Pictures added Normal or problem French angora fur?

I have three French Angoras about 5.5 weeks old. On all three the hair on the back of the neck looks sparse. I can see the skin when they put their head forward. Area size is between a nickel and a quarter. The area is not inflamed nor do I see any bugs.

Not completely unusual. What color are they?

Broken black and broken chocolate

Thought I'd ask because my otters come in bald and stay that way for a while, so i always know an otter from an agouti because of the nekkid neck. What will be interesting is to see if this is trend for your lines. When my Woolies molt out of jr coat, the neck is always down to the skin.

I'll keep an eye on it. They have been a joy to watch grow. When do the jr coat molt?

around 12 weeks

Some kits too just have thinner wool to begin with. This litter that I had born I September seemed to be thinner too until they got their junior coat in, and then they fluffed out. I've never had kits that dense, but sadly, none if the kits from that litte had a guard coat to speak of either. So much for the doe I kept back for show! They do seem to have a very mat free coat though for as soft as it is, so I guess they'll make nice pets for some spinners.

Here are some pictures that I finally got taken. I research online quite a bit and nothing rang a bell. No flaking, skin is an even pink color. Nothing looks inflamed and they don't show any signs of distress or being bothered by it.

It doesn't look like anything medical or pest related, just thin fur. Perhaps your lines aren't as dense as others, or perhaps the breeder did some cross breeding at some point to compromise the density of the fur. They still may bulk up after their first molt too, one of my last litters did, though they never got any guard hair. Perfect for spinning, but no good for show.

If they don't, then you can start holding back some of their densest kits and start breeding out of those to increase your stock's density. It could also be that if you didn't get to pick each kit that these were the least dense of the litters since it can vary within each litter. It's hard to say.

I would be somewhat skeptical of anything the breeder told you (if she had mentioned they were the best or, pure bred, anything to that effect) since she was willing to let them go so early. In my mind that says she's either just honestly ignorant and doesn't know better or she just doesn't care and is in it for the money. We get a lot of both types in my area with angoras because they're cute and fluffy and they don't realize what goes into them and they just see it's one of the breeds that sells for more. Its the main reason I've become so strict about who I sell to. I'd rather eat them than have them go to a bad situation.

I agree psf...

Thanks for the responses. I picked all 3 from a litter of six. Although not pedigreed I did see the parents. They looked fine but who knows the history. I'm going to hold back babies and will hopefully know more what to look for. I also plan to go to a show in March to see what it is like. I just have to make sure I don't hold on to every generation while I establish a pedigree. One reason I don't have full pedigree lion heads is because I want part with the parent and don't have space to house everyone