This young dominant pied cock is only marginally genetically out of balance. It feeds quite normally and stands on the perch, however it cannot eat sufficiant to sustain growth and is gradually losing body weight. This is the first feather duster I have bred which has been able to feed and perch. They cannot usually manage to pick up seed for themselves and remain on the floor until their death. They seldom live beyond eight weeks. I believe from my own experiences that the degree of genetic disorder can vary as can be seen in the examples featured below.

Over the years I have bred quite a few feather dusters which is undoubtly due to line breeding. The first case was within my pied family which has been used to outcross all the other varieties that I breed. I have bred "Dusters" in most varieties. Once a pair produces a feather duster I immediately split them up to avoid producing too many youngsters carrying the genetic inbalance. It is my belief that all birds that are bred from a family with this genetic disorder will produce "dusters" if two of them are paired together. The genetic disorder seems to operate like the recessive gene and only appear when two birds who are carrying those genes are paired together

See below more photographs taken over the last two years

The birds seen below are more genetically out of balance than the first example

Two Brothers from the same nest were outstanding birds that won many Colour Certificates and Best in Show Awards and also bred for me without producing a feather duster

Lutino Feather Duster Bred from Lutino x Lutino, this is almost certainly the result of using the Pied Family as Outcrosses in the past.

Experiences of Ron Payne (Swindon)

Last year I had eight feather dusters from three pairs. Up until I read your article I had not had any this year. Would you believe it, I now have what are two obvious dusters in one late nest!! They are hardly related at all to last year's dusters and are the first two produced off of this cock in four separate matings! Incidentally, he is a Bill Carpenter cock reputed to have been bred from Gerald Bink’s birds. The other two birds are a good cock and a pretty, well, very average hen. The hen that has produced these is a hen of my own matings whose origins can be traced back to birds from Taylor and Smith and a line that I have occasionally used from the north of england. So that blows the theory of close matings out of the window! Neither bird is a buff, both being just about intermediate feathered birds. Although both birds are not long, buff feathered they both have quite dense down feathers which gives the appearance of "chunky" birds. The hen is longer in body length to try to lengthen the chicks.

Ron Payne