different groth rate

[amchastain]

My neighbor and I bought chicks at the same time, same breed, and are using the same food. she bought 2 and I bought 5. It has been about a month. Mine are about 3 times larger than hers. any ideas as to why? is there any danger in rapid growth? both have free access to food and water.

 

[lazy gardener]

My neighbor and I bought chicks at the same time, same breed, and are using the same food. she bought 2 and I bought 5. It has been about a month. Mine are about 3 times larger than hers. any ideas as to why? is there any danger in rapid growth? both have free access to food and water.

Did the chicks come from the same breeder/hatchery? I would be more concerned about her 2 who are lagging behind. Either your chicks came from superior stock, or this is a reach, but hers are not eating as well because there are only 2 of them. I think chickens (from my observation of my chicks) are subject to mob mentality or peer pressure. If one chick is hungry, the rest eat too. where she only has 2, there's less copy catting going on at the feeder.

 

[stefan333]

If you both bought them from the same source, I would be really concerned not that yours are 3 times larger, but that hers are 3 times smaller. BUT... from the small amount of chicks you wrote about I'm guessing you picked them up at a feed store, farmer, or somewhere local. It's possible if you got them from somewhere like Tractor Supply that they put the wrong labels on the bins, and you ended up with meat birds or she had bantams. They mislabel things all the time! In order for us to give good answers to this, we need a lot more info. Where did you both purchase these chicks? What breed did you get? Are you both brooding them indoors/outdoors? Have you both put the heat lamp on them for the same amount of time/hours per day? What about sunlight/artificial light and how many hours? There's a lot that it could be, and pictures would be extremely helpful.