Missing crest feathers

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My silver laced has a nice round puffy crest, just as puffy as my white crest black. What other things do you look for in a male?

Mostly you look for early comb development, boys will get pink earlier and than red by 8-10 weeks generally.

In non bearded individuals the boys develop wattles earlier too. So that's what I look at in the laced varieties.

The white crested varieties are easier to tell by crest shape usually.

 

[Sahemi]

I’ve noticed just today that my Polish chick (8weeks) has crest feathers missing (tiny little blood spots) and a some gunk around her eye. As far as I could tell this just happened today. She is a very timid chick and definitely low on the pecking order. She had a very slow start with a vitamin deficiency / crooked toes / very lethargic etc... but we got her back to where she was acting much more like the other chicks and has been seemingly healthy since. I did notice she was sleeping in the run by herself today while all the others (10 chickens, mixed breeds, also 8 weeks) were all in a big pile. She has always seemed to be a bit of a “loner” so I didn’t think anything of it. Should I be worried that someone is really picking on her? Or is this normal pecking order establishment? She’s the only crested bird in the flock. Also, I allowed them to free range out into our yard/woods (4 acres) so it’s not like they’re stuck in close quarters. She prefers to stay in the run, and not venture out much. New to chicken ownership, so I am very clueless as to what is “normal” yet!

Do you have an update on her? I have the same polish with a few missing crest feathers as well!