Chicks not developing? (Lots of Pics)

[Ren127]

Hello-
Chicken Newbie here- I've been amazed at how helpful the boards have been with my adventure in chickens. I just joined tonight, but have been relying heavily on reading the boards for the last several months. I have been able to find answers to all of my questions so far, but need some help with this one.

I got 3 chicks two weeks ago- a black australorp, an ameraucana (perhaps an EE- not sure- sold as ameraucana), and a buff laced polish. The breeder I bought them from said the australorp and ameraucana were two weeks old and the polish was 4 weeks old when I got them- but I'm thinking she meant they were starting there 2nd week and 4th week. Even so, they still seem to not be developing as fast as the other pictures I've seen on here. They should be starting week 4 tomorrow for the australorp and the ameraucana and the polish should be starting week 6. The younger ones have started feathering on their wings and a little on their tails, but still have lots of down and the polish has most of her feathers but not anywhere near as thick as I've seen on other people's pictures- her feathers on her head are just starting to open and she still has down in places too. All three of these are supposed to be girls (hoping for confirmation on that). I started them in a box and Monday moved them to a 3ft diameter kiddie pool with a fence around it, they are on starter, have chick grit, and water and all three have full crops each night and poop seems normal, and they are lively. Red heat lamp started around 90 last week and now stays around 85 degrees- they seem comfortable with that. I have given them egg two nights, and bought them dried meal worms and a baby cake - they won't touch either of those. Anything else I should be doing? Are they underdeveloped? Did the breeder just give me the wrong age?Any help would be greatly appreciated..

Thanks,


Lauren

 

[Phage]

The feathering looks OK- ish - maybe they are a week younger than you think.
I would keep them on medicated starter if you are worried
However, that looks like an EE not an ameraucana, and I would not like to guess the sex of the austrolorp.

And

 

[Ren127]

I'm currently using the Dumor non-medicated feed from TSC. This is a pic from two weeks ago when I got them- does this help any with figuring out how old they are? This is when she said two weeks and 4 weeks for the polish- thanks- Lauren

 

[billiejo21]

Just wondering why you are using unmedicated feed??? I think unless you have the little ones with a hen, the medication is suggested to fight GI problems...chicks aren't born with all the good stuff they need in their GI track. I purchased a couple chicks from a breeder who wasn't using medicated feed and they started to die one by one...I had a post mortem done on one and the doc said that it had signs of GI infections due to not getting the medicated feed. As far as feathering...it doesn't look terrible. Some chicks (even from the same hatch) feather slower. Good luck!

 

[Ren127]

The breeder recommended unmedicated starter- she had the chicks vaccinated for Newcastle and Infectious Bronchitis and they were on LS-50 for CRD resistance and electrolytes in their water for the first two weeks. I need to get more feed tomorrow- should I switch to medicated?

 

[CochinBrahmaLover]

those chicks look on track, the EE and austrolorp might be a little younger then you think, but they look fine , and the polish is feathering good (its hard to tell cause her color is the same as her fluff)

 

[nurse_turtle]

I agree that their ages are about right on track. As far as using medicated feed, if your chicks have been vaccinated against Cocci and you feed medicated feed, you will nullify the vaccine. As far as medicated feed helping the GI tract... never heard that. The only difference is medicated and not medicated is the additive to help protect against cocci which is a bacteria that can cause GI bleeding and death and is contagious to other chicks/chickens. I have always used Purina medicated feed for my dittles and I love it. I don't think you necessarily need to use the medicated feed. BTW, I love the Polish!

 

[Ren127]

Thank you everyone- I left the light on in the room they're in the last two days and today I have lots of new feathers on both the Australorp and the EE- so perhaps they weren't getting enough daylight? Who knows- but I feel a little better now- thanks again.

 

[RollinWithTheStones]

The EE and BA look similar to mine and they are a week and 1/2 old.

 

[redheadfarmer]

Based only on feathering, I would say they are younger than she told you but as someone else pointed out, feathering can happened at different rates. I feed medicated chick feed. Enjoy your ladies!