Baby chicks have lost all feathers on throat area.

niqueie

Songster
6 Years
Aug 23, 2013
291
47
101
San Diego - Rancho Penasquitos
All of my baby chicks are missing most or all if their throat feathers. I'm concerned it might be their feeder. I'm using the fermented feed method and they love it but it makes their heads so messy because they stick their whole head into the feeder sometimes to get some special spot of food. Are they rubbing their feathers off on the feeders? They are not very aggressive with each other, too much. I don't see any pecking that is not normal. The sides if their face and throat area is the only problem spots. Other than that they are feathering nicely and seem healthy. Here are some pictures.
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That is my young silkie. You can really notice because of the dark skin.

I have 12 chicks of many varieties. All have some amount of naked throats and very thin feathering on face.

What is going on? I have looked for mites and lice and see none so far. These are all baby's about 1-4 weeks old
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I have checked for lice and mites but see none. I looked under wings and around the vent area. It looks normal. The feeder that I'm using is the super common inverted jar feeder with 8 holes around. If its not lice and mites what could it be.
 
It is possible that they are pulling each other's fluff/feathers out. Chicks love to peck at each other, especially near the face. I don't think that the feeder would be causing it, but I'm not sure. Maybe they are just loosing their fluff and feathers and preparing to grow in some more.
 
A few of them have started shaking their heads. So they might have a parasite or lice/mites. I have searched over them many times and don't see anything strange or that the skin is irritated. Not sure what it may be. Just added DE to bedding and dusted each of the head shakers individually with DE. Should I get some sevin dust tomorrow? Do they sell it at Home Depot? What should my next step be? I also added extra vitamins to the water tonight and have always added ACV to their water.
 
They might be grooming eachother. It does stick to their feathers around their face, head and neck. They are pretty good to eachother overall, but they do groom each other often. Does the head shaking mean parasites?
 
3 of the birds are shaking their heads at least 3 times a minute. They do it like a twitch, or like they are trying to get something off of their beak. But it is pretty constant. It just started being really noticable today. They might have done it occasionally before, but are now doing it all the time. I feel bad for them.
 

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