Issue-
Three of my week old chicks are losing feathers around their necks and faces.
Some of them still have some pasty butt problems, they came with pasty butt from the hatchery and were cleaned off by me after a few days when the pasty bottoms didn't resolve themselves
One of them had a bald spot near her vent, there was poop all around it so I presumed it was feather loss from the poop- some of their down came off with the poop as I cleaned them (gently)
Now I have three birds with feathers missing on their neck and faces. They can peck at their own neck, but not their faces.
The down around the area looks moistened and is a little bunched like a wet chick gets. They are capable of getting their faces in their water and I saw these chicks in the water often the day I noticed the issue first so I presumed it was that. After they dried off the area around the missing feathers remained sort of crusty looking.
Flock Ailments
Living Conditions
Thanks for reading, I've looked it up and read that it's either bugs or pecking but I wanted to make sure there aren't any less likely illnesses that I might have missed due to poor google skills.
Three of my week old chicks are losing feathers around their necks and faces.
Some of them still have some pasty butt problems, they came with pasty butt from the hatchery and were cleaned off by me after a few days when the pasty bottoms didn't resolve themselves
One of them had a bald spot near her vent, there was poop all around it so I presumed it was feather loss from the poop- some of their down came off with the poop as I cleaned them (gently)
Now I have three birds with feathers missing on their neck and faces. They can peck at their own neck, but not their faces.
The down around the area looks moistened and is a little bunched like a wet chick gets. They are capable of getting their faces in their water and I saw these chicks in the water often the day I noticed the issue first so I presumed it was that. After they dried off the area around the missing feathers remained sort of crusty looking.
- The skin underneath is undamaged, no rashes or wounds
- I checked them and some of the unaffected birds very closely and saw no signs of mites or lice.
- When I was cleaning their pasty bottoms, I saw no sign of lice or mites.
- The birds affected were marked as low in the pecking order so it might just be aggression?
Flock Ailments
- original flock was numbered at 25
- two were dead on arrival, no apparent cause of death, they had been dead a while and the shipment took less than 24 hours so presumably they were not going to make it anyway
- One was very weak on arrival, no physical deformities, gave him water with a syringe (drops on the tip of the beak, not forced) he was doing better, but I had to go to work and he didn't make it.
- One was born blind Tried to teach it how to eat and drink, she couldn't figure out how to eat and died on day 3. One eye was a little goopy when we got her but the other was just foggy and blind. The goop cleared up on day 1.
- One had a limp, this resolved in a few days, presumably a sprain during transportation
Living Conditions
- Wood shavings with newspaper on top
- Born 3/1, Recieved 3/2
- Shipped through a location with very cold weather, in the negative digits.
- Bedding changed every day or every other day depending on soil level.
- Living in an extra large rubbermaid container
- two heat lamps on one side temps are 93-88f and hangs around 90f
- food and water away from heat source
- food and water replaced daily
- fed medicated chick starter and watered with a half dose of Sav-A-Chic electrolytes for the first 5 days.(stopped after the issue arose)
- Vaccinated for Mareks and Coccidiosis
- Lights were turned on during daylight hours but I've stopped doing that as of today
Thanks for reading, I've looked it up and read that it's either bugs or pecking but I wanted to make sure there aren't any less likely illnesses that I might have missed due to poor google skills.
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