Frizzles

Love ‘em or not, frizzles aren’t for everyone. I, personally, love them. They are cool looking and super-soft to the touch.

Did you know ‘frizzle’ is caused by a gene that creates curled rather than smooth feathers, similar to curly vs straight hair in people?

If you’ve got a frizzle you also know that frizzles should ALWAYS be bred to a smooth, and not another frizzled, bird. That’s because there are negative consequences associated with received a ‘double dose’ of the frizzle gene (one from each parent), which include brittle feathers, no feathers and other health issues.

A frizzled bird with just one copy of the gene is just as healthy as any other bird. A frizzle bred to a smooth feathered bird has a 50% chance of producing frizzled offspring. And of course, only 50% of them will be pullets. So only 1:4 are frizzled pullets – not great odds.

Here are some of my frizzles over the last few years (Buff Orpington, bantam Cochin x Lavender Orpington, Polish x, Barnevelder x, Appenzeller x).