WEIRD BULGE ???? in need of advice

[Sherripark]

This is my 2nd year with chickens but 1st year with Cornish rock x. They are monsters. First they attacked and killed 13 smaller chicks at 2 weeks old, all were pecked to death. The remaining 85 eat well, drink well, chirp and seem happy and healthy except for 2 things that worry me.
1) They look mangy, they are 3 weeks old today and they are missing a lot of feathers. There are no injuries or redness, they just look like no one is caring for them.
2) THIS is the big worry.... every chick (all roosters) has a large egg sized bulge under there bums. I have search on line for pictures of other chicks to see if this is normal or not. Maybe it is and it just looks large since they have such sparse feathering?
So I need help, my instincts tell me something is up with these little gremlins but they are clean, fed, watered and have a large area. I will be allowing them access to the outside coop when it warms up here (Ontario and we have had a cold spell past few days) I was thinking of hanging apples from the ceiling to entertain their pecking instinct and have been adding grass clippings for a few days now

HELP please, I do not know what to do!!

 

[jenjscott]

Sounds like normal cornishxrock to me!

seriously, they outgrow their feathering, and their bowel is a huge food processor, which is probably the bulge you see.

 

[NeeleysAVLChicks]

Can you post a picture of the bulge you are describing?

 

[Dogfish]

They are really ugly chickens with big butts. Sounds normal. They really are not pretty chicks. When they get to 7 week or so, they actually look decent. Until then, they are pretty ugly. Did I mention they are ugly and not pretty?

 

[Marie1234]

They just pack the pounds on faster than the feathers grow over the skin. You have 85 of them for your first go? Wow. That's a lot of coop cleaning. Make sure they have plenty of grit or their crops can get impacted from the grass clippings. Better usually if they have clumps of grass to pull small pieces off of because they manage to get smaller size pieces. Good luck with finishing them!

 

[Sherripark]

I feel soooo much better now, thank you too all. So these are just really ugly looking buggers!. I will post a picture tonight when I get home just in case what I am describing isn't doing the bulge justice

And yes it is a lot of cleaning, what I do is rake the shavings to stir them and add another layer every few days. I would have expected them to be in the chicken tractor by now but they are sooooo naked and the weather here has been very wind, rainy and cold. The little gremlins will live in luxury for a little while longer.
Thanks again and this website is awesome.

 

[Mrs. Green Thumbs]

That's kind of odd.. a picture of the buldge would help. My EE had a huge bulge that actually opened up where her umbillical cord would have been... I still don't know what is wrong with her but she is growing well, slightly skinny but still growing. and she is 6 weeks old... I think I'll have to go check.