A chick that won't grow?! *UPDATE*

[dlhunicorn]

I think this is what is ailing your chick:
http://www.poultry-health.com/fora/inthelth/zavala_pip_05.pdf
(including photos )

 

[Cara]

The poor thing had a run in with a cat last week, and one of her eyes was all scratched up, so we thought about putting her down. I gave her a couple of hours to see if she would come around, and she was eating and drinking, and has now healed up well. I think she can still see out of that eye. She still hasn't grown though! She's got more feathers, but she is no bigger than a week-old, and she's almost 5 weeks.

 

[ruth]

Don't give up on her. Ruth was a very late bloomer and nearly died as a 4 week old. I began feeding her, and all the others extra protein-rich foods like cheese, black oil sunflower seeds, diced up lunch meats, meal worms, crickets. Plus, for Ruth, I gave her a vitamin E capsule and liquid bird vitamins daily. Today Ruth is 5 months old and only started growing in the last month. She is the size of the 8 week old Buff Orps she adopted. They seemed to give her something to live for and she started eating more and running around with them all day instead of sitting off by herself and being terrified of the others. She's about a third the size of her fellow hatchmates.

Pics taken last week - baby buff orps are 8 weeks old - Ruth is 5 months old.

She has finally feathered-out beautifully:

Picture of Ruth when she was about 12 weeks old. She was all wings - no body under there and no tail. Would scratch her face till it was bald. My grown kids would really tease me about how ugly she was.

Hang in there - late bloomers/ugly ducklings can become beautiful. My grown son saw her for the first time in a long time the other day and said "Hey is that the little twisted neck chicken that was so ugly? Wow, she really looks good" Ruth is so friendly and runs to see me and jump on my lap. Has a totally different personality than any of the others. I guess because she was hand fed for so long. She still has a little bit of a twisted neck and now that she finally has a tail it too twists to the left but she really is pretty inside and out and worth the wait and the work.

 

[Cara]

I know what you mean, this one has tried so hard I just couldn't do it (well let my husband!). I feel bad for her because she is alone. Her friends are in the coop now, but she is too little to make it around them all. Hopefully I will have some hatch this weekend that can keep her company.

 

[ruth]

That will be ideal for her. It's when Ruth started to change. She would often stay behind in the run when I'd open the gate each morning and just hang out by herself. So when I got the babies and started letting them have the run of the run when the big girls were out Ruth stayed with them. I watched at first to make sure she would not hurt the little 3 day old chicks but she took to them almost right away. If one strayed too far she would chase it back to the group. She would cuddle down with them for naps. It gave her a chance to be the dominate one and top hen. Now at 8 weeks they think she is their mama and they have all been free ranging with the rest of the flock for the past four weeks. She became more dominate toward the big chicks because she was taking up for the little ones. Now they respect her and don't pick on her like they used to - cause hey, they may be laying eggs but she's got babies.

 

[seminolewind]

Awwww, I hope she hangs in there, Ruth that was a heart warming story. I think you're right in that she finally found something to live for. Karen

 

[Cara]

Well I did what Ruth recommended and put her in with the chicks from my first hatch. Four months later, here she is:

As you can see, she ended up doing great! Thanks so much for the advice, it saved her life. She ended up bigger than her sister, who I lost suddenly this week I don't know what was wrong with her, one day she was fluffed up but I thought it was because of the cold snap, but the next day I found her dead on the floor of the coop. She was skinny under all the fluff.

 

[Critter Crazy]

WOW!!!! She turned out Gorgeous!!! I just love how she bounced right back!!

sorry you lost her sister.

 

[SpottedCrow]

That's great news!
Sorry about her sister.

 

[lexapurple]

What a beautifull bird!