Half naked rooster chicks. HELP!!

Date sort Score sort
myplumtee

myplumtee

In the Brooder
Apr 26, 2017
29
13
39
East TN (Bristol)
Hi all! I am a new chicken mama and I don't know yet what is normal. I have eight 4 week old chicks. Two I can already tell are roosters, a buff orpington and a buff maran-mystery rooster mix. Both roos look terrible. They have lost a lot of their feathers and look awful almost like they are molting. I see no signs of them being attacked and bullied by the others but then again I am not with them 24/7. They are eating and such just like the others. Is it normal for them to look like that? The others are not losing feathers.

Thanks for any help.
 
If they have bald spots and are loosing feathers I don't think that's normal. They will look kind of ratty at that age because the new feathers are still coming in, so they might have areas that have lots of spikey pinfeathers and not much fluff, but shouldn't be naked.
Make sure your feed has enough protein, your chicks aren't too hot or overcrowded or bored - all reasons for featherpicking. Give them a roost, a dustbath, some greens to peck at and sprinkle some treats (mealworms, cracked oats, small seeds etc... in their bedding to give them something other to do then focus on each other. Good Luck!
 
Thank you so much for your reply. It is very helpful. They are already starting to look better overnight as if by magic. lol Now two more roos are looking bad and I can tell that the first two that I had concern about are going to be beautiful. Unfortunately, I will have to rehome all of the roos. (City ordinance :( )

I have taken steps to curtail boredom. Being new to chickens I hadn't thought about chickens getting bored.

Again Thank You.
 

Similar threads

1
Under developed 5 week old dark brahma chicks?
Replies
3
Views
319
GirlsHuntToo
GirlsHuntToo
C
Weird feathers?
Replies
2
Views
345
nuthatched
nuthatched
Duckduckgoosie
well heck…
Replies
2
Views
161
Duckduckgoosie
Duckduckgoosie
C
    • Like
Do Mama hens kick out the boys earlier than girls?
2 3
Replies
20
Views
1K
No Coop No Problem
No Coop No Problem
H
    • Like
Introducing two baby chicks to a rooster
Replies
3
Views
377
Emmaloveschickens9156
Emmaloveschickens9156

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom