5 WK old runty dark brahma?

[DesertBrahma]

I have 6 5 week old LF Dark Brahma chicks. 5 of them are big mostly feathered showing which is a boy and girl and 1 that looks like its a 3 wk old chick. I got all of them at the same time from the local TSC. They came from Privett Hatchery here in NM. Its a cute little thing but was wondering why it's so different from its littermates. I would love for Little Bit to be a hen if that's what it is but i can't tell. I know what the other 5 are. Its just so much smaller than the others and starting to look a little bald as its fluff starts comin out but no feathers lol. The little roo I'm going to keep my 4yr old named Zuma off Paw Patrol lol. The other roo (Mr. Meanie as my son calls him) my oldest is beginning to understand is going for dinner. The 3 hens of course are staying he named 2 of them Chickoletta and Sweetie. I named the other Madea cause she doesnt let the boggest roo beat up on the others lol. I just wish i knew what Little Bit was. Can anyone tell me why its going so slow on growing and feathering? I wont be giving it away in any case be it hen or roo. It will just have a different destiny depending on what it is. I'll try to get a pick of Little Bit compared to its siblings.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Runts happen. More often than a lot of people seem to think. In my batch of 13 chicks I had a runt. She was a quarter the size of the others as a chick and about half the size of the others at 6 months. Here you can see her in the middle of the dustbathing scrum. She's the same age as the one in the foreground and the one standing to the right, but sooooo much smaller.

 

[DesertBrahma]

I'm going to call Little Bit a girl until I know for sure. She's staying until she either proves a girl or boy. If she turns out to be a girl then I'll only have 1going onto the pot. Zuma, Madea, Chickoletta, and Sweetie are all staying. Mr. Meanie is going to be eaten because of his attitude. I only allow aggression towards rodents venomous snakes and spiders. My cats arent even aggressove towards each other and us. Heck Madea might be destined for the pot unless she proves a good mama. She was beomg a booger whileI was cleaning. She tried to nip me lol. Oh well some attitude is expected. I just gave them their first dust bath bowl with FGDE in it. That way I statt them out with some external parasite control. These chicks are so funny. Zuma kept trying to get in my lap lol. Little bit wanted to sit on my arm and Chickoletta just wanted to get in the way lol. I'm really hoping I'm raising them right. They're enjoying the nice sun after having to be inside for the last few days because of nasty winds. They'll be back inside this afternoon because of the oh so lovely spring winds. I really bees to get out there and make the darn coop. Then they'll have tons of room to play in.

 

[HighStreetCoop]

Sounds like you're doing a great job to me!