Chick with no feathers :(

[aquaponics3712]

I have 6 week old chicks and almost all of them have their feathers. Some are almost fully feathered. But one only has a few wing feathers. Everything else is just fuzz. I had to bring her inside because she is constantly shivering, even under a heat lamp. Why would this be......that she hasn't grown her feathers in?

 

[mtngirl35]

One of my chicks was still half fuzz at 8 weeks and wasn't fully feathered until 10 weeks. Sometimes you get one that is a little slower than the rest. Its no big deal. Just keep her warm and she should be fine.

 

[Aphrael]

Is it possible the others are bullying her and she doesn't get enough to eat? Or she could just be stunted somehow and slower to develop. I had one like that early this year. Had a hard time hatching and then had curled toes. I got his toes straightened out, but he developed WAY slower than his sibs. He survived though, and eventually did catch up to them. You said you brought her inside. Try giving her some special treats to give her a boost. Try feeding her some mashed up hard boiled egg yolk and put some kind of vitamins in her water (such as polyvisol without iron, poultry nutridrench, sav-a-chick vitamins, etc.). See if it seems to pep her up any.

 

[Jenace]

Is it possible the others are bullying her and she doesn't get enough to eat? Or she could just be stunted somehow and slower to develop. I had one like that early this year. Had a hard time hatching and then had curled toes. I got his toes straightened out, but he developed WAY slower than his sibs. He survived though, and eventually did catch up to them. You said you brought her inside. Try giving her some special treats to give her a boost. Try feeding her some mashed up hard boiled egg yolk and put some kind of vitamins in her water (such as polyvisol without iron, poultry nutridrench, sav-a-chick vitamins, etc.). See if it seems to pep her up any.

What are curled toes?

 

[Beour3rd]

Try feeding her some mashed up hard boiled egg yolk

i keep seeing things like this on BYC, but i cant bring myself to feed the chickens back to the chickens.. seems so wrong.

 

[Aphrael]

What are curled toes?

Curled toes are just what it sounds like. The chicks toes are curled into unnatural positions. If it is treated early it can usually be corrected. I got mine fixed by giving him cardboard and tape shoes. He HATED them, but his toes got better. Just do a google image search for curled toes in chicks and you can see lots of examples as well as examples of the "chick shoes" people make to correct it.

i keep seeing things like this on BYC, but i cant bring myself to feed the chickens back to the chickens.. seems so wrong.

I hear a lot of people say that. But to me that is just like saying it is wrong to give cows' milk to a calf. The primary purpose of the egg yolk is to feed a baby chick as it grows and then for a few days after it hatches. They don't eat it with their beaks when they are in the egg, but it is still absorbed into their body and used to nourish them. Plus, eggs are like perfect nutrition in a little magic box. Seems a shame not to take full advantage of them.

 

[Beour3rd]

I hear a lot of people say that. But to me that is just like saying it is wrong to give cows' milk to a calf. The primary purpose of the egg yolk is to feed a baby chick as it grows and then for a few days after it hatches. They don't eat it with their beaks when they are in the egg, but it is still absorbed into their body and used to nourish them. Plus, eggs are like perfect nutrition in a little magic box. Seems a shame not to take full advantage of them.

this makes zero sense as an analogy.

but i did start giving the shells to them so they can get the calcium.

 

[KristinaE]

this makes zero sense as an analogy.

 

It actually does make sense. An unfertilized egg will have no baby chicken inside, so it is not cannibalism. And the egg yolk is not "chicken;" it is simply the food sack for an unhatched chick. It is specifically made for baby chicks to eat, if you think about it that way. Your chick would just be eating a bit more of it several weeks late.

 

[Aphrael]

It actually does make sense. An unfertilized egg will have no baby chicken inside, so it is not cannibalism. And the egg yolk is not "chicken;" it is simply the food sack for an unhatched chick. It is specifically made for baby chicks to eat, if you think about it that way. Your chick would just be eating a bit more of it several weeks late.

Exactly!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

My soul survivor from my first hatch attempt will be 9 weeks on Tuesday. He still is half down under the feathers. He is healthy in every way and is a pig. We started on medicated chick starter and just last week switched to regular. My first hatch attempt was thwarted by a faulty thermometer so "Peep" was actually a day 24 hatcher. I am assuming that his slow feathering out has something to do with the delay of developement in the shell. (Temp was actually 6 degrees lower during hatch than the thermometer read.) I'm not to worried about it, but I'd really like to see what he will look like 100% feathered with no down.

As for the boiled egg thing. What Aphrael and Kristina said. Unless you are boiling a half term incubated egg...there is no chicken. Everything in that egg was put there for the chick, it isn't the chick. My soul survivor wasn't big on treats in the beginning, but since the second hatch and the 13 chicks out of that one going crazy for their "egg treat' he has taken to eating it right out of the bowl while I give them their treat...lol