EXTREME Size Difference in Same Age Chicks

[PomChiPoo]

I am new, so bear with me! I joined not only because I am a new chicken owner and I love reading and researching on this site, but also so I could as this question:

I currently have 10 chicks: 2 Ameraucanas and 8 Silver Laced Wyandottes. My question I have is regarding my Wyandottes.

I bought all of them together at 3 days old. When I got them, they were all the exact same size, and they came from 2 different sets of eggs (clutches?). Today that are 3 weeks old. I have noticed that 2 of them have been growing faster than the others for the past week or so. When I look up pictures of 3 weeks old chicks, they match the feather development so I think they are where they are supposed to be. On the other hand, the rest of the chicks seem stunted. A couple of them are so stunted, they haven't changed in appearance or size since they were around a week old. I tried to get pictures but I am not sure if you can tell what I am talking about in them. If you need better ones, please let me know.

I have researched for the past 2 days. Some sources say that the females grow faster than the males.. but that much of a difference seems excessive. I also saw that maybe they weren't getting enough food and that the larger ones could be hoarding all of it. I put a second food feeder in there and I haven't seen any difference as of yet. None of the smaller chicks act sick or abnormal in anyway. They eat and drink just as much as the large ones, they scratch and chirp as much as the others and they even fight for dominance with the large ones. I know all this because I literally sat beside their brooder for over 2 hours yesterday watching and observing. I'm a bit of a paranoid chicken mom. Haha. And they act just fine.... they're just little. lol.

So any ideas of why they might be stunted? Are the really stunted or are they just growing slower? With they stay smaller than the others? Will they get a growth spurt and over night be the same size as the others? I'm worried sick over here!!

Here they are when they were 3 days old.



Here they are when they were about a week or so. Sorry for the terrible picture - but this shows their small amount of wing feathers that have grown in.



And Here they are today. Ignore their dirty brooder and water bottle - I took this when I first woke up before I cleaned everything up and gave them fresh water. And Sorry for the terrible photo, again. But notice how the larger chick on the right already has almost full wing feathers, a few tail feathers, and is starting to grow chest feathers? And also how he/she towers over the chick on the left? The chick on the left only has the very tips of its wing feathers. It hasn't changed since it was only a week or so old.



Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks so much!!!

 

[Julia62]

By the looks of the pictures, it looks more like 8 Ameracaunas (or Easter Eggers, chipmunk pattern coloring) and 2 SLW.

That is a big size difference, not sure why. I have three Easter Eggers (thought they were Ameracauners) and one of them is quite larger than the other two although with all of them their wings are growing past their bodies now at 2 weeks old. I just posted a video of them on the EE thread if you want to see.

 

[PomChiPoo]

They can't be Easter Eggers for the simple fact that the lady I got them from didn't have any on her farm. What is a SLW? Sorry, I don't know all of the abreviations for everything yet, haha! I watched your video and I love the set up you have for them! Very comfy and creative!

 

[aatx]

They can't be Easter Eggers for the simple fact that the lady I got them from didn't have any on her farm. What is a SLW? Sorry, I don't know all of the abreviations for everything yet, haha! I watched your video and I love the set up you have for them! Very comfy and creative!

SLW - Silver Laced Wyandotte - the other breed you said you got in your first post.

 

[MamaRudey]

They can't be Easter Eggers for the simple fact that the lady I got them from didn't have any on her farm. What is a SLW? Sorry, I don't know all of the abreviations for everything yet, haha! I watched your video and I love the set up you have for them! Very comfy and creative!

Easter Eggers are the name for Ameraucanas that are not purebred essentially.
I agree, the smaller ones look more chipmunky to me and I would count that as your Easter aEggers, maybe they are bantams? Or are just different ages.

 

[vsmenagerie]

I am not sure what causes this. I have one doing that same thing right now. I ended up buying 5 more chicks from the feed store since the bigger ones I moved outside, but did not feel comfortable moving a not feathered chick outside yet. The others have heat but obviously only a small corner.



left is a newbie from the feed store. right is my partridge cochin that is now 3 weeks old, was just over 2 weeks in that picture. the easter egger has more feathers

 

[PomChiPoo]

At least I'm not the only one with this problem, lol. I just hate not knowing!

 

[vsmenagerie]

Me too!! I am a little worried that mine is a boy, when I wanted two pullets, so I am just hoping she's a runt! She is still not really any more feathered out now than when I took this picture. and like yours, acts like everyone else, just not really growing or feathering out!

 

[Guernica]

I have the same issue w/ my 3 Buff Orpington chicks. The 2 that I think are cockerels seem to be growing much more quickly than the one I think is a pullet. The 2 cockerels-in-the-making are already growing their wing feathers and the baby pullet barely has any, and is significantly smaller than the other 2.

In my case, I'm wondering whether it's not only a sex difference but maybe the pullet was from the prior day's hatch and the 2 roos were from the prior *week's* hatch, which would make them a week older....

Sound plausible?

 

[nordicacres]

I think Wyandottes must just mature slower than other breeds. Out of my mixed breed chick flock they are the smallest. The SLW are even smaller than the Gold Laced Wyandottes I have!