weakcircus
In the Brooder
- Apr 17, 2020
- 6
- 14
- 21
We have 5 chicks of 3 different breeds (2x ISA Brown, 1x Asia Black, 2x Bantam). All are doing general well except for one of the Bantams, Ziggy. She's smaller than the rest, seemingly at the bottom of the pecking order and I'm a little worried about her. She eats normally, drinks normally, normal poops, and acts fine sometimes. Other times, for the past few days, she spends a lot of time huddled. Her head is pulled in, she stays in one spot a lot, or she clings non-stop to a bigger chick (not always the same one).
Some details:
- Doesn't seem to be too cold for her or the others. They rest scattered about the brooder and when Ziggy is in huddle-mode, she's in different places, only sometimes under the lamp.
- Displays normal behaviors like walking around, pecking at hay, chest bumping and flapping at the others when they all show off, etc
- They are eating medicated chick food and drinking plain water; sometimes I give them a little of their food slightly wet
I tried giving Zig a little 1:1 time today and set up a cozy spot over a heat pad with some mash and water where she wouldn't have to compete or wait and could maybe perk up a little. Instead, she stared into the brooder from her spot up above and peeped ear-splitting peeps inconsolably. I brought one of our ISAs up, who seems to be the leader and Ziggy was fine. She went right to eating after the ISA, drank a little, and stopped screaming. After about 15 minutes, they both took it upon themselves to glide down into the brooder.
Now Zig follows different bigger chicks around, laying on them or next to them while they rest most of the time, or standing very close to them when they're just standing around.
What's going on with our runt of the flock? Is this normal behavior or do I need to be worried?
Some details:
- Doesn't seem to be too cold for her or the others. They rest scattered about the brooder and when Ziggy is in huddle-mode, she's in different places, only sometimes under the lamp.
- Displays normal behaviors like walking around, pecking at hay, chest bumping and flapping at the others when they all show off, etc
- They are eating medicated chick food and drinking plain water; sometimes I give them a little of their food slightly wet
I tried giving Zig a little 1:1 time today and set up a cozy spot over a heat pad with some mash and water where she wouldn't have to compete or wait and could maybe perk up a little. Instead, she stared into the brooder from her spot up above and peeped ear-splitting peeps inconsolably. I brought one of our ISAs up, who seems to be the leader and Ziggy was fine. She went right to eating after the ISA, drank a little, and stopped screaming. After about 15 minutes, they both took it upon themselves to glide down into the brooder.
Now Zig follows different bigger chicks around, laying on them or next to them while they rest most of the time, or standing very close to them when they're just standing around.
What's going on with our runt of the flock? Is this normal behavior or do I need to be worried?
