could this be mites or feather picking?

[sunket77]

I suppose I may need to post a picture but I have some chicks that are about 2 mo. old all together different breeds, mostly japanese bantam and silkies, the rest are some younger standard breeds. My little Japs are missing neck feathers, only the japs are missing them everyone else looks fine. It's strange, they are only missing on the neck. I combed them over for a good while and couldn't find any other sign of bugs. I sat and watched and didn't even see one scratch...I figured maybe if it was some kind of pest they would be scratching their heads and necks. Could it be plucking or a pest of some kind? It's just odd that it's only happening to them and not the others.

 

[sunket77]

any guesses?

 

[nurse_turtle]

Molting!

 

[sunket77]

They are to young to molt they just got all their feathers

 

[duckinnut]

Are you sure you didnt mistakenly got naked necks seeing that the same type are missing feathers in the neck only? Wouldnt be the first time somebody got the wrong breed or sex. I was supposed to get 4 white rock pullets and ended up with 4 cockerels. I could see 1 but 4? Know somebody that got their 2 white rocks from the same place and they ended up 2 roos. Sounds like the wrong box got shipped so it might be worth looking into. Just saying.

 

[sunket77]

hehehe....no they are not naked necks they are japanese bantams, we hatched them ourselves. We do have some little naked neck bantams that we just finished brooding, I think that may be why I took a double take when I noticed! like.....wait...that's not right! One of the bigger chicks is also missing some feathers on it back but it might be that in-between stage, I have never seen our little japs do this though. I guess I will just treat them with poulty protector when I clean out their brooder just to be sure, they are getting crowded which may have contributed to this problem...which ever it is.