Big growth in 1 & almost no change in another?

[Kenshan1]

Is this normal? They are growing & changing over night. We've had them for a little over 1 wk. This forum said they were between 4-6wks. They all looked to be about the same size & development. Now 1 of them we call a runt. When we bought them they all looked about the same age but then within days 1 SLWyandotte has gotten big, taller, bigger legs & almost fully feathered except her head where as 1 Cuckoo Marans still looks like a little chick with just the wing feathers & the rest of her is fuzzy, she also hasn't grown compared to all the others but she does stand her own ground at times which is funny to watch when you throw in a worm for them (we call it chicken football lol). The other 2 Cuckoo Marans have body feathers & are growing in body size. The other 8 are all about the same size, feathering out more on the body & growing steady. The EE's are still fuzzy with little body feathers but body wise they have gotten bigger. They have all learned to fly too, we put them up in the roost/nesting area at night & when we open the big doors they don't use the ladder but fly down. Yesterday we found them naping up in the roost/nesting area, all used the ladder up. Hopefully soon they will do that for bed time so we don't have to run around the coop to catch them up at night.

Shannon

 

[IroquoisEgg]

I am having the same thing with my brown leghorn being the runt...all is feathered except her head. She's gotta be 6 weeks now, and my 2-3 week old SLW is as big as her!! I hope someone knows what the deal is!

 

[gritsar]

Sometimes a runt is just that, a runt. When that happens I've found extra one-on-one feedings help them to catch up. Also, it's always a good idea to have more than one feeder, so that smaller, weaker chicks are not starved out. I have three 13 lb. feeders in with my 31 chicks. '
Also, sometimes a smaller, less feathered chick means you have got a little roo on your hands. In many breeds, the cockerels develop much slower than the pullets.

 

[Kenshan1]

Quote:
I think the runt is getting enough. I had started out the week with a slidder feeder but by the end of the week I bought a 30gal big metal hanging feeder. With 10chicks there is plenty of room for everyone to get food, I haven't moved out the slidder feeder yet as it still had plenty of food left in it (probably take it out tomorrow). We also have set up a moveable fenced area (kiddy / doggy pen plastic tiny squares with a wire lid) so the chicks have been able to eat our over grown lawn down too, they love the dandy lion leaves

We were thinking we might have a roo but was thinking that of the bigger ones. My uncle we got them from only orders hens for his feed store. We'll see though.

Shannon

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
I ordered two roos in my first batch of chicks, got five. Order NONE with my latest batch of chicks and got at least one. Sexing at the hatcheries is only 90% accurate at best, so you can order all hens and still....roos happen.
My adult LF brahma roo now weighs in the neighborhood of 13 lbs., but as a chick he was the scrawniest of the bunch. Took him forever to catch up to the hens.

 

[tallyho]

I had the same problem...by 3 weeks one of the two babies I had was barely bigger than it was at a few days old vs. the other chick who was growing well. It was feathering out but the wings were getting longer than the body. It pooped, ate and drank fine but it was a very, very loud and constant chirper. I also noticed that on really hot days it seemed to be having trouble breathing. I thought maybe it had an upper respiratory infection so I gave them Duramycin-10. I just lost her a few days ago- fine in the morning when I checked on them and dead a few hours later. After talking to a few experts the consensus was that there must have been some sort of metabolic or absorption problem.

I hope your runt does better than mine did.