posted 2 years ago
I haven't encountered it before but can think of several situations that might result in something that would give that appearance.
1. Weird genetics happen. Sometimes a part of the body ends up (due to Life being weirder than fiction) with a slightly different genetic coding. This is called "chimerism". Your little girl might have a mild form of chimerism in that are which would mean she's got the genetics for frizzled feathers there.
2. She might grow out of it. Seriously. If these are her first set of "adult" feathers, she may yet shed them at her next molt and grow a completely ordinary set of feathers. That first set of feathers can sometimes be a trial plumage and, with the onset of cooler weather, they get replaced.
3. A combination of things might have happened. She might have a gene for frizzled feathers that, for random reasons, got expressed only there. She may turn out to be a frizzle, might have another molt and wind up all normal feathers, or all frizzle, or some weird combination of the two.
4. She might have left the perming solution on too long, which damaged the feathers that were forming and ... okay, that's a joke, but if she has a tendency to cuddle up to a light, heater, electric wire, or something, it could have damaged the feathers as they were forming.
Until you find out one way or another, I wouldn't breed her or save her eggs for hatching. She might be a fun science fair project for any student interested, but otherwise, I'd think long and hard before saving her genetics. Otherwise? She's fine. Unless she starts having vision trouble or loses control of that side of her body, which I don't see happening, she should be fine.
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