Hello! I am a first time chicken owner. To start our flock, my husband and I ordered 25 barred rocks (and also got 1 mystery chick which is a white crested black polish). They are a little over 5 weeks old now and all seem to be thriving...except one, that my daughter has named Minnie. She is much smaller than the rest. At first, I thought she may be a different breed or just the runt, but now I think she might be sick. She lets anyone hold her without running or resisting at all, she stands in one place a lot. Her eyelids seem to be shut alot (blind?) . She does eat and drink. The others seems to cuddle around her sometimes like a watch, protection, warmth. Yesterday she wouldn't go outside at all, and the others all seemed very concerned, today she went out and seemed better, but is still doing her typical behaviors. She even sits in the feeder to eat instead of standing. I wanted to attach a picture of her to see if anyone could tell me anything from the photo, I would really appreciate it. Thank you.
Also - I have finally decided to join instead of lurk due to had a day of hearing a lot of negative things about raising chickens (mostly about predators) from people who are or have raised chickens and I felt like I really need the support and sharing! I have already learned so much from reading this site in the last few weeks.
Also - I have finally decided to join instead of lurk due to had a day of hearing a lot of negative things about raising chickens (mostly about predators) from people who are or have raised chickens and I felt like I really need the support and sharing! I have already learned so much from reading this site in the last few weeks.