Frizzle

Frizzle is a feather modifier gene. In heterozygous form, it causes in the feathers to curl backwards across the body of the bird, with the tips of the feather pointing towards the head instead of lying flat. There are no health affects in the normal presentation of hetero. Frizzle, aside from birds being more prone to the cold and more tolerant of heat (6).

In homozygous form, it presents as "frazzle", where the entire feather is so curled that the shaft becomes brittle. The feathers in a frazzle bird often cause pain to the bird as the feathers snap off frequently (1), and breeding for frazzle is considered inhumane.

It is recognized by the APA on any breed. It is most commonly found in bantam Cochins, Silkies, and Serama, though a few other breeds like d'Uccles and Favorelles have had frizzle introduced.

It is not the same frizzle gene found in the naturally frizzled Chinese Kirin chickens (3), along with the Quilin (4), Xiushu (5), and other Chinese chicken breeds (5).

Breeding with Frizzle: For more information about breeding with this kind of gene, including tips and tricks and a full explanation of how these results were calculated, please see here.

Frazzle is incomplete dominant, so you can see it on any forms. Again, Frazzles have two copies of the gene, and aren't reccommended to breed or keep due to the pain the bird experiences. Frizzle is the typical gene seen.

Frazzle x Frazzle = 100% Frazzle

Frazzle x Frizzle = 50% frazzle, 50% frizzle

Frazzle x nonfrizzle = 100% frizzle

Frizzle x frizzle = 25% nonfrizzle, 50% frizzle, 25% frazzle

Frizzle x nonfrizzle = 50% frizzle, 50% nonfrizzle (this is the recommended pairing for most frizzle breeders).