[aaronsundin]

Hi all , I have 4 chocolate orpington bantam chicks , now 7 weeks old . They are in a run in the outbuilding and growing fast . However , one chick  looks fully feathered , one looks almost there - but the other 2 looks really scrawny and on close inspection this morning  they seem to have their wing feathers but their chests and backs are still mostly covered only in chick fluff . Is it unusual for chicks hatched from the same clutch to feather up at different stages or could there be something wrong ? They are all pretty much the same size , very lively , noisy and eating  well .

[jaykay]

Males feather up more slowly, so sounds like you might have two of each which would be about right 

[in the hills]

Think it depends on the breed but as Jaykay says, we found our RIRs could be sexed fairly reliably by who feathered up first. Didnt seem to work with Friesians or Peekins but with these the males were crowing at about 7 weeks so job done!

[jaykay]

Think it depends on the breed

It does, not all breeds do it, but if you have a breed where you notice some are slower than others the same age, then the slow ones are male.

[aaronsundin]

Well , as the old saying goes - you learn something new every day ! Thanks for the info , now I know and will remember this in the future.