Is this normal?

[golddustmommy]

This is nugget now... I posted a pic of his "deformed wings" before and everyone said it was fine. He seems to be slowly growing in his wing feathers, but now he's almost completely bald everywhere else. I know they can get scraggly looking, as one of them has lost all its neck scruff (we now affectionately call it turkey vulture lol). But going almost completely bald? I just want to make sure I'm just being paranoid, and that it's not something I need to worry about. Especially since this happened pretty much overnight. All of the other chicks are very feathered (except for said turkey vulture lol), and nugget is still only half the size of the others, even though they are all about 4 weeks.

 

[Chickassan]

That's different but not bad. Sometimes they just feather weird. Cletus my baby delaware mutt had a George Castansa hairdo for nearly a month. We called him skullet. Just love your little weirdo.

 

[dfalco]

My chicks have always gone through the ugly phase. The baby feathers fall off; eventually they feather out nicely. You don't see injuries or bugs? The chick acts otherwise healthy, energetic? It gets a good diet of chick feed and plenty of clean water?

 

[chickens really]

How many Chicks and is the brooder large enough or kept too warm?...

 

[golddustmommy]

How many Chicks and is the brooder large enough or kept too warm?...

There are 9 chicks, and their brooder is 2x4ish... It's not too warm in there. We haven't even had a light on them because it's been about 70 in the house overnight.

I honestly think he got wet when they knocked over the water that morning, because he looked fuller later in the day. Definitely still not as fluffy as the day before, but not nearly as diseased lol

 

[lazy gardener]

I would say that nuggett is definitely not normal. I have no idea what his issue is, but that boy has problems. What breed are they?

 

[golddustmommy]

I would say that nuggett is definitely not normal. I have no idea what his issue is, but that boy has problems. What breed are they?

Nugget is a wyandotte. He looks normal again. As I said before, I think he just got wet from the water tipping over combined with loosing a little of the fluff. but later that day, he looked ok

 

[golddustmommy]

This is nugget today. Still a bit dwarfed, but is growing slowly. and more feathers are coming in.

 

[barred2rock]

There are 9 chicks, and their brooder is 2x4ish... It's not too warm in there. We haven't even had a light on them because it's been about 70 in the house overnight.

I honestly think he got wet when they knocked over the water that morning, because he looked fuller later in the day. Definitely still not as fluffy as the day before, but not nearly as diseased lol

They need to have a spot that is 90-95F 24/7 the first week, temps reduced by 5F each week there after until fully feathered. Also, I suspect they'll out grow that brooder pretty quickly.

Edited: Sorry, just realized you said they're four weeks. You may think about getting the birds out to their coop. Perhaps keeping this particular one in the brooder until you're satisfied with it feathering.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I agree 2 x 4 is not large enough for 9 growing chicks