bantam cochin cockrel really slow to feather in????

I have a bantam cochin thats just over 3 months old now (birchin colouring). He has been really slow to fully feather. He had for the longest time down still along his back which has now all fallen out and looks like it has been pecked at but I am sure its not been. The feathers are there just not poping up very fast. Also his tail is still all down and no real feathers yet. The only reason this really concerns me is that he is supposed to go to the chilliwack fair in two weeks and I thought he would be fully featherd by then! I assume this would mark him down? Any thoughts would be great!

Anne

I’d guess your Cochin has the slow feathering gene (K). I have one chick like this (though he does have a tail sprout started) and have marked him so will not be used for breeding. Hopefully someone with more experience can offer better insight.

Thank you! Funny I read about that last night on the french maran website. It talked about the astic breeds carying this gene. I guess I wont be getting him any girlfriends! Its too bad because I think he is really quite a good type other then this.

No Problem. Yeah, my chick is looking real good besides this particular fault. Which just figures. Sigh...