Chicken feather type/texture?

[tortoise]

This is my lavender orpington pullet Fluff-a-butt. Her feathers have a different texture. She is poofier than my other, hence her name. She's not quite frizzled. What would you call these feathers?

 

[Mini Horses]

They're young, may not be this way after a moult. She may need more protein. Feathers are mainly that.

 

[tortoise]

They're young, may not be this way after a moult. She may need more protein. Feathers are mainly that.

Could be protein! She grew up on 16% layer pellet. They get cat food in addition now. IDK what kind of cat food it is (it was rejected from the local pet food shelf because it was buggy), but cat foods are at least 26% protein. I assume it's a cheap food and right at 26%.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Yep I would agree, lacking protein and/or other vitamins. She is pretty!

 

[Hinotori]

Feathers just look worn a bit.

 

[Finnie]

This is my lavender orpington pullet Fluff-a-butt. Her feathers have a different texture. She is poofier than my other, hence her name. She's not quite frizzled. What would you call these feathers?View attachment 20891View attachment 20892

She doesn’t look lavender to me, she looks blue. But, maybe it’s just the photo. If she is a lavender, the lavender gene is known to be linked to what they call the “shredder” gene. So it’s very common for lavender birds to have messed up feathers.

I’ve not heard of the shredder gene showing up in blue birds.

 

[Hinotori]

I forgot about that issue in lavender as I dont breed them.

I haven't had any issues in the lavender partridge because they are all from carrier parents and not the lavender to lavender pairings. I'd read something about that being why split blacks were used quite a bit still to help with feather quality.

 

[Hinotori]

She doesn’t look lavender to me, she looks blue. But, maybe it’s just the photo. If she is a lavender, the lavender gene is known to be linked to what they call the “shredder” gene. So it’s very common for lavender birds to have messed up feathers.

I’ve not heard of the shredder gene showing up in blue birds.

Blues are a darker grey than the light grey lavender. I didn't catch that either. Sometimes blues can look black. People do get blue and self blue (lavender) confused.

Some bantam lavenders for color comparison.

 

[tortoise]

I wondered about their coloring too. My younguns are much lighter color. More like the pic you shared.

 

[tortoise]

I spent an interesting afternoon on the internet. y'all are really good! Thank you so much for getting me on the right path. I couldn't figure out search terms on my own to look up information.

1) they are blue, not lavender. The breeder has a gorgeous pen of purebred lavender so maybe they grabbed the wrong chicks/confused them. They breeders mixes breeds of chicks together - grouped by age.
2) they don't breed true - I'll get blue, black and splash.
3) it's probably not shredder gene because it's associated with lavender gene and it affects more than the tail feathers
4) shredder gene can be bred out of lavender chickens
5) some people breed lavender with other colors to improve feather quality, so I will keep these 2 pullets and see what I get from my lavender chicks before I make any decisions.