Skinny 9.5 week salmon faverolle

[tdano]

I have a 9.5 week salmon faverolle hen that eats and drinks normally but just doesn’t seem to be gaining weight. She has lots of feathers coming in but underneath it feels like skin and bones. She’s very active and often at the food bowl/happy to take treats. Not sure if it could be age related (ie. poultry growing pains) or something to be concerned over. The other chicks in the flock with her have a *lot* more heft to them but she’s my first faverolle so I’m wondering if it could be a breed thing? Whatever it is must not be contagious since no one else has this issue.

 

[Chickassan]

They take a little longer to put on heft. At full feather most of mine look very fat but only one actually is. Yours looks pretty normal, she's going through a gangly stage next month or so she should fatten nicely. Do make sure she's getting enough to eat, they tend to be easily chased away from the food since they don't fight.

 

[tdano]

That’s so good to know. Thank you so much! This is the hard thing about having so many varieties—comparison doesn’t always work to your advantage.

 

[Eggcessive]

She is sweet. I have faverolles and they are usually poofy-looking. I would worry that she may be meek and possibly not getting her share of food and water. My faverolles have always been the lowest in pecking order, and easily bullied.

Can you place her in a spot by her self, or in a dog crate, and ofer her some chopped egg and some chicken feed all her own? Chicken feed made wet with a lot of water in a small bowl can be very attractive. Some B complex or chick vitamins can be helpful to increase the appetite.

How do her poops looks? Coccidiosis can keep them from thriving. You could takenin a sample of her droppings to get a fecal test done by your lab. There are commercial labs that will do this as well.

 

[Chickassan]

This is how the ones here looked at that age. Not nearly as much chicken there as it looks like, much fluff.