Angel Feathers (aka boule or bull neck)

[Janet Tipton]

Steve thanks for resurrecting this conversation.  After reading through the thread I actually found two of my bantams with it.  A white hen and a wheaten hen.  I love learning new things about my birds.

[Brett S.]

I'd be interested in knowing if "Angel Feathers' share the same Locus as the Araucanas tuffs. I know they weren't directly involved in the development in our precious Ameraucanas but even indirectly they could have passed on specific genetics.

For example: In goats, Their agouti locus has 21 different alleles that can be expressed to make the coat pattern. Their white spotting locus has 8+ alleles that control how much white is expressed over the coat patterns.

Like I said, I'm just curious, It's just a guess without knowing much about genetics of beards, muffs, tuffs and the like.

[Mike Gilbert]

I haven't seen any studies on it, but I really doubt it.    They are altogether different than the "ear tufts" of Araucanas which grow from a small tab of skin and which are nearly 100% lethal in the homozygous state. 

[Michelle Muldowney-Stevens]

Looks like I have a white bantam with bull neck.

[Suki]

Brett's question makes me wonder, do other breeds have the boule?  Thanks.