Is something wrong with my 9-week old chicken?

[beatriceanddaisy]

Experienced chicken people - do you see anything alarming in these photos?

We got this RIR about 3 weeks ago from My Pet Chicken as a 6-week "started pullet" so she's now about 9 weeks old. She's always looked a little scraggly. She hates being picked up but a week after we got her we did a thorough inspection and didn't see any sign of pests or diseases on her body or legs. She had white flakes on her feathers which I read was due to new feather growth. However, 2 weeks later and she still doesn't look that different. These photos are from yesterday. She's eating and drinking fine, poop looks normal, energy seems fine.

We bought two other chickens from MPC along with her (seen in the photos) and neither of them appear to have the same issue. So I'm hoping its really slow molting but I'm brand new to chickens, so I wanted to run it by BYC.

Thank you so much!

 

[pozees2]

She looks fine. When the new feathers emerge they have a cover, or sheath, that splits and falls away as the feather continues to grow out and the flecks are just bits of that cover hung up in her feathers before they fall off or are preened off. When you raise them from young chicks you have a better sense of the progress, you can see new feathers emerge that look like little quills because they still have the sheath on them.

 

[beatriceanddaisy]

Thank you!! That is so good to hear. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond!

 

[Whigru]

Yep, she looks good to me, too!

 

[beatriceanddaisy]

Yep, she looks good to me, too!

Phew, thank you!

 

[beatriceanddaisy]

She looks fine. When the new feathers emerge they have a cover, or sheath, that splits and falls away as the feather continues to grow out and the flecks are just bits of that cover hung up in her feathers before they fall off or are preened off. When you raise them from young chicks you have a better sense of the progress, you can see new feathers emerge that look like little quills because they still have the sheath on them.

Thank you!! That is so good to hear. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond!