Polish Chicks have Bald Spots!

[chicksgalore]

I have two Polish chicks that are about 4-5 weeks old and they are starting to grow the feathers on their heads. Thte other day I noticed the one had a bald spot in the back like his/her feathers were getting pecked out. Then today I noticed the other Polish now has a bald spot in the same place. I have not seen any of the other chicks pecking at them. Is this common and what is it from?

Also, what are some of the earliest male/female signs on Polish chickens?

 

[Vcomb]

its very common if you keep polish with noncrested breeds. its a dominance thing. often you'll end up with a bald head and no tail feathers. put some antipick salve on them to see if it stops the problem.

 

[jossanne]

I have one white polish chick who has a bald spot in the middle of her head, where some of the others have picked feathers out. I've never seen it happen, but I know that's what's going on.

I bought buff-laced and silver-laced polish chicks at 4wks old this summer from the feed store, I think from Privett Hatchery. I chose them based on crest size, thinking the ones with the most crest would be boys. I ended up with 3 of each color, four with larger crests, and two with smaller. I was wrong in my guesses, and the ones with less feathers on top at 4wks old both turned out to be boys while the ones with more crests at 4wks all turned out to be girls. The males continued with smaller crests for weeks, almost looking like mohawks, until they just suddenly grew in their great, spiky punk rock look. The differences were obvious from 4wks, I just didn't know which was which.

This is 4 weeks old, and the ones with the shrek-looking horns are my females.