new chicks

[jburts]

a question here got some new chicks this spring last week,
this week I have noticed that four of the chicks are now older not acting like babies anymore they are getting their feathers and very active but one chick she is still acting like a baby she is a rhode isl red and she is not getting her feathers in yet
I'm wondering now that maybe one younger one got slipped in the batch that went to the store.
is she a runt of the batch? I also read that some have delayed feather growing and it could be a rooster since they are not has fast in getting thier feathers,
I'm thinking that she is younger than the rest, they all get along,
have any of you had this experience?

 

[newmarch2014]

So, at this stage just a few days makes a difference since the feathering in the first week seems to literally happen before your very eyes but you are right, many times boys feather out later...or in the case of my 2 new Brahmas I am suspecting the one with short stubby wings and no tail is a roo where his sister with wings that overlap her very formed tail to be his counterpart. Also we are amazed at how much faster the Brahmas and Easter Eggers we got this year are at getting their feathers than our RIR's or our B.O. from last year.

 

[Peeps61]

That's been my experience too. It's amazing how fast some of them feather out, and you may have one or two that lag behind, even though they may be the same age. I've been lucky thus far and have not ended up with another rooster. I have 7 chicks right now (with nine adult hens), so I might get one, but hopefully they are all pullets, as advertised. I finally got the 2 Easter Egger chicks I was looking for. The feed store manager where I shop (and spend tons of money) actually held them back for me. Good thing because he had sold all 50 of them by the time I got there!

 

[jburts]

ok thanks it is interesting to that my chick acts different, smaller, and of course not feathering out acts younger than the rest
and sometimes moves different also, she stands up more and her puffy chest seems to be a little bigger and sometimes moves her or his head around differently than the others, it is a rode Island red,
I guess will monitor the chick and see what happens.
I'm thinking could be a rooster or a runt,

 

[jburts]

or the chick is sick, don't know, yet eyes are clear, and she poops,
just not as active as the others are,

 

[newmarch2014]

They all have their own personalities. My RIR are top 2 in the pecking order as hens out of the 4 but as chicks were a little more laid back than the B.O.'s. I did have one of my RIR almost die as a chick, I imagine it was an overload of cocci, she started as just more sedate and smaller and then progressed to barely moving, I nursed her back to health by treating her (and the rest of the flock for good measure) for Coccidosis and she is now a strapping egg laying machine lol. Just keep your eye on her, if she starts to seem not just calm but weak then I would evaluate what it may be (Coccidosis is pretty common even in hatchery chicks though some say it is unlikely they can already have it) And sometimes chicks just don't thrive but if she is eating and drinking and most of her poos are well formed and she participates with the other chicks then I would not worry and just chalk it up to a introspective chick

 

[Peeps61]

Also, out of my seven chicks, the oldest by only two weeks is absolutely HUGE compared to the next oldest - only two weeks younger than her. They are best buddies. I took the older chick to show to my husband because he was hesitant about my idea to put the two of them in the chicken tractor (my older ladies have been moved to another coop and are cheerfully laying and roosting there now) when the younger of the two feathered out more fully, because he felt like they weren't big enough. He changed his mind when he saw that one . I believe she is a Buff Orphington. She has feathered out completely yellow.

 

[jburts]

thanks my little one as of last night started to drink more I fed her water with a syringe, then I put her back in the brooder and shoved her beak again into the water
and then in a few minutes she raced over to the water and drank lots, I had done this with all the chicks when I got them but for some reason she did not get it I guess,
she is smaller than the other rody but she is the same size as the plymouth rock,
the wilsumer chicks have grown fast, and the other red has grown fast
but the other two must be just slow growers,
my little one is eating and drinking now and normal poop and she is pushing her way around now more.
'but the interesting thing is she still acts like a baby chick and she wants to lay under the other bigger chicks.
the temp is warm 90 which this week I'm supposed to drop it a bit
I have gone in there today and she was getting squished so I would get them all of of her,
and then I watched her and she was putting herself in that spot it is like she thinks one of the is mom
so I re-arranged the corners and moved the perch to more in the middle, and that has helped.
I did get the reds and the plymouth rock a week later than the wilsummers,
our store here could not keep chicks in stock,
they are being sold as fast as they are coming in.

 

[newmarch2014]

Same thing some just have quirks, of my 4 current chicks the Easter Eggers are actually the larger ones but they both try to dive under the other chicks constantly, they are the most skittish (my other 2 are calm little Brahmas) but the E.E.'s are confident with the other chicks and how they carry themselves and brave with the dogs and such, just want to be under everyone else always.

 

[jburts]

so far so good today chick is eating and drinking I guess time will tell