The ugly chick

[tmayk]

We just received a bunch of chicks today and one is just the strangest little thing!! It's a dark brahma, I'm certain. But, it's tiny, about 1/2 the size of the other brahmas. It has large, long legs that seem slightly turned out. It arrived with a pastey bum which I've been cleaning and seems much improved.
She is eating and drinking and seems very active.
But, oh my goodness she never stops cheaping!!! I mean the little lady is loud.
I feel like she is trying to tell me something, as if she's in distress.

What do you think? Any experience?
I'm hoping she's just a runt and needs some extra time.
Is that possible?
Poor thing is pretty ragged looking. We've deemed her the 'Dino chick'.

edit to add-
We lost her last night. I feel bad for the little girl that she had to suffer, but I am glad she isn't anymore.

 

[chickster5003]

Could you take a pic? I hatched Brahamas last spring.

 

[tmayk]

She doesn't look quite so bad in photos, but here she is. You can see her bum is tiny & she is a little bit bug eyed



Here she is next to the other smallest brahma that she arrived with



She just never stops cheaping! poor thing. She also seems to attack me any time i go near here.

 

[chickster5003]

Well she looks as healthy as could be. As longs as she's walking, and eating and drinking she should be fine. Tell me if anything happens. With our batch we had one deformed chick and we had to cull him. And then one and her first vowel movement cause her inside to come out and than another chick found it before we did and bit it causin her to bleed and we had to cull her too. Right now we are trying to hatch duck eggs, all of them are fertile and we discovered a double yolker.


I wish you all the luck!! Keep me updated

 

[tmayk]

Thanks. I sure hope she is okay! all her noise has me worried. All the other chicks are quietly resting right now and she is just relentlessly chirping. She also falls over a lot.
I'll update as she grows.

Good luck with your ducklings! Our runners went broody last spring and one hatched 7 ducklings. I'm curious to see how your double yoker does!

Well she looks as healthy as could be. As longs as she's walking, and eating and drinking she should be fine. Tell me if anything happens. With our batch we had one deformed chick and we had to cull him. And then one and her first vowel movement cause her inside to come out and than another chick found it before we did and bit it causin her to bleed and we had to cull her too. Right now we are trying to hatch duck eggs, all of them are fertile and we discovered a double yolker.


I wish you all the luck!! Keep me updated

 

[aleebama]

Keep us posted. Very interesting!

 

[Alia]

When a chick is "crying" all the time, it certainly can mean there's something wrong with it. Not the soft little contact chirping; the loud, "Pe-EP, pe-EP!" calling, with the big open mouth.

Chicken, why are you crying?
I go through the following steps:

1. Thirst. Dip beak in water. Make it drink.

2. Hunger, but you covered that. (Honestly the chick looks deformed to me too, but if it eats that's a HUGE sign it's okay.)

3. Warm/cold. Sometimes they're too warm or too cold, but too young and inexperienced to simply move to the right part of the brooder. So I move a crying chick manually, trying warm and cold parts to see if it stops crying.

4. Because it feels like it. Distract the chicken with your finger. Sometimes they go off on a crying spree and for whatever reason, don't stop. It is possible for one chicken crying all the time to make another one start up. If the chicken seems distracted, but is still crying, it's probably in some sort of pain.

5. Sadness. It's possible for a chicken to be sad! Sometimes if you hold them close for a little while, they'll stop.

The falling down could be a really bad sign. But again the eating is a really good sign. In my personal experience, a chick who always cries AND doesn't eat is 100% a goner. However, yours is eating, and there are so many reasons for a chick to cry that it might not even be related to the falling down. My bet would be she gets over it, that she was born with an inner ear problem that's related to a developmental abnormality (which is why she looks like that) and that she's crying constantly because she's dizzy. If whatever caused her to look like that is deficiency-related, she could even grow up normal as she absorbs whatever she was lacking from naturally eating and drinking.

Edit: Actually, the tiny butt could mean it's as simple a thing as that the chick failed to absorb the yolk of the egg before it hatched. Not having that nutritional gold mine would cause her to be even smaller, and very weak compared to the others.

 

[tmayk]

When a chick is "crying" all the time, it certainly can mean there's something wrong with it. Not the soft little contact chirping; the loud, "Pe-EP, pe-EP!" calling, with the big open mouth.

Chicken, why are you crying?
I go through the following steps:

1. Thirst. Dip beak in water. Make it drink.

2. Hunger, but you covered that. (Honestly the chick looks deformed to me too, but if it eats that's a HUGE sign it's okay.)

3. Warm/cold. Sometimes they're too warm or too cold, but too young and inexperienced to simply move to the right part of the brooder. So I move a crying chick manually, trying warm and cold parts to see if it stops crying.

4. Because it feels like it. Distract the chicken with your finger. Sometimes they go off on a crying spree and for whatever reason, don't stop. It is possible for one chicken crying all the time to make another one start up. If the chicken seems distracted, but is still crying, it's probably in some sort of pain.

5. Sadness. It's possible for a chicken to be sad! Sometimes if you hold them close for a little while, they'll stop.

The falling down could be a really bad sign. But again the eating is a really good sign. In my personal experience, a chick who always cries AND doesn't eat is 100% a goner. However, yours is eating, and there are so many reasons for a chick to cry that it might not even be related to the falling down. My bet would be she gets over it, that she was born with an inner ear problem that's related to a developmental abnormality (which is why she looks like that) and that she's crying constantly because she's dizzy. If whatever caused her to look like that is deficiency-related, she could even grow up normal as she absorbs whatever she was lacking from naturally eating and drinking.

Edit: Actually, the tiny butt could mean it's as simple a thing as that the chick failed to absorb the yolk of the egg before it hatched. Not having that nutritional gold mine would cause her to be even smaller, and very weak compared to the others.

Thank you for such a thoughtful response.
I have seen her drink and eat several times & she is pooping as well. She moves freely around the brooder & cuddled in with other chicks so I think the temperature is ok.
I think you are spot on with the nutrient deficiency. She certainly looks deformed.
To elaborate on her falling over- it seems like her tiny bum is effecting her balance on her disproportional large legs. She doesn't seem dizzy or weak, just clumsy!
I hope she does ok. No matter what purpose I raise a chicken for I never want any of them to suffer!!

 

[Alia]

I can't completely see from the pictures but I don't see long legs. I see the lack of a typical, round, pluffy baby chicken body. It really could be just that she didn't absorb her yolk. It would be amazing that she didn't starve in the time it took to ship her if that was the case.

If it is developmental, and there is something wrong inside the bird, your chances are poor to fair.

If it's deficiency-based, there's some kind of vitamin dose that will perk her right up. I think it's called Nutri-Drench.

 

[tmayk]

I can't completely see from the pictures but I don't see long legs. I see the lack of a typical, round, pluffy baby chicken body. It really could be just that she didn't absorb her yolk. It would be amazing that she didn't starve in the time it took to ship her if that was the case.

If it is developmental, and there is something wrong inside the bird, your chances are poor to fair.

If it's deficiency-based, there's some kind of vitamin dose that will perk her right up. I think it's called Nutri-Drench.

You are right, her legs aren't too long, just not in proportion with her tiny, malnurished body.
She doesn't seem to be doing well right now. We decided to feed her some egg yoke and see it that does the trick. She seemed to really like it! If she makes it through the night I will see if I can pick something up at the feed store tomorrow morning.