Not sure where to post this.. Hey Jody!!

[SterlingAcres]

Real quick question.

I've had my eye on this one Buff Orp here. It's a hen, for sure... but she's literally HALF the size of the rest of the birds. I'll get a picture when I can. It's not possible there's any banties in there, right?

Or maybe she was just from a pullet egg?

 

[sara]

I don't think Jody has any bantam buff orps. I imagine you have a slow grower, or maybe the others are keeping her from getting to the feed? She'll probably catch up soon

 

[BamaChicken]

I have a dwarf blue from eggs I hatched from a breeder. I don't know what caused it but she is a third of the size of her sibling. Her color is great and she eats all the time so don't know what stunted her. Those things just happen sometimes. She may end up growing larger later though. I have never had that happen from hatching pullet eggs.
If you look in my thread on Kaleidoscope of Orps you will see the one Charlie and the one standing behind him is the same age. The were similar in size up to three weeks.

 

[MissPrissy]

My first hatch this year I had a splash pullet 1/4 the size of the other orps. We named her Bijou. When the hen house got turned upside down and everyone got shuffled to new coops she suddenly started growing and is now the same size as the other pullets.

 

[BamaChicken]

I had that happen to a RIR pullet to MP. I am hoping Bonnie gets a growing spurt. I was counting on breeding her and she has great lacing.

 

[Opa]

My son got a dozen black australorp pullets this spring and one has developed faster than the others but she is only 1/4 the size of the others. Evidently size can vary substantially in any hatch.

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[hinkjc]

Nope..no banties in buff here. It could be from a pullet egg or having trouble keeping up with food as much as the others. As long as she seems ok, I would just make sure there's plenty of feeding space and see if she catches up. They usually do.

Jody

 

[speckledhen]

Shellie, I had a little slip of a girl hatch from Jody's eggs. I swear, she looked like she had on her older sister's clothes, LOL. She was just a tiny little thing, but Nugget isn't exactly a tiny nugget anymore.

 

[SterlingAcres]

Oh she's really pretty and very petite. She eats just as much as everyone else and really loves the new run. She's just tiny. I didn't really think she was a banty, that was more like a sarcastic comment. But I'm glad to know I'm not the only one scratching my head over it.

 

[Anne]

On very rare occasion I've hatched birds that at adulthood were 1/2 to 1/3 regular size, and they hatched from standard-size parents (I don't keep any bantams in my flock). I'm not sure if it's true dwarfism or if it's some sort of rare disorder that keeps the bird from properly metabolizing nutrients, therefore stunting growth.