mccmeadows
Songster
So, we have this little runt. Her name is Little Birdie, I think she is precious and she has us wrapped around her tiny toes.
Everyone from her hatch seems to be growing normal. There are a few size variations, but that would just be explained by the fact that they’re different mixed breeds (Ameraucana, Maran, Cream Legbar, Barred Rock, Olive and Easter Eggers). She eats and drinks normal and has no problem getting to the feeder (will just walk over or under others to get there if need be). No sign of worms in anybody, we keep a clean coop, they eat 17% grower with the odd garden scrap, fresh water twice a day, etc. Despite all that, she is at least half the size of the next smallest pullet and just doesn’t seem to grow at the same speed as everyone else. I’d say she’s the size her hatchmates were at 8-ish weeks and they’re around 16 weeks now. In the following photos you can see that she’s always been the smallest.
I don’t know if separating her will do her good or harm. We have 5 spring (March/April) hatch hens (4 Blue Andalusians and a Partridge Wyandotte) that we would like to integrate with the pullets from this hatch. I don’t know if I should go ahead with the integration with Birdie in there or maybe just winterize the coop the 5 are in and leave them separate and give her more time to grow. I’m ready to turn her into a house chicken at this point cause I’m constantly worried about her..
Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated. She has none of the characteristics described in the article about Thyrogenous Dwarfism I read on here (aside from the slow growth), so hoping it’s not that. The breeder doesn’t have bantams, but is it possible for regular sized hens to carry the bantam gene?
Everyone from her hatch seems to be growing normal. There are a few size variations, but that would just be explained by the fact that they’re different mixed breeds (Ameraucana, Maran, Cream Legbar, Barred Rock, Olive and Easter Eggers). She eats and drinks normal and has no problem getting to the feeder (will just walk over or under others to get there if need be). No sign of worms in anybody, we keep a clean coop, they eat 17% grower with the odd garden scrap, fresh water twice a day, etc. Despite all that, she is at least half the size of the next smallest pullet and just doesn’t seem to grow at the same speed as everyone else. I’d say she’s the size her hatchmates were at 8-ish weeks and they’re around 16 weeks now. In the following photos you can see that she’s always been the smallest.
Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated. She has none of the characteristics described in the article about Thyrogenous Dwarfism I read on here (aside from the slow growth), so hoping it’s not that. The breeder doesn’t have bantams, but is it possible for regular sized hens to carry the bantam gene?
