Feather color changes

The topic about food changing the color of the egg shells brings to mind a conversation I was having the other day, about food affecting the color of feathers. And feather color changing in general.

It started because my little mille fleur molted and her feathers came in with lots of white (I should take a picture and post it of a before and after shots.) Now, I haven't changed feed or anything, but it brought to mind, the time I bought a beautiful bright orange red canary, and when it molted, it turned a light whitish yellow color. When I asked the store about it, I was told that it was because I wasn't feeding it the color enhancing feed. (which made me research and discover, that supposedly you can change their feather color by feeding foods high in beta caribine (sp?) such as carrots, red peppers, and paprika). Also, it brought to mind the beautiful flamingo, who gets it's lovely color through it's diet.

This made me wonder if I fed my chickens certain foods, if it would make feather coloring better or worse when they molted.

Also, I noticed last year, when my gold laced polish chicken was getting in her head feathers, some of them got picked on while they were still pin feathers. When the feathers finally came in ,there were a few that had white tips. It made me wonder if this was a result of damage to the pin feather, making it loose pigment.

I know that sunlight, can affect the color of feathers, making white sort of yellowish.

How is feather color affected by things, and can it completely change when they molt? Are there other deciding factors other then genetics when it comes to chicken feather coloring? All sorts of questions...

Feather colour can change with age in some breeds. My own Mille Fleurs show it too. I can easily pick out the older hens.

The only other breed I have seen it in is Lakenvelders getting more black as they age.

Perhaps some others know of other breeds that have shown this.

Interesting questions. Wish I had answers, but I just have observations.

The colour blue seems to be really sensitive to sun damage. I’ve noticed my older blue hens look brassy in some places, faded in others. Short of keeping them inside (which I could never do) or under shade constantly, I don’t how to prevent this.

Another thing I’ve noticed is feather colour can change dramatically after a molt. What I thought was a light blue hen turned out to be splash. Where once she was mostly pale blue, now she’s sprinkled with dark feathers throughout her body.
And I recently read said the slow feathering gene (K ) is an asset to getting the crisp, even barring every BR breeder covets. Nothing about feeding food/supplements though. I'd sure be interested to learn if there was.

Oh, and I for one think flamingo pink chickens would make lovely lawn ornaments. Just sayin’.