Molting in a very young Pullet?

[pamsmithtulsa]

I have a young Lavendar Ameraucana, about 10 or 11 weeks old. We got her on July 20th and she was about 3 or 4 weeks old then. She is pretty ugly right now, losing a lot of feathers, and she is smaller than the other chicks we bought at the same time of the same age, but they are different breds. She just seems so small. She is the sweetest bird ever and she doesn't get picked on by the other chickens, she is pretty fiesty. When she sees me she comes running and if I sit on the ground she jumps in my lap and has now decided that she likes my shoulder and will fly up there and do the softest sweetest chirp. None of my other babies ever molted like this. Is this normal? She eats and drinks and acts just fine, except she is a ragged mess. People say she looks like a baby buzzard :-(

 

[Judy]

They look pretty ragged offf and on while growing up, some more than others. She looks pretty normal to me. If you haven't, you should probably check for lice/mites, just to be sure.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/vme-fact/0018.html

 

[pamsmithtulsa]

Thanks! I will do that!

 

[pamsmithtulsa]

She was covered with mites! Never would have thought to look! I put Poultry Protector on her and have read up on treating the whole flock and the coop and yard with Seven Dust or Poultry Dust. I will be busy on Saturday! This little girl is everyones favorite! She is the sweetest darn chicken, I would never have thought they could be like that! So glad I got her treated because we don't want anything to happen to her! In fact I called the breeder because I was worried she was so small. She just wasn't getting as big as the other pullets, found out she was a Bantam. lol...I didn't realize that she was a Banty, no wonder she is so small.

 

[lazy gardener]

good luck with the mite control. I'm fighting that issue myself. Have done 2 rounds of total clean out with application of Permethrin and DE, dusted the girls x 2 with Permethrin, and given them Ivermectin x 1. I hope that after the next clean out, I will have the problem taken care of. My nests seemed to be the hot spot for a red mite infestation. Luckily, I caught it before the birds health was visibly impacted.

 

[pamsmithtulsa]

So far none of the other birds are showing signs of mites, but I am sure if one has them they all do to some degree. Good luck with your fight, I will let you know how mine goes!