Giant cochin chicks - slow/fast feathering?

[DonyaQuick]

Hot weather watermellon time and happy hens going nom nom nom n- no, no, NO JUNIOR MY FEET ARE NOT FOOD NO

 

[DonyaQuick]

OOPS darnit I posted in the wrong thread That last very silly post was supposed to go in my main flock thread where I mostly post humorous random stuff on my other chickens, not this one tracking my giant cochin chicks where I was actually kind of trying to be archival about it. Serves me right for having too many tabs at once.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Ok, trying to get back on track...THIS is what I was going to post in this cochin thread today. I wanted to post some pics showing the feet feather differences thing I had mentioned breifly before I derailed my own thread.

This is one of the three "A" type chicks - long tail (even though you can't tell from the front) and modest foot feather size

This is one of the two "B" type chicks - stubby tail still but really big foot feathers. Also seeing very long upper leg feathers on both B chicks.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Both are amazingly good looking chicks. Where did they come from? They are both definitely Pullets as males will feather out differently with a darker chest.

 

[DonyaQuick]

They are both definitely Pullets as males will feather out differently with a darker chest.

Ah - nice! Thanks for clarifying that; nothing else I'd read said when those differences show up.

Both are amazingly good looking chicks. Where did they come from?

They're from Cackle Hatchery. Those cochins are my first ever batch of mail order chicks.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

This post you tell this one is probably a cockerel,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pictures-of-partridge-cochin-babies.331064/post-11725752

Another that shows cockerel, but they are a bit older than yours,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/partridge-cochin-roos.1133757/

And one more that may help,

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-cochin-he-or-she-pics-included.823999/page-2

 

[DonyaQuick]

Sooooo...interesting development tonight. The feathering says pullets on all of these chicks. However, something that just happened suggests otherwise for one bird: getting over-excited for a time-to-go-to-bed hug, a certain tail wiggle that only boys do, and shooting a milky substance onto my arm that uh...did not look like urates lol.

The only benefit of the doubt I can give is that the lighting at the time wasn't amazing. However, I have had friendly cockerels do this before so I am really rather skeptical it could have been some other biological function, especially paired with "the" wiggle. I also have hens that get super excited for attention from me and will excitement-poo just a bit when I pick them up, which is often mostly or all urates in hot weather, but it does not look the same and the wiggle involved is also not the same. Time will tell I guess.

I will get a picture of the bird in question tomorrow but nothing about it screams cockerel to me except for this recent event, and it has the same coloration as all the others. It's one of the long-tail "A" chicks as well, not the no-butt "B" chicks I was originally skeptical of.

 

[DonyaQuick]

This is the "pullet" in question from my previous post. Please ignore the silly pose...standing on the white chair for photo time was apparently spooky so we gotta stand all weird. Color sure says pullet. The suspicious event from a couple nights ago and then later sticking its neck out and giving me a an awful skreeee noise in the morning...those things are not feeling so pulletish LOL. Also noticing that my other 4 pullets squat and this one does not. This chick is called Yeti.

There is one post from one of the previously linked threads on partridge coloring that describes a late color change at 4.5 months: https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-he-or-she-pics-included.823999/post-26437906 I wonder whether I will one day see some surprising feathers come in.

Meanwhile, one of my "B" chicks still has a really short tail for whatever reason (the other one got longer tail feathers a while ago). This one has enormously long foot feathers compared to the others so it is Bigfoot.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

It may be a more dominant pullet. Very pretty.