Do These Leg Feathers Mean Anything As Far As Gender Is Concerned?

[AmyJane725]

Hey guys,

I have 6 bantam cochins right now. 3 Self Blue, 3 White. They're 19 days old today.

The self blue ones I think are already starting to show their genders. Two out of the three of them have red combs and are growing little red wattles. Pretty sure those are boys.

The white ones are the ones I'm really curious about though. None of my other birds really have comb/wattle development yet, but my white cochins are puzzling me. Two of them have the feathery feet like usual, but the third one (the smallest one too, though that doesn't mean anything) has these big feathers coming off the backs of it's legs. Please enjoy my awful artists interpretation.

Is the chick with the legs like exhibit "A" one gender or the other necessarily, or are they just growing their feathers at a different rate?

 

[sylviethecochin]

Just growing their feathers at a different rate. But that can have relevance to sex; cochins are slow feathering, so the males have two copies of the slow-feathering gene, and females have one. Which means that females should feather more quickly than the males.

 

[AmyJane725]

Just growing their feathers at a different rate. But that can have relevance to sex; cochins are slow feathering, so the males have two copies of the slow-feathering gene, and females have one. Which means that females should feather more quickly than the males.

So do you think the one with the big feather spurs on the legs is a girl probably?

Of my self blue babies, the one without the red wattles has more feathers, so she's probably a girl then.

 

[Birds of a Feather]

Sounds like the feathers on the back are vulture hocks, which are a Disqualification in exhibition Cochins but not likely to affect backyard chickens, and probably don’t tell anything about their genders.

 

[AmyJane725]

Sounds like the feathers on the back are vulture hocks, which are a Disqualification in exhibition Cochins but not likely to affect backyard chickens, and probably don’t tell anything about their genders.

Hm. Interesting. I'll try to get a picture tomorrow. They're pretty cute/funny looking.

 

[AmyJane725]

I got a few pictures of the chick. Not the best, but they're something. Are these vulture hocks?

 

[sylviethecochin]

I got a few pictures of the chick. Not the best, but they're something. Are these vulture hocks?

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Looks like it to me. Sorry—from your original post, I assumed they were growing out of the back of the chicks' lower leg. If you don't mind my asking, what hatchery are these birds from?

 

[AmyJane725]

Looks like it to me. Sorry—from your original post, I assumed they were growing out of the back of the chicks' lower leg. If you don't mind my asking, what hatchery are these birds from?

They're kind of growing off the back of it's knees? Forgive my terribly artistry. Sorry for the confusion.

They're from Ideal Poultry. Why?

 

[sylviethecochin]

They're kind of growing off the back of it's knees? Forgive my terribly artistry. Sorry for the confusion.

They're from Ideal Poultry. Why?

Because the info is useful. If a kid on here wants to get into 4H chickens, I can advise against ordering cochins from there, since they have such a high percentage of DQ'ing features. Generally, I'm against ordering from Ideal anyway (if quality stock is desired) but it might have been from a different hatchery, in which case I would have a second hatchery to eliminate.

 

[AmyJane725]

Because the info is useful. If a kid on here wants to get into 4H chickens, I can advise against ordering cochins from there, since they have such a high percentage of DQ'ing features. Generally, I'm against ordering from Ideal anyway (if quality stock is desired) but it might have been from a different hatchery, in which case I would have a second hatchery to eliminate.

Ah, I see.
Well, only one out of the 6 cochins I ordered has those feathers. Have you heard of others getting chicks like that from Ideal?
Does DQing mean disqualifying?
What hatcheries have "quality stock" in your opinion? I went with Ideal because they were the only one that had all the types of birds I wanted.