one chick still seems smaller than all the others

[ctchickadoodle]

i have a flock of "feather footed fancies" from murray mcmurray and 4 little polish girls that i bought all together. they arrived mothers day.
everybody was doing supeer-
now one little polish is much smaller than all the other chicks. the polish are smaller in general than the other ladies, but while all the chicks are growing and starting to get feathers, this one polish (who i love) is still small and hasn't feathered. she is snuggly, not sneezing or anything,
any ideas?
can chicks be runts? or slow growers? or is she sick/not thriving??
we took her out for some private time this morning with food she could get without anybody around..
doesn't seem uncomfortable, for whatever that is worth.
i am beside myself!!!
please advise...
steph

 

[Silkie Chick]

Maybe she is a bantam that got mixed up in your order?

 

[ctchickadoodle]

she started out looking like the other polish, that is a similar color.
are the silkies slower to grow?
she is like one of my absolute faves...

would she sleep more if she were not doing ok?
or is it a sign she is getting bullied?

she is a little shyer than most of the others

steph

 

[Silkie Chick]

Silkies are very slow to grow. One of our girls didn't lay until 9-10 months. All little baby chicks sleep a lot, so that is a difficult question. Some breeds have a more docile temperament so they can be prone to being bullied, however it usually happens when they are a little older. I have found that so long as chicks are happy, there usually isn't anything wrong.

 

[canesisters]

Is she eating ok?
Does her poo look like the others (mostly) ?
When you hold her, does she feel like the bigger chicks - is her body bony or does it feel full/firm?

I just went through this with a couple of marans. Some things that I did to help - separate her so that she doesn't get pushed around. I put a small cage inside my brooder so that my little ones were still 'with' everyone else but had their own food and water and couldn't get stepped on and shoved around.
Also, I gave them extra food to help them 'catch up'. There are several opinions and recipes but what I used was: a spoonful of plain yogurt, 1 egg hard boiled, a pinch of dry cat food soaked so that it was mush. I put this in a small food processor and ran it till it was mostly smooth - they like a little chunk, gives them something to pick up. I would put this in a small jelly jar and warm it up. Then at the brooder - separate from the 'big kids' - I would put a little bit of this mush in a shot glass with a little bit of chick starter on top and let them have at it. They didn't eat all of it and I'd let the big kids have the leftovers as a treat. I gave them this 2 to 3 times a day.
Do you know where a chick's crop is? It's a pouch just in front of the breast bone at the base of the neck. It should feel full after they eat - and especially before they go to sleep for the night. That's what they'll get energy from while they're sleeping.
One of my marans did great and is now back with the big kids and growing like crazy. The other one, unfortunately, died this afternoon.
There's LOTS of info on BYC. Do a search for 'failure to thrive' - you'll get lots of good info.

Best of luck to you and your little ones.

 

[chickenboy117]

Hey there, I have a chicken that is smaller than all my others and I don't know what is wrong with her either. I think it has something with her being locked up in our shed for a couple days but she seems fine. I guess there is such a thing as a runt chicken, but I'm not so sure but if you figure anything out please tell me.