Second time getting a 'runt' chick

[Sofiaee]

Hi guys,

This is my first time posting here but I've been keeping chickens for about 4 years now and this site helped me a lot when I was just starting out.

Well I recently got 12 chicks from Callahan's, a local feed store in Austin. I'm really disappointed that one of the chicks is having the same symptoms of one from the last flock of 12 I raised. It doesn't walk really well, some toes are a little deformed (going in the wrong directions), it mostly sits back on it's knees and hasn't really grown much. I think she has trouble breathing and she rocks back and forth a lot. I managed to nurse the last chick and it lived for months but was always small and unhealthy, it eventually died. So I assume the same will happen with this one.

Is it normal for breeders to turn out so many chicks in this condition? I know two isn't a lot but that I've gotten two chicks like this in such small numbers is strange to me, if I was getting 50 or something it would make more sense. It seems like bad breeding, maybe inbreeding?

Anyways let me know if this seems normal or if I should purchase chicks from somewhere else in the future. And if you guys have any advice, although I don't think this is something I can cure, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

Sofia Eichelmann

 

[Kelsie2290]

I would not be happy with those odds either. How early could you tell the chick had a problem? Were they the same breed of chick? Are you able to pick out chicks there or do they do it for you?

 

[Sofiaee]

Well when we first got the chicks they looked like your avg 1-3 day olds, all equally active. The last time this happened it was a different breed, however a second chick in this batch is having similar symptoms but not as extreme. The two sick chicks I have now are both barred rock. They pick the chicks after you tell them which breed you want.