Twisted feather or poor feather quality on chick

Bluberry

In the Brooder
Jan 9, 2024
16
7
36
New to raising SOP chickens. One of the chicks has developed a twisted feather. Another one has been very slow feathering. The feathers are very crispy and rough. Everyone else looks good. Looking for advice do you wait and see what happens, or do you remove from breeding program?
 
New to raising SOP chickens. One of the chicks has developed a twisted feather. Another one has been very slow feathering. The feathers are very crispy and rough. Everyone else looks good. Looking for advice do you wait and see what happens, or do you remove from breeding program?
How old are they?
For the slow feathering, I think the thing you want to ask yourself is: do I want all of the chicks to feather slowly in the future?
There is a different between the slow feathering gene and failure to thrive though. I wouldn't breed from any birds that are slow to develop or with crispy and rough feathering and since it sounds like it falls in that camp that would be a cull for me.
But my mother's Large Fowl Buckeyes are much faster growing than most large fowl (since they are a breed with meat emphasis) however, they also are a slow feathering breed.
 
How old are they?
For the slow feathering, I think the thing you want to ask yourself is: do I want all of the chicks to feather slowly in the future?
There is a different between the slow feathering gene and failure to thrive though. I wouldn't breed from any birds that are slow to develop or with crispy and rough feathering and since it sounds like it falls in that camp that would be a cull for me.
But my mother's Large Fowl Buckeyes are much faster growing than most large fowl (since they are a breed with meat emphasis) however, they also are a slow feathering breed.
I've attached the average feather of the group (left) vs slow maturing (right). They are 6-7 weeks old. Would have to look at notes for exact date. The male on the right is large and mature for his age group. Has great width. The feathers were bad in the brooderand have only gotten worse in the pen. At first I wanted to blame brooder conditions but he was the only one impacted by crispy feathers. What about twisted feathers?

I have another nice good male who is well build but has a tiny twisted feather on the wing. Any luck that will improve?
 

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At 6-7 weeks I wouldn't worry about the twisted feather yet but the right bird almost looks like it has metabolic issues. It is healthy and well built but purple barring and rough feathers lile that says to me that his feathers are lacking a protein that would make them green, shiny, and smooth. I would cull for that since the inability to make the protein must be genetic.
 

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