The Poultry Health & Hatching Forum

Chick in brooder bare back

Hi
I hatched four chickens out, they were in the same batch of eggs as a goose and two ducks.

All are fenced off in a corner of the shed with a red light and have been there for around three weeks.

One chick is noticeably short of feathers on his back. He probably stands out more as he (maybe she) is black, but the other black chick and two white ones look fine.

Is this maybe genetic, there is no scratching going on and he seems pretty active.

kwackers
Thursday, May 11th, 2023

It is probably the very slow feathering or 'delayed' feathering gene,Kn. As this gene is sex linked, the chick is probably male. This is the gene that is used to produce chicks that can be feather sexed.

Glyn
Thursday, May 11th, 2023

Thank you.

I did find a lot on mites and other items that did not seem applicable when I did an internet search, but that particular feature was not something that popped up.

It sounds like another interesting item to find out more about.

The only thing that's odd was that I never noticed it when I hatched the parents, but I have a feeling none were black from the start, these have been black since leaving the shell and would be far more noticeable though.

Many thanks.

kwackers
Saturday, May 13th, 2023

The parents may not have shown it. Only if the chick has 2 Kn genes will it show. The chick could have inherited 1 Kn from each parent. As it is sex linked females can only have one Kn gene and therefore don't show the bare back. It should feather up as normal just slower.

Glyn
Saturday, May 13th, 2023