Cochin leg feathers

[magikchick]

Can you sex a cochin by the amount of leg feathers they have. At 3 weeks old two of my chicks have much more leg feathering then the other 3.

Marsha

 

[countrygirl4513]

I have all cochins, but I don't know about leg feathers. I just wait till their combs start coming in@ 4-5 wks. If their combs start showing bright pink and they start showing on their waddles/wattles. (don't know the correct spelling) I have heard that you can tell by wing feathers. But I just had to be patient and wait for them to age a little. They grow soon enough, that's for sure. Mine are 10 wks, out of straight run of 25 chicks looks like I have 10 cockerals.

 

[Rosalind]

I don't think so. Mine have leg feathers according to their place in the pecking order--the "royalty" have the most leg feathers and the lower castes have less. Not sure if this is because the higher-ups are pecking feathers out of the lower ones, or because the higher-ups are successfully blocking access to the feeder. There's plenty of room for all the chickens, but the higher-ups have been known to stomp on the lower ones when they're eating.

 

[silkiechicken]

The feathers they have is genetics of the parents. You'll have to wait to see whoes male and who's female.