So, does this chick look alright?

[Whoops]

I'm so ignorant. This is my first experience with chickens. This chick is 4 weeks and a few days old and is a (hopefully) female feedstore Ameraucana (EE? I don't know which to call her at this point. She doesn't have green legs and they said she was a blue ameraucana, but it was a feedstore and they got her from a hatchery, but, they show birds and she made me look at the color of her legs and beak and blue feathering before I took her. I am perfectly happy if she is an EE, I just want pretty eggs) Anyway, she is such the little dustbather (had a major go at it right before this photo shoot. And she looks rather scruffy. Is it molting + bad feather day after dustbathing, or something I should be worrying about? She seems happy, hungry, chirpy, fly up on my shouldery, but I guess I just want to double check that she looks like a normal chick, just feathering out.

Is it okay to use poultry dust on chicks this young? I have a cat, so I am a little leery of it, plus the idea of sprinkling pesticide all over my little chirpers just seems wrong. But, I don't want them to have to endure mites. They deserve to be happy healthy little birds.

 

[BantamLover21]

She looks normal to me. Chicks always look a bit scruffy at that age as they are growing in more feathers. Just to be sure that she doesn't have any mites/lice, though, check on the skin near her vent, under her wings, under her hackle feathers, and near her tail. Mites/lice appear as small moving black or yellow specks. I think that poultry dust is fine to use, in small amounts (you don't want them breathing in a lot of it), for young birds.

 

[Whoops]

Thank you! It's a relief to hear she looks normal. She just looked so raggedy I was worried I was missing something.

 

[slagartist]

I have 6 four-week olds, and they ALL look like that. Half fuzz, half feathers. It's completely normal, from all the research I've done. Just that weird phase where they're losing the baby fuzz and growing in all their feathers.

I do have one EE, and her legs are a lovely, dark olive, but I'm not sure whether or not the lack thereof on yours means she isn't. Our EE also have really puff cheeks :3


Puffy cheeks! (she's only about a week in this pic)


Olive legs! She's about 3.5 weeks, here.

Another shot of a 4 week old, looks similar to yours feathers-wise -- if anything, she has more fuzz, still:

 

[Whoops]

They are adorable! Yes, I am more confident that mine is just having a bad feather day. I appreciate so much the reassurance. The Easter Eggers are so pretty and multicolored, it would be fun if mine were that, as long and she lays green or hopefully blue eggs! Or if she is an Ameraucana, (however you spell it correctly) I would be very excited for that, too. She's my little darling and whatever she is, is wonderful (unless she's a he.) Mostly, I am just trying to figure out how to fill out the "my flock" section.

 

[slagartist]

I need to do that as well! (yay, something to do!)

The nice thing about EEs is, as they say, they ARE really personable. Along with my BR and our Ancona, she's the most curious of the flock, and perfectly friendly to being pet or handed (though she peeps at first, like "HEY! I just groomed!" XD) While the others took some time to develop, she had a personality from day 1, always coming over to investigate when I was feeding/cleaning instead of running away like the others Be sure to post some pullet pics once she grows up a bit!

 

[Whoops]

She and the little Barred Rock are little hooligans. So full of themselves. Wandering out of the pen. Trying to perch on me. I had no problem catching them and posing them for their photoshoot. The Welsommer? Hides and flees, flutters and flaps like she's being electrocuted and she's the one who flew off the platform I was using to do the pictures. Made me realize that, yep, they can fly at this age. I think she is rethinking the whole "domesticated" thing. Pity, as I think she is going to come in to feathers all brown and gold and would be lovely to photograph up close. Maybe I will get her tamed down. I wonder if I will have to clip her wings when she gets her real feathers.

 

[slagartist]

My roomie's Speckled Sussex is the same. At 4.5 weeks we nicknamed her "Brat" because that's what she is, and unlike my BR (from the same place!), she's all AHHHHHHHHHHHHH whenever we try to move her or spend time with her. So we have dedicated 10-15min of "Brat-time" everyday, where we bring her out and sit in an enclosure with her, letting her get used to us. It seems to be working, little by little. Using treats (I hear mealworms are popular!) to hand-feed helps a LOT!

 

[weasel killer]

She is a she

 

[Whoops]

She is a she

Yay - They all three are reminding me of rock doves right now - poofy round bodies carried horizontal to the ground and little heads, all of which I am hoping is pulletish.