Silkie has no feathers on it's legs?

[araucanasmom]

Does that ever happen naturally?
Not having much luck in the Silkie dept.-lost 2 babies with tiny skulls, 1 has bent foot, 1 crossed beak and 1 no feathers on legs and feet.

Good thing they have those powers....

lol!
I got a refund for them from Ideal, but what causes this? Should I even try breeding them?

 

[nzpouter]

yep.. sometimes happen from very low quality flock.... still make a good pet and probably easier to keep clean..

 

[shortcake1806]

If he has no feathers he's not bred to the standard. I personally wouldn't use him for breeding. For good quality silkies I'd try some of the sellers on here and hatch my own.

 

[LilPeeps]

Coming from Ideal, you can't expect to get anything much higher than pet quality. Lack of foot feathering is common in hatchery stock, as well as several other DQs and defects.

 

[BoiseBubba]

Cull 'em...................nuf said

 

[araucanasmom]

These are strictly pets, not gonna cull them!
I was just wondering if all the defects are genetic and if I let them breed which will be passed on.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
yes. it will be passed on.

 

[LilPeeps]

Quote:
Yes it will be passed on.

 

[SunshineSilkies]

If you aren't planning on showing them, keep them as your pets. They are great setters. You can put most any egg under them and they will accept it. I started with hatchery chicks but learned quickly if I wanted to show, I had to get good quality stock from breeders. I still keep some of my original stock but keep them separated from my breeder stock. My granddaughter would be so dissapointed if something ever happened to Snowball which is a hatchery silkie that I first started with. She is beautiful but would be DQ'd in a show. They are so sweet that I can't cull them. There are alot of people out there that just want Silkies for pets. I personally had to invest to get the stock I wanted and will only breed those silkies together. It pays off...I got RB & RV at the Florida Sunshine Classic this year.