Relation of Juvenile Plumage to Growth and Sexual Maturity

Abstract

THE process of plumage development in the domestic fowl was studied first by Rice, Nixon, and Rogers (1908). They found that the sequence of molts in the domestic fowl (using S. C. White Leghorns) corresponds very closely to the sequence of molts in young wild birds as previously reported by Dwight (1900). Rice stained the first feathers red and the second set black. They report that at eight weeks all the red feathers in the tail and wings had been molted, and at thirteen weeks, all the black feathers had been replaced by white ones. They did not observe further wing or tail molt until just before the birds reached maturity, when the pullets shed all their feathers and assumed mature plumage.Lippincott (1920) observed on both American and Mediterranean breeds that the pelvic wing feather tract developed at about three weeks of age. He noted that this occurred at .