When does a rooster's tail grow in ?

[chickenannie]

I am deciding which of my roosters to keep, and one is a nice purebred Buff Orpington, but I thought he was a hen for a long time because he had no tail feathers! Now he's 5 1/2 months old and is clearly a roo and has a nice comb, but looks kind of girly from the back because he has only 1 or 2 slightly longer tail feathers sticking out maybe an inch beyond the other feathers. In fact I thought maybe he was androgenous, and assumed he was not a good roo to keep for breeding Buffs, but now I'm wondering if maybe some roos don't get their tail feathers for a while. He's filling out nicely. His daddy had nice tail feathers! Anyone know?

 

[pips&peeps]

He probably carries the slow feathering gene. He will pass this to all his male offspring.

 

[redoak]

My buff orpington rooster I think took about 9 months to get fairly nice tail. He's 11 months old now and I don't think his tail feathers are all done growing/filling in yet.

 

[chickenannie]

pips&peeps :

He probably carries the slow feathering gene. He will pass this to all his male offspring.

Is that a bad thing to pass on?​

 

[pips&peeps]

It causes more picking. You can usually spot a cockerel way sooner though.