Pullets feathers not coming in? Or fallen out?

[hannahshatchery]

Hi all,

I have six pullets that are about 7 weeks old now of various breeds. One is a little smaller than the others and I was worried about her at first but she has done fine for the past couple weeks eating and growing some. However it seems like her feathers aren't coming in right, or at all. I have a couple pictures which I hope show what I mean. I haven't seen her pulling them out or her being bullied at all.

She also seems a little wobbly sometimes and had a bit of a poopy butt which I cleaned off for her. Is she just a runt or is something up?

TIA!

 

[Wyandottes7]

Could you post some pictures? It is possible that she is just a slow-growing runt. I once had a chick that had a feather-growing issue. It lost the fluff around its neck, and took MUCH longer than the rest to feather out. Her neck was bare for quite some time, but eventually grew in feathers. I'm still not entirely sure what was wrong with her, but I think that it could have been a bad reaction (if thats possible) to a Marek's Disease vaccine that I gave her. Sadly, I found her dead when she was about ten weeks old. She had been acting perfectly normal just 30 minutes earlier, but when I checked her, she was dead.

So, I'm not sure what is wrong with your chick, but I think that she might just be a runt. Other chicks could be picking on her, but that would not explain her smaller size and weaker nature.

Post pictures if you can, and keep us updated!

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

hannahshatchery can't upload pictures until they have 10 posts I believe so hurry and make some posts so we can try and help better!

 

[hannahshatchery]

Ahh I see that might be the issue!! I will post some more and get a pic or two up!

 

[hannahshatchery]

She is a Wynadotte.

 

[baseballchick]

You can go to the games forum and post, you will reach the amount needed in no time

 

[hannahshatchery]

 

[hannahshatchery]

 

[hannahshatchery]

Here she is with some of the others for reference of their size.

 

[chooks4life]

Endocrinal insufficiency I would guess. Pituitary most likely if that is indeed the case. I've never seen a chick that age with such a short body on such long legs. I would cull it unless it's a pet, since I doubt it'll make it to eating point or be a halfway decent layer if it does survive to adulthood... Definitely not right. Runts can feather up slower but this is well beyond normal boundaries unless it was a meat breed developed for a fast food chain... Your cockerel in the background should have feathered up after her, probably, since males of many breeds feather slower. But he's quite covered. Anyway, best wishes. I reckon you have an official dud there.