Brahma "chick" missing feathers on back

[technolaser]

Hi everyone,

I have a 6 week old Brahma (hopefully hen!) and although she has lovely feathering, there's a strip down the middle of her back where there are only the bases of small feathers. She's been like this since I got her at 1 week.

I've monitored her and no one ever pecks her back nor does she peck herself at all.

Any ideas what might cause this or what I can do to help her feathers grow?

Thanks to all.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

How much space do they have?

It looks like feather picking to me.

 

[technolaser]

They have lots of space and unless someone is doing it in the middle of the night I never see anything at all.

If someone is picking, would they eat the feathers? There are no loose feathers anywhere.

 

[2ndTink]

A few of my Brahmas were slow to feather in, they looked pretty rough longer than the other chicks.

What % protein are you feeding?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

They have lots of space and unless someone is doing it in the middle of the night I never see anything at all.

If someone is picking, would they eat the feathers? There are no loose feathers anywhere.

Likely they would eat the pin feathers coming in.

If you aren't seeing picking, then maybe that's not what it is...

 

[Toothpick]

I've seen this from molting and overbreeding. At 6 weeks they ain't molting. Do you have a rooster with them? Cause at 6 weeks the rooster might be getting ambitious with them. I think that's unlikely...but...

Also, how clean is the coop? Mites? Keep an eye on them for a few more weeks. If the majority are feathered and this one is not then I'd suggest dusting the coop for mites/bugs.

 

[technolaser]

A few of my Brahmas were slow to feather in, they looked pretty rough longer than the other chicks.

What % protein are you feeding?

It's 23%

 

[technolaser]

I've seen this from molting and overbreeding. At 6 weeks they ain't molting. Do you have a rooster with them? Cause at 6 weeks the rooster might be getting ambitious with them. I think that's unlikely...but...

Also, how clean is the coop? Mites? Keep an eye on them for a few more weeks. If the majority are feathered and this one is not then I'd suggest dusting the coop for mites/bugs.

No rooster. Coop is very clean. All the others are absolutely fine.
I will definitely keep an eye on her - thanks for the suggestion to dust for bugs.

 

[2ndTink]

It's 23%

That's fine, so not a low protein issue. It may be genetic, but as others suggested, check for mites.

It might feather in properly over the next month or two.