Baby chick not growing

[PaolaH1234]

OMG!!! How heartbreaking!!!

You must be devastated, I would be! No signs of paw prints or fur or anything like that? Maybe there was more than one critter to get so many at once. Was the door open when you saw it? Maybe your missing chicks ran off? I am so sorry.....

 

[tballard]

Both - 9 dead in the coop and 7 missing. There were feathers and blood outside the coop, so I am assuming whatever it was killed them all and carried off 7 of the dead ones, so it have to have made multiple trips. There is no way the chickens could have gotten out on their own, even in their panic. Cleaning up the coop was a mess - blood everywhere. Very depressing. I've got another batch of pullets at this point and am really locking them down at night, but I still lost a couple to a dog recently (during the day). Dogs are a real problem in my area - I've shot three since Christmas - but the loss of the pullets could not have been a dog. Dogs just usually kill the chickens for fun and do not take them, plus there is no way a dog could have gotten into the coop. I still suspect a raccoon or family of raccoons to have manipulated the latch like that, but 16 pullets just seems like a lot for a raccoon.

 

[RainForestBird]

I have a tiny Serama chick who is like this. I picked her up from the breeder 3 weeks ago and while the older pullets I got at the same time have graduated to spending days outside, she stays inside with her sister chick who is growing and one of the older pullets from the aforementioned group who also does not appear to be growing. She's like a newborn baby in that she complains loudly whenever she is hungry or the waterer is dry, but she doesn't seem to be growing. She is feathered and looking quite pretty with a wheaten color, but she is as tiny as she was when I got her. I have a feeling that she has some tiny Serama (type A) genes that is keeping her from growing larger. I have read that these tiny birds don't reproduce and are delicate when it comes to changes in temperature. She is in heaven when I bring the older pullets in at the end of the day and she spends the night under the wing of her favorite bird. Her sister stays under the other wing and I have a feeling that this "favorite" pullet will be a very good mother, one I can depend on to hatch my precious Serama eggs.

 

[RainForestBird]

I'm sorry I didn't see this before. We have a bad raccoon problem here, and I live at the edge of a wooded area which means they are in the trees and climb them whenever my dogs (livestock guardians) try to chase them away. I've found that the best coops are those that have the house area well up off the ground, because they are less likely to crawl into an area that has only one entrance in case of a larger predator. I got electric tape fencing and surrounded the coop area (I have 3), and while its a deterrent it won't really keep them out. I bought Nightguard lights and surrounded my property with them, they kept the varmints out for about 3 months till they learned that a red light that doesn't move around isn't a threat. The lights are based on the theory that predators will avoid a red light that looks like the eyes of a larger predator. To really make them effective, they would have to move around like an animal, not stay in the same place, night after night. My barn cats sleep on top of my RV (to avoid the aggressive raccoons) the problem is so bad. They have decimated my quail population because the birds will not roost any higher than the ground.

Both - 9 dead in the coop and 7 missing. There were feathers and blood outside the coop, so I am assuming whatever it was killed them all and carried off 7 of the dead ones, so it have to have made multiple trips. There is no way the chickens could have gotten out on their own, even in their panic. Cleaning up the coop was a mess - blood everywhere. Very depressing. I've got another batch of pullets at this point and am really locking them down at night, but I still lost a couple to a dog recently (during the day). Dogs are a real problem in my area - I've shot three since Christmas - but the loss of the pullets could not have been a dog. Dogs just usually kill the chickens for fun and do not take them, plus there is no way a dog could have gotten into the coop. I still suspect a raccoon or family of raccoons to have manipulated the latch like that, but 16 pullets just seems like a lot for a raccoon.

 

[Shannon89815]

I see the previous posts are a bit dated. My chicks, that I got as 1 day olds from the local feed store, are now 5 weeks old; 5 Ameracaunas, 4 Black Sex Links, and 3 Ply. Bard Rocks. 1 of the Bard Rocks is very small - about 1/3 less in size than all the others. She is feathering decently, eats, drinks, poops, plays fine. She tends to lay under the brooder and near the heat lamp more than the others and seems to sleep a bit more, as if she’s a younger chick. I’ll be moving the others out next week or the week after, but am thinking of just moving the 5 Americaunas outside to the coop area and keeping the rest in an extra week or two to give the little one a chance to catch up. Will these small ones end up being okay?

 

[BantamBanana]

I see the previous posts are a bit dated. My chicks, that I got as 1 day olds from the local feed store, are now 5 weeks old; 5 Ameracaunas, 4 Black Sex Links, and 3 Ply. Bard Rocks. 1 of the Bard Rocks is very small - about 1/3 less in size than all the others. She is feathering decently, eats, drinks, poops, plays fine. She tends to lay under the brooder and near the heat lamp more than the others and seems to sleep a bit more, as if she’s a younger chick. I’ll be moving the others out next week or the week after, but am thinking of just moving the 5 Americaunas outside to the coop area and keeping the rest in an extra week or two to give the little one a chance to catch up. Will these small ones end up being okay?

Your chick sounds exactly like mine! 12 days old and it's noticeable that she is not growing in line with the others. She is a blue cochin and there are two other cochins in the brooder who are relatively normal. She tends to be on her own, sleeps more and like being directly under the heat lamp. My only real worry is that sometimes she gets bowled over by the more exuberant chicks (ameracauna, wyandotte, and buff orpington) and can't turn herself upright without my assistance. I'm so curious as to how the original chick from the post faired.

 

[BantamBanana]

Your chick sounds exactly like mine! 12 days old and it's noticeable that she is not growing in line with the others. She is a blue cochin and there are two other cochins in the brooder who are relatively normal. She tends to be on her own, sleeps more and like being directly under the heat lamp. My only real worry is that sometimes she gets bowled over by the more exuberant chicks (ameracauna, wyandotte, and buff orpington) and can't turn herself upright without my assistance. I'm so curious as to how the original chick from the post faired.

 

[Jbalducci]

I have a similar chick! 10 day old Plymouth Rock. She is so small and doesn’t seem to be growing. Her wings are slowly feathering out and seem too big for her making her off balance. She eats and drinks, but not a ton and likes to be under the warmth a lot. She is also very vocal and at times screaming. She doesn’t appear sick visually, but sometimes has pasty butt and has always had a yolk stalk. Not infected or smelly. Her crop changes size and sometimes looks way to big on her little body. She is
So easy to pick up. I worry about her constantly. The other 3 birds in the brooder are thriving. She’s so lonely looking in this photo.

 

[TruckerWife86]

This is Peanut, she is a week old. But is the same size as we I got her. She eats, drinks and runs ago with no problem. But she isn't growing, I have her on Corid in case she has that paradise. But there aren't any signs of that.

 

[Jbalducci]

What is Corid? And what do you mean by “that paradise”? Thanks