Something wrong with this chick's feathers?

[shanadienne]

My silkie Molly is hatching her own chicks for the first time; they're all silkie/booted bantam crosses. Everything's going fine, but one of them has something up with the feathers on its back.

It's as if the feathers/feather casings (whatever they are, if those are even on chick fuzz) on its back and under its wings were backcombed. The way it looks reminds me a little of nits on feathers, but it's not that. They're kind of stiff, dry. I can see the skin and I don't think it's flaking or anything.

In case it has any bearing, the cockerel was around 13 to 16 weeks old when he was fertilizing these eggs. Could being that young cause a mutation in offspring?

Also, there's a small possibility that it hatched from an egg that's been incubating for 18 days instead of 21 like the rest of them.

 

[five is my dog]

i would put udder butter on it or vaseline and just keep the skin clean.

 

[shanadienne]

Update: as freaky as it looked, I think it was just the chick fuzz not drying properly. A couple hours later, most of it was normal and fluffy.

That was a little creepy, though. I've never seen a chick's feathers do that before. I've seen feathers dry out without getting fluffy, but not like that and never under a mother hen. What the heck happened?

 

[ChirpyChicks1]

Glad it turned out alright!