"Double Breast" appearance on chicks - desirable or problem?

[aart]

I AM seeing a pattern of chicks missing feathers off necks. Is this a nutritional issue or are they outgrowing their feathering?

If they are hungry and have no food, they are probably picking feathers to eat.

Could be picking, could be juvenile molt.

 

[KyCoop]

I got two Delaware this past June at 8 wks old. They are now 22 wks old and also have cleavage. From what I understand Delaware were bred as meat birds but were great layers so they are kept for laying now.
Mine are mostly nice although Jenny did challenge me when she was a baby and 8 inches tall. She didnt want to go in for the night and let me know it. I dont think so missy. I turned her around and patted her behind. She has been fine since. I do have to watch my dogs around them. I have tiny dogs.

They are also gigantic! We are having to expand our coop to accommodate these large ladies.

 

[Ironclay]

Does that last them until the next feeding?
Or do they eat it all up and spend time hungry?

It lasts them until about 5-6pm. I will usually see a small amount left in the pan when I go out to check on everyone at sundown, but it's gone by the time I check in the morning.

Could be picking, could be juvenile molt.

I am leaning more towards this because I am not seeing wounds or irritation. They're just naked/thin-feathered looking. Almost like the fluff is disappearing but the adult feathers haven't caught up.

They are also gigantic! We are having to expand our coop to accommodate these large ladies.

Yes! These chicks are HUGE for their age!

I'm actually kind of intrigued because I wasn't planning on keeping them after I saw their attitude. And they require WAY more feed than I'm used to feeding, which is another mark against them. That's money, after all.

But I have a black copper marans rooster that throws monster cockerels. I have put him over other marans and barred rocks. They hit 6-7 pounds by 10 weeks, they make my full grown adult cocks look ridiculous, and they achieve this without eating more than my regular layers.

So now I'm thinkin'. I wonder if I could keep the two pullets in this group and breed them with that roo, and see if I can "fix" their crappy food conversion rate while keeping that double breast, and they should (in theory) be sex-linked chicks. I might have me a cool project for 2023-2024.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It lasts them until about 5-6pm. I will usually see a small amount left in the pan when I go out to check on everyone at sundown, but it's gone by the time I check in the morning.


I am leaning more towards this because I am not seeing wounds or irritation. They're just naked/thin-feathered looking. Almost like the fluff is disappearing but the adult feathers haven't caught up.


Yes! These chicks are HUGE for their age!

I'm actually kind of intrigued because I wasn't planning on keeping them after I saw their attitude. And they require WAY more feed than I'm used to feeding, which is another mark against them. That's money, after all.

But I have a black copper marans rooster that throws monster cockerels. I have put him over other marans and barred rocks. They hit 6-7 pounds by 10 weeks, they make my full grown adult cocks look ridiculous, and they achieve this without eating more than my regular layers.

So now I'm thinkin'. I wonder if I could keep the two pullets in this group and breed them with that roo, and see if I can "fix" their crappy food conversion rate while keeping that double breast, and they should (in theory) be sex-linked chicks. I might have me a cool project for 2023-2024.

What type of sexlink?

 

[3KillerBs]

What type of sexlink?

The males would be barred -- though it might be hard to see the white spots on the chick down if the babies are mostly yellow like Delaware chicks.

 

[NatJ]

What type of sexlink?

With a Black Copper Marans father, and Delaware-colored mother, they would be both gold/silver sexlinks and barred/not-barred sexlinks. Daughters would be gold and not-barred, sons would be silver and have white barring.

Depending on what color the chick down is, I'm not sure whether it would be easier to look for the light head spot (barred males), or for gold/silver color differences. Either one might work, and if any chicks are ambiguous, looking for both traits might help sort them out.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Oh, I wasn't ware Delaware are barred

 

[3KillerBs]

Oh, I wasn't ware Delaware are barred

As far as I know they're the only breed with the barred colombian pattern.

 

[NatJ]

Oh, I wasn't ware Delaware are barred

Delawares are supposed to be barred.

And OP's birds in the photo do look barred-- that's why the black is in dots, instead of lines along the edges of the feathers. (So regardless of whether they are really Delawares or not, they do have the right color & pattern to be the mother of sexlink chicks two ways.)

 

[Ironclay]

Delawares are supposed to be barred.

And OP's birds in the photo do look barred-- that's why the black is in dots, instead of lines along the edges of the feathers. (So regardless of whether they are really Delawares or not, they do have the right color & pattern to be the mother of sexlink chicks two ways.)

They're absolutely barred. One of the boys in this group has grey barring between the shoulders that's clear as day.

I believe that the downy differences will be pretty noticeable, but that will be something I can't report back on until next year when these babies are grown.

At least 3 of these babies look like males (there's 5 total), so I'm really, really hoping the other two are actually pullets.