Bantam or dwarf? UPDATED w/pics

[greenguys]

our 6 chicks are now almost 5 weeks old and really getting big --- except for one little girl. She was always smaller than the rest but now, 5 weeks later, she is still half the size of the others.

while they are getting tall with longer necks, she is simply growing a little bit at a time, getting a little rounder and looks more like a chick than the rest of them.

Could someone have mixed in a bantam? Or are there "runt" chicks? If she stays 1/2 the size of the rest, will it be safe to keep her with the others? They don't seem to be picking on her or anything --- just low on the totem pole when it comes to feed time.

thanks for any advice....

Greg

 

[Dawn419]

Hi and Welcome to BYC!

Do you know what breeds your chicks are?

It's quite possible that she just a runt or she could be a Bantam, big help, huh?

Where did you get the chicks from?


Dawn

 

[greenguys]

we thought we were buying Rhode Island Reds but someone else pointed out they were red sex-links.

we got them from TSC.

 

[R@ndy]

I have seen some stores let little kids play with the chicks so one of the Bantams could have been put back in the wrong place

 

[ladyj]

i bought some bantams from atwoods and one of my girls is really tiny found out thru research she is a porcaline(?) think i got really lucky as they are really hard to find. maybe you got lucky too.

 

[greenguys]

I'm working in our store right now. Will take a pic in the morning and post it. She did, however, look like all the rest of the chicks (in color, I mean) when we got them --- just smaller.

I think I posted incorrectly....someone said they were gold sex-links before, not red. Frankly, I have no idea.

 

[m2wandc]

looking forward to seeing the pics

 

[greenguys]

here she is alongside two of the others for comparison (front, right):

and here she is showing off by herself:

while we're at it, (now that they are older), they are sex-links, right?

thanks,
Greg

 

[lurky]

I had that happen with one of my australorps. It was 1/4 or 1/3 the size of all the others and i thought the same thing, must be a bantam. In the last 4-6 weeks before laying age, she caught right up. I think its a wait an see thing. It could be a runt, or a bantam.

here is a pic.... the 2 black chicks are the exact same age and both full sized now.

BTW....welcome

 

[m2wandc]

the size difference (might be the pic) doesn't look that big of a difference to me...I can see a BIG difference in the black birds, but not so much in the tan ones...