What causes this?

[greeneggsandham]

When viewing the picture of this rooster I noticed that his muff seems off color.  A reddish brown.  It looks like he may be molting, but I don't know if that muff color is a result of worn feathers or if it is the result of a gene he is carrying.  I also noticed it in a picture of a hen from the same flock.  Is this sort of the same thing that happens to blues when their feathers get worn and some are off color?  Only this is what it looks like in blacks?  Is this from carrying a wrong gene?  Any ideas?

[Sharon Yorks]

Just curious as to how old he is?

[Jean]

I think (opinion only) some birds that look like this just don't have enough black melanizers to cover the gold (red).  I have seen a few here and there since I started breeding ameraucanas.

[greeneggsandham]

Thanks Jean.  I noticed one in my flock the other day, also in the beard which looks a bit worn.  I had never seen it before, as it wasn't there.  She is an older bird and has been through a few molts.
Sharon I don't know the age of that bird as it's not from my flock.

[DeWayne Edgin]

I bought a black rooster from a member last spring that was free ranging in the sun all day long and he had a beard like this. I kept him in the barn in a pen for awhile and his beard turned back to all black. I was thinking it was sun bleached but i don't really know. He did not have the brown on his back like the one in your picture and it was not as dark either. I bought a black hen this spring that came from a different member in a different state and she has this in her beard. I don't use her for breeding, but she makes a good egg hatching hen.

[dak]

I see this in all my Blacks over time.  Whether it is the high altitude desert sun with or without my mineral filled well water they soak their beards in, I don't know, but it resolves each molt.

Clare