what the heck is wrong with this chick???

[sunket77]

ok this is supposed to be a red polish, well I know it's a polish anyway...

but it really is not growing right. It came from the feed store (Ideal) and the others I got are feathering out just fine this one however...well...looks like Frankenstein...on of it's wings has almost no feathers at all along with half it's body, it's tail and crest are growing VERY slow (the others have little mowhawks and long tails) and whats worse is I think it's a rooster. It is the only one with an obvious "v" comb. I don't know what to do with it!

I thought well if it stays funny looking at least if it's a girl it will lay eggs....buuut no if it is a roo it will be another mouth to feed that be bred or shown or anything....unless there is like an "ugliest chicken contest" now don't get me wrong, I have a big heart for animals (even funny looking ones!) But we have a lot of chickens, and it will be another mouth to feed that doesn't feed us back and needs to be shuffled around to keep from fighting others and things like that. ANY SUGGESTIONS??

 

[Domestic_goddess]

Sounds like a little roo! Good luck, maybe others will have some suggestions as far as feed or something for you.

 

[Tala]

roosters don't feather in very pretty at all, theylook god-awful for the longest time - but dont' worry they eventually feather in. I doubt it will be ugly forever!

 

[sunket77]

Well most of the chicks go through an "ugly" stage (which I think is cute!) but this one has one wing that is totally feathered and the other wing only has like 4 tiny feathers on it, there is something wrong. It isn't growing feathers on one side of it's body.

 

[ultasol]

I ended up with some sumatras from Duane Urch (they were supposed to be Wyandottes, were labelled as such at a 4-h chick auction, but once I opened the box I knew they weren't), and they have wing feathers (enough to fly around) and tail feathers, but the backs are bald and some have bald little heads. They look terrible.

They *behave* terribly too. They won't stay in the brooder, so I covered the brooder with wire (the brooder is in our heated workout room in the shop). When I was trying to gather up the escaped hoodlums there was one I just couldn't find. I was bent over checking under a bookshelf when the missing chick came flying (or falling, it wasn't graceful, whatever it was) down from the top of a piece of workout equipment. I nearly had a heart attack. They are curious and fun birds, but so active compared to the breeds I'm more accustomed to (silkies and wyandottes) that, to me, they always seem to be up to shenanigans.

The feathering, it's atrocious. They look like little turkey buzzards. Baby fuzz on the neck falling out so all you see is pink skin, occasional tufts of fluff, and the beginning of pinfeathers... a bald back underneath the wings, a strip of feathers emerging from the middle of the chest surrounded by fuzz, and a two-inch-long tail. I know they are not all roosters (with 15 of them, there have got to be pullets, too) but they are all feathering in unevenly, as your bird is. The few real wyandottes I got at that auction only have some wing feathers, and a few pinfeathers in the tail, but no bald spots.

This was a week ago.

 

[sunket77]

I wonder if they are part guinea!? lol! my guinea keets look like that and are getting worse! They are def. ugly ducklings though sumatras are beautiful!

 

[ultasol]

They're fine, it's normal. Sometimes chicks look horrid when they are feathering out, but I haven't had one not feather out yet, and I've hatched a lot of chicks since fall, oh, well over a hundred.

 

[sunket77]

I know what a chick looks like when it feathers out..I have had lots.... plus I have had polish as well. One side of it's whole body (especially the wing) has almost nothing. While the other side has a fully feathered wing. I was waiting for it to catch up maybe (like an awkward teenager) but it still has a naked wing. Maybe the pictures aren't very good

I have never seen anything like this before.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Give it a little more time. Every once in a while you'll come upon something "a little abnormal" but it works itself out. Funny, I had this "ugly chicken" conversation with my friend last night as her EE's are passing through this stage...I think it's adorable!! Love the scruffy look!! Guess that's why I own a terrier.

 

[Carpe DiHen]

Whoa...

Seriously I think they're all adorable!