Normal? Red skin, chicken itches / scratches face

Hi everyone, I am very new to raising chickens so I apologize if this seems like a ridiculously newbie question but I'm not sure if I have a concern or not. Both of my Barred Rocks (6 weeks old) are scratching at their faces and have red skin that I'm not sure is normal or not.

I've seen some photos of Barred Rocks where they seem to have fully red faces, so I'm wondering if this is just a normal part of the development for this kind of chicken. Also, it is uniform on both sides of their faces, for both chickens. I also have a set of Rhode Island Reds who are not having any of this, no face scratching, no redness, no loss of feathers.




This below photo is why I am concerned. It looks inflamed to me. The chickens scratch at their faces routinely (though, I wouldn't say excessively) and I'm worried they're going to injure themselves). I tried applying some Neosporin this morning and am thinking of getting some food grade DE to give them a dusting (and their coop). They are acting very healthy - - very active and playful, eating, drinking, and pooping normally. And they aren't scratching at anything except for their faces.

Again, I apologize if this is a very newbie question. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

This looks very normal to me. The part that you say looks inflamed is her ear and looks normal in my opinion. Is it possible they are itching as a result of you putting the neosporin on them? DE is an excellent place to start if you're worried so long as you don't use too much as it's not good for them to breathe it or get it in their eyes. I'd leave the issue alone for a day and see if it gets worse or better without your intervention.

I am very relieved that it looks normal! I am definitely going to get some DE, even if to be on the safe side (and for prevention).

This has been happening for about a week and the feather loss has increased. I only put Neosporin on this morning.

YEAH that is perfectly normal. chickens scratch their faces all the time just like we do! I wouldn't worry too much about the red skin, they get that sometimes. you might want to apply something to it though

fern1knits said:

I am very relieved that it looks normal! I am definitely going to get some DE, even if to be on the safe side (and for prevention).

This has been happening for about a week and the feather loss has increased. I only put Neosporin on this morning.

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I have a chicken who is not growing back feathers she lost and who's feathers are looking chewed. I dunno what to do