Do pullets and cockerels have different wings?

[SweetieChicken234]

I'm watching my chicks grow and I see different wing types. Is this a gender thing? Some have LONG wings and are getting tails and other have short wings and no tails.

My Delaware chicks are the white ones and the striped ones are Delaware/Wyandotte cross. What's really interesting is that I have 1 Wyandotte cross with the long wings and 3 Wyandotte crosses with short wings and no tails.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

In some cases females will feather in faster than the males. More of a wives tale/rule of thumb vs an exact science, but can be an early indication of cockerels

 

[SweetieChicken234]

In some cases females will feather in faster than the males. More of a wives tale/rule of thumb vs an exact science, but can be an early indication of cockerels

I wondered if that could be true or if mixing of the breeds had more to do with it. Like say the Wyandotte may just be much slower to feather but the ones with no tails could still be pullets. I can't wait to see what happens.

 

[CascadiaRiver]

I wondered if that could be true or if mixing of the breeds had more to do with it. Like say the Wyandotte may just be much slower to feather but the ones with no tails could still be pullets. I can't wait to see what happens.

There is fast and slow feathering genes, unfortunately I am only knowledgeable in color genetics and not much else so I'm not entirely sure how they work!

 

[coach723]

When you know a breed very well, have raised many of them, then feathering differences can be a good tell. But different breeds can be different, and mixes can be VERY different as they may have characteristics of both/either/neither (recessive genes). Genetics can be weird! My wyandotte crosses are mostly crossed with EE's (which are already crossed) and those chicks have mostly followed the EE characteristics, though the wyandotte coloring comes through often.

 

[SweetieChicken234]

When you know a breed very well, have raised many of them, then feathering differences can be a good tell. But different breeds can be different, and mixes can be VERY different as they may have characteristics of both/either/neither (recessive genes). Genetics can be weird! My wyandotte crosses are mostly crossed with EE's (which are already crossed) and those chicks have mostly followed the EE characteristics, though the wyandotte coloring comes through often.

I am very interested to see what the Wyandotte cross with Delaware will look like. I know they will be silver pullets because the rooster was Delaware but I want to see what happens with the lacing and barring. I'm not assuming that only the cockerels will be tail less and the pullets have tails now. I'm sure because of slow feathering either could get their tails first and/or have longer or shorter wings.