Chicks without all feathers

[valerie]

I have two chicks that came out of the nest box to early. I noticed they did not have all of thier feathers but they had all of their head and wing feathers. They both seemed to be calling out for food but neither parents were feeding them. I watched to see if they would eat on thier own and after they did not I pulled them and have ben feeding them. Both of them are starting to eat on their own. They love spray millet. But I have noticed they have not gotten all of thier feathers yet. The older one is a cock and he is lacking some stomach feathers and few back feathers but he can fly. The younger one which is a hen does not have any stomach feathers or back feathers but has all of her head feathers and wing feathers. I had thought maybe the hen plucked them but do hens pluck the belly feathers to? The younger chcik seems to be fluffed up sometimes, I was wondering if she is cold? They were hatched 9-13 and 9-15. Any ideas??
Valerie

[BudgiesBuddy]

Hi Valerie, welcome to forum.

Can you share some pictures of the babies?

[valerie]

I would be more than happy to after I get home. I have to go and do some painting. Once I get back I will take a few pictures and see if I can figure out how to post them and we can go from there.
Valerie

[valerie]

This is the little girl chick.

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[valerie]

This is the hens belly, sorry about not seeing much I can retake it. I did notice that it appears as if not all of the feathers are coming back.

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[valerie]

This is the little boys belly.

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[valerie]

And his back. Could it be that they were just so young coming out of the nest box? I thought with their age they would have more feathers now.

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[Gaile]

the hen maybe over preening the chicks!!
I think I read someone has put a small amount of vaseline on to help stop this!

[nat]

You didn't say their age but I can see a reasanble set of flights on the spangle chick in the pic which makes me guess its at leats 31 days old? At the age where their flights are through fully or almost fully they will have all their body feather so it seems like you have an over attentive hen whos plucked them a bit.
If you have a Holland and Barratt near you then you could purchase some aloe vera gel to rub onto the areas which have been plucked to prevent further plucking from the hen.(it tastes horrible) Even if they are not with the hen now, the aloe vera is a good soother and healer for sore skin:)

[nat]

I wouldn't apply vasoline though as it sticks the feathers together and makes it very hard to preen and to be honest your bird could end up in a real mess. Aloe vera is absorbed readily into the skin.
Vasoline is good however for putting on the vent feathers of a bird who is suffering from wet or sticky droppings.

[BudgiesBuddy]

The chicks are 35 and 37 days old and they should have complete feathers. I have a 26 days old chick which has more feathers than your chicks.

You said that you pulled them and have been feeding them. Do you put them back with parents after feeding?

[valerie]

Not a big deal but I did say they hatched out 9-13 and 9-15. I have already pulled them from mom and dad since it did not seem they were being fed. I was wondering if hens would over pluck the bellies of chicks too?

In the past, I did have a hen that over groomed a chick before and I purchased some stuff called cease. It is a spray and it seemed to help them. But once again she only plucked the back of the chicks.

[valerie]

I guess I was wondering if the mom could over groom the belly, legs and back? I just wanted to be sure they do not have a genetic disorder or something.

[BudgiesBuddy]

Oct 19, 2011 13:30:17 GMT valerie said:

I guess I was wondering if the mom could over groom the belly, legs and back? I just wanted to be sure they do not have a genetic disorder or something.

Only a vet can confirm that.