What's going on with their feathers?

[HappyClucker7]

I noticed some of my chickens' feathers are looking weird. My frizzle cockerel's are the worst. The feathery part is all gone. Only the shaft is there. The other chickens' feathers aren't nearly as bad, but they do have it. Why could this be happening? Is it mites?

 

[coach723]

Some birds get two frizzle genes and are called frazzles and the feathers are more fragile and brittle. So that may be the case here. Depending on the age of the bird, it could just be that the bird needs to molt and replace old, worn feathers. I don't have frizzles, frazzles or sizzles, but see often that there are feather quality issues. More info here, may help:
https://silkie.org/what-are-frizzle-sizzle-and-frazzle-chickens.html

 

[HappyClucker7]

He is almost 1 year old.
This problem with the feathers is new. He has only had it for maybe a week. I also noticed it on some of my other chickens, which are not frizzles.

 

[coach723]

I would watch to see if there is any feather picking going on. Age could be a factor since they haven't had an adult molt yet. Feathers can get very worn and shabby before they molt. If you've got feather picking going on, then often the nicest looking bird will be doing it. For mites, this link has pictures to help ID:
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/