The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Ameraucana Marketplace
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
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version