Juvenile Wheaten plumage

[Beth C]

I have a couple of chicks feathering out that appear to be female, but with a lot of dark in their hackles. They are only about a month old. How accurately do these first feathers predict problems w/adult plumage?

[John]

Beth,

If you do some searches on this forum you\'ll find this subject discussed under several topics.  The main conclusion, with wheatens/blue wheatens, is to wait until they are mature to cull.  
http://ameraucana.org/abcforum/index.php?a=topic&t=811
http://ameraucana.org/abcforum/index.php?a=topic&t=233

[Beth C]

Thanks, John!

[John]

After thinking about it a bit more maybe I should have mentioned the bigger problem is with the cockerels.  With pullets you may make some judgements sooner.

[bantamhill]

I would hold off on judgements on blue wheaten and wheaten pullets and cockerels until 5-6 months at least.

A technique I used to make culling easier with my lines was to leg band and take pictures of blue wheaten/wheaten chicks at one week intervals. I found that over time in my lines certain plummage development patterns generally led to the best birds and I was able to cull much earlier. The patterns were very much line specific. If I added a new cockerel or pullet from outside, all bets were off for several generations until the new line stablized.

Michael

[Beth C]

Great idea, I\'ll do that!

And, since I\'m taking pics, here are some of the oldest 3:

chick #1











chick #2







Chick #3