Feathers Missing on 6 Week old chicks

[howiethenurse]

We’re a year into our chicken journey and are raising our third batch of chicks - we have 14, six week old chicks we hatched out that are starting to show signs of feather loss in their lower backs/backs just above their tail feathers

They are all active and eating well. They’re in a pen/coop on their own still (not mixed with adults). We've never had an issue with mites/lice but have looked very closely after reading and the chicks don’t seem to have anything on them.

Some of the chicks seem worse off than others. This is a picture of the worst one. My husband noticed this a couple weeks ago and we wondered if something was going on - we dismissed it as feathers coming in oddly but it has continued to worsen.

Any thoughts?

 

[sourland]

How much space do they have? They are feather pecking/plucking.

 

[howiethenurse]

Our outdoor run for them is about 8x6ft and the coop that is open to it all day is about 6x4… they’re all cuddled up inside together at night to sleep.

 

[Stephine]

If they are feather plucking it‘s either boredom/stress or protein deficiency. Or just a stupid habit. I assume you are feeding a store bought starter? If you are giving too many treats they could end up with not enough protein.
Could they be bored? Is there stuff to scratch for in their run? Things to fly up to and perch on? Multiple feeders so everyone can get all they need?
See if you can make some changes to keep them busy with other things.
And try dabbing some of the purple no-pick lotions that deter pecking on that area.
If you can, try watching them for an hour or so, to see how the picking happens. Is it just one of them, a few, all? If it’s just one you could isolate the chick for a while (keep it with the others but in some kind of wire enclosure so it’s not lonely) to see if you can break the habit.