Feet injurys on runt.

[MeekerMomma]

The smallest of my 8 chicks has me somewhat worried. I called him the runt but I'm not even sure if chickens have runts. lol One of my 8 was a week older than the rest. The runt was born on the same say as the others but it is so much smaller than the rest. It almost looks a week behind the rest and I definitely think it's the lowest of the pecking order. I noticed yesterday that it has some sores on it's feet. I'm not sure if he's just being bullied by the other chicks or if this is something more to worry about.. Any advice of what to do would be helpful. Here are some pictures.

 

[Judy]

What is he walking on? How big is the brooder or whatever they are living in? They don't usually get sores on the bottom of their feet from bulllying. I would spearate him, wash the feet and put some Neosporin or similar, then let him rest a few days til they heal. Do not use a topical with a "caine" drug in it, such as cetacaine, benzocaine, etd.

 

[MeekerMomma]

Thanks for replying. I have them in a 4 X 5 cardboard box (The kind wal-mart sells watermelons in.) with the bottom cut out. the floor is concrete first then a layer of plastic sheeting then wood shavings. I'll do what you said ASAP.

 

[MeekerMomma]

I have triple antibiotic plus pain relief.. active ingredients..bacitracin zinc neomycin, polymyxin B sulfate, paramoxine hydochoride. That should be fine right? also is it normal for one chickens size to be so different from the others?

 

[chooks4life]

Quote: Yes, they do; many things can cause an animal to become a runt. Genetics, even if its siblings are normal sized; feed --- whether it got enough of the right stuff at the right time, or even if it just missed out on something needed once is sometimes enough; its inherited ability to digest what it eats; its environmental support or lack of support in terms of probiotics and full nutrition; any illness that took its bodily resources to conquer, just like human children tend to stop growing for the duration of a fever --- also the reason for a lot of human runts, (illness is); injury (again, due to bodily resources being redirected into healing instead of growth, which in this case is the best bet due to the state of its feet); also like us birds need to be out in the sun, on the earth, otherwise our bioelectrical organisms become run down due to 'dirty' electricity (AC instead of DC being the ambient human dwelling's frequency, whereas animals and we do not run on AC).

One of my 8 was a week older than the rest. The runt was born on the same say as the others but it is so much smaller than the rest. It almost looks a week behind the rest and I definitely think it's the lowest of the pecking order. I noticed yesterday that it has some sores on it's feet.

The sores on the feet, the lack of size, and the low status in the hierarchy are all linked in all probability, as usually illness/injury goes hand in hand with low position and stunted growth, regardless of which occurred first.

I'm not sure if he's just being bullied by the other chicks or if this is something more to worry about.. Any advice of what to do would be helpful. Here are some pictures.

Doesn't look like bullying to me. If it was even caused by the other chicks to start with then it'd be 'attempts at cannibalism'. Baby chickens do not naturally bully one another to death nor do they naturally draw blood as a matter of course; that's extremely rare in playfighting and bullying. Attempts to eat one another do result in wounds, though chickens which are needy protein wise are often keen to pick at existing wounds, and I wouldn't offhand blame the chicks until you know for sure something else didn't cause that. Even if they're picking at the sores now it can be hard to tell if they are responsible for it. Fairly likely but I don't know. Best wishes.