Featherless wings?

[chickenchicklady]

Hi! I was watching my chicks tonight and I noticed that every single one of two specific breeds of my chicks have these bare spots on their wings. My other breeds do not. I was wondering if anyone might have any suggestions as to what it could be or if it’s just part of their breed. I believe they are blue star and American star chicks.

 

[333113]

Hi! I was watching my chicks tonight and I noticed that every single one of two specific breeds of my chicks have these bare spots on their wings. My other breeds do not. I was wondering if anyone might have any suggestions as to what it could be or if it’s just part of their breed. I believe they are blue star and American star chicks.

The stars are not a true breed. They are a cross, or hybrid, of two breeds, to get certain characteristics, for example, good egg laying. They won't breed true, meaning their offspring may not be very much like the parents.

You may be seeing the effect of feather sexing breeding. Hatcheries do this especially with their crosses to maximize the chance that they will get the sex right if you order all pullets.

Cackle Hatchery has a good non-technical description of feather sexing:
https://blog.cacklehatchery.com/what-is-feather-sexing-separating-fact-from-myth/

However, if you can understand the biospeak better than I can, you can search for "feather sexing poultry" and get way more details.