've been so selectively for so long, it isn't as simple as saying Rhode Island or New Hampshire over a Rhode Island White or Delaware.

But in any case, the dark tail feather is a feature of Rhode Island Red, out of which the New Hampshire was bred. The Red males used in the creation of these commercial hens is from the RIR lineage. Thus, having dark tail feathers is not uncommon and no completely unexpected. I have a couple of Bovan commercial hens that have a couple dark tail feathers.