Possible sick baby chick

[wendyrow]

We received a bantam hen and her baby chicks when they were about 3 weeks old. The species is unknown-supposedly somewhat wild hens that come every spring down to a chicken coop to have their babies. Our friend brought us the mommy and 5 chicks and they assimilated well into our already existing coop and run with 10 hens -the mother hen is EXTREMELY protective and runs off any hen even giving a sideways glance in her radius. 4 out of the 5 chicks have grown and matured and are about 10 wks old-very healthy looking. But one is still just a bit bigger than the day we got her. She eats and drinks but is just still so slow and lags behind a bit when all the others move on from where they have been scratching. She peeps ( i am guessing she) when she realizes she has fallen behind and then runs to catch up with the others, and she will peep when we pick her up. She occasionally sits with eyes closed and appears to be a little shaky/ quivering a bit. Each morning we think that it might be the day she just doesn't make it, but then there she is...She is approx. 1/3 the size of the others. Any ideas what to do for her? Any thoughts that she might make it?

 

[BeccaB00]

hm. I am not sure. We've had a few 'runts' One of which hatched a couple days early in our incubator. He was TINY but made it

now he's a big brat

The other one wasn't so much tiny, but really lacked behind the others. He would stray to the corner of the pen and would not stay with mommy. He also stopped, sat down, closed his eyes, and kinda dosed a bit. though that's normal for a chick he did that WAY to often. Sadly he got killed by what we THINK to be a opossum which was back at our house a few weeks later. So I would probably bring him inside in a box, just for his/her safety. good luck!

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

hmmm, ADHD maybe? Just kidding! I wouldn't worry about her size. If she is running and cheeping to keep up. She's fine!

 

[wendyrow]

Sounds like some positives-maybe she will make it We do have an enclosed run area and we close the coop at night, so my biggest worry is that one of the other hens will eventually step/peck at her, but for now the mother hen is still pretty protective. Thanks for the replies!