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Thought you would like an update to the previous update on Florrie the chameleon chicken.

She is now in her second year and so is just finishing her first "proper" moult and her new feathers have grown back black, well almost! Some of her feathers have very small white flecks or tips so she is lightly speckled on her back and wings. I am still at an absolute loss as to why this is happening and can't wait to see what she does next year.

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Here are some pics of Florrie's latest plumage - the grey flecks on her head are her last few new feathers growing through

[Casey76]

She is so pretty!

Normally once a bird starts to moult out with white feathers they just get whiter and whiter with every moult.

Getting more white feathers is quite common in mottled birds, (so anything which is millefleur/mottled etc) which is why breeders normally show in their first year before thier first moult when their feathers are more correct.  After their first year the colour patterns are usually less distinct due to the accumulation of white feathers/larger parto f the feather being white.

it may be that your hen has some exchequor in her background, even though she is phenotypically black, which would account for the changing density of white feathers

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That's interesting CAsey - I didn't know that about millefleurs etc. I did wonder whether an exchequer had nipped over the fence a few generations back - they had no end of different breeds at Wernlas - such a shame they've closed.