I don't mean like a bantam whose wings will obviously be smaller because they are smaller birds. I mean smaller wings compared to body size.
I've hatched a few dozen chicks of my own mutts (standard breeds crossed over each other) and am used to seeing wings-to-body ratios like this 3 week old EE (heavy on the RIR genes). Notice the fairly straight feathers, rounded tips, flight feathers about the same as the other wing feathers, etc...
But about a month ago we got some freebie eggs as part of a food share, and I thought it would be fun to hatch some and get some new genes into my flock. The eggs were crèmes, blues, and olives...makes me think there may be a Marans rooster covering some EE hens. The chicks that hatched look fine, mostly black with yellow bellies, some other patterns...you know the drill. What's got me scratching my head is the smaller wings on some of them. They are eating the same food, and drinking the same drink, that all my other chicks have ever had.
The following are just over a week old (hatched May 1), and their wings are about half of what I normally see in chicks of this age. Is this indicative of a certain breed in the mix? Or just a coincidence, or other thing going on? Notice the blunted ends of the feathers with some "swirling" or "curling" going on in that top one. In the third one, notice the flight feathers are twice the length of the others.
I've hatched a few dozen chicks of my own mutts (standard breeds crossed over each other) and am used to seeing wings-to-body ratios like this 3 week old EE (heavy on the RIR genes). Notice the fairly straight feathers, rounded tips, flight feathers about the same as the other wing feathers, etc...
But about a month ago we got some freebie eggs as part of a food share, and I thought it would be fun to hatch some and get some new genes into my flock. The eggs were crèmes, blues, and olives...makes me think there may be a Marans rooster covering some EE hens. The chicks that hatched look fine, mostly black with yellow bellies, some other patterns...you know the drill. What's got me scratching my head is the smaller wings on some of them. They are eating the same food, and drinking the same drink, that all my other chicks have ever had.
The following are just over a week old (hatched May 1), and their wings are about half of what I normally see in chicks of this age. Is this indicative of a certain breed in the mix? Or just a coincidence, or other thing going on? Notice the blunted ends of the feathers with some "swirling" or "curling" going on in that top one. In the third one, notice the flight feathers are twice the length of the others.
