LittleChickensBigCity
Hatching
- Apr 30, 2020
- 6
- 3
- 8
I have 5 chicks right now, 3 of them are 3 weeks old and 2 of them are 2 weeks old. One of the younger ones is half the size of the others (including the one of the same age), not NEARLY as feathered out and lays down much more often. She otherwise eats, drinks and poops normally, just not as active. The others do not bully her in any way, if anything they seem protective of their tiny sister. It’s not spraddle leg or curled toes - she seems to walk just fine, and when I give them treats she’s right in there with them battling over bits, snatching a piece and running off with it.
The small size and slower feathering I wouldn’t be worried about if she wasn’t laying down so often. She also seems to stretch out her wings pretty often, not like she can’t hold them up but she just stretches out her wings, maybe a leg, then plops down to lay down. When I hold her she seems to shiver a little, but she doesn’t spend all her time under the heat lamp or anything
I’ve started giving her some scrambled egg daily to make sure she’s getting enough protein. I’m also switching the whole batch from an 18% starter to a 20% starter to see if that helps. I also started putting a dropper full of Poly Vi Sol into the waterer, which I refresh daily, incase it’s a vitamin issue.
Anyone else experience something like this? Anything else I can do to help this wee chick out? For reference, the weaker one is a Welsummer and the other chicks are RIR, Barred Rock and an Ameraucana.
Here is a picture of her next to a RIR:
The small size and slower feathering I wouldn’t be worried about if she wasn’t laying down so often. She also seems to stretch out her wings pretty often, not like she can’t hold them up but she just stretches out her wings, maybe a leg, then plops down to lay down. When I hold her she seems to shiver a little, but she doesn’t spend all her time under the heat lamp or anything
I’ve started giving her some scrambled egg daily to make sure she’s getting enough protein. I’m also switching the whole batch from an 18% starter to a 20% starter to see if that helps. I also started putting a dropper full of Poly Vi Sol into the waterer, which I refresh daily, incase it’s a vitamin issue.
Anyone else experience something like this? Anything else I can do to help this wee chick out? For reference, the weaker one is a Welsummer and the other chicks are RIR, Barred Rock and an Ameraucana.
Here is a picture of her next to a RIR:
