Help.... Runt? Dwarfism? Failure to Thrive?

[schrephouse]

We have little Midge. We noticed after a week and a have she was a bit smaller or growing slower than her sisters. It is becoming very apparent her size is just tiny. She is a Australorp. We bought 8 from TSH on June 28th and they are 21 to 23 days old. Little Midge was the same size as the others the day of purchase. She eats, scratches, perches and drinks like her sisters. She does try to avoid the zipping around of her sisters. None of them bully her. They snuggle with her. Never a dirty butt. Everything seems fine except for the obvious size. Could we have a failure to thrive situation or possibly a hen with dwarfism? 1st photo is today, 2nd close up cutie face 3 days ago, 3rf couple days after we brought them home.

 

[Ebony Rose]

Perhaps bantam something is in her ancestry. I have a hen with pretty much the same situation you're describing... long story short, she's a year old now, still tiny, and never a problem with health or with getting along with the other birds. As small as she is, I am often surprised by the size of her eggs... A nice medium sized brown egg... but from a girl her size... amazes me.

 

[Chicken poppy]

So, she acts fine? Can you monitor her eating and whatnot? See how much see forages, or if she does like the others.

I would honestly, in my own thoughts, weigh her and the others. See how much weight they are apart, and how much their gaining daily.

If shes foraging like them to, i would guess a runt. I would think shes okay, but thats just my personal thought.

I had a small one aswell, she was a bantam cochin, but smaller then she was supposed to be. She acted like yours, and here she is, 1 year old, healthy and perfect as ever.

 

[schrephouse]

Perhaps bantam something is in her ancestry. I have a hen with pretty much the same situation you're describing... long story short, she's a year old now, still tiny, and never a problem with health or with getting along with the other birds. As small as she is, I am often surprised by the size of her eggs... A nice medium sized brown egg... but from a girl her size... amazes me.

Curious, if she was born Bantam from a possible Bantam gene, wouldn't she have been small from day 1 or are Bantam chicks the same size as standard chicks?

 

[schrephouse]

So, she acts fine? Can you monitor her eating and whatnot? See how much see forages, or if she does like the others.

I would honestly, in my own thoughts, weigh her and the others. See how much weight they are apart, and how much their gaining daily.

If shes foraging like them to, i would guess a runt. I would think shes okay, but thats just my personal thought.

I had a small one aswell, she was a bantam cochin, but smaller then she was supposed to be. She acted like yours, and here she is, 1 year old, healthy and perfect as ever.

View attachment 3195155

She does forage the same. I will try to start weighing them. They are squirmy little buggers. Lol. I am beginning to worry about her getting hurt in the cross hair of the others zipping about.

 

[Chicken poppy]

She does forage the same. I will try to start weighing them. They are squirmy little buggers. Lol. I am beginning to worry about her getting hurt in the cross hair of the others zipping about.

Mine hadn’t gotten hurt whatsoever, but that is definitely not to say it can’t happen. Just keep a good eye on her, and make sure food & water is within her reach.

 

[schrephouse]

Mine hadn’t gotten hurt whatsoever, but that is definitely not to say it can’t happen. Just keep a good eye on her, and make sure food & water is within her reach.

We were going to put the food and water higher so they didn't get it messy so easy but she so little we decided to leave it low and clean more often.

 

[SilverBirds]

Bantam chicks are typically smaller then their standard sized counterparts. She's most likely suffering from some sort of dwarfism. I've never had a dwarf chicken before so I'm not sure how things play out in the long run. Like the others have said, keep an eye on her and how much she eats and drinks.

 

[schrephouse]

Bantam chicks are typically smaller then their standard sized counterparts. She's most likely suffering from some sort of dwarfism. I've never had a dwarf chicken before so I'm not sure how things play out in the long run. Like the others have said, keep an eye on her and how much she eats and drinks.

Thank you, We have been keeping a close eye on her. I suspect some form of dwarfism myself (I hope not). I know nothing about that myself. I hand picked each chick and inspected their body, eyes, legs and vent when I bought them. There was no obvious size difference or wing development that made me think she was a different breed or older than the others.

 

[NatJ]

Curious, if she was born Bantam from a possible Bantam gene, wouldn't she have been small from day 1 or are Bantam chicks the same size as standard chicks?

Chick size depends on what size egg they came out of.

A bantam hen tends to lay small eggs, so her chicks are typically small when they hatch.

But your chick probably had a standard-sized mother, who laid standard-sized eggs. That would explain the matching sizes when they had just hatched.