Frizzled Cochin bantams and Pekins
Frizzled feathers are the the result of a gene called F(Frizzle).
Frizzle birds can appear in any colour, as the gene has no effect on the base colour. Frizzling is easy to spot after a few days to about a week and a half. you will see the wing feathers curling as soon as they come out.
Things to consider when breeding frizzles.
A lot of breeders here tell you to only breed frizzle to a smooth and there is good reason for this. Breeding frizzle to smooth gives you a 50/50 split, with half the offspring coming out frizzled and half smooth.
Breeding frizzled to frizzled will give you 50% frizzled, 25% smooth, and 25% pure frizzled.
Pure frizzling is not as good as it sounds though. Very often a bird pure for frizzling with have very weak feathers, that are prone to breaking or falling out. As a result of this feather loss, the bird will be more susceptible to cold, heat(UV rays), disease, predators and bullying from other birds, just to mention a couple.
Do an image search in google for some of these poor things. They really look ragged!
So breeding a frizzle to a smooth will avoid this problem, and you wont have to worry about half-naked and vulnerable chickens wondering around your back yard.
There is a recessive gene that restricts frizzling (called frizzle modifying gene or mf), and it would seem that this, coupled with frizzling may allow you to breed frizzle to frizzle with fewer concerns, but i havent found a reliable way to find it, and dont have the energy or space for the test breedings required to track it down.
I did briefly breed some Self blue (Lavender) cuckoo frizzles, they are certainly eye catching and i had a lot of interest from people wanting to purchase them. Cuckoo barring works very well on frizzles, giving them an extra something
that really makes the adults "pop".
i also had a rather oddly coloured male come from this cross, pictured below. This boy had some "lacing" in his feathers, and a lot of white in his saddle and wings. He is still around at the farm (with my friend Hendrik at Budgies to Bantam farm) i will try and get some updated images of him. Believe it or not, his father was a black smooth rooster, and the mother was a white frizzle.
Frizzle birds can appear in any colour, as the gene has no effect on the base colour. Frizzling is easy to spot after a few days to about a week and a half. you will see the wing feathers curling as soon as they come out.
Things to consider when breeding frizzles.
A lot of breeders here tell you to only breed frizzle to a smooth and there is good reason for this. Breeding frizzle to smooth gives you a 50/50 split, with half the offspring coming out frizzled and half smooth.
Breeding frizzled to frizzled will give you 50% frizzled, 25% smooth, and 25% pure frizzled.
Pure frizzling is not as good as it sounds though. Very often a bird pure for frizzling with have very weak feathers, that are prone to breaking or falling out. As a result of this feather loss, the bird will be more susceptible to cold, heat(UV rays), disease, predators and bullying from other birds, just to mention a couple.
Do an image search in google for some of these poor things. They really look ragged!
So breeding a frizzle to a smooth will avoid this problem, and you wont have to worry about half-naked and vulnerable chickens wondering around your back yard.
There is a recessive gene that restricts frizzling (called frizzle modifying gene or mf), and it would seem that this, coupled with frizzling may allow you to breed frizzle to frizzle with fewer concerns, but i havent found a reliable way to find it, and dont have the energy or space for the test breedings required to track it down.
I did briefly breed some Self blue (Lavender) cuckoo frizzles, they are certainly eye catching and i had a lot of interest from people wanting to purchase them. Cuckoo barring works very well on frizzles, giving them an extra something
that really makes the adults "pop".
i also had a rather oddly coloured male come from this cross, pictured below. This boy had some "lacing" in his feathers, and a lot of white in his saddle and wings. He is still around at the farm (with my friend Hendrik at Budgies to Bantam farm) i will try and get some updated images of him. Believe it or not, his father was a black smooth rooster, and the mother was a white frizzle.