Pecking each other or normal facial anatomy?!?!

[Akm78]

I have 16 chicks ages 5.5 (11 chicks) and 3.5 (5 chicks) weeks. They were initially brooded in the house and then moved to coop with heat plate at 3 weeks. They seem to be all getting along reasonably well although the little ones are skittish and mostly hangout under the heat plate unless the bigger ones are outside or roosting and then they adventure.

Today I noticed some of the older chicks with bare areas on the face. Normal wattle development or do I have some bullies pecking?

 

[Roo5]

Normal, the chicks are going through a small molt.

 

[Zantechick]

Looks normal to me my chick looked same around that age (my cockrel even went all bald around his bum looked funny lol) now their all nice fluffy little egg layers xxx

 

[Akm78]

Thank you so much. I was trying to figure out who the bully is and could it be the younger guys and is our yard light shining in and stressing them out and...

So once this is done and they have head feathers no longer need heat plate?

 

[danceswithronin]

Thank you so much. I was trying to figure out who the bully is and could it be the younger guys and is our yard light shining in and stressing them out and...

So once this is done and they have head feathers no longer need heat plate?

You should be fine to remove heat as long as the temperature is decently high, mine are feathered out this much and live in the coop already but it's in the 80s for the highs and 50s for the lows here.

 

[Akm78]

You should be fine to remove heat as long as the temperature is decently high, mine are feathered out this much and live in the coop already but it's in the 80s for the highs and 50s for the lows here.

Spring comes slowly here. Overnights get down to just below freezing (27 last night highs in the 10 day between 31 and 70)

In 2 weeks hopefully we’ll be good.

 

[danceswithronin]

Spring comes slowly here. Overnights get down to just below freezing (27 last night highs in the 10 day between 31 and 70)

In 2 weeks hopefully we’ll be good.

BRRRRRRR

I don't envy you there!!!

 

[aart]

Hard to say if there's some picking gong on or it's just 'molting patches'.
I would expect to see some pins feathers there if it's molt.

How big is your coop and run, in feet by feet....and heat plate, in inches by inches?
Dimensions and pics would be great!

Oh, and Welcome to BYC! @Akm78
Does the Ak mean Alaska?
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Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
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[Akm78]

Hello. Thanks @aart I’m in North Dakota. The AK is just initials.

My coop is 8.5 x8.5 feet roughly (I think slightly more one dimension). I use 64 sq feet as my size knowing it is bigger than that.

The heat plate is 12in x 12in.

The run is 18 feet x32 feet although the little ones don’t venture outside and the big ones don’t go very far in the area.

 

[aart]

Nice setup!