Help needed.. My Buff Orpington is small?

[gmrt77]

Hi,

I need some help here. I bought my three chickens around the same time.
I bought my three girls at the end of may when they were in theory 5 weeks old. I think they were born around May 5th? Anyhow, they weren't very different on size for a while, but I noticed my buffed was a little late getting her feathers. I didn't notice much pecking or loose feathers. She is a little more shy, but she eats and drinks well. She is really active and my partners here says she is the "real" trouble-maker of the three (jokingly of course).

She is now around 10 weeks, and I notice that her size is smaller than the other girls, AND, I find some of her feathers (along with the Brahma Buff in the coop). She has feathers, but I'm wondering if she is been pecked on too much. Look at the pics, and tell me if I'm just worrying too much. I haven't seen blood on her, and she seems happy.

I have even put her for a little bit in a separate cage with a plate of tofu, and other treats.

I'm giving my chickens appropriate for their stage. I also give them healthy treats and they have time to roam on their own in my backyard.

Any ideas, suggestions, etc?

Here are the girls when they were 6 weeks old

Here are the girls now...

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

What age appropriate diet are you feeding them? You really only specified about the additional food you gave her (the tofu), but knowing the actual base diet that you are using will be very helpful in identifying or ruling out possible nutritional issues.
Comparing growth rate of three different breeds is less reliable than say three buff orp chicks who were hatched together and one was growing at a different rate.
You say that you didn't see a pecking problem/loose feathers, but also that you are not sure if she has been pecked on "too much" - was/is there pecking issues going on?

 

[gmrt77]

Of course! Sorry, I'm new to being a chicken owner. When I brought them home, I had some organic feed for chicks that age, However I didn't keep the tag. I switch them over to the following.



I added some seeds I bought at the store too, because it look kind of boring, were only pellets.
This is what it looks like now after adding the seeds.

This is the description of the seeds I added. It's for wild birds, but I bought it mainly for sunflower seeds.

This is what it looks like before I added some to the chicken feed.



This is the box where I keep the girls food. The bottom part is the left overs from the very first type of feed they were getting, but it's mainly dusty.

The second one and darkest si the current feed I show in a previous picture.


For treats, once a day I give them some sweet corn (for training purposes), but only a few grains so they get used to me.

I give them kale, cabbage, lettuce, some carrots, some banana,.. etc. I followed the suggestions I saw here in BYC. In addition to that they spend free time eating bugs, and grass in my yard.

I have given Florentina a tea-spoon of tofu the last three days, crumbled and mixed with grains and other veggie goodies, to help her. I think she's been pecked on?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Are you currently providing chick grit for them to digest the foods other than commercially prepared chick crumble? The crumble does not require grit due to being processed to the point of being digestible w/out grit.

 

[gmrt77]

No to the grit because my yard had done areas with sand and small rocks, and i was told it would be fine, but i have done grit to give them.

I have noticed some feathers from two chickens in the coop. Other than that i have seen some chasing and little pitching.but nothing that i would consider it if normal.