Strange white feathers

[Bananaplinko]

I have a ten month old cream legbar. She showed well at every competition I brought her to, but now she’s growing in all these white feathers. At first it was just a few white feathers, but now it’s gotten to the point that all of her feathers pretty much have white on them and her under coat is white. The first picture is of her full sibling who still looks normal, and looks nearly identical to how the white feathered bird looked earlier in the year. The second picture is how the white feathered bird looks now

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

To me, this looks like a stress effect; the feathers lack pigment in chunks, but have pigment further down toward the base, like a stressor had caused her to temporarily stop depositing pigment in those feathers. Did anything particularly stressful happen earlier in the year, like a predator attack, a loose dog harassing them, sickness, etc.? Did she seem overly stressed while in show? Sometimes some birds are more prone to such effects, so even if she was not any more stressed than any of the other birds you showed, it could happen. If it is stress induced, she may return to her normal coloring the next time she molts.

 

[Bananaplinko]

To me, this looks like a stress effect; the feathers lack pigment in chunks, but have pigment further down toward the base, like a stressor had caused her to temporarily stop depositing pigment in those feathers. Did anything particularly stressful happen earlier in the year, like a predator attack, a loose dog harassing them, sickness, etc.? Did she seem overly stressed while in show? Sometimes some birds are more prone to such effects, so even if she was not any more stressed than any of the other birds you showed, it could happen. If it is stress induced, she may return to her normal coloring the next time she molts.

Thanks you! If it was just a stress effect would I be ok to hatch out some of her chicks in a month or so? Would it effect the chicks In any?

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

It's possible that it's a heritable trait, in which case her direct offspring could have the same issue or it could pop up later on in a future generation descended from her. However, I have limited experience in breeding birds with this issue so I can't really make any statement with certainty on it.

 

[GaryDean26]

I saw a Legbar flock while I was traveling out of state last week that had a hen that started out colored then started to turn mottled. I was told she started like yours and that she go more and more white over time. She was about 75% when when I was there. I think this is genetic since that hen was housed with a dozen other legbars and not of them were showing any white on them.

 

[Bananaplinko]

I saw a Legbar flock while I was traveling out of state last week that had a hen that started out colored then started to turn mottled. I was told she started like yours and that she go more and more white over time. She was about 75% when when I was there. I think this is genetic since that hen was housed with a dozen other legbars and not of them were showing any white on them.

That’s interesting that it’s not something only relative to my own flock. Are you think that this is or isn’t a genetic condition if none of the other birds I have are having any issues?

 

[Bananaplinko]

It's possible that it's a heritable trait, in which case her direct offspring could have the same issue or it could pop up later on in a future generation descended from her. However, I have limited experience in breeding birds with this issue so I can't really make any statement with certainty on it.

Alright thank you

 

[GaryDean26]

That’s interesting that it’s not something only relative to my own flock. Are you think that this is or isn’t a genetic condition if none of the other birds I have are having any issues?

Yes, I think this is genetic. It appears in some birds but not others that are on the same diet, housing, etc. It is recessive and behaves similar to a mottling gene.