Super fat baby wyandotte, Normal??

[Daisythechicken]

I bought this blue laced red wyandotte chick and noticed it has ALOT of fat and isnt as fast as the other chicks- Not to mention whenever i pick it up no matter how gentle im holding it its always gasping. Its the only fat chick.

Ps, When we bought this chick it was fat already. The brown chick is not the wyandotte- and is just there to show comparison.

 

[nuthatched]

It might still have quite a bit of yolk inside, chicks absorb rhw egg yolk before they hatch. as long as it acts fine, I wouldn't worry.

 

[Eggcessive]

Could you have accidentally bought a meatie chick? I was at my feed store the other day, and they had a meat chick in with bantams, and it looked like a giant chick. Just about all of their labeled bins had some wrong chicks in them.

 

[Battlepants]

Could you have accidentally bought a meatie chick? I was at my feed store the other day, and they had a meat chick in with bantams, and it looked like a giant chick. Just about all of their labeled bins had some wrong chicks in them.

With my most recent batch, I fear this is the case for me as well. Fortunately, they didn't have any cornish X to get mixed up in there, so feeling safe that I don't have a pure blood meatie. An example of this is that I picked up something advertised as a Buff Brahma, but I have no chicks with feet feathers. Not sure what I actually got, but a Buff Brahma is not it.

Ultimately, I think this just comes down to the trade off of buying from a feed store vs a breeder - you get subjected to mistakes made by the retail worker that is picking the chicks for you. Not hating on the retail workers, just that you either have a passion for chickens or you don't, and I completely understand that this is just a job and not a passion for them.

But yea, if this one is just hovering over the food constantly and packing on the pounds, you probably have a meatie. One strategy that I've heard for keeping meaties from getting overly plump is to elevate the food so they have to stand all the way upright to reach it. This keeps them from just slumping over, head in the food, and eating 24/7.

 

[Eggcessive]

You might want to post another picture of the whole chick, especially near the others. Meaties have huge legs and feet as well as poor feathering, and fat little bodies.

 

[Daisythechicken]

Heres a picture of the fat chick (tan) and a chocolate orphington (brown). They are both the same age

 

[Eggcessive]

I cannot see much in the latest picture that points to her being a meat bird. The feet and legs look normal size.