Itchy 2 week-old Dominiques

[feckless_son]

Feathers are coming in force.

Are new feathers itchy enough to cause the li'l chicks to scratch/twist/hunker down in the bedding and dust themselves repeatedly in the DE/pine shavings?

They look like dusty little crazy birds.

Close inspections shows no sign of mites or the like, no skin irritation.
Everything looks healthy.

 

[miss_jayne]

yup. sure are. you try getting weird stuff bustin' through yer skin dude!

you'd be rollin' in whatever you could find!

 

[anngili]

I've only brooded 2 sets of chicks but they all were itching when their feathers came in. They all stopped as soon as they feathered out. They seemed to scratch the most when they were coming in on their head, neck, and back.
I wouldn't worry about it unless you see their skin turning red or mites on them. I think it's totally normal. I'd worry if mine weren't doing a lot of scratching at that stage!

 

[feckless_son]

Sweeeeeeet.
Thank you kindly for the expedient confirmation.

 

[miss_jayne]

wicked sweet. and no problemo. just think, they should look all gangly and funky anytime now......

 

[feckless_son]

They look hilarious.
Their head fuzz is all bozoed out from high-speed scrubbing in the shavings.

 

[feckless_son]

big feet and long necks like feathered teenagers

 

[Luna_Chick66]

My 2-weekers (of all different breeds) are super itchy right now, too.

 

[miss_jayne]

Quote:
uh huh. welcome to the 'oh my gosh, what the heck are we raising?' season of chicken rearing. they look like Muppets that mated ostriches.

 

[feckless_son]

y'all rock this roost