Can 2 clean legged birds produce feathered legs?

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

The short question: Can clean legged birds produce feathered legged chicks?

The long-winded background Story & further questions:

These legs belong to Penguin. He (pretty sure cockerel) is a 3 week old Barnyard Mix that I hatched. His dad is also a mix I hatched from 2 clean legged parents (Red Orpington x Rhode Island Blue). His mom is a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte with a straight comb. Penguin’s mom & paternal grandparents are all from Mt Healthy Hatchery.


In this flock, I have only clean legged birds (not counting a 3 month old Marans pullet who isn’t laying). I do have a second flock with a BCM rooster in a separate space on the property.

So where did these feathered legs come from? Is it the kind of trait that can be carried but not visible in the parent bird? And where exactly would it have come from since none of these breeds should have feathered legs? Although I’ve never owned a Cochin, I’ve always thought Velma (BLR Wyandotte) resembled the body structure of one. She has a straight comb and is fluffier than my other Wyandottes. She’s a compact shape, and frequently broody. Does it make sense that Cochin would have been used in developing the BLR pattern? Or gotten in there by mistake? Here’s a pic of Penguin’s papa (Charcoal) and mama (Velma). If this is a recessive trait that may just pop up from time to time, is it more likely to come from mom or dad? I’ve only hatched a few of her eggs, but have hatched quite a few from this boy and it’s the first time I’ve seen feathered feet.




Penguin’s leg feathers, to my untrained eye, resemble Marans feathers, and like I mentioned I do have a BCM roo. He lives next door to this flock. He grew up in this flock, but was moved to his own spot in mid-June when he was 3.5 months old. I don’t think he ever mated with her, but even if he had, it would be way too long for her to be carry his genes, right?

I haven’t seen her do it in months (probably because she’s been off and on broody for the past few months) but she did used to occasionally jump the fence. I doubt it, but it’s not impossible, that she jumped out of her yard on a day when the BCM roo was out free-ranging, was mated by him, and jumped back into her own yard. The BCM roo only free-ranges when we’re home, and in the past when she would jump out, she would pace at the fence line until we put her back in. So that’s why I say that while not impossible, it’s highly unlikely.

So which do you think is more likely? A parent carrIes a gene for feathered legs, or she had a discreet sneaky rendezvous with my BCM?

I realized I don’t have a full body pick of him, but he also combed up quickly (hence the reason I think he’s male) but I also know that can be a Marans’ trait, too.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I used to have a Wyandotte who'd escape all the time without me knowing it. I just so happened to be around when she was getting back into her pen when I had allowed her out. She had a secret route to fly out and would use it to fly back in. How the chicks seems to be carrying other Maran traits, I'd be questioning your girl there. One thing, the feathers do appear to be on top of the leg and not on the side, right? There's a possibility that it just has a defect/mutation.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

I used to have a Wyandotte who'd escape all the time without me knowing it. I just so happened to be around when she was getting back into her pen when I had allowed her out. She had a secret route to fly out and would use it to fly back in. How the chicks seems to be carrying other Maran traits, I'd be questioning your girl there. One thing, the feathers do appear to be on top of the leg and not on the side, right? There's a possibility that it just has a defect/mutation.

Wyandottes do tend to do whatever they want, don’t they? Lol! This girl always seemed to dumb to get back in on her own. Its possible she could have figured it out.

The feathers don’t reach the foot, but they go most of the way down the leg. They aren’t directly on the outside like a Marans, but more at an outside angle. Like if a Marans feathers grow at 9 o’clock, these are growing at 10:30.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Wyandottes do tend to do whatever they want, don’t they? Lol! This girl always seemed to dumb to get back in on her own. Its possible she could have figured it out.

The feathers don’t reach the foot, but they go most of the way down the leg. They aren’t directly on the outside like a Marans, but more at an outside angle. Like if a Marans feathers grow at 9 o’clock, these are growing at 10:30.

Because of how the feather growth is, as I had mentioned, it could be a mutation. Also, the growth looks more like a second to third generation if it's from a Maran, not the first generation like if your girl and Maran did mix. Unless, your girl's clean legged genetics ran stronger than your Maran's. I haven't really played around with the generations of my Maran's, but on two out of three of my first generations, the leg feathers did well with one having the Maran's feathering the same. On my third hen, she had one or two feathers on her legs as a pullet that seemed to disappear as she grew older and now looks clean legged. With some of my other feather legged breeds, I had the feathers carry on well to the second generation (which I never bred past). It's really hard telling. I'd watch him as he grows and see if he shows other Maran traits and/or if he loses the feathered legs as time goes on.

 

[JedJackson]

The thing that strikes me is that Charcoal has the silver gene. You can see it mainly in his hackle. How did he get that from a red Orpington/Rhode Island blue cross? Could he maybe have come from other parents? If so, that's the explanation. Otherwise I suspect a secret rendezvous with the other rooster.

 

[NatJ]

The short question: Can clean legged birds produce feathered legged chicks?

Short answer: yes, it is possible for clean-legged parents to produce feather-legged chicks.

Longer answer:

I have read that there are at least 3 genes that can cause feathered feet, with two of them being dominant genes (cannot be carried without showing) and one being recessive (which can be carried without showing.)

Also, some clean legged chickens can produce chicks that have "feather stubs" (small feathers) on their legs, apparently without having any of the currently-known feather-feet genes. I have not seen any good explanations of why/how this works, just that it does happen. It is apparently more common in breeds that have some feather-foot ancestors (like the American dual-purpose breeds that typically have some Cochin or Brahma in their background.)

And yes, I've also had clean-legged chickens unexpectedly produce some chicks with light feathering on the shanks, similar to what your chick has. Mine was an unwelcome surprise, given that I wanted (and thought I had) a flock of 100% clean-legged chickens. In my case, I had raised them all from chicks, and the coop & run were completely enclosed, including top and bottom, so there was no chance of any other matings. No visiting roosters, no escaping hens, no stored sperm from a previous mating with a feather-foot male (since all "previous matings" were also with clean-legged males.)

 

[NatJ]

The thing that strikes me is that Charcoal has the silver gene. You can see it mainly in his hackle. How did he get that from a red Orpington/Rhode Island blue cross?

I agree that he certainly did not get the silver gene from a Red Orpington, but he might have gotten it from the Rhode Island Blue. Many black chickens, and at least some blue ones, do have the silver gene (the rest have gold, or gold & silver for some males.)

@Fluster Cluck Acres do you have a picture of the Rhode Island Blue that was a parent of Charcoal?

These legs belong to Penguin....His mom is a Blue Laced Red Wyandotte with a straight comb.

In this flock, I have only clean legged birds (not counting a 3 month old Marans pullet who isn’t laying). I do have a second flock with a BCM rooster in a separate space on the property.

What comb type does Penguin have? Does Penguin show any silver or gold color? Those details can help check whether Penguin really does have the parents you think he does.

 

[Sally PB]

Also, some clean legged chickens can produce chicks that have "feather stubs" (small feathers) on their legs, apparently without having any of the currently-known feather-feet genes. I have not seen any good explanations of why/how this works, just that it does happen. It is apparently more common in breeds that have some feather-foot ancestors

I ordered 4 Bielefelder pullet chicks from Mt Healthy. Biels are clean legged (what I want), but one of them has tiny, downy, little feathers in between her toes.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

The thing that strikes me is that Charcoal has the silver gene. You can see it mainly in his hackle. How did he get that from a red Orpington/Rhode Island blue cross? Could he maybe have come from other parents? If so, that's the explanation. Otherwise I suspect a secret rendezvous with the other rooster.

Charcoal’s mother does have silver leakage. She is in the bottom left of this image. You can see it on the front of her neck.

@NatJ I made this post about her back in December and it has better pics. I purchased her and a Blue Rock (Sapphire Gem) and didn’t know which was which. It was explained in the comments that she is the RIB because silver leakage can come from the RIR.

 

[Fluster Cluck Acres]

. Mine was an unwelcome surprise, given that I wanted (and thought I had) a flock of 100% clean-legged chickens. In my case, I had raised them all from chicks, and the coop & run were completely enclosed, including top and bottom, so there was no chance of any other matings. No visiting roosters, no escaping hens, no stored sperm from a previous mating with a feather-foot male (since all "previous matings" were also with clean-legged males.)

My chick is just a mix so the only issue with feathered feet is that I simply don’t care for them, lol. But since he’s probably a he, he’ll likely be a freezer camp candidate. Even if I had space for another roo,‘I’m not doing feathered legs. I can barely tolerate it on my Marans, haha!