chicks pecking feathers off themselves

[aido]

i have 2 baby chicks who are about 2 weeks old. recently i have noticed they are shedding alot of their infant hairs as well as pecking out any of their new feathers. they are constantly pecking themselves.in the photo i provided you can see she has pecked one of her feathers out of its place. what is this and how can i fix this.

 

[Polish Hen House]

Plucking feathers is usually a sign of stress in chickens. They also pluck if they are extremely hot, dehydrated or they are ill. Make sure they are eating the right diet and getting plenty of water. Try checking them for mites.

 

[coach723]

A better picture of your chick would help. Chicks at this age have a lot of feathers coming in and they are losing their baby fuzz. They will preen a lot and pick at their feathers while they remove feather sheaths from the new feathers, and fuzz will be coming off. At points during this process they can have bare spots and look rather ratty at times. It may be nothing more than that, the normal feathering out process. Sometimes feathers can look out of place, crooked etc. and they'll do a shake and all will pretty much go back where it should. It's not uncommon to have a wonky feather now and then. They will do another juvenile molt later and will get a second set of feathers to replace the ones they are getting now, so at two weeks they are not nearly done with a long process.

 

[lazy gardener]

What Coach said. Good post.

 

[dawg53]

I'm with Coach723. The newly growing feathers irritates them. This is normal and will pass until their juvenile molt occurs as mentioned. That will pass too.