It is so interesting to hear people speak of darkening as the birds get older. I think that one of the hens has lightened considerably here, and the rooster was more 'chestnut' in some places when he was REALLY little like 18-months ago. What does darken on the rooster is the breast feathers. As they mature, they do get the darker barring on the breast from the ones that I have seen...but I think that doesn't start until they are approaching 2-years old. What's the experience with rooster breast-feathers that others have had?