Chicks have no feathers in chest area

[MarioBranwell]

I have 2 1/2 week old 8 baby chicks and some of then have no fur/feathers near their gizzard/chest area. Is that normal during this age or is it something I need to take seriously? Some times I overfeed them and I can see their little gizzard pops out like a little ball without any feathers

 

[BlueBaby]

What breed are they supposed to be?

 

[MarioBranwell]

What breed are they supposed to be?

 

[BlueBaby]

I have no idea about your's missing some chest feather's. Maybe one of the other chick's is eating them?

 

[tacothechicken]

Is it possible there was something sticky in their viccinity? If seen chicks get stuck to things like a piece of tape or sap on a tree and pull out fluff trying to escape.

 

[ShannonR]

If you feed them quite a bit often enough, and then they lay down to sleep, it makes sense to me that some of the feathers would be missing there. Probably just from rubbing their chests against the ground

 

[Stephine]

It’s not their gizzards, it’s their crop - different organ. It’s notmal for the crop to get full when they eat. You should always feed the chicks free choice - meaning, fill their dish with formulated chick starter feed and never let it run out. They should always be able to eat as much as they please.
With that out of the way, it is not normal for them to have a bare chest. Most likely cause is feather picking. What is your brooder set up? How big, how warm, what heat source... ? Any kind of stress can cause feather picking. Also restricting their feed...

 

[chickens really]

What type of dish do they eat from? Many times they loose the downy feathers before the actual juvenile feathers grow in.

 

[ShannonR]

Bedding material and amount of poop on the bedding might be a possibility-- IDK