One of our chicks is really underweight. Ideas for helping Nemo?

[Westmarch]

Hi folks,

I'm at my wits' end with this one. Little Nemo is a Cream Legbar and she is 3 weeks old today. She lives in a mixed flock with 5 others. When she arrived, she was the same size as our other girls, but in the subsequent weeks we have noticed that she is extremely slow to grow.

She's fallen far behind everyone else and now, at 3 weeks old, weighs only 104 grams. To put that in perspective she weighs 18 grams less than our bantam Silkie chick of the same age and at least 50 grams less than our other standard size chicks. Granted, she's our only Legbar but I can still tell that she is alarmingly small.

I've been watching her carefully and weighing her each day. She has been gaining, albeit slowly. She is very lively, she runs around and peeps and apparently loves to eat. She was the first one to learn to jump up to the starter perch my husband made. She even caught and ate a spider. But she is so tiny - when I pick her up she is hardly there.

To help her out we have been alternatively offering scrambled egg, mashed hardboiled egg occasionally mixed with a little Nutri-Drench, and a little bit of plain whole milk yogurt. (She is very enthusiastic about treats.) However I can't help but be worried that she won't make it. Today she gained only 5 grams and I decided to ask for help.

More details: They're fed organic chick starter. We have already given them a 5 day treatment of Corid because our Tractor Supply peep had coccidiosis. However, that's been over for at least 10 days and everyone seems healthy and is having very normal poops.

The last thing I can think of to say is that she seems to have a small defect while eating. She will sometimes just shovel the feed our of her dish with her beak instead of eating it. She also seems to be able to eat fine, but she is the only one we have noticed doing the "shoveling," so I thought I'd mention it.

What do I do, BYC? We are rooting for Nemo, but I don't know how else to help her. Is it tube feeding time?

In the pic below you can get an idea of her tiny size next to the others - she's on the left.




And here is our flock's growth chart, with Nemo at the bottom.

 

[Grain Gypsy]

Hi Westmarch! I think you did the right thing by reaching out to the wonderful experience and wisdom of the Backyard Chickens community! I have found a wealth of fun AND information here, and I'm always learning something new.

Speaking of learning new things, I'm going to confess up front that I'm only seven months young at this chicken-raising gig. I've got a 6-month-old flock of 8, a 3-week-old flock of 12, and 10 more day-old chicks arriving in the mail tomorrow.

To get down to brass tacks, I wonder if you have a cross beaked hen or roo on your hands. Have you looked at his/her beak closely to see if it meets up and closes correctly? The reason I ask, is that we had a cross-beaked rooster in our first brood, and his cross beak didn't become evident until around about 5 weeks of age. His wasn't severe enough to cause death by starvation or dehydration, but in severe cases it can. It is possible, if cross beak is the case, to do a little filing of the beak to see if it will help the chick/chicken eat and drink more easily, but there is no permanent fix (i.e. you have to keep regularly filing a cross beak if it hinders eating and drinking. Our cross-beak rooster looked silly, but he could do just fine eating and drinking.

Here is the source where I got my information. Scissor Beak aka Crossed Beak What is it and how to Manage It. I also read The My Pet Chicken Manual from cover to cover, and it has a wealth of knowledge about chickens. I hope you find a solution to help your baby!

 

[Westmarch]

That's a good thought, Gypsy. I originally thought she might have some kind of beak defect like scissor beak, but I've looked really closely and I'm pretty sure her beak is normal.

 

[SJchickens]

Are the other chicks letting her eat? Often times, the flock will shun chicks that are weaker or possess defects for the good of the flock. It may be time to separate her with a particularly submissive broodermate (never separate alone, unless you are quarantining, in my opinion). See how she does then.

That shoveling thing sounds like a birth defect. I would tell you to observe her beak to look for any problems, but I see you already did that. Perhaps someone else will be able to provide some information on it.

 

[Westmarch]

I've thought about separating her, but she is a feisty little thing and seems to be holding her own with the others. We watch them eat for long periods of time and don't see any of the others harassing her or trying to keep her away from the food. They don't peck her or anything and they sleep with her very peacefully - the others don't seem to realize she is so much smaller than they are, and it might help that our bantam is also smallish so it seems normal to them. We've also seen her leap clear over our big EE to get to the scrambled egg. But if we see one or two more days with less than 5% growth, I will pull her out (with our friendly Orpington pullet) for some private food sessions.

I am hoping she will grow out of the shoveling thing, as she is obviously able to eat properly also. The key is to help her through until she does and that's the part that worries me.

 

[Folly's place]

I would make sure that she's eating (as you have) and stop feeding her all the extra goodies. Good chick starter should be a complete feed, and she needs to eat that rather than waiting for other stuff. If she's active and not being bullied, just try to relax and let things be. Some birds grow slower, and some just don't thrive no matter what you do. Mary

 

[Westmarch]

Thanks. She appears to be plowing through her chick starter, as the rest of them are. That's the part I find confusing.