This chick has an odd way of walking around ... she has the habit of standing almost upright! It looks really funny. The kids tell me that she quacks like a duck... LOL! They're joking me, I'm sure! LOL!
Her sire is Ameraucana x Leghorn. Her dam is Araucana x Leghorn. She is rumplessness and has beardmuff. Despite being rumpless, she seems to have a complete set of tail feathers.
By Cjeanr on Thursday, January 24, 2002 - 05:11 pm:
Infomaniac, Have you seen the pictures of the Serama bantams? Their upright stance is genetic, but not a natural selection, but a many generations careful selection of small size and weird "squirrely" posture. My guess for her is a genetic mix! CJR
Infomanic, PS, She's a doll! What next? CJR
Thank you, CJR. LOL! She is so funny! She's gentle and friendly too.
P.S. I have not seen Serama bantams... I'll look in APA SoP for them & The FeatherSite. Thanx.
I've had birds like this. If they stay pipped in the egg too long their bones begin to harden and they are bent for life. It can also be a developmental defect.
Thank you for your interesting post, Rokimoto. This bird of ours doesn't seem to be mal-formed ... she can carry herself like the other chickens do. She just seems to prefer standing erect most of the time! It is really funny to see her. Since she's rumpless and rumplessness is a skeletal mutation, I was wondering if there might be something about her pelvic configuration that encourages her to stand up.
Several animals have had these characteristics intensified and set to establish breeds. The tennessee Fainting Goat when startled becomes ridgid,shutting off blood flow until if faints. The parlor tumbler pigeon when startled will do backward flips. The Roller pigeon flies very high and will throw its head over its back and do roll downs. Be fore I knew better I bred this characteristic too strong and couldnt fly some birds as they could not come out of their roll. The rolling was not due to a fright response but had something to do with the inner ear I believe.
Hi ya'll, thought I'd jump in here real quick.
Hanna, Pigeons are cool. If you set up for Parlor Tumblers a good second variety could be Fantails. They are also poor fliers. The only draw back to pigeons is dust, but this doesnt have to be a major drawback. There are many,many breeds. I have to say, they are the most fascinating of all bird life to me. If you care to e-mail me, I like to talk pigeons and will share what I know but hate to take up space at this site that is off subject. Meanwhile will dig up some worthwhile sites. robpa51@mdvl.net
Thanks Robbpa, I've already fired off an email to ya!
By Cjeanr on Thursday, January 24, 2002 - 05:12 pm:
By Infomaniac on Thursday, January 24, 2002 - 05:56 pm:
I was guessing that the upright posture may be something that she inherited from her Araucana grandfather. He tends toward an 'aristocratic' posture himself. He holds his head high and even tends to hold his 'nose' in the air as if to communicate his high social standing! LOL!
Genetically, she's 1/2 Leghorn, 1/4 Araucana and 1/4 Ameraucana. She IS a doll! Thank you!
By Infomaniac on Thursday, January 24, 2002 - 05:58 pm:
By Rokimoto on Thursday, January 24, 2002 - 06:20 pm:
Some behaviors are genetic. I had a mutation in my Barred Rock Bantams called pirouette. Whenever they got excited they would do a little dance and spin around and around two or three times before heading off in the direction that they wanted to go. They had zero predator avoidance and when I gave them away to a friend they were soon lost to cats.
I have a mutation in my quail where when they are startled they shuffle backwards uncontrolably and they end up stuck in the corners of their cages until they calm down and their feet stop moving. This may be a recessive mutation, but more than one gene may be involved. I tried to develop a line with them but two attempts have failed because when I breed two affected birds together I get just about zero fertile eggs. I didn't see a bird like this in the last generation, so I don't know if I still have it. We could probably recover it from the random bred controls because I have seen it in that stock.
By Infomaniac on Thursday, January 24, 2002 - 11:13 pm:
I had a lilac-crested Amazon parrot 20 years ago that did the backward shuffle thing. He looked like Norman Bates was after him when he did that. I'll bet the pirouette behavior was really cute to watch. Too bad about the cats getting them.
By Robbpa on Friday, January 25, 2002 - 08:41 am:
By HannahH on Friday, January 25, 2002 - 11:35 am:
Robbpa, I've been interested in getting some pigeons for a while now, and everybody I talk to (who don't have them) tell me they're nasty. Everyone but pigeon fanciers have negative things to say.
I saw some fine parlor tumblers this past year, talked to the man who bred the bird that won the longest roll in 2000. He was telling me that roller pigeons and tumblers all came from mutations. He said in the wild these birds wouldn't have survived but that man has kept them going.
I watched this very elderly man gently hold these birds and do almost the same motion as tossing a bowling ball. I guess holding them backwards and letting them go might have scared them, but he did it over and over. These birds seemed to be enjoying themselves to me. They let him walk over and pick them up, they didn't seemed scared at all. They did look dizzy when coming out of the roll.
This gentleman told me these birds stay on the ground and don't fly much higher than a foot or two, that they should be kept on grass with low roosts. They were really neat birds. I'd love to own a few myself, I'm just concerned about their management, and won't consider it till I know alot more about keeping them.
I would love to discuss this with you more...
By Robbpa on Friday, January 25, 2002 - 12:31 pm:
By HannahH on Sunday, January 27, 2002 - 12:20 am: