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Hello - we got our first chickens last June from Wernlas and very lovely they are too. One of them is Florrie, a magnificent Black Leghorn, or rather I should say, she WAS black, but now, she seems to be turning white!

During the summer and autumn, the odd white feather appeared, particularly in her tail feathers where they were growing back after a bit of henpecking before she arrived. She stopped laying in November, but still looked fine and well. Then, a couple of weeks before Christmas, during the bitterly cold weather (minus 10 or 12 most nights), she began a partial moult, mainly on her head and neck, and her face became very pale and her comb shrank to a fraction of its former size.

I rang Wernlas and the lady said that it was some sort of genetic thing - she has had a black Cochin that turned completely white at one moult, then back to black again at the next. She also said that some birds do choose strange times of the year to moult and if they do it in winter, the feathers tend to grow back very quickly and so takes it out of them. Her feathers are growing very quickly and she is looking a lot more rosy cheeked lately, you'll be pleased to know.

I have seen birds in the wild such as crows and thrushes with partially white plumage and I am aware that a lot of animals and birds can have leucistic (uncharacteristically white/pale) or melanistic (dark) forms but I have never heard of anything changing colour like this.

I've attached . She looks almost like an Exchequer Leghorn now - I'm hoping her lovely black plumage will come back next moult as I loved the green iridescent sheen she had.

Has anyone else come across this phenomenon?

[Hayley'sHens]

I've never come across this before, but if thats what an Exchequer Leghorn looks like, I want 1, I think she is beautiful, both with pure black and black and white feathers 

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She looks a bit straggly because her feathers haven't grown back properly but she does look very striking - I can see her from where I'm sitting, even when she's right at the bottom of the garden. Exchequer Leghorns are beautiful birds - Wernlas has them regularly I think. I wonder whether one of them hopped over the fence...?

[cathangirl]

Welcome to the Forum outercircle.
Several of my hens changed colour after the moult....my two hybrid Light Sussex lost most of their black frill around the neck and also in their tail, but it has gradually come back after their second moult (always in the winter!), others have faded, etc.
I think your Florrie is gorgeous as she is now and who knows, when we get some sunshine, her black may shine green.  Is Florrie pure bred or a hybrid?  If the latter, then parentage may show through.  Possibly a naughty boy did hop the fence, haha.
Good luck,
cathangirl

[Hayley'sHens]

Oh, They are white egg layers too! I want a few white egg layers

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Hello Cathangirl - she is a pure breed from the Wernlas rare breeds collection. Her black feathers do still have their green shimmer and of course she is lovely as she is but she did look particularly splendid with her big red comb against the black.

Hayley's hens - yes, I think all leghorns are white egg layers - Florrie's are lovely chalky white. As well as Florrie, I have 2 cream legbars who lay pale blue, a Wernlas Olive - pale green and a Barnebar - brown speckled.

[SocksOn]

Sorry no advice but wanted to say how beautiful she was. Maybe next moult she'll decided to go back 

[Catsmuvva]

My tale isn't nearly so dramatic but an ex-bat that I've had for a couple of years has changed. She originally had all light brown feathers but since her most recent moult she is now sporting a lovely two-tone light brown/dark brown mottled number 

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Quick update on Florrie the transforming chicken. After her pre Christmas partial moult, her new feathers grew back white. I've just been looking back at photos and she seems to be getting whiter and whiter - she now has quite big white patches. She went broody recently and plucked out a lot of her breast feathers and these seem to be growing back white too. I'll post some more photos soon. It's really strange - I wonder what will happen in the autumn when she moults properly for the first time? Black? White? Blue and green spots?

[NormandyMary]

She's obviously wearing her summer collection. Perhaps she will change again for the winter season!

[Lindeggs]

Very interesting!  I wonder if it might be something hormonal.  Humans' hair can change quite dramatically as a result of hormonal changes.  Mum used to be a hairdresser and told stories of pregnant women who lost a lot of hair, then it grew back either a different colour or even curly hair grew back straight!

I was talking to someone recently who had a white leghorn.  She fed it a lot of pumpkin in the autumn.  When it moulted its feathers grew back yellow!  The feathers stayed yellow until its next moult when they turned white agian.

Please do you have any recent photos of your lovely multi-coloured girl?

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Trying to attach photos, but it's not liking it so may have to do them individually.

She's just started laying again after being broody so her comb isn't as big and perky as it normally is. She's also broken her tail feathers by crushing herself into the very back of the nest box - there's plenty of room but she got very territorial about it.

I don't think it's hormonal as it seems to be happening gradually. Most of her new feathers are pure white, but there are a few that ore black and white like an exchequer, hence me wondering whether a naughty boy had nipped over the fence at the breeder.

She eats the same food as the others and they have all kept to their original colours.

Whatever it is, she's very striking - unlike my cream legbars, I can always see where she is in the garden!

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Here she is again!

[joyfull]

she is so pretty I would be pleased to have in that colouring 

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She certainly is pretty but I'm baffled as to why!