babychickens321
Songster
I have two baby chicks and one of them is a little runty.
its a LOT smaller than its brother/sister and is developing its wing feathers very slowly.
how it looks at 3 weeks is how my first chick looked at like 6-7 days.
it also doesn't jump up a lot, when my first chicken was as big as my runt, it would constantly be jumping on top of the mum and trying to fly. this one however, doesn't jump a lot, only when its in its more lively state during the day does it try and jump and flap about. it also doesn't run about as much as the first one. when I take it outside, it first just stands there slowly cheeping and closing its eyes. then after a while it starts to run about and join its mama and sibling in foraging. I don't know if it hasn't imprinted on the mum properly or something, because whenever the mum is going inside the coop or something, it follows her, but if she goes too fast or if there is a step or something the chick must jump over to get to the mum, it either stops trying or tries to jump and flap but fails. then it proceeds to stand there cheeping, then when my other chickens come near it, it tries running under them for warmth. it even does it to my rooster, and he obviously pecks it, but it still tries to get under. there's another hen, which pecks the chicks when they're near her, my first chick has recognised her and keeps its distance from her, and if she pecks it, it runs away. this runt however cheeps loudly but still follows the hen around even though it pecks it repeatedly (doesn't seem to hard but still pecks more than my rooster, he usually does one big peck then leaves them alone). if the mama has gone with her other chick too far and anything big and moving approaches the chick, it runs to it thinking its the mum. not that it can't recognise the mum, because when it can see her clearly, it runs to her. it prefers to just sit under the mum and do nothing, which is a problem, because the active one and the mum just want to dustbath and forage, but this one keeps trying to go under the mum so she ends up sitting randomly in the middle of the garden whilst the active one is running around her and getting under then out of her repeatedly. the active one is really nice to the runt, whenever the runt can't see the mum or sibling and is screaming, the active one runs to it then runs to the mum back and forth. and when the runt is trying to get on a step by flapping but isn't getting on, it just flies up and down the step. its really cute but I feel like when my hen stops being broody and the chicks are meant to be independent, this one will be trying to hide under another hen and wont be independent. also, it has a very big appetite and drinks a lot of water, the only thing that it runs to excitedly is the waterer. in fact the only natural behaviour it exhibits is on the feeder, it scratches on top of it. but it wont eat anything other than the food. for example, id read that mealworms are good for small chicks as it gives protein for them to grow quick. so I give it mealworms but they're too big for it, so I crumble them up and sprinkle it on top of the feeder. if there's an area on the feeder I forgot to sprinkle, it would eat from there. ALSO, when their mama is calling them for food the active one SPRINTS to the food, but the little one stays under the mum unless I physically take it off.
Basically, its a lot smaller, less active and developing a lot slower than its sibling.
here's a picture, the runts one is not that clear but I think you can tell
I don't have any comparison photos though
ONE MORE THING
is it the genes of this chick? the broody hen was originally given 2 eggs, one laid by her and one by my other hen. Then I added another egg 1 day later and that egg was laid by the other hen. there were 2 that were laid by my other hen, but I think one may be this runt. one of the ones laid by her died shortly after it cracked out of the shell which was an absolute SHAME; its colouring was so adorable, not a pure colour, but my 'other hen' is a lavender pekin and the father is Isabelle, so the colour was all lavender except a lining of yellow on its wing tips.
this one isn't doing too well, so could it have been laid by my lavender hen seeing as the other one laid by her died (with foot deformities)?
its a LOT smaller than its brother/sister and is developing its wing feathers very slowly.
how it looks at 3 weeks is how my first chick looked at like 6-7 days.
it also doesn't jump up a lot, when my first chicken was as big as my runt, it would constantly be jumping on top of the mum and trying to fly. this one however, doesn't jump a lot, only when its in its more lively state during the day does it try and jump and flap about. it also doesn't run about as much as the first one. when I take it outside, it first just stands there slowly cheeping and closing its eyes. then after a while it starts to run about and join its mama and sibling in foraging. I don't know if it hasn't imprinted on the mum properly or something, because whenever the mum is going inside the coop or something, it follows her, but if she goes too fast or if there is a step or something the chick must jump over to get to the mum, it either stops trying or tries to jump and flap but fails. then it proceeds to stand there cheeping, then when my other chickens come near it, it tries running under them for warmth. it even does it to my rooster, and he obviously pecks it, but it still tries to get under. there's another hen, which pecks the chicks when they're near her, my first chick has recognised her and keeps its distance from her, and if she pecks it, it runs away. this runt however cheeps loudly but still follows the hen around even though it pecks it repeatedly (doesn't seem to hard but still pecks more than my rooster, he usually does one big peck then leaves them alone). if the mama has gone with her other chick too far and anything big and moving approaches the chick, it runs to it thinking its the mum. not that it can't recognise the mum, because when it can see her clearly, it runs to her. it prefers to just sit under the mum and do nothing, which is a problem, because the active one and the mum just want to dustbath and forage, but this one keeps trying to go under the mum so she ends up sitting randomly in the middle of the garden whilst the active one is running around her and getting under then out of her repeatedly. the active one is really nice to the runt, whenever the runt can't see the mum or sibling and is screaming, the active one runs to it then runs to the mum back and forth. and when the runt is trying to get on a step by flapping but isn't getting on, it just flies up and down the step. its really cute but I feel like when my hen stops being broody and the chicks are meant to be independent, this one will be trying to hide under another hen and wont be independent. also, it has a very big appetite and drinks a lot of water, the only thing that it runs to excitedly is the waterer. in fact the only natural behaviour it exhibits is on the feeder, it scratches on top of it. but it wont eat anything other than the food. for example, id read that mealworms are good for small chicks as it gives protein for them to grow quick. so I give it mealworms but they're too big for it, so I crumble them up and sprinkle it on top of the feeder. if there's an area on the feeder I forgot to sprinkle, it would eat from there. ALSO, when their mama is calling them for food the active one SPRINTS to the food, but the little one stays under the mum unless I physically take it off.
Basically, its a lot smaller, less active and developing a lot slower than its sibling.
here's a picture, the runts one is not that clear but I think you can tell
I don't have any comparison photos though
ONE MORE THING
is it the genes of this chick? the broody hen was originally given 2 eggs, one laid by her and one by my other hen. Then I added another egg 1 day later and that egg was laid by the other hen. there were 2 that were laid by my other hen, but I think one may be this runt. one of the ones laid by her died shortly after it cracked out of the shell which was an absolute SHAME; its colouring was so adorable, not a pure colour, but my 'other hen' is a lavender pekin and the father is Isabelle, so the colour was all lavender except a lining of yellow on its wing tips.
this one isn't doing too well, so could it have been laid by my lavender hen seeing as the other one laid by her died (with foot deformities)?
aw im sorry to hear that that's really sad
). the mama and the other one are doing really well. because the older ones growing, the mama can't sit on them all day and she walks around. but now all the small one wants is to sit under the mum all day or it stands their cheeping with its eyes closing. its trying to hide under anything in sight, including burrowing itself under the layers of newspaper and hay. so anyway, it got really cold today (and yesterday) and the baby started growing lethargic. it then started shaking really terribly and then fell on its side and on its back. it was then shakily twitching and couldn't stand properly. I brought it inside so that it could get warm and after a while, it was back on its feet. yesterday the exact same thing happened. and a week ago the same thing happened (except it was really bad). I got really worried about it but it keeps pulling through everything even though it looks like its on the brink of death. It is usually more active during hot days. when it was 2 days old, the chickens were inside the conservatory until they got a little bigger to get out. it would be lethargic and everything but one sunny day, I forgot to open the windows. I came back to the mama hen panting and when I opened the door it was so STUFFY like a tropical rainforest and so HOT. (there was water available) I immediately opened the doors and windows to let them cool down. this one, in the heat was doing so well. and it was BURNING hot.
