# What's going on here?



## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

This chick has a line of feathers on the outside of each shank. There are no chickens with feathered shanks around here.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Hey guy, I was just thinking about you the other day. Glad you flew by. Baby Biring has to be tearing stuff by now.

It's possible two birds are carrying a gene for feathered legs and peep is the result. Or there's one that is staying well hidden.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

What Robin said. Somewhere in your bird's background there's the gene for feathered feet. Any chance of a neighbor's rooster... or a feral rooster? By the looks of the chick's legs it is going to have nice, full feathered legs.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

I need to see if I can get @Poultry Judge attention. He'd like to know you stopped by and are still out there.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Biring, It's great to hear from you! Give us an update when you get a chance. Regarding your chick, what Robin and Dan suggested, it's a genetic tracer to one of the parents. I am still interested in the genetics of the jungle fowl in your neck of the woods, as they are the origin of a number of poultry lines here. I still have two small sturdy Jungle Fowl roos here, Melissa named them Hellfire and Brimstone.


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

All is well here, and Baby Biring is keeping us busy. Our flock is now our rooster and 10 hens. We've been helping ourselves to most of the eggs but have 11 chicks from five hens and a few more on the way. We also have a couple of young cockerels that we plan to eat if we can catch them. In our breeding program we're selecting for size, with some success. The chick in the photo above is the offspring of our gamefowl cockerel and our largest hen (although one daughter from her first brood is set to be even larger).


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

These two cockerels and two pullets are the offspring of our largest hen. The grey pullet, large and fast-growing, is exactly what we're looking for.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Any more forays into the house to gaze in the mirror by the matriarch? That was such a hoot. 

How is the rest of the growing season progressing?


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

We've been pretty successful at keeping the chickens out of the house. The bananas I planted 10 months ago are starting to fruit, the rice harvest was reasonable, we sold 1,000 durians a couple of months ago. Life is good.


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## ChickenBiscuts (May 28, 2021)

Biring said:


> This chick has a line of feathers on the outside of each shank. There are no chickens with feathered shanks around here.
> View attachment 42712


The feathered leg gene is dominant (Pti). Are you are sure you do not have any birds with feathered legs? Could also be a mutation. Or it could lose them as it grows. I know some people have had feathered legs in their orpington chicks pop up, due to the cochin in their ancestry. But they lost the feathered legs as they grew.


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## ChickenBiscuts (May 28, 2021)

Or perhaps one of the parent birds has a gene(s) for feathered legs, but also has some genes that repress them. I've heard of several genes that could possibly repress feathered legs.


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## ChickenBiscuts (May 28, 2021)

Update if it keeps the feathered legs as it grows... and if you have anymore pop up.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Biring said:


> We've been pretty successful at keeping the chickens out of the house. The bananas I planted 10 months ago are starting to fruit, the rice harvest was reasonable, we sold 1,000 durians a couple of months ago. Life is good.


Has it really been that long since you last visited? You do know we all enjoyed living vicariously through you in your village. Right? 

Did your wife win and make the poultry palace a visitors' lodge? Or do the birds still have possession?


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## Biring (Sep 24, 2020)

The birds still have possession. Today I added 10 runner ducklings. The wife ordered 5, but when I went to pick them up the guy had 10. So I bought them all, obviously.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

LOL Couldn't help yourself? 

Babies are always sweet. I could watch runner ducks all day. They are so odd looking.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

robin416 said:


> LOL Couldn't help yourself?
> 
> Babies are always sweet. I could watch runner ducks all day. They are so odd looking.


X 2, but I don't get them because they are not a broody type bird supposedly; egg machines.


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## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

It's great to hear from you Biring and that all is well! Thanks for the pics, folks need to know that the shape of your birds is what chickens looked like throughout most of history, pre-Europe. When ancient civilizations were eating their chicken nuggets, the birds were the shape and size of yours.


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## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

And it's a rather interesting shape. They look like they could outrun my neighbor's dog.


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