Feather Legged

[Jean]

Does anyone know if there was ever a time when someone used feather legged birds to make ameraucanas or improve ameraucanas?

I just hatched a chick with 3-4 feathers on the outside of each of it\'s legs.  And no, there is no chance of it coming from here as all I have are ameraucanas.

Thanks a bunch!

Jean

[John]

3-4 feathers on the outside of each of it\'s legs

They show up from time to time.  I don\'t know why.  I think I had some show up on a LF black chick a few years ago.

[Guest]

Jean,

  I don\'t know for sure as I\'m just getting started with these birds, however in MANY breeds there are mysteries in the background and their makeup.  There is definetly a chance that silkies or Salmon Faverolles may have been used to improve the beards and muffs......we may never know what exactly was used.  



Mark

[Mike Gilbert]

Minor mutations are routine occurances.   Sometimes the the splitting and recombination of chromosomes results in genes ending up in places they normally don\'t occur.   I suspect that is why we have tremendous diversity within species;  in chickens that would include feathered legs, bare necks, silkie feathering, and a multitude of other factors.  Please note that all these don\'t change the basic fact that after these mutations occur we still have a chicken.   Micro evolution within species does not translate into the macro evolution  that atheists and some religionists subscribe to.

[grisaboy]

I get one or two bantam chicks every year that have some feathers on their legs.  I suspect that it is like Mark says, and there is some lingering Faverolle genes floating around in the gene pool.  I have heard that the blue egg gene comes from a green junglefowl cross, and that inter-species crosses will often cause odd mutations like feathered legs and dark skin.

Curtis

[John]

silkies or Salmon Faverolles

I haven\'t heard of anyone using these to develop Ameraucanas, but as I\'ve said before all chickens are related to all chickens if you go back far enough.
Bantam buff Brahma, which has feather legs, were used in developing bantam buff Ameraucanas.

[Guest]

Don\'t know about the breeders but when we were young my parents had bantam cochins that laid blue eggs along with a few that laid more green eggs..