what does this 3 week old frizzles have?

[hawtchick]

I am posting this for a friend of mine, and the pics are not great since they were done with my phone, but this is the gist...

3 week old frizzle, losing feathers....bald spots, almost hot to the touch all over body

doesnt act sick and poo is normal.

Has been separated from other chicks. She intergrated 3 frizzle chicks, which this is one of with another 10 chicks that were 4 day olds, and the frizzles were 2 weeks old.

They have been together for 1 week now.

The are on non medicated grain, pine shavings and fresh water daily.

Any ideas? I am suggesting she put it on medicated feed..... she isn't going for that though.
we did checks for mites/bugs and all looked clear.


Thank you.....

jess

 

[mypicklebird]

Have you bred or looked into the frizzle gene before?

Mites & lice can cause feather loss, but you should look into the genetics of frizzle. A healthy frizzle will seem hot to the touch, as their temps are higher than yours, and due to poor feathering- you can feel the skin more.

The genetics are complicated, but you may have an frizzle with a set of the dominant frizzle gene- the feathers are very abnormal as well as some of the internal organs, the feathers are fragile and fall out/break off, and most of the birds die young.

Most breeders try to avoid getting the combo (breeding Frizzle to Frizzle), as then they have to do alot of culling- or sell sickly birds.

Google frazzle, which is a term for double Frizzle gene

 

[hawtchick]

I have done a google search without much success but I will keep plugging along.
I did not know about the body temperature thing...that I will tell her.
Anyone else???

 

[Back onfarming]

I too have a Frizzle chick 5 wks old with bald areas. I'm praying the little thing is not a Frizzle Frizzle. I guess I'll have to wait and see. Hopefully if it is a Frizzle Frizzle it will be a male so I can bread it with a smooth Cochin to break the gene down some.