My chicks are three weeks old doing lovely but thy seem to be prunning a lot, thy are on straw and very healthy eating a lot , but my eyes arent as good as what thy use to be , or is it i havent had ,chicks for a year or can it be flees or mites ?
. please help .
Thank you Irene.
dose my chicks have mites or flees
I'm not an expert, but my chicks start preening themselves pretty intensively about the time they are starting to fully fledge. My current seven are preening fools right now and they are exactly three weeks old--I think the coverings on the new feathers really bother them until they get it off.
if they get mites or lice or anything like that, they will pick at themselves and seem unsettled and irritated. and they won't be using the gland under their tail when they preen, because they are picking...
i bet they are OK.
I bet they are just enjoying their new feathers, like when girls flip their hair a lot after a new haircut. I wonder if the new feathers itch a little when they come in? If I started growing feathers, I'd preen, too! LOL!
When a young bird starts to grow in their feathers, their body puts of a light dust (as they due during molt) that help protect the new feathers and "lubricates" them as well. On such a young chick you would be able to see if it were to have either one.
Our chicks are two weeks old and they are doing the same thing. I think too that they may itch a little when the feathers are coming in. I doubt yours have anything but feather preening going on. It's a big job to get all those lovely feathers.