Young fryers pin feathers

[Buckhowdy]

How old do dual purpose roosters have to be before they lose their pin feathers? We buy straight run chicks and process the extra roosters ASAP. At 12 weeks old they still have pin feathers. How long do we need to wait to process until we get a clean bird?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chicks go through two full juvenile molts before they reach final adult size. They outgrow their feathers and need to replace them. Exactly when they go through a juvenile molt seems to vary by chicken, depending on how fast they grow and mature. Molting is not an instantaneous process either, it can go in for a while. I think that is what you are seeing.

I don’t have any great answers for you as to exactly what age they are not molting. I generally process mine sometime after 18 weeks, usually a lot after 18 weeks, but I skin mine and avoids the pin feather problems.

 

[Buckhowdy]

Thanks! I'll wait another month and test another bird. We can always skin them if its too soon.