6 Day old EE behavior seems off, advice on my concerns please?

[CoastChick]

Hi. First time chicken mama here. We’ve started off with two EEs and one red sex link. I opted for the heating plate brooder in a large plastic tote with a nice wire top (hardware cloth and wood). We first brought our chicks home from the local feed store, on day two. Today the chicks are six days old. One of the EEs is significantly bigger than the other two chicks, but literally twice the size as my sweet EE, Ärger. We weighed them for fun on days 3 and 5. And now day 6.

The red sex link, Rexi, gained 3 grams. My big girl Fiona gained 8 grams. And my runt, Ärger gained 2g but then lost 1g. So, overall has only gained 1g in 3 days.

In observing them they all eat a lot, poop a lot… And the two bigger girls drink regularly also. Today is the first day that I’ve really been concerned about my tiny girl, she peeps softly, and constantly. While eating, under the brooder when she’s supposed to be napping. While it kind of sounds like a contented little sound it sometimes sounds a little frantic also… And it is so constant. Because she’s so tiny I’ve been paying special attention to make sure that she’s getting food, that the other girls aren’t being bullies. Both the other girls seem to stick close to her and crowd her? She does seem to be eating.

She seems to prefer eating the food off of the ground rather than in either of the trays, they are on MannaPro medicated chick starter grower. And I have electrolytes in the water.

I am linking two videos that I took this morning of her. One is just a couple minutes long the other one is near seven minutes long.

Ärger peep peep peeps under brooder:

The sounds that you’re hearing in this video, are Fiona and Lexi eating. And the constant peeping is Ärger under the brooder. She does slow down and even stops for a couple of seconds when her sisters come back under the bird or with her. Is she calling them? it’s just kind of a quiet constant peep peep peep peep. ?
6 day old EE (Ärger) peeps constantly. Seems to be eating fine. Has had water. Eliminates fine, if not a little wet… but she’s my tiny chick (29 grams) at about half the size of the other EE brood mate. Spends most of her time under brooder plate- otherwise eating. Today is the first day she’s peeped constantly.

Ärger, 6 day old EE behavior:

As you can see for this almost entire six minutes she’s eating, or picking at food… She just doesn’t seem to be growing to match that?

A little concerned on her size, and her behavior, with near constant cheeping and slightly fluffed up appearance.
The other two girls are pushy. As soon as one comes out to get a bite, everybody comes out and they all seem to be vying for the same hole, even though there’s now two feeders in there. Should I move Ärger to a hospital cage? After her sisters are done eating and come back under the brooder with her she tends to quiet down? So is her cheeping because she misses her sisters and maybe she’s just wanting them to return? If so I would hate to move her to being all alone. Advice ?

 

[Chicken poppy]

Hi. First time chicken mama here. We’ve started off with two EEs and one red sex link. I opted for the heating plate brooder in a large plastic tote with a nice wire top (hardware cloth and wood). We first brought our chicks home from the local feed store, on day two. Today the chicks are six days old. One of the EEs is significantly bigger than the other two chicks, but literally twice the size as my sweet EE, Ärger. We weighed them for fun on days 3 and 5. And now day 6.

The red sex link, Rexi, gained 3 grams. My big girl Fiona gained 8 grams. And my runt, Ärger gained 2g but then lost 1g. So, overall has only gained 1g in 3 days.

In observing them they all eat a lot, poop a lot… And the two bigger girls drink regularly also. Today is the first day that I’ve really been concerned about my tiny girl, she peeps softly, and constantly. While eating, under the brooder when she’s supposed to be napping. While it kind of sounds like a contented little sound it sometimes sounds a little frantic also… And it is so constant. Because she’s so tiny I’ve been paying special attention to make sure that she’s getting food, that the other girls aren’t being bullies. Both the other girls seem to stick close to her and crowd her? She does seem to be eating.

She seems to prefer eating the food off of the ground rather than in either of the trays, they are on MannaPro medicated chick starter grower. And I have electrolytes in the water.

I am linking two videos that I took this morning of her. One is just a couple minutes long the other one is near seven minutes long.

Ärger peep peep peeps under brooder:

The sounds that you’re hearing in this video, are Fiona and Lexi eating. And the constant peeping is Ärger under the brooder. She does slow down and even stops for a couple of seconds when her sisters come back under the bird or with her. Is she calling them? it’s just kind of a quiet constant peep peep peep peep. ?
6 day old EE (Ärger) peeps constantly. Seems to be eating fine. Has had water. Eliminates fine, if not a little wet… but she’s my tiny chick (29 grams) at about half the size of the other EE brood mate. Spends most of her time under brooder plate- otherwise eating. Today is the first day she’s peeped constantly.

Ärger, 6 day old EE behavior:

As you can see for this almost entire six minutes she’s eating, or picking at food… She just doesn’t seem to be growing to match that?

A little concerned on her size, and her behavior, with near constant cheeping and slightly fluffed up appearance.
The other two girls are pushy. As soon as one comes out to get a bite, everybody comes out and they all seem to be vying for the same hole, even though there’s now two feeders in there. Should I move Ärger to a hospital cage? After her sisters are done eating and come back under the brooder with her she tends to quiet down? So is her cheeping because she misses her sisters and maybe she’s just wanting them to return? If so I would hate to move her to being all alone. Advice ?

Im not a expert, but honestly it sounds just chick behavior. She could just be bred a little smaller, id keep a eye out of course but to me i dont think electrolyte water is needed, my opinion anyway

 

[CoastChick]

Update....

So, just an update for this thread. Unfortunately I lost my sweet Ärger early this morning. It appears to be Failure to Thrive? Even though she was eating and drinking, but her crop never felt full? I could easily feel her keel after day 1 of bringing her home.

What can I look for in the future as far as hatchlings? This girl was the one my son picked from our local hatchery, so he is taking the loss very hard. =(
When we picked her up from the feed store, she was lively and running around - she had so much energy. Her feet looked fine and beak, bright eyes. She was 2 days old at that time and as soon as we got her to her (pre-warmed) brooder, I showed her how to drink. She soon did that on her own as well as found her food. She declined SO fast after day 5 though? And she gained 2g by the second day home, definitely wasn't growing like the other girls, and then her weight declined.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Update....

So, just an update for this thread. Unfortunately I lost my sweet Ärger early this morning. It appears to be Failure to Thrive? Even though she was eating and drinking, but her crop never felt full? I could easily feel her keel after day 1 of bringing her home.

What can I look for in the future as far as hatchlings? This girl was the one my son picked from our local hatchery, so he is taking the loss very hard. =(
When we picked her up from the feed store, she was lively and running around - she had so much energy. Her feet looked fine and beak, bright eyes. She was 2 days old at that time and as soon as we got her to her (pre-warmed) brooder, I showed her how to drink. She soon did that on her own as well as found her food. She declined SO fast after day 5 though? And she gained 2g by the second day home, definitely wasn't growing like the other girls, and then her weight declined.

Honestly, this could be many things. What did her poop look like? Did she have a stinky smell? Im going off of my own experinc so unfortunately i cant give you a lot of information. Im so sorry for your loss.

 

[CoastChick]

Her poop was much more watery than the other girls', and a different shade of brownish on her last day with us, other than that it looked like the other girls'. And I didn't notice any different (or bad) odors.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Her poop was much more watery than the other girls', and a different shade of brownish on her last day with us, other than that it looked like the other girls'. And I didn't notice any different (or bad) odors.

Did she eat a good amount? Other then watery poop im not seeing hugely major things that i could identify (for me atleast)

 

[CoastChick]

Yes, for the first two days, it was after her third day here that I noticed she wasn’t gaining like the other girls were at all. Which I thought was weird because I saw her eating with them every time they came out. So in my mind they would be getting similar amounts because they were all out there eating together… Quite often. But she was not gaining. The other two girls were.

 

[Chicken poppy]

Yes, for the first two days, it was after her third day here that I noticed she wasn’t gaining like the other girls were at all. Which I thought was weird because I saw her eating with them every time they came out. So in my mind they would be getting similar amounts because they were all out there eating together… Quite often. But she was not gaining. The other two girls were.

Worms COULD be a possibility. diarrhea? If you can, send her body to do tests on if you didnt already do something with it. If your comfy with that, i use Uconn and sent my dollys body there and they gave me accurate results. Then you can determine what it was and if the others might get it.

 

[drdoct]

Sorry for little Arger. Sometimes chicks (and all animals for that matter) just don't make it past a few days. It could be they were the runt and bullied as nature does. Or they had something wrong internally. We're on our 4th day with our 6 chicks and still hold our breath when we pull up the brooder hot plate. We got 6 because we needed 4. But because things happen, we decided to get 2 extras. Last time we ended up with a Cockerel and one hen died laying her first egg.

Maybe bring your son back to the feed store and buy 2 more chicks? I've always felt like chicks should be raised in 2's. I would advise him to look for the fast ones that are hard to catch. It's always hard to lose one because everything you are doing is to keep them alive.