Chicks odd feathering.

[Tretinker]

Hi all,

We have some 3.5 week old chicks. In the last few days we have noticed that on of the speckled Sussex chicks feathers seem to be messy almost curling.

The other chicks are smooth as normal.

This little one it's hard to photograph but I've attached some pictures that kind of show what we are seeing. The last picture is of her sibling who has normal feathers.

Any ideas what could be causing this?

We have the same set up as with all our chicks. A popup play tent brooder, woodchip, same chick crumb and a heat plate.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It may be a frizzle. Where did you get them from?

 

[Tretinker]

It may be a frizzle. Where did you get them from?

A breeder I've used for other chicks but he got them from another breeder he knows as he doesn't have SS himself.

I've been searching the forum for pictures of other SS and realised these probably aren't 3.5weeks. When we picked them up I was hoping to get BO but he only had one left, these were definitely 1 week or nearly but as he sells them as a 3 minimum I took two SS assuming they were the same age. I'm now wondering if they were day olds. They were a little smaller but not obviously. I picked them up 2.5 weeks ago so does this look more like their age?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

A breeder I've used for other chicks but he got them from another breeder he knows as he doesn't have SS himself.

I've been searching the forum for pictures of other SS and realised these probably aren't 3.5weeks. When we picked them up I was hoping to get BO but he only had one left, these were definitely 1 week or nearly but as he sells them as a 3 minimum I took two SS assuming they were the same age. I'm now wondering if they were day olds. They were a little smaller but not obviously. I picked them up 2.5 weeks ago so does this look more like their age?

Yeah, mine are similar age and feathering

 

[Tretinker]

I was taking another look at the chicks today and it looks like both the speckled Sussex chicks have odd looking feathers.

They seem sort of twisted up and almost shredded/thinning at the ends. The pictures I took don't show it very well and I'm reluctant to pull the chicks around but I've never seen a chick like it. To be honest I haven't seen many chicks full stop so that's not much to go on but I just want to be sure they aren't nutrient deficient in some way that could cause this.

 

[Tretinker]

Tonight's photos.

 

[artbykarenehaley]

That sure looks like frizzle feathers to me. It's been a while, what do they look like now?

 

[Tretinker]

That sure looks like frizzle feathers to me. It's been a while, what do they look like now?

They were like this for another week or so but now they have normal top feathers but their bum fluff is weird still but they aren't quite fully feathered yet. I'll take some up to date pictures tomorrow.

 

[Tretinker]

Not their best pictures, it's been raining all day but their not so fluffy butts aren't wet or damp they just look like this all the time. The adult feathers are normal looking though.