Runty chick - eating issue?

[QuinnQuinn]

Hi-

So my runt this hatch is a bantam Cochin and is veerrry slowly growing, she is just over 2 weeks & only 42g. I just started weighing her yesterday so actual weight gain from hatch I am not sure about, but her feathers are coming in very slow.

She only has 1 pal with her, a silkie with a slight cross beak issue that I separated from the rest a week ago to help make sure they were getting a fair chance to eat and I wanted to make sure that bullying wasn't an issue. The silkie is eating fine, and no bullying from her to the cochin, they are quite bonded at this point.

The odd thing about the Cochin is don't see her eat from the food dish but I see her picking through the bedding a lot. She isn't digging hand feeding, I was trying combinations of a mush of feed and yogurt with vitamins and she wasn't really into any of it. I accidentally dropped a glob on the side of the brooder and she went crazy pecking away at it, and she has eaten a nice amount doing 2 meals like that now.

Ive used a small typical chick feeder and a plastic mason jar lid with them. I've put the mush and scrambled eggs down for them and she was not interested... But slabbed on a wall and it's game on!

I have seen her at the waterer but she doesn't seem to drink as enthusiastically as I normally see with the other ones.

All other chicks are healthly, normal poop, normal chick behavior everything else seems spot on with her.

Anyone have issues with chicks not using feeders? Any ideas on the situation, what the issue might be?

Thanks!

 

[birdsrfun]

The odd thing about the Cochin is don't see her eat from the food dish but I see her picking through the bedding a lot. She isn't digging hand feeding, I was trying combinations of a mush of feed and yogurt with vitamins and she wasn't really into any of it. I accidentally dropped a glob on the side of the brooder and she went crazy pecking away at it, and she has eaten a nice amount doing 2 meals like that now.

If she picks through the bedding, and eats the yogurt when it’s not in the feeder, just toss some feed on the ground and see if she eats that way. If she’s not eating as much, she probably won’t be drinking as much either. If she eats well off the ground, see if you notice her drinking better.

You can try just using a very shallow dish for the feed also, although it may just get knocked over anyway.