- Sep 5, 2014
- 35
- 1
- 41
Before a picture here is the background story:
Okay one of my chickens I got from a local farm - but they didnt raise her they got her from another party. They told me she is a light sussex, large fowl, and she is 16 weeks old on oct 5th so thats around 23weeks now.
She was purchased with another of the same type from the same place. The thing is, the other one mysteriously died very soon after the purchase, she just got very sick suddenly, couldnt lift her head up and struggled with breathing. The vet was unable to offer any help on what it was.
I notified the farm and they have since apologetically provided me with a replacement chicken which i accepted after i was sure the flock were okay, but now I am concerned and keeping a closer eye on the one that survived.
Unlike her sister, this one is healthier and eating well. But she's still small (like her sister). I have not raised female light sussex myself yet so I am a bit unsure where her milestones for this are, ive only had a boy so far! But I'm pretty **** sure she should be bigger than this by now and she eats all the time but she's no where near the other chicks her age, not even the light sussex we have for sure that is only a week or two older (if the supplier is to be believed).
Because of this worry I started to notice other little things that seem different about her. She doesn't hold her head up like the other, she is quite a compact and small thing. She's still perky, just like a small fluffy ball - which makes it seem she is much younger than i was told. She burrows underneath the 27 week old RIR we have at night time like a chick would.
But also, she doesn't have orange eyes, they are greyish perhaps but not orange like her counterparts. She does have pink legs - not yellow.
Her neck feathers do have some black on them but it's speckled and small - not vivid and solid like her counterparts. It makes her feathers look dirty instead and the spattering of little black flecks travels quite far.
So this is one of my other chickens that is 27 weeks old:
Shes a lovely big girl already with an attitude But this is the one in question below supposedly 23 weeks old at least:
She doesn't look anywhere near as developed as the other one and she's quite small, just all fluff.
These are her wings and her tail is similar.
Now, because I am paranoid I have thought of several different things:
1. She has got some other breed in her or is some other similar breed
2. She's not large fowl shes a bantam
3. She isn't 23 weeks shes much younger than that
4. Shes poorly with something either by bad luck or a bad previous home
5. A mixture of the above.
6. I should probably not trust people so much to tell me the truth.
I thought she was small to begin with and made sure I monitored her eating habits and gave her extra attention but she's not really growing at all.
Okay one of my chickens I got from a local farm - but they didnt raise her they got her from another party. They told me she is a light sussex, large fowl, and she is 16 weeks old on oct 5th so thats around 23weeks now.
She was purchased with another of the same type from the same place. The thing is, the other one mysteriously died very soon after the purchase, she just got very sick suddenly, couldnt lift her head up and struggled with breathing. The vet was unable to offer any help on what it was.
I notified the farm and they have since apologetically provided me with a replacement chicken which i accepted after i was sure the flock were okay, but now I am concerned and keeping a closer eye on the one that survived.
Unlike her sister, this one is healthier and eating well. But she's still small (like her sister). I have not raised female light sussex myself yet so I am a bit unsure where her milestones for this are, ive only had a boy so far! But I'm pretty **** sure she should be bigger than this by now and she eats all the time but she's no where near the other chicks her age, not even the light sussex we have for sure that is only a week or two older (if the supplier is to be believed).
Because of this worry I started to notice other little things that seem different about her. She doesn't hold her head up like the other, she is quite a compact and small thing. She's still perky, just like a small fluffy ball - which makes it seem she is much younger than i was told. She burrows underneath the 27 week old RIR we have at night time like a chick would.
But also, she doesn't have orange eyes, they are greyish perhaps but not orange like her counterparts. She does have pink legs - not yellow.
Her neck feathers do have some black on them but it's speckled and small - not vivid and solid like her counterparts. It makes her feathers look dirty instead and the spattering of little black flecks travels quite far.
So this is one of my other chickens that is 27 weeks old:
Shes a lovely big girl already with an attitude But this is the one in question below supposedly 23 weeks old at least:
She doesn't look anywhere near as developed as the other one and she's quite small, just all fluff.
These are her wings and her tail is similar.
Now, because I am paranoid I have thought of several different things:
1. She has got some other breed in her or is some other similar breed
2. She's not large fowl shes a bantam
3. She isn't 23 weeks shes much younger than that
4. Shes poorly with something either by bad luck or a bad previous home
5. A mixture of the above.
6. I should probably not trust people so much to tell me the truth.
I thought she was small to begin with and made sure I monitored her eating habits and gave her extra attention but she's not really growing at all.
Last edited: