4 chicks same age 1 now 1/3 size of others and now crusty eye

[imaturtlefan]

My husband bought me 4 chicks about 3-4 weeks ago, 1 was just a tiny bit smaller than the rest...now its about 1/3 to a quarter of the size of the rest...they are about 5 weeks old now, no other symptoms, but the tiny one now has an eye crusted shut... acts fine though, others have no symptoms at all. I have separated the sick one, and bleached and lysoled everything
... worried what it has is contagious...I dont want to lose the rest of my chicks. I thought about culling...may if its worse tomarrow, but hate to cull one that only has a bit of an eye crust, nothing else...

so...is it possible its just failure to thrive, with it being so much smaller than the rest, but same age? It also has gotten very cold the last 2 nights, but they had heat on them.... Im really hoping this doesnt have to be a contagious disease, and its just a case of 1 failure to thrive... any thoughts... the rest have almost fully feathered out, and this one is not only way smaller, but still has mostly chick fluff, just some wing feathers...

 

[imaturtlefan]

Sorry this posted before I could finish it...so I edited, and it reposted again...cant figure out how to delete the other one...

 

[CMV]

It certainly sounds like failure to thrive.

Is the eye injured at all? One of the biggest dangers to these little guys (after the possibility of organ failure) is the other chickens. Chickens will start to pick on those they view as "different"- smaller, weaker, sickly, pouffed feathers, etc. I'd give the little one a few days to see if the eye crusties are an injury rather than an illness. I think that your peace of mind is worth more than a speedy dispatch of a chick that has survived up to this point. As long as the chick is not suffering, I don't see the point in euthanization until you can establish whether or not it's ill. If the chick becomes obviously ill in the next few days you can send it into your state lab for a necropsy to see what you may be dealing with, and ways of ensuring the health of the rest of your flock. It also might be interesting to see what exactly was the cause of the failure to thrive, as a secondary consideration.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

Edited for spelling.

 

[blueskylen]

i had a cornish x a couple of years ago that was the same way - seemed healthy, but just didnt grow very much. she lived about 5 weeks, and then just passed away with no warning. i think that she just didn't develope inside to keep up with the outside..

 

[imaturtlefan]

I can see no injury, and I havent seen the others picking at it at all. They are a pretty docile breed (speckled sussex) and dont seem to pick at each other. I am hoping its just failure to thrive though, and like I said...there are no other symptoms whatsoever, so far the chick doesnt even act sick, or lethargic. I am going to wait and see if it developes any other symptoms.