Baldspots and wounds, possible feather picking?

[PJinx]

Hello, everyone I hope that this is the right place to post this, but this morning I went out to check on my 8 week old chickens.I have 5 hens, I'm pretty sure and one rooster.And we're planning to rehome the roosterAs soon as we're able to but currently we have to keep him. This morning, when I went out to check on them and I noticed that a couple of my Girls had some bald spots on the side of their face.I don't think they all do or at least not as bad as the two that I have pictures posted of in this post. Do you think that this could be due to feather picking or stress?Or potentially the heat outside as it's been pretty hot here in West, Texas recently.Or do you think this is the roosterDoing this? any help would be appreciated as i'm pretty new to this and I am just a bit concerned.

 

[nuthatched]

Just normal peck marks.

 

[PJinx]

Just normal peck marks.

So, does this mean that there's nothing that I need to worry about? I just don't want any of them getting hurt.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

any help would be appreciated as i'm pretty new to this and I am just a bit concerned.

Hi, hope you are enjoying BYC!

The first bald spot that's circled is the ear lobe (or hole) and has nothing to do with pecking. Same for #2.

That tiny wound.. doesn't appear to be of concern.

 

[PJinx]

Hi, hope you are enjoying BYC!

The first bald spot that's circled is the ear lobe and has nothing to do with pecking. Same for #2.

That tiny wound.. doesn't appear to be of concern.

Thank you so much! I didn't even know chcikens have visable earlobes lol. I learned something new today

 

[Ridgerunner]

Yes, ear lobes. They can be white, red, black, or other colors depending on genetics. In spite of what you might read on here they have nothing to do with what color eggshells they lay. That's one myth that just will not die.

Something you might notice soon is a juvenile molt. As the chicks grow they outgrow their feathers and need to replace them. A grown hen would look pretty silly if she still had the feathers of a young chick. The molt usually starts around the head and neck and progresses down the body. Some chickens molt fast and drop a lot of feathers. These can have bald spots. Others are slow molters, you can't tell by looking that they have lost any feathers but you see feathers flying around. Again, this is controlled by genetics. Some people get excited when they see that for the first time.

 

[nuthatched]

So, does this mean that there's nothing that I need to worry about? I just don't want any of them getting hurt.

They're going to get hurt, it's part of living. It'll usually be fine.

 

[aart]

The first bald spot that's circled is the ear lobe

Yes, ear lobes.

I see the ear flap(which covers the ear hole) but I don't see any earlobe.
I used to have a diagram showing the difference but can't find it.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I see the ear flap(which covers the ear hole) but I don't see any earlobe.
I used to have a diagram showing the difference but can't find it.

I can never truly see lobes on chicks. Which is also why I had edited that post to say "or hole".. but didn't know "flap" was a term to be used.

These images from google are probably not what you meant. but for example..

Here is another I found, which does have ear and earlobe labeled separately..