Runty Speckled Sussex?

[KHasChickens]

Hi,
I got 8 chicks at 2 weeks old a few weeks ago. They will all be 5 weeks in 2 days. I got one speckled sussex...but she is tiny. So tiny compared to the others.

She is feathering, a bit raggedly in areas, but while she is growing, she just isn't quite keeping up. No one picks on her, per se, but she is definitely at the bottom of the developing pecking order. I don't have any other SS chicks to compare her with, but I was not under the impression that they were that much smaller. So, I watch her, make sure she eats, drinks, poops and scratches about, which she does. She will not roost though. Won't even try to fly or jump up...just peeps like mad when everyone else is up above.

If she makes it out to the coop in a few weeks do you think she will be okay? I can't baby her or make her an indoor chicken, but I do want to try to help her live her best chickie life with her flock. Any suggestions?

First pic was today. Second was last week. Both other chicks are the same age...or so i was told.

Thanks chickie hive mind!

 

[MountainWoman73]

My two speckled sussex grew slower than their peers as well. I named mine Speck and Smidgen because they were the two smallest chicks for so long.

 

[KHasChickens]

My two speckled sussex grew slower than their peers as well. I named mine Speck and Smidgen because they were the two smallest chicks for so long.

Thank you! That does my heart good to hear. Perhaps that is all it is. I have had difficulty naming this flock because we lost our last flock to a fox attack and it just broke my heart so bad. But, although it is not yet official, my kids have been affectionately calling her Scrappy.