New Chick w/ Brittle wing feathers? What does this mean?

[Welsummer]

We got some new chicks 4 days ago. One of the little girls has brittle wing feathers where they are coming in. The other two chicks her age and breed have little wing feathers where she just has shafts and a little feather fuzz. One wing is kind of sticking out too. What does this mean? We are worried about her. Has anyone experienced this before?

 

[Welsummer]

Here is a picture of one of her wings:

 

[Mahonri]

Looks normal to me... make certain the brooder has lots of water for them and a place where they can go to cool down if they like.

 

[Welsummer]

Here is a picture of one of the normal girls:

Here is the little girl with the brittle feathers:

 

[Welsummer]

Have we stumped the chicken community? Has no one ever experienced this before?

 

[Kessidy]

I am clueless.

And I don't know about this either.

I am sorry I am not more help.

 

[Kev]

Better just wait until it grows up and see if it continues or not.


Are the feathers still enclosed in pin feather mode(looks like they are from here. It appears the feathers are mostly a stick with a normal fan at the very tips)? If you're seeing pin feathers more than halfway up the feather, gently rub on them the covering skin will fall off and the feathers should fan out. (don't try to open the part close to the body- those are still enclosed with blood and flesh growing the feather)

There are mutants that affect feather quality, including a few that cause brittle feathering but they are very uncommon.