Extremely Tiny Month-Old Chick - Dwarfism or Deficiency?

[squirrelgirl01]

Hi all! I have seven approximately one month old Mille Fleur d'Uccles, and one of them has hardly grown the whole time. It was a little weak for the first few days, but the weird thing is that it acts completely normal. It eats, drinks, scratches around with the other chicks, grooms itself and other chicks, etc. It's just shockingly small. I would expect a nutritional deficiency to manifest differently than this. I'm stumped. Does anyone have experience with dwarfism in chickens? Is this a possibility? I'm attaching photos of it with one of the other bantam chicks the same age for scale.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

Sometimes some chicks just develop a lot slower than most chicks. I’ve had a few grow really slow compared to the other bantams. Are you for sure the smaller one is not a younger bird?

 

[squirrelgirl01]

Sometimes some chicks just develop a lot slower than most chicks. I’ve had a few grow really slow compared to the other bantams. Are you for sure the smaller one is not a younger bird?

Yes, I'm completely sure. I got them all on the same day at Tractor Supply around 4 weeks ago, and it was the day they got them in, so they were maybe around 2 days old then.

 

[coach723]

Hard to say. Tractor Supply in general is notorious for mixing up chicks. So people don't always get what they think they are getting. Time will tell. If it's acting normal, then really all you can do is wait, see how it ends up. It may be a runt, or a chick that doesn't thrive for some reason, maybe not absorbing nutrients well. Or it may not be what it was said to be. If it's eating and drinking and pooping and acting normally, then not really much else to be done. If you think of it, update this thread in a month or two, let us know how it's doing then, and what it looks like. It's cute, hope it does OK.

 

[Egg Snatcher]

They are both Mille Fleurs

 

[squirrelgirl01]

Hard to say. Tractor Supply in general is notorious for mixing up chicks. So people don't always get what they think they are getting. Time will tell. If it's acting normal, then really all you can do is wait, see how it ends up. It may be a runt, or a chick that doesn't thrive for some reason, maybe not absorbing nutrients well. Or it may not be what it was said to be. If it's eating and drinking and pooping and acting normally, then not really much else to be done. If you think of it, update this thread in a month or two, let us know how it's doing then, and what it looks like. It's cute, hope it does OK.

I'll do my best to remember to update. The chick has a very sweet personality, it loves being held and taking naps in your hands. I hope it catches up and turns out to be able to live a normal, full life.