Bare back cochin chicks???

[cochinz]

My cochin babies are fully feathered except their back and they havent started laying. Im confused! Is it normal or can it be some kind of elusive bare back cochin disease? These are my first cochin chicks and I plan on showing them biut how can I when their backs arent fully feathered??

 

[KellyHM]

How old are they? Are you sure they're not picking the feathers off of each other? That's usually how they get the bare backs.

 

[speckledhen]

How old are they? You said babies and I thought you meant chicks at first. Then you said they weren't laying yet, but of course, chicks wouldn't be laying so I'm a bit confused. Bare backs might mean rooster attentions are too rough or they are picking each other. If they aren't laying, they are too young to molt that extensively.

 

[cochinz]

sorry they are one and a half months old and there has been no cochin feathers in their cage

 

[StrawberryHouseMouse]

Most chickens wont start laying till they are around 4 months old. Some take even longer then that. Could you show us some photos?

 

[SweetMissDaisy]

My silver laced cochins were REALLY SLOW to grow in their body feathers. In fact, they looked ridiculous for SO LONG because they had their HUGE big leg and feet feathers long before they had body feathers. ...I should also add that eventually they did grow in their feathers.

Mine were from Ideal, and were chicks last summer around the end of May or early June.

 

[lockedhearts]

Some Cochins are slower to feather on the back, this usually means roosters. At 1 1/2 months you should be able to start to tell if they are boys or girls though. I think the Barring gene does slow down the feathering. My Barreds seem to be slower than other colors.

 

[Sock Puppet]

Quote:
Yes, they look hilarious

I have 1 the same age and it looks like a huge baby chick.

How's this...

Its normal