5-6 weekvold looks like 2 week old

[Hahafishing]

I recently bought 7 chicks 2 of 3 different breeds and 1 partridge cochin. she is at least 5 weeks old but still looks like a 2 week old and has on and off pasty butt and seems to be having troubles opening her eyes on occasion recently. Shes been quarantined for a little over a week because the other chicks are almost fully feathered and moved into the coop. She eats regularly and although i havent seen her drink in a day or 2 she has to be drinking. Right? Shes pretty fatt and content right now but im worried about her long term health. Dose anyone know anything about this? Or have any suggestions?

 

[coach723]

How sure are you of the age? How long have you had them? She looks a lot younger than 5 weeks.

 

[Hahafishing]

We have had her since march 22 assuming she was a week old, even at a day old shes now over 4 weeks With 0 signs of maturing in the recent weeks

How sure are you of the age? How long have you had them? She looks a lot younger than 5 weeks.

We got them on march 22 and were told she was a week old along with the others. Even if she had been a day old wich is unlikely because i bought through a retailer not a breeder she whould still be over 4 weeks old at this point, wich is why ive waited so long to reach out. Ive had suggestions that she may be impacted or not getting enough protein so ive switched her diet to more of a mix feeding medicated scratch, grit, eggs,and strawberries. And try to message her crop and give a little veg oil 2 times a day for the last few days, ive also added acidifiers, electrolytes and probiotics to her water.

 

[coach723]

It sounds like a failure to thrive chick, reasons may never be known. If after this amount of time it's still not growing (I'm surprised it has survived) I'm not sure what else you can do. I would stick to a good quality chick starter/grower feed, mix with a bit of water to make a mash. Some brands may be easier to digest than others, so you may want to experiment a bit. But if she's not digesting, or is having crop issues, then there may be internal things going on that are beyond control. I wish you luck, and hopefully someone who may have experienced something like this may chime in. I've personally never had one that didn't grow/develop survive this long. If it does continue to survive, it may be a special needs bird always.

 

[Hahafishing]

It sounds like a failure to thrive chick, reasons may never be known. If after this amount of time it's still not growing (I'm surprised it has survived) I'm not sure what else you can do. I would stick to a good quality chick starter/grower feed, mix with a bit of water to make a mash. Some brands may be easier to digest than others, so you may want to experiment a bit. But if she's not digesting, or is having crop issues, then there may be internal things going on that are beyond control. I wish you luck, and hopefully someone who may have experienced something like this may chime in. I've personally never had one that didn't grow/develop survive this long. If it does continue to survive, it may be a special needs bird always.

 

[Hahafishing]

Ya we are closely monitoring her and trying to feed diffrent things to keep her happy as long as shes willing to stay with us.
If she survives we are fine with a special needs bird just want her to be happy! Thanks for the response fingers crossed

 

[HawaiiCoyote]

It sounds like the same issue I had with a duckling, failure to thrive. Sadly, it grew VERY slowly ( if at all ) much like your chick. It passed away just before week three. I'm sorry for your chick, I really hope it makes it!

 

[Hahafishing]

It sounds like the same issue I had with a duckling, failure to thrive. Sadly, it grew VERY slowly ( if at all ) much like your chick. It passed away just before week three. I'm sorry for your chick, I really hope it makes it!

Ive read a bit about failure to thrive and she dose have some obvious issues being on week 5 we are still hopfull for her

 

[danimajor1988]

So what happened to the chick!!! Did she grow up at all or did she not make it? I'd like to see what happened please, pictures would be awesome. Just very curious is all!

 

[Hahafishing]

Shes doing fairly well. She had a slight impaction of her crop we were able to clear it. We fed her a diet of baby bird food and chick scratch made into a paste for about a week then got her going on a crumble her growth is still slow but shes pushing out some adult feathers and still has strong spirits we are very hopeful for her. She is still separated from the other girls and sleeps in the house at night in a warm tote.