I was simply trying to suggest something that would catch my eye for needing improvement if they were my chicks.
That hasnt been my experience with my birds. Even the crosses with my Marans have beards and muffs from day one.
If they are slow to feather to beards, most breeders should not use birds that have that trait unless there is no other option.
Heterozygous birds(birds that only carry one gene for beards and muffs) can produce birds without beards and muffs. You would have a one chance in four of producing a non bearded or muffed bird.
Beards and muffs is an incompletely dominant trait. Muffs and Beards are inherited on a single dominant gene basis. Two copies of Mb (one from each parent) give full muffs and beard. One copy of Mb will result in muffed birds, but the muffs and beard will be somewhat smaller. No copies of Mb, no muffs and beard (symbolized as small mb). The following are average long run results of the matings you might make.
MbMb X mbmb = 100% Mbmb (all with smaller muffs)
Mbmb X mbmb = 50% Mbmb, 50% mbmb (50% no muffs)
MbMb X Mbmb = 50% MbMb, 50% Mbmb
Mbmb X Mbmb = 25% MbMb, 50%Mbmb, and 25% mbmb
MbMb X MbMb = 100% MbMb
If you mate mbmb with mbmb, all the chicks will be clean faced, without muffs and beard.
You can see this splash Ameraucana is fuller around the face than the splash Cochin