AUSTRALIAN POULTRY FORUM™

My beautiful RIR rooster is turning white!! He is about 4 years old and is slowly changing colour. At first it was one or two feathers under his wings now it's around his neck, on his back and his wings. He lost all of his tail feathers around the same time as the first white ones came through but they have all grown back a beautiful deep green the same as they were before. He still seems fit and healthy and is eating and drinking normally. Does anyone know why this might be happening? Is it a normal thing? Up until this year I've had the worst problem with foxes imaginable so I've never had a rooster live to the ripe old age of 4!!

Bree,
RIR's can be a very frustrating breed when it comes to their colour. All it takes is stress from illness, lack of food, lack of fresh water, hot or cold snap, pests, bullying or stress (dogs or foxes) at the time the bird starts moulting or around that time and before you know it they have white feathers every where. When birds moult this can be stressful for them and they require a boost in protein and energy to produce the new feathers as well as keeping warm.
Often RIR adult never moult back as the same colouring as their first adult feathers. Hens often lack the markings and even have different shaded feathers (dappled), this is generally associated with the hen having a part moult and then starting to lay again. She simply not get enough nutrients to produce eggs and feathers, so feathers loss out.
Generally in chickens this shows up in the wings, if bad enough the body feather will have white / black bars. Fortunately generally these moult out as they grow and correct colouring returns if the diet is correct.
The good news is if he was sound in colour (red) as an adult, his RIR chickens will be red.

RR

So stress you reckon? Nothing has happened. Their food and water is the same, they're in a dog proof paddock and have been for some time now. No new Chooks to pick on him, I really have no idea!! I don't mind about his looks, I'm just glad he's not sick.

At the moment they all get red label mash and scraps. Do you think I should change his diet?

Thanks for all your help.

Bree,
I would stay with the same diet if it works for you.
Remember stress can manifest its self in many way, this can be environmental (sudden temp changes, as can happen this time of year), he may have received a chill as a result of loosing feathers, there may have been something in the scraps that he ate that didn't agree with him for a day or two, etc.

If you open up the wing and look at the wing feathers you may notice a distinct line or bar of white/black in the flight and secondary feathers, also check the back feathers for the same. the remender of the feather before a nd after will be red as normal. If there is this is good indication that he was stressed at that point.

The key thing is he is alive and well.
RR

Ok I'll check that out. Thank so much for the info :O)

IMO..If you are grtting any white in the tips of the wings and white in the under feathers at the back it's a fault!.I hay yet to see it in my RIR.But have seen it at a show when walking around with Mr Mitchel and he was pointing it out in some of the RIR's and Brown leghorns.
I never herd of the stress thing,but it might happen.It might just be a old bird thing,I never keep my birds to 4 years of age .
This is what flight feathers should look like in the pic below.
You can get heavy black marking in the wing that is no good for showing but good for the breeding pen.
Anyway is the pic is what you go for.Any white just cull.

Typo...you will get that with me.....

Anyway in the pic is what to go for.Any white just cull..........

Do the bantams also get this new england poultry?

Would the little bantams be different because they are miniature to the big ones?

Not sure Katy thats why I asked