[hairyhetty]

this summer i got some white sussex chicks and found that a third of them would not grow feathers on theyre backs till 6 mths old, whilst the others were fine. they were free range, on layers pellets, poultry spice and tonic in water to no avail. is this genetic and should i withhold these birds from breeding programme?

[cluckingnuts]

There are 4 alleles on the K locus that affect the rate of feather growth. You could test mate them next year.

[doganjo]

this summer i got some white sussex chicks and found that a third of them would not grow feathers on theyre backs till 6 mths old, whilst the others were fine. they were free range, on layers pellets, poultry spice and tonic in water to no avail. is this genetic and should i withhold these birds from breeding programme?

I wouldn't  breed from them.

[CameronS]

The problem is due to a malformation within the chromosomes, if all your birds (cocks and hens) have the same malformation it will defiantly pass to the next generation, if some do and some don't you will have a generation with all birds with propper feather growth, but they will all carry the gene and can pass it on.

The next generation, talking grandparents - parents - children will have should have a 3:1 ratio for every three without signs there will be one with. thou ALL BIRDS WILL BE CARRIERS


I would not advise breeding from any of the birds or selling them for that fact

[princesspiggy]

There are 4 alleles on the K locus that affect the rate of feather growth. You could test mate them next year.

what does that mean ??

[Daveravey]

I was just thinking the same   

[princesspiggy]

( i changed my name) do you think its a sign of inbreeding? white sussex being so rare its hard to find good stock and i went 400miles to get these at 5 weeks!!! they definitely dont compare to the light sussex i had years ago. incidentally the "best" cockeral died at 4 months - no idea why but he was really ill for 3 days before i put him down.

[cluckingnuts]

If the pullets are carrying a gene for slow feathering + were mated to a normal feathering male, all male offspring would be slow feathering, the female offspring would be normal + will NOT carry the slow feathering gene as they would be hemizygous for normal feathering.
It is used in the commercial egg laying industry where white birds are used and cannot be sexed by feather colour (ie gold cock x silver hen).

[princesspiggy]

so i could keep hens and make sure new cockeral is top notch? do you think its caused by in-breeding? never had problem before and kept about 10 breeds before this.

[cluckingnuts]

so i could keep hens and make sure new cockeral is top notch? do you think its caused by in-breeding? never had problem before and kept about 10 breeds before this.

If you mate a normal/rapid (k+) cock to the hens, and if they are Kn (extremely slow), Ks (slow), or K (late), only the resulting cocks will have it.
Are the wing feathers normal? If not, then the hens could be ts or t, these are autosomal genes recessive to normal T, and can only be expressed in the presence of k+. If they do have it, then all resulting young will be carriers for it.
Test mating would be the only way to know for certain.
It may well have absolutely nothing to do with this and be something totally different. Have you ruled out the feathers being abraded by anything?
 

[princesspiggy]

theyv got feathers now (june hatch) but 1st 5 mths they had bald backs and slow growing tail feathers. Wings and everywhere else seemed fine. its bin mainly on cockerals, except one hen who was quite bad. they didnt seem to have new feathers coming through at all. not abrased but were prone to being pecked as bald patches drew attention, but we sprayed them asap. no lice. thanx