woosters
Hatching
Hello everyone. I am very new to this and still learning about chickens.
Backstory: a few years ago, someone in my neighborhood decided to try their hand at raising chickens. We don't know who owned them originally, but eventually, said owners just let them loose and the flock has grown/changed over the last few years to just be known as the neighborhood semi-wild flock. Most recently, a flock of about eight (three roosters, five hens) had some babies. One hen had some, no idea how she lost any, but ultimately abandoned three of them. The flock is down to two/four (depends on when we see them; down to one rooster and one/three hens), and I have no idea which of them had had this batch. The guy across the street from me picked up two, and on March 12, I picked up with the third. The guy ended up giving me the two to take care of, figuring they were from the same batch.
Fast forward to today, and the three chicks are nice and healthy. We have one little lady, named Jonah, a little rooster named Camille, and one we-thought-was-a-girl-but-might-be-a-boy named Gaia. The only reason I question Gaia's gender is that she started out looking a lot like Jonah, but different coloring, and as Camille was growing in his comb, Gaia started crowing. That was two to three weeks ago. Camille only started crowing this past week, and Gaia is growing a comb, but it doesn't look like his. I know lady chickens have smaller combs, but like I said, I'm very new to this still and trying to search "hen crowing" was confusing.
My concern is this: today I was taking a look at them and noticed both Camille and Gaia have these weird bald spots on their faces right around where their ears are. I noticed Gaia first because her's were very pink and you could see blue veins beneath the skin. I don't really see it on Jonah, and it's not as bad on Camille. I've tried looking this up, but all I see are pictures of where feather picking is on the back of the head, not the side. I've included pictures below, so you can see what I'm talking about.
Right now, they live in a 6'x3'x2' pen my husband built until we decide whether or not we're going to keep them. They have a heat lamp that we are trying to wean them off of, they have two poles for roosting and a big storage bin on its side to kind of hide in. They seem to be fine with the amount of space they have, I've never seen them peck at one another, and since the pen is in an unused room in our house, there's no way predators can get them. My only concern is if this is lice or mites, or if it's completely normal because that's where the comb/beard extends to on the face.
Camille
Camille again
Gaia, with Camille in the back.
Any answers or guidance would be much appreciated.
Backstory: a few years ago, someone in my neighborhood decided to try their hand at raising chickens. We don't know who owned them originally, but eventually, said owners just let them loose and the flock has grown/changed over the last few years to just be known as the neighborhood semi-wild flock. Most recently, a flock of about eight (three roosters, five hens) had some babies. One hen had some, no idea how she lost any, but ultimately abandoned three of them. The flock is down to two/four (depends on when we see them; down to one rooster and one/three hens), and I have no idea which of them had had this batch. The guy across the street from me picked up two, and on March 12, I picked up with the third. The guy ended up giving me the two to take care of, figuring they were from the same batch.
Fast forward to today, and the three chicks are nice and healthy. We have one little lady, named Jonah, a little rooster named Camille, and one we-thought-was-a-girl-but-might-be-a-boy named Gaia. The only reason I question Gaia's gender is that she started out looking a lot like Jonah, but different coloring, and as Camille was growing in his comb, Gaia started crowing. That was two to three weeks ago. Camille only started crowing this past week, and Gaia is growing a comb, but it doesn't look like his. I know lady chickens have smaller combs, but like I said, I'm very new to this still and trying to search "hen crowing" was confusing.
My concern is this: today I was taking a look at them and noticed both Camille and Gaia have these weird bald spots on their faces right around where their ears are. I noticed Gaia first because her's were very pink and you could see blue veins beneath the skin. I don't really see it on Jonah, and it's not as bad on Camille. I've tried looking this up, but all I see are pictures of where feather picking is on the back of the head, not the side. I've included pictures below, so you can see what I'm talking about.
Right now, they live in a 6'x3'x2' pen my husband built until we decide whether or not we're going to keep them. They have a heat lamp that we are trying to wean them off of, they have two poles for roosting and a big storage bin on its side to kind of hide in. They seem to be fine with the amount of space they have, I've never seen them peck at one another, and since the pen is in an unused room in our house, there's no way predators can get them. My only concern is if this is lice or mites, or if it's completely normal because that's where the comb/beard extends to on the face.
Any answers or guidance would be much appreciated.
