Good points.
I didn't do any breeding with the ones I had, and it didn't occur to me to tell the hatchery because I didn't care enough to demand a refund, but I should keep those things in mind if I ever have a similar situation in the future.
But your own post was the one I linked to, with the double toenail :confused:
Is "toe deformity" the wrong word for something like that? It was certainly a toe, and was not formed correctly.
I have no idea how common it is or isn't. In my case, I had ordered 3 chicks, they sent 4, and two of...
Some people have found toe deformities on Spitzhaubens from Cackle. There's a few posts earlier in this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/spitzhaubens.164012/page-226#post-27554328
Oh, okay, that makes a lot more sense. For some reason I thought you had only Silver Spangled ones.
I don't know where the comb came from, but it is interesting to see.
I'm thinking something is not right here...
Whether a pullet is gold vs. silver is determined by what she inherits from her father (but not her mother.) It is possible for a rooster to show silver and carry gold, so some of his daughters can be gold.
A silver hen should always produce sons...
Yes, yes, and yes.
But depending on which parent has how many genes for each trait, you could get anywhere from 100% of chicks with those traits to just 1 in 8 chicks with those traits, or various numbers in between.
Best case, you get 100% of chicks with all three genes: one parent has 2...
I've seen chicks who hatched with pale legs, and the legs got darker over the first few weeks.
And I had Spitzhauben chicks from Cackle that had normal-shaped heads (no bump on the skull), and grew crests just fine.
It's hard for me to see the nostrils in that photo, so I'm not sure there.
So...
He might be a naturally-slender chicken, but if he's noticeably skinnier than the others of the same breed that probably isn't the answer.
He might have been getting bullied before, since you mentioned some improvement in the week you've been giving him private meals. So he might just need more...
Is he able to eat enough? Or is someone chasing him away from the food?
One way to check whether he's being chased away from the food: if there is anything your chickens love to eat, put some out and watch whether he gets his share or whether he stays back. I like to use wet chicken feed to...
Chamois have Dominant White (which changes black to white.)
Gold Spangled has black spangles, Chamois has those black spangles changed to white.
Because Dominant White is dominant, some chickens with white spangles can still carry the recessive gene that the spangles to be black, and can pass...
Spangling is caused by a combination of genes.
Lacing is caused by a slightly different combination of genes.
So not-quite-right for one can start to look like the other.
Both of them are a pattern of black near the edges of the feather, but then the black is arranged a bit differently for one...
Any pattern that can exist in black can also exist in blue. So yes, blue spangles are possible, just like blue laced red or any other blue-something pattern that exist in other breeds.
Spangling is caused by a combination of genes, so it will take multiple generations to get there if you start...