What's up with my poor little cochin?

[rnorris1234]

OK. my poor little cochin is about 12 weeks old. She (?) has just started feathering out over the last couple of weeks. She has also grown a lot over the last 2 weeks, she was really a runt, but starting to grow. Her feathers are kind of sticking out all over the place. Is she a frizzle??? or just a bad hair day. I also can't figure out her color. She was a nice blue down, but her most of her feathers are really dark -- not quite black, but a dark charcoal gray color. The new feathers on her chest is a much lighter color. Her beak was yellow, but started turning black about a month ago, along with her comb. Do I have some sort of genetic mutant or what???
I'm hoping that my little ugly duckling will grow up to be a swan, but I just don't know!

 

[ShysCreations]

4 months old? She's a slow starter but looks healthy. They have an awkward stage of feathering. Is she bantam or large fowl? I've not seen a 4 month old cochin chick with so little feathering but I'm most familiar with bantams....does she eat/drink/poop ok?
She's an unusual color, a blue mixture looks like. Will be neat to see her fully grown and feathered out!

 

[zazouse]

I love blue cochins,

It does look really younger than 12 weeks but i have had late bloomers here also.

Does it have a place to dust bath? that helps keep the feathers clean and neat.

Kinda like when we wash our hair.

 

[rnorris1234]

Ilooked back and I bought her on May 7 and she was 2 or 3 days old then (Cinco de Mayo perhaps?) So not quite 11 weeks old. She has 2 siblings that are both splash and are much bigger and feathered out beautifully. I pulled her out of the coop with the bigger chickens and put her back in a brooding pen (I was afraid she would be picked on for being so much smaller and she had almost no feathers then.) She has really grown a lot since then (but so have the other 2 -- a real lot). They are full size Cochins, not Bantams.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Skin loooks to be pink/white, not yellow, and some of the feathers look to be red. Looks younger than 11 weeks, but sometimes birds develop quite slowly. Doesn't seem frizzzled.

 

[rnorris1234]

Here is a picture of her 2 siblings. They were all purchased the same day as 2-3 day old chicks. These are much bigger than the blue/black.

 

[usschicago1]

It almost looks like he has some irritation on his face. I would put some petroleum jelly on it (taking care to avoid his eyes) and see if that can smother any mites or dry skin.

 

[flower]

I would take a baking dish or a type of pan that the bird could jump into , place some dirt in the bottom so the bird can take a dust bath.