Runty chicks

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jeapa

jeapa

Crowing
10 Years
Jan 4, 2012
312
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I have a couple of very small Columbian Wyandotte chicks. They will be 4 weeks old tomorrow as will all of my other chicks purchased at the same time. These smaller chicks behave just like the bigger ones and seem perfectly healthy in every way other then size. Will they catch up eventually or will their health suffer in the future? I have been reading about this runty syndrome, but I am not sure if this is what my chicks have. Here are some photos of the two chicks with a few of my other chicks for size comparison.

Little squirt with my normal sized Columbian.



The other small Columbian chick.




Little squirt yesterday




A close up of Little Squirts butt showing the tail feathers finally starting to grow.



A shot of some of my other chicks that are the same age.

 
ChicKat said:
What pretty chicks! What nice photos...you could offer the first one to TSC for advertising promotions. ;O)

Is there any chance that the little ones are bantams?
Click to expand...

Thanks. I thought the same thing about the photo with the bag of TSC pine shavings..LOL..

They are not supposed to be bantams and since one of the three Columbians that I got is growing normally I suspect they are just growing slowly for some reason.
 
They are cute. In some breeds males will develop their feathers slower. I don't know about your Columbian Wyandottes. The feathers could make the one appear larger also. They appear to be at least a week younger.
 
RonC said:
They are cute. In some breeds males will develop their feathers slower. I don't know about your Columbian Wyandottes. The feathers could make the one appear larger also. They appear to be at least a week younger.
Click to expand...


They do look younger, but they are not. All three were the same size when I got them on May 8th. The hatchery said they hatched on May 7th. I sure hope I do not have 2 roos as I can not keep them :(

Here is a shot when I first got them: The Columbian chicks have the yellow heads and darker backs.

 
I have some blue laced red wyandottes, and I noticed they grew at different rates- even when compared to each other. I think wyandottes are one of the slower maturing breeds, probably why their smaller then the others. Mine are about 8 weeks now, and they're all about the same size. One is still on the smaller size, but there isn't a huge difference between them. Good luck!
 
howfunkyisurchicken said:
I have some blue laced red wyandottes, and I noticed they grew at different rates- even when compared to each other. I think wyandottes are one of the slower maturing breeds, probably why their smaller then the others. Mine are about 8 weeks now, and they're all about the same size. One is still on the smaller size, but there isn't a huge difference between them. Good luck!
Click to expand...


That is reassuring to hear. They really do seem perfectly healthy and are able to hold their own with the larger chicks.
 
At about a month there was a noticable difference in the size of mine. As time progressed some caught and passed others then would lag behind again. Mine are all the same breed but seemed to progress in at different rates at different times.
 
I have a SLW that is just starting to feather at 5 weeks old, the other SLW and GLW both are feathered and are quite a bit bigger. The little one is very active and seem very healthy and freindly I hope it's not a ROO.
 
I suspect 2 of my australorp birds are roos. The reason i do is because both of them feathered out way late. Their bodies were smaller but they stood the same height. No wattle or comb for reference I had to go with behaviors I have seen in my rooster. Standing on one leg, narrow eye set compared to my other birds. At first only the chest and wing feathers came in. Then suddenly the back feathers and head feathers started growing in so fast they werent getting them preened fast enough. they looked like porcupines. Now, if you look a Nibbles, you can tell he is a roo. He has the really thin narrow feathes along his back which are saddle feathers, he has the long thing hackle feathers on his neck too. He does not have bigger feet, but he is tall and stands with his chest up and outward rather than parallel to the ground.

This is him at about 1 month old.



Here he is 2 weeks ago.



This one is a week ago.



Him today.



 
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