Molting Chicks

[rwwjsw]

This is my first go at raising chicks so I am still learning.
I bought some white leghorns last May. They seem to be pretty healthy and happy chickens but man have they grown they look too big compared to the other chickens I have and they are all about the same age. My one big question is they started to molt when they were real young I thought they were just loosing their fuzz and growing feathers they did all across their back and wings but they did not on their breast and their tails. Is this normal? I have 6 birds I bought from this one place and 26 others and all 6 are like this and the others are not. They are not as active as my other birds or even as my other leghorns. But they look happy and act healthy and lord knows they eat and drink a plenty. They just look different their body shape is round they look the same in diameter as they are in length they just look strange. Thanks for any help you can give me.
RWW

 

[new2chix]

Can you post pictures? From your description it sounds like you might have bought meat birds in May. Where did you get them from?

 

[rwwjsw]

Tractor supply I will get some pics tonight and post tomorrow
Thanks

 

[new2chix]

If you just picked them out of a bin at Tractor Supply they could be meat birds - sometimes the labels on the bins get switched, also people handle the chicks and they don't always get put back correctly. Try looking at some pictures on the meat birds thread here at BYC and see if you see anything like what yours look like. I'll check again tomorrow to look at your pics.

 

[sangel4you]

I have leghorns tho- that i know, and mine r 3 months old and doing the same thing with their feathers. I cleaned out their coop last night and was amazed at the number of feathers particularly under the roost. I only have 5.

 

[justmeandtheflock]

Are their bellies bare? It kind of sounds like you may have broilers. Can you weight them?

 

[rwwjsw]

I looked around through some different web sites and found what I think to be them. They look just like the Jumbo Cornish Rocks. I will bet that is what I have, but is it common for them to loose all their breast feathers like that and not get them back for over a month

 

[new2chix]

Cornish Rocks are meat birds designed to grow very quickly - only about 50 days to ready to eat. Their feathers can't keep up with the gain in weight / size. These birds are not designed to be egg layers as they are usually processed at 10 - 12 weeks, and even the earliest egg laying breeds require about 20 -24 weeks to start laying.

 

[cmom]

My birds went through several mini molts.

 

[justmeandtheflock]

Mine all had bald bellies. I think it is a combination of them growing so fast and laying down all the time. I he-homed them 2 weeks ago at 6 weeks old. My roo was 5 lbs at that point.