At what age do crowns and wattles develop fully?

[fiddleblue]

My pullets began developing little "sprouts" where their crowns and wattles would come in at about 6 weeks old, but these now seem to have hit a wall or slowed up in growth and don't seem to be growing out. I wonder, by what age can one expect the pullet's crown and wattles to fully develop?

 

[Amethyste]

Well, mine did the same thing.

They are 16 weeks old on Monday, and I have 1 of the 7 chicks starting to grow her wattles now. She is a black Austraolorp, and is getting small red wattles, getting bigger every day

But the others in the flock are all still pink. I think she is an early bloomer!

My original flock, of which I have 2 EE remaining, were a varied breed mix. I seem to remember them taking a bit longer... like 20 weeks before they started getting the reddish combs etc.

 

[speckledhen]

Really, it sometimes depends on the breed. No matter when they do come in, the boys' combs come in much faster than the ladies'. On some large combed breeds, even the girls have very large combs fairly early, like on Leghorns.

 

[YankeeRider]

Combs seemed to stand still on my BO pullets from about 6 weeks to 15 weeks. At 16 weeks I am noticing significant growth beginning, with a lot of variability from one bird to the next.

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

I have a game mix hen (and her mother and grandmother) and they had almost non-existant combs until they turned a year old and it started to grow - they keep groing as they get older. Grandma is about three years old, hers is biggest, Mama has a smaller comb, and the youngest is barely getting her comb in now. The yougnest was hatched this last January. Grandma is half game (mated to a game), Jr. (mama) is 3/4 game (mated to game), and the latest BabyMama is almost all game hen. They all have the body shape and comb/wattles like Grandma does, though.

other hens that I have have their combs and wattles pretty much developed fully by one year old.

meri