Any idea what I can do to help this little guy along? - Page 3

This spring part of our chick order was six GLW pullets. One of them was sooooo tiny that I would have sworn they gave me a banty by mistake. She remained way smaller than the others for a long time. Now they are 18 weeks old and I can hardly tell the difference between her and the others, they have to be all standing together and even then it's hard. I'll never know what the reason was. I guess sometimes kids just grow at different paces.

ChickieG'ma, This did happen to me when I ordered from MM one time. I had 8 RIR and 6 BR, one of which was a bantam BR! I sent them a picture to show the difference in size and I think they knew right away it was their mistake. They gave me the choice of new chick or refund (which wasn't that much!)  Neither helped with the real problem.  I had to finally find him a home because he started crowing before the others did. Big guys didn't like that! What a hassle for such a little roo. He was just too cute - -but his banty genes were very aggressive.

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Originally Posted by Back2MyRoots 

*sigh* I have caught A LOT of crap for this, but they came from a poultry auction.  It's hard to get your hands on chicks around here---very few breaders/mostly just hobby farmers---and I am sorry, but paying $40 in shipping for a few chicks is insane to me!  So I went to an auction in our area and picked up 15 straight run RIRs.  I can't tell you how many people on here have told me that you can't get a good bird from an auction!  Oh well, time will tell.  They are here now!

Back2MyRoots

I know about the poultry auctions too but sometimes the animals there are not all bad. Some people take their birds there because they just don't know where else to go or need to get rid of a farm animal that bites, kicks, poops too much, or causes allergies they didn't know about before. It's not all crap. My first lesson came when I saw a young Amish girl carrying a cage bigger than her. She had 3 Silkies inside, all a different color. She pulled a buff out and told me it was her "bestest" pet. Her story was that Father was moving the big chickens into the barn where she kept her trio of Silkies. She knew the big birds would pick on hers and she didn't want them to be hurt. I fell just like a sucker! Bought her 3, went home and they were put in a quarantine "hospital" cage. The next morn I realized the buff was just pecking up a storm but usually in a circle! Did a few tests and crap, she was blind in both eyes. They looked normal, moved with motion in front of them but just couldn't see well enough to get any bugs. She and her flock mates/siblings became our special need group kept separate so they would never breed. That was my worst thing about the auction and I don't consider it too terrible. I know there is good and bad to all. Good luck with your RIR's, The roosters can be better than a watch-dog!