Stubs: no stubs on breeders, stubs on offspring?

[Blue Egg Acres]

Having had to cull a few birds over the past couple of breeding seasons for feather stubs on the legs, we were VERY careful fo select breeders this past year with no stubs. I was surprised at the first culling to find that probably 25%(?) of this year\'s offspring had feather stubs. What\'s the deal?! Is this a gene that can show up even though the parents don\'t show it? Very confused here!

[Mike Gilbert]

It can happen, especially with outcrosses to birds that are not closely related.    Apparently there are some recessives at work.    I wouldn\'t necessarily cull them all, but you don\'t want stubs on both sides of any future mating.

[Blue Egg Acres]

especially with outcrosses to birds that are not closely related.

Please elaborate. I was under the impression that the undesirable recessive genes are more likely to show up with close inbreeding?