BO chick not eating, drinking-sneezing and opening mouth

[pastrymama]

5 to 5 1/2 week old BO chick seems to not want to eat food or drink, but will eat grit and other stuff outside. she seems small to me, not sure on weight, but she was the smallest of all the BOs in the bunch in the feed store when we got her(my daughter picked THAT ONE!) she is almost fully feathered except her head. she is growing, just not at the speed i thought she would compared to my other chicks, although she is the only BO. the last few days, maybe 2 or so, she will open and close her mouth and slightly stretch her neck. today she was sneezing a bit. no discharge from anywhere, eyes look good, normal poo, typical energy. all the other birds seem fine. i tried to check for lice and mites, but that didn't go over very well. they are all on manno pro medicated chick starter. anything to worry about or do i have a runt that may be being bullied away from food and water?
and i checked for her crop, and i can't feel it. it's 4pm. shouldn't it be full by now?

 

[b.hromada]

I don't know the answer, so lets bump this up.

 

[MotherJean]

The crop sort of works like the human stomach. Empty crop=chicken gets hungry and eats. Full crop=chicken will refrain from eating. This little one may be filling up on grit. Some young birds seem to think grit is food and eat all they can hold to the exclusion of their crumbles. If you are free ranging your birds or even just turning out to a dirt/grass run, they do not need grit. If you're making grit available as a free choice, I would suggest stopping that - at least for this one bird. You suggested that she may be getting bullied away from food and water. That does happen. In your shoes, I think I would take this one back indoors for a couple of days so I could actually see/measure just how much she is eating and drinking. I'd give nothing but medicated chick crumbles and room temp. water with a little apple cider vinegar (with mother) added at 1 tsp. per quart, if you have it. Nothing but chick crumbles and no grit. Let us know how she's doing.

 

[pastrymama]

i went out and checked on her at 6:30 tonight and her crop felt like it had something in it, so she must have eaten because they are all locked up in their coop because it is super windy out right now. i am afraid to bring just her inside by herself, she is a cryer! she is the loudest bird i have for being the smallest. plus, she is the youngest. the others are a week to a week and a half older. i only free range them a few times a day, maybe 30 minutes at a time when i am out there with them and she will eat everything in site. but at the feeder, she gets pushed around. maybe i could just not let her out for a few days with the other 8 chicks and let her eat in peace? put acv in everyone's water? or am i being stupid? it just seems harder to completely isolate her from the flock and i also have 3 small children, so i really am trying my best without losing my mind. someone told me that having chickens was relaxing and calming. i am so stressed all the time that i am going to kill these poor things by screwing up.

 

[MotherJean]

Yes, give the ACV (vinegar) in the water for the whole flock. 1-2 tbsp. per gallon if you're using the larger waterer. I hope you will believe me when I tell you that chickens are incredibly hardy animals. If your other 8 chicks are healthy and happy, then I think you can safely assume that you're doing just fine raising them. The chick you're worried about may just be something like the runt of the litter - common in puppies and kittens. Some always remain smaller than the rest, but some do catch up. Why not just take a wait and see approach? Just for a few days, even. If she's not showing any signs of disease (like discharge from the nose, eyes), continues to forage, and doesn't seem depressed or lethargic, then I don't think you should be overly concerned. You know, BYC can be both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing in that there are other folks to turn to when you have a question or need more information quickly. It's a curse when some days all you read are threads about dead, dying, or diseased chickens and it fills your head with unreasonable fears so that you start imagining problems with your own flock that really aren't there

I think it happens to all of us when we're newbies. Some years ago, I bought a parakeet. I'd never had caged birds so I joined a parakeet forum to make sure I was doing all the right things. OMG! The drama queens had me in a constant state of fear that any minute the poor little thing was going to drop dead, or fly out the window, or get eaten by the cat and it would be all my fault. I finally gave the bird to my sister because I found absolutely no pleasure in it. That parakeet is 9 years old, has never had a sick day, and will probably outlive me

Try to relax. Wait and watch for a day or two. Don't hesitate to post an update if your chick starts acting lethargic or shows any obvious signs of disease.

 

[MotherJean]

I case you haven't seen this yet, I thought you might be interested in this thread: "Runt?" https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=348252