Effect of Sex-Linked Early Feathering on Plumage from 6 to 12 Weeks of Age

POULTRY geneticists have long considered that sex-linked early feathering provided better plumage in broilers at market age than did the alternative late feathering. Some commercial breeders, however, have said that early feathering chicks actually are inferior to the late feathering ones at the particular age when stock is selected for breeding purposes or marketed. Lack of factual data to support contentions of technical workers and the conflict between their opinions and those of some commercial producers prompted initiation of the present study in 1951. REVIEW OF LITERATURE The sex-linked nature of early feathering was established by the reports of Serebrovsky (1922) and Warren (1925). Because a single pair of sex-linked genes is responsible for great differences in feathering, many strains of different heavy breeds have been converted to the early feathering type. It is probable that selection for early feathering would have resulted in a more complete change in feathering …