I think this is one of those things where it's kind of hard to balance what we have for lore with game mechanics and real-life examples/comparisons, and then the "it's a fantasy world, real-life means nothing/very little". I'm in the camp that likes to use real-life comparisons to fill in the gaps that the devs left. So... take what you want from my opinion.
I think a lot of your initial numbers look good... for chickens. And while it's not uncommon for chocobos to be jokingly called chickens, they seem (at least to me) to have more in common with ostriches, emu, and cassowary. These types of birds take around two years to reach adulthood, up to five to reach physical maturity suitable to breed, can be at breeding peak for up to twenty years, and have a lifespan of up to fifty years.
Now... I wasn't able to pull up much information on racing ostriches, so I can only really speculate the next based on what I know about horses. And seeing that the age-ranges sort of match up, I think it's safe to assume that this would be similar. Anyways. The training/breaking process for horses usually doesn't start until they're at least two years old. You can get them used to wearing a halter and having their feet messed with and introduced to a blanket before that, but bridles and saddles (and sometimes shoes) are out of the question before then. And while the breaking/training can be started at this point, horses typically aren't considered really rideable until closer to four years old. Training for racing takes more time and generally you don't want to start racing a horse before it reaches full physical maturity, which happens at around six years of age.
So where does this leave us? If we go a more realistic route with horse-to-ostrich-to-chocobo comparisons... a newly-hatched chick likely wouldn't be seeing it's first race until six years old. Which, from and RP perspective, isn't going to be fun for most people to have to RP waiting that long. Even more so in a game where the passage of time is fuzzy -- last I heard back during... I think 2.5... only three or so months had passed in-game from the start of ARR to that point; if that's held true, then we're likely not even gone through nine months yet.
The complete opposite side of the spectrum, of course, would be game mechanics. Where if you've got enough time and caffeine in your system, you can breed for a new 'bo, receive the new 'bo already race-ready, level it up, and breed/retire it in less than twenty-four hours. Or twenty-four game-mechanic days, if you wish to consider it that way.
Where does that leave us? Well... I'm not really going to argue against the more chicken-appropriate numbers. Given RP'ers attention spans, they're more friendly for most people.
So, there's my thoughts on the timing.
Something you might find interesting and may want to consider is the brooding habits of ostrich/emu/cassowary. Ostrich are the only ones (of the species that I read about) where the females are solely the ones who incubate eggs -- emu and cassowary both have sub-species where that's the male's part, and the females wander off to breed and lay again.Â
Also, did you consider if the females would lay unfertilized eggs even without mating, or do they only lay after breeding? This could potentially affect whether not a female would even be a viable racer -- I didn't see if ostrich/emu/cassowary do auto-laying, I'm iffy about chickens cause I've heard they auto-lay but personal experience is that a rooster's presence is needed, but I can 100% guarantee that cockatiels auto-lay. If they do auto-lay, it could make it so that the females have a -very- limited racing career. I know with 'tiels, they begin to become moody and nasty a week or two before they lay and remain that way until they 'give up' on the egg, and you -have- to wait for them to give up; remove their egg too early, and they'll just lay another to replace. A similar reaction is why chickens continue to lay as well for an extended period.
I think a lot of your initial numbers look good... for chickens. And while it's not uncommon for chocobos to be jokingly called chickens, they seem (at least to me) to have more in common with ostriches, emu, and cassowary. These types of birds take around two years to reach adulthood, up to five to reach physical maturity suitable to breed, can be at breeding peak for up to twenty years, and have a lifespan of up to fifty years.
Now... I wasn't able to pull up much information on racing ostriches, so I can only really speculate the next based on what I know about horses. And seeing that the age-ranges sort of match up, I think it's safe to assume that this would be similar. Anyways. The training/breaking process for horses usually doesn't start until they're at least two years old. You can get them used to wearing a halter and having their feet messed with and introduced to a blanket before that, but bridles and saddles (and sometimes shoes) are out of the question before then. And while the breaking/training can be started at this point, horses typically aren't considered really rideable until closer to four years old. Training for racing takes more time and generally you don't want to start racing a horse before it reaches full physical maturity, which happens at around six years of age.
So where does this leave us? If we go a more realistic route with horse-to-ostrich-to-chocobo comparisons... a newly-hatched chick likely wouldn't be seeing it's first race until six years old. Which, from and RP perspective, isn't going to be fun for most people to have to RP waiting that long. Even more so in a game where the passage of time is fuzzy -- last I heard back during... I think 2.5... only three or so months had passed in-game from the start of ARR to that point; if that's held true, then we're likely not even gone through nine months yet.
The complete opposite side of the spectrum, of course, would be game mechanics. Where if you've got enough time and caffeine in your system, you can breed for a new 'bo, receive the new 'bo already race-ready, level it up, and breed/retire it in less than twenty-four hours. Or twenty-four game-mechanic days, if you wish to consider it that way.
Where does that leave us? Well... I'm not really going to argue against the more chicken-appropriate numbers. Given RP'ers attention spans, they're more friendly for most people.
So, there's my thoughts on the timing.
Something you might find interesting and may want to consider is the brooding habits of ostrich/emu/cassowary. Ostrich are the only ones (of the species that I read about) where the females are solely the ones who incubate eggs -- emu and cassowary both have sub-species where that's the male's part, and the females wander off to breed and lay again.Â
Also, did you consider if the females would lay unfertilized eggs even without mating, or do they only lay after breeding? This could potentially affect whether not a female would even be a viable racer -- I didn't see if ostrich/emu/cassowary do auto-laying, I'm iffy about chickens cause I've heard they auto-lay but personal experience is that a rooster's presence is needed, but I can 100% guarantee that cockatiels auto-lay. If they do auto-lay, it could make it so that the females have a -very- limited racing career. I know with 'tiels, they begin to become moody and nasty a week or two before they lay and remain that way until they 'give up' on the egg, and you -have- to wait for them to give up; remove their egg too early, and they'll just lay another to replace. A similar reaction is why chickens continue to lay as well for an extended period.