Runt Silver Laced Wyandotte

[TinaG]

I've got a small flock of seven 6-week old chicks. The most entertaining and forager supreme is the little Silver Laced Wyandotte. That chick must have come out the egg scratching and pecking. She's like a little bulldozer in my flower beds. I've got a question though that I'm curious about - since I got her from Meyer Hatchery she has always been the smallest by half of any of the other chicks (Black Australorp, Barred Rock, White Leghorn and Easter Egger). I had to go back and look at my shipping slip to make sure I hadn't accidentally order a bantam. Is she a runt or do SLW's mature more slowly? Could I have accidentally gotten a bantam by mistake among all the chicks shipped out?

This photo was the best I could get. They never stop moving. This is Marcelline standing next to the smallest Barred Rock.

 

[Wyandottes7]

She probably is just a runt. I've had two chicks that just never grew as fast as their sibling. One died (but she had some other sort of problem), and another grew up almost normally.

Your chicken doesn't seem all that small compared to the others, so I think that she will grow just fine. She may just be a slow maturer. As long as she's healthy and happy, just leave her be.

 

[TinaG]

I hope she is typical of Wyandottes - busy, good foraging, and endlessly curious - because I love how she just gets down to the business of being a chicken. I am really loving this breed so far for those qualities. Black Australorps at this point are coming in on the bottom of the clueless scale.

 

[Wyandottes7]

Yes, I have seven Wyandottes, and they are all very sweet, intelligent, inquisitive, lovable birds. I'm sure yours will be just like them!