Is it normal to have a slow chicken?

Sunshine Coop

Songster
Apr 1, 2020
116
212
136
Monroe Pennsylvania
I have 4 chickens, but one is... off. She's completely healthy just a little dumb? I let my chicken free range when I can watch them(mostly at dusk and when I clean the coop). So, when it is time for them to go inside I call them back with a noise and then they get a treat. Whenever I call them 3 of my chickens come running, but 1 is always left in the dust confused. It takes her a few minutes to come after she realizes her friends are gone. When I open the gate to let them out the other 3 run across the yard and she just stands there. She also continues to get stuck behind the fence even though all the other chickens have figured out the fence. She doesn't mind being alone which is weird cause my other chickens are glued to each other. She wanders away from the flock when grazing too. Is she unhealthy or just quirky?
 
Yes, some chickens just are a bit slower to figure things out. We had a seemingly dumb chicken, but as she aged, it seemed to be more that she had a really high flight response causing her to overreact and/ or do dumb things. But, yes, some chickens are just a bit slower overall. Yours are young, so I’d give her time to mature and develop before deciding she’s slow.
 
Does she eat/drink/poop well?
Did you buy as day olds or hatch them?
Do the other birds pick on her at all?
What breed is she?
I bought these chicks from TSC and they were labeled as the wrong breed so I don't know what kind I have. She doesn't get picked on but she is definitely going to be at the bottom of the pecking order because she is submissive to the other chickens. Other than that she is completely healthy. She eats, drinks, and her poop looks normal.
 

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