We went through a pen of Dominique cockerels today, these guys are all from the same lines and the same hatch time. They were getting a bit crowded in their pen, we meant to cull out a couple of months ago
... Anyway... we noticed that several of the cockerels had super long primary tail feathers - so long they were curving and some had them passing the sickle feathers so they weren't covered at all.
But is this a terrible thing? Should we be ultra-paranoid about this getting into our breeding flock genetics? Or is it a good thing - something we want? Should we just use it in female lines, or just use it in male lines? Is it dominant, recessive, sex linked... If it's bad, will it be easy to breed out? Or could it be nutrition/stress related?
Here are a few reference photos...
This guy only has the two top sickle feathers prominent (and far too upright - ew) - those feathers that look like limpy sickle feathers below those, those are actually his top primary tail feathers.
Same cockerel. You can really see here just how long those primary tail feathers are.
A little less extreme case, this guy's low on the pecking order so his sickle feathers have been torn up so his tail is easier to see.
Another photo of the same guy.

But is this a terrible thing? Should we be ultra-paranoid about this getting into our breeding flock genetics? Or is it a good thing - something we want? Should we just use it in female lines, or just use it in male lines? Is it dominant, recessive, sex linked... If it's bad, will it be easy to breed out? Or could it be nutrition/stress related?
Here are a few reference photos...

This guy only has the two top sickle feathers prominent (and far too upright - ew) - those feathers that look like limpy sickle feathers below those, those are actually his top primary tail feathers.

Same cockerel. You can really see here just how long those primary tail feathers are.

A little less extreme case, this guy's low on the pecking order so his sickle feathers have been torn up so his tail is easier to see.

Another photo of the same guy.