3 WEEK OLD RIPPING ITS BABY FUZZ OFF

[new2feathers]

I have a 2-3 week old chick. It's starting to grow its grown up feathers and already has a decent amount of grown up wings and tail feathers. However, I noticed that it has been nipping and cutting off little tiny peices of its baby fuzz from everywhere and specially from underneath it's wings, like in this picture for example. I've never had chicks before so I was wondering if this is normal, like maybe it's just trying to "prune" it's baby fur to make room for it's grown up feathers? I really don't know, but it does it quite frequently, about every few minutes or so.

 

[coach723]

Preening is normal behavior. When new feathers grow they start in a sheath, and look like a pin (thus "pin feathers") coming through the skin.
As they grow the sheath comes off, and the feather opens. When preening they will pull sheath off of the new feather shafts that are coming in. My guess is that is what you are seeing. If it is in fact pulling feathers or fluff out, I would look closely for any sign of mites, usually found around the vent and under wings. Can't really see enough in the picture, but that looks like a normal feathering out chick.