Skinny Chick

[QuinnQuinn]

Asking for advice since I haven't had this yet and still newer at this, currently on my 6th hatch.

This batch is all bantams. My first out was a lavender d'uccle, she came out with wing feathers, the tail starting and not a lot of fluff. What little she had didn't fluff up and was mostly stuck to her. After a bath, her fluff was really patchy. None of my chicks came out with feathers like this before.

She's now 5 days, oldest by 2 days and is the runt. She seems to act like a normal chick but skinny, actually she's acting like the alpha of the group haha. She eats, drinks, poops, poop is normal, no pasty butt - size wise just doesn't seem to be keeping up with the rest and a little on the skinny side.

I do put nutri-drench and an eletrolyte & probiotic mix in the chicks water.

I don't want her to start wasting, even though her personality is there, I know how quick chicks can go from healthy to not.

Thanks!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC!

Can you post some photos?
If she's eating/drinking well and active, then I would take a wait and see approach.
You can weigh her how to get a baseline weight, then weigh every few days to see if she's gaining.

Some chicks can be runty and sometimes catch up given time.
Others may have genetic or developmental issues or just fail to thrive - usually those are lethargic, not eating/drinking, etc. Time will tell how she does.

 

[QuinnQuinn]

Welcome To BYC!

Can you post some photos?
If she's eating/drinking well and active, then I would take a wait and see approach.
You can weigh her how to get a baseline weight, then weigh every few days to see if she's gaining.

Some chicks can be runty and sometimes catch up given time.
Others may have genetic or developmental issues or just fail to thrive - usually those are lethargic, not eating/drinking, etc. Time will tell how she does.

Thanks for replying. I figured it's a wait and see game but wasn't sure if I was missing something. We were just a little paranoid because she was looking like a few last year that I lost that were runty, seemed ok behavior wise then we just found dead, I think it was a breeder issue though.

She's looking better, my daughter washed her up again and been TLCing her. She's really chesty and not a nice fluff ball round in the abdomen. She is acting the leader still, so hope that spunk is a good sign. We will just continue to wait and see how she turns out
.