Is this hen pied?

[sparrowsong98]

Hi
I thought I had a pied hen, but a couple days ago I noticed a large white patch at the tail base. So I was wondering if she was pied

[cindy]

No.... based on that picture... need to see her head and the rest of her body. The white on the rump is normal

[cindy]

pied usually starts on the wing edges, top of the head, under the chin... some refer to those markings as split to pied.

full pied results in more color removed from the face head, chest body.... the tail and middle of the back are typically the last few places on the birds to loose color.

[cindy]

these are fawn zebras...you can see the rump is white. not a pied marker

[cindy]

Zebras with white wing edges are considered split to pied

[sparrowsong98]

cindy She has one wing feather with white on one edge. What does that mean?

[cindy]

Does she have a white patch under the chin?

[cindy]

Can you get a picture of the area with white? Typically with splits it shows as white wing edges on both wings.

[sparrowsong98]

cindy if you look on the upper half of the picture, it is the feather closest to the gap between her two wings.

[cindy]

usually the pied split marker is on the outer part of the wing... that feather could have grown in white either due to not getting certain nutrients when feed out by parents or the feather base was damaged as it developed... birds plucked or suffering damage from plucking, injury, infection to the skin/feather follicle can often grow out white feathers.... I would watch this area when she molts out to see if it is replaced with a gray feather since she is eating on her own and getting nutrients.

Had this happen with goldbreasted waxbills... provided them the egg food, mealies... they refused both and fed seed only and the one youngster fledged with white blotches, white edges to certain feathers... once eating and choosing her own food including egg food she molded and colored out properly...

I asked earlier...curious does she have a white patch under her chin/lower beak?

[sparrowsong98]

cindy Oh no. That was the only spot in question

[cindy]

A bird can be split to pied without showing any visual markers.

Do you have the parents? What are the mutations?

[sparrowsong98]

cindy I do not. This is my first pair. I would like to now, just to see, but these birds came from the petsmart.

[cindy]

The supplier the birds come form for PetSmart likely does not breed for mutations.... bought a fawn there many yrs ago and he carried Orange breast and Black Breast. Some I notice carry pied.... have seen CFW in PetSmart!!!

[sparrowsong98]

cindy Oh I wish i had your petsmart. Mine has never had anything but grey. No pied, no white, just grey. It does have many good societies, I see many fawns and crested. Sometimes, there are even selfs.