Slow growing chick....?

[Berritt]

I have 4 chicks, and one is growing much slower than the others. She was always the smallest, and IS growing, just not as fast. She's eating, drinking, flapping wings, playing? Do they play? She is acting 100% like the other 4. They are not bullying her, or pushing her away from the food.

I'm trying to not be terribly concerned.... she doesn't seem "skinny".

They started out as the heavier 3 chicks being around 1 oz heavier than she was at the time, and now they are all 10 oz and she is 7 oz. So now there is a 3 oz difference in their weights.

I am not sure that I can feed her anything else as they still won't touch any treats. I tried egg numerous times, and yogurt. They don't want either. I would leave it for them too, and they ignore it. They LOVE their crumble, though. I was feeding unmedicated starter, but had to pick up a bag of the medicated because they didn't have any at our local feed store, and I didn't want to drive to another city just to get the unmedicated. They seem to like this one better, anyway.



Any ideas? Should I just ignore it since she's seeming healthy?

 

[sandiatonimarie]

Hi there,

I have this same problem with one of my chicks - smaller, slow to feather, behind everyone else. I asked about it in another thread on this forum and you can see all the answers - just google within the forum "chick slow to feather out"

Bottom line - I was told if she is healthy, flapping around, eating, drinking, and behavig like the rest she is alright - just slow. Nothing you can really do about it and fortunately nothing that you need to do about it.

Also a few people said that the runty and slow growing chicks may turn out to be roosters rather than hens.

Good luck.

 

[TheFarmMama]

If she's not underweight you don't really need to give her anything additional but I can tell you from personal experience that when we had a runty Serama chick this past December, we fed MannaPro conditioner feed supplemented in with their normal feed once a day and it helped him grow up quite nice.

 

[cluckcluck42]

I have a runt too. Very healthy and happy, just small!!!

 

[nanawendy]

When one of my EE was smaller than the her sisters, I was worried as well. Come to find out she is... SMALLER than her sisters!!!
Yeah, all that worry for nothing. Your little one might just be little.
My little EE is the first one I pick up when I go out to the coop.

 

[Doll Maker]

Hi, Out of our 25 Australorps, one was really tiny and there was another that is also smaller, but not quite so small as Bitty. I think I can tell you now (they are 4 weeks old), I truly believe they are both roosters. Neither has much in the way of tail feathers, their combs are a lot redder than the rest of the "girls" and they have the beginnings of wattles. Today, We took them out to the grow-out brooder and tonight when I was out there the two of them were sparring......just like a couple of roosters!!!

As long as your little'un is eating, drinking, playing and acting otherwise normal, I wouldn't worry to much about him/her. Keep an eye on the chick and if you see the others picking on him/her perhaps move the little one and another to another brooder. We had our 25 babies in three 105 quart Rubbermade bins and our Bitty is beginning to grow more.

At 2 1/2 weeks or so mine were weighing about like yours and the smaller one was at least 3 ounces lighter. He doesn't feel "light" he's filling out, and I think he's just taking his time growing. After tongiht and watching my two "tail-less wonders" I am about 99% sure they are both roosters.

Hope this helps

 

[HEChicken]

I had one chick that was just as you described. Well, she did grow up, and even eventually caught up with her sisters in size. The only problem is, she has never laid an egg. She is now 8 months old but you can see in the pic below (taken about two weeks ago and no change since), that her comb/wattle development indicate she is not even close to laying yet. DH keeps wondering how long we give her before we give up on her....

 

[Robbinita]

I have a smaller EE too, just like you describe! I am thankful for all of these answers!

 

[lotsalyons]

I have this problem too. Here is my supposed black sex link pullet. She is a month old. Here she is next to a chick of approx same age. Thoughts?

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[kaitimargo]

I’m have a Wyandotte that is lagging behind the rest in size and feathers. I’m worried about putting her outside with the rest in a few weeks? Should I keep her in at night with the heater?