Cream Legbar chick just not growing-any advice?

[ER-nurse]

Hello all! Thank you in advance for any input or advice you can give me. I'm very very new to owning chickens so I appreciate any help!
I purchased a 2 week old Cream Legbar chick 3 weeks ago. After a few days of having her, she became very sick and I had noticed she lost a LOT of weight. I have some basic knowledge of veterinary medicine, so I did some research. After speaking with my vet we determined the most likely cause of the illness was coccidiosis. I started her right away on Amprolium, Bactrim (just in case it was bacterial), and started adding nutri-drench and pro-biotics to her water. After force feeding and medicating for a week, amazingly, she turned around and seems to be doing much better now. She has put on weight and eats and drinks well all on her own. The only thing is....she hasn't gotten any bigger since I got her, she is literally the exact same size as she was 3 weeks ago. Has anyone ever seen this before? Maybe since she was sick, it will just take some time for her to continue growing? All I know is she is tiny! I read some other posts about this and some people said that chickens that don't grow well usually die. I'm really anxious to hear any feedback, and again thank you all, I love this site!

-Erika

 

[Alexandra33]

Welcome to BYC!

We're so glad you joined us!

I had an Egyptian Fayoumi like this; in fact, she was very weak and we expected her to die from not eating sufficiently. Here she was in relation to a bantam chick.

Don't give up on your little baby.

I'm sure she'll be fine if you supplement her with extra protein (like scrambled eggs, greek yogurt, cottage cheese) and continue the Nutri-drench like you have been. If she seems like she's not eating enough, try feeding her yogurt and starter grower through a dropper several times a day. Hope everything resolves itself with some TLC and prayers!

~Alex

 

[ER-nurse]

Thanks so much for the reply! I hope everything turned out ok with your little chick! What's weird about it is that she IS eating and drinking really well all on her own for 10 days now, but doesn't seem to be getting bigger or progressing at all. It's so weird. Thanks so much for your advice and encouragement....Maybe she will just be a tiny chicken. lol

 

[azygous]

There are varying degrees of "failure to thrive" in baby chicks. I had one three years ago that was the same size at three weeks as it was as a day old. It survived to grow to adulthood, though it was small compared to its mates.

Last summer I had a Cream Legbar that turned sick on day one, and never grew at all, except for her wings, which protruded far beyond her butt. She had so many other internal problems, she had to be euthanized at one week to put her out of her pain and misery. I did treat her for cocci, as well.

I'm surprised your vet didn't mention failure to thrive as a possible cause of her problems. You're doing everything you can, and it's up to the chick if it pulls through and maybe starts to grow and develop.

By the way, the place where I bought the Legbars (My Pet Chicken) replaced the sick chick and one other that was a cockerel, and both of those new Legbars developed a propensity for infections at point of lay, one of them dying very quickly from it. I have a suspicion that Cream Legbars are not being bred as carefully in the US as they should be.

 

[Alexandra33]

Thanks so much for the reply! I hope everything turned out ok with your little chick! What's weird about it is that she IS eating and drinking really well all on her own for 10 days now, but doesn't seem to be getting bigger or progressing at all. It's so weird. Thanks so much for your advice and encouragement....Maybe she will just be a tiny chicken. lol

You're welcome! Yep, Minnie is a normal, healthy little booger these days.

Just a little on the small side, which is fine!

I agree with @azygous , she may just be one of those chicks that refuses to grow and progress at the same rate as everyone else. We all get those from time to time!

Best wishes for your baby girl,
~Alex

 

[ER-nurse]

Thank you so much guys for all of your input. I truly appreciate it it. Azygous, I agree with you, I think cream legbars do have a propensity towards illness, as I have heard that elsewhere. @ alexandra, I'm so glad Minnie is doing well, what a great name! All I can do now is keep doing what I'm doing and hope my little Jasmine starts growing. Thank you again everyone

 

[Alexandra33]

. @ alexandra, I'm so glad Minnie is doing well, what a great name! All I can do now is keep doing what I'm doing and hope my little Jasmine starts growing. Thank you again everyone

Thank you!

I'm sure she'll be just fine.

~Alex