meat birds with no feathers on underside

[jaketheeggman]

I have 24 meat chickens that i ordered from sunnyside hatchery in Beaver dam WI. They are 4 weeks old. One thing i noticed is that some of the birds do not really have feathers on their undersides. Since this is my first time raising meat birds i have no idea if this is disease or it is just Normal??

Any help would be greatly appreciated
jake

 

[saddina]

It's fairly common.

 

[myhubbycallsmechickeemama]

Yep, pretty common with this type of bird especially if they are raised in a coop with bedding opposed to grass.

 

[Denninmi]

Mine are that way, too. It almost seems like their skin grows so fast the little bit of chick down spread out over a wide area and can't cover it, and feathers aren't in yet, just pin feathers. Mine were 4 weeks old on Monday.

Kind of like a bad comb over on a bald guy.

 

[homesteadapps]

There is nothing really wrong with the birds.

When showing meat pen birds for 4H the breast feathers should be there.

For a fair bird:
1. Make sure the bedding is deep and fluffy
2. Keep them cool -- has plenty of air (fan)

 

[Saltysteele]

you're probably going to find abrasions on their chests when butchering, also. comes from sitting down 24/7, aside from the 2 sec's it takes to walk from the food dish to the water dish