My Columbian Quartet Seriously Stumps Me

FMAFarms

Songster
8 Years
Feb 20, 2011
439
4
109
Rural Michigan
This quartet of Columbian Wyandottes hatched on March 11. I ordered one boy and two girls, and I got an extra roo as a bonus chick. For the life of me I cannot tell which are the boys and which are the girls. Two of them have the pointy hackle feathers that would indicate that they are boys, but these are also the ones whose backs have been partially bared by treading. One is plump with lovely white feathers, and I would have thought she's a girl, but she is also the one with the wattles. The fourth is very similar to this third, but this one has no wattles.

Can you please help me determine which are the roos and which are the girls?

Chick #1, "N":

80397_nigelstw052011.jpg




Chick #2, "W":

80397_winstonstw062011.jpg




Chick #3, "L":

80397_luellastw042011.jpg



Chick #4, "M":

80397_missterrystw042011.jpg



Thanks!
 
That's what I thought, too -- N (Nigel) and L (Lou) as roos, W (Winifred) and M (Miss Terry) as pullets. But then what is going on with Nigel and Lou, that their backs are feather-bare, as if someone was treading their backs? They're in only with females, W, M, and 6 SLW pullets. Is it possible that N and L are beating each other up and doing this damage to each other in a show of dominance? None of my other roos (we've got 10 others of different breeds) have ever done this to each other... they just do their little domination dances and peck at each other's heads/necks, and they're done. This kind of damage is just bad, bad, bad. N's right wing along the joint is as bare as his back.
 

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