LF chick pics

[John]

I\'ve hatched hundreds of black Ameraucana chicks over the years, but don\'t remember one with the phenotype of this one that hatched this past weekend.  It is a LF and has a stripe of white/cream down on the left side of its head.  The rest of him looks pretty much the same as his siblings.

[Mike Gilbert]

This is a good example of a harmless mutation.   I have had the same thing occur in brown red chicks, with a streak of brown across the back of the head or neck where it would normally be black.    There is a good article explaining how mutations occur at www.answersingenesis.org .   Use the search engine to find Bodie Hodge\'s work entitled, \"Are Mutations the Engines of Evolution?\"

[cedarpondfarm]

Mike, do those little discolorations show up in adult plummage as odd colored feathers?  

[Beth C]

Fascinating! So if it\'s a mutation, does the mark remain in adult plumage? Does it change?

[Mike Gilbert]

Mike, do those little discolorations show up in adult plummage as odd colored feathers?  

  Hard to tell with the brown reds, as they end up with red hackles anyway.   If John keeps this black and marks it/bands it, he may be able to tell us.

[eliz]

It is interesting. I have had several black Ameraucana chicks come to me this year and have noted some that are all black, some with a white mark on the side of the face, some with face mottling, some with white/yellow chest/butt fluff, some with a kind of grey fluff, a few with black wing tip feathers, but most had white wing tips of sort 1-3 feathers worth. I also have a black chick with a grey head.

eliz

[John]

It is a LF and has a stripe of white/cream down on the left side of its head. The rest of him looks pretty much the same as his siblings.

I sold this guy at a swap meet this morning, but took a few photos yesterday to show how he feathered out.  He has some white showing in the black feathers in the area that had white down and a slight amount near the base of his tail on the same (left) side.  

[Beth C]

Interesting - glad you kept him around until he feathered out.

[Birch Run Farm]

Neat!  I wonder if he could be used produce mottled birds?

[John]

FYI, here is a black chick with a brown/gold stripe in the right side of it\'s head.  This is similar...but different...than the chick with white/silver on it\'s left side last year.