Am I Screwing up

[NCMayberry]

I am very new to keeping chickens and need some advice.
I have 20 White Leghorns I have been filling their feeder once per day and by end of day there is just a little bit of food left
They are just now about 2 1/2 weeks old, However I have 1 chick that is double the size of all the others, She walks and gets around fine
but usely wont go far without laying down, also seems to be breathing heavier than others, Is this normal or should I cut their food back? Currently Im feeding them about 1.5 Qt per day

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I am very new to keeping chickens and need some advice.
I have 20 White Leghorns I have been filling their feeder once per day and by end of day there is just a little bit of food left
They are just now about 2 1/2 weeks old, However I have 1 chick that is double the size of all the others, She walks and gets around fine
but usely wont go far without laying down, also seems to be breathing heavier than others, Is this normal or should I cut their food back? Currently Im feeding them about 1.5 Qt per day

Can you take and post some photos of the chicks? My first suspicion is that the heavier bird is not a leghorn at all - and may well be a Cornish cross (meat bird).
On the matter of the feeder -- what type of feeder are you using? Can you post some photos that show how it is set in your brooder? A lot of times the seeming "bottomless pits" of chicks is actually a matter of feed waste due to the chicks billing out the feed into the bedding.

 

[MrsEskew]

It sounds to me like you ended up with one cornish cross meat bird. They grow much faster than others and do the heavy breathing. They also spend almost all of their time eating.

 

[americanchicks]

Sounds like a CX to me too, they love to lay by the food bowl. Funny I had the opposite problem. I got chicks that where supposed to be CX and they turned out to be Leghorns.

 

[NCMayberry]

Guess this is Why NOT to buy your chicks from Tractor Supply? LOL
I wish I would of done more research and bought from a supplier online that had good feedback

 

[NCMayberry]

Here is a Img... Also what are the red ones? My wifes go worker gave them to her tonight he said he got them at a local feed store last week and they was sold as Assorted Red Pullets he gave them to her because he said be couldnt afford to build a coop. The one im talking thats so much bigger is the one I put the arrow on. Also he is not as skittish as all the others he is very calm

 

[MrsEskew]

The red ones are Production Reds. The are a hybrid bred to lay lots of eggs. They will lay nice brown eggs.

 

[americanchicks]

Yep looks like a Cornsih Cross. Keep in mind that the CX are meat birds and bred to eat and grow. Mine are about 5 lbs at 5 weeks. Unfortunately since they are meat birds they meant to be butchered around 8-12 weeks. They don't live long after that prone to heart problems and leg deformities cause of the weight.


Here is my largest CX(5weeks) with my leghorns(6weeks) you can see the size difference