Mystery Feathers! Picking? Is it nautral?

[FRlEDeggs]

Lately, I've been looking in our brooder and finding dark grayish feathers! Some are small, and some are huge! The chicks aren't showing any signs of trauma or picking (they are almost 6 wks old) and I was wondering if it's normal for chicks to just... loose feathers daily? There's not lots, in total maybe..... 10 over... 2 or 3 days? I know for a fact that a huge one came from the wing! I mean, where else would you find a feather that big?! Should I watch the chicks for picking? Or is this natural?

 

[FRlEDeggs]

anyone?

 

[MeatKing]

I thought it was normal, I have 11 week old chicks and am finding lots of feathers... Hopefully someone who knows chimes in? As I very new to this

 

[Happy Chooks]

How old are they?

From about 10 weeks, they lose a lot of feathers while getting their adult feathers in. I have 13 week olds right now and it looks like a pillow exploded.

 

[SmittenChicken]

Thanks for raising this question... I've been wondering the same thing. My pullets are about 14-16 weeks old and I've been noticing feathers ALL over the coop for the past month or two. Doesn't look like any picking is going on, and it looks like everyone's contributing (my birds are all different colors) so I would assume it's normal as they grow up.
I hope someone who knows for sure chimes in!

 

[ranchhand]

I know for sure that it's normal! They will keep shedding baby feathers and getting adult feathers for quite some time, I think mine usually go until they start laying or crowing more. It DOES look like a pillow factory exploded,

Do check to make sure there aren't mites or whatnot around, but usually it's just the awkward teenage molt.

 

[SkyWarrior]

My coop looks semi-exploded with 24 chickens, 2 geese and a turkey. All shed feathers. My chickens are between 4 weeks and 22 weeks.

 

[FRlEDeggs]

My chicks are 6 weeks old, and the weird thing is the feathers look like they only come from one chicken, my Cuckoo Marans! I haven't found any that look like the rest