Runt chicken

[dirtgirl01]

I got 12 chicks last week and they are all doing very well. One is best described as a runt. She has no other symptoms other than she is not growing at the same rate as the other BO chicks. Her fluff has not changed and she doesn't have any feathers. She is about 9 days old. Any thoughts?

Thanks
Dirtgirl

 

[duckyfromoz]

Sometimes they " just happen" Sadly they may live very short lives as it can be a sign of internal problems- but others can go on to eventually catch up and grow to full size- just taking longer than siblings.

 

[lfreem2]

We have a runt too. She is doing perfectly well and there is nothing wrong with her, but she is simply smaller than the rest. They are about 14 days old now, and they have a bunch of adult feathers and their tails coming in, and she only has a few wing feathers and no real tail feathers yet. She's also a bit smaller. She's eating and drinking perfectly fine. There is nothing wrong with her at all, she's just littler.

Be patient, she'll come along.

 

[Hoosierchickens]

We have one of these in the 12 we received a week and a half ago. She's about 1/2 to 2/3 the size of the others. She was our special needs chick when she arrived. We didn't think she was going to make it the first few days but she is doing well now. She's eating and drinking and doing normal chick stuff now. She is feathering out slower than the rest also. I keep wondering if they didn't slip a bantam in our mix but I think she's just a runt.

 

[Mervin]

Sorry...Double posted

 

[Mervin]

Last season, I had a runt Welsummer mutt hen. I was concerned b/c it seemed like everybody was growing much faster than her, but she seemed hold her own. In fact, she was a bit of a bully. All of a sudden she started to grow and caught up very quickly. Now she's a little smallish but basically normal sized compared her sisters.

I've had similar experiences with feathering, some that were just way behind. In some breeds males tend to feather in a little slower. I've had a mixed bag though. I have had slow roosters, but I've also had very slow hens as well.

Just be calm. It's only been 9 days. If he/she is not weak, not being bullied and is getting enough food, what else can you do really? He/she might surprise you. It's hard to be patient, but usually it works out.

If it makes you feel any better, here's a slow growing/feathering rooster from last year. He's over four weeks old in this picture:



At seven months, he was perfectly normal:



Normal in every way:

 

[dirtgirl01]

Thanks for the replies.

Coop is almost done so will post some pics of it soonish.

Thanks again for the quick responses.

Dirtgirl

 

[dirtgirl01]

All is well with my runt chick.

Just a few more posts and I can post some pics of the new coop.