thinking she's a runt??

[vsmenagerie]

I ordered chicks from Ideal, they were hatched March 11th and I got them on the 12th, so they are now 12 days old. I got 2 partridge standard cochins, and one has basically not grown and is barely beginning to feather out. I am really hoping she is a runt and not a oops roo! I did order 2 roos and they are feathering a little slower than the girls but they are growing. Any thoughts? She is active, though she did have a slightly sore leg for a little while, but eats, drinks and poops fine. So here are two pictures with her sister taken yesterday

 

[vsmenagerie]

Im also wanting to get these guys outside by the weekend. Everyone else is feathered out quite a bit, but this little one. Im not sure she would do well outside without more feathers. Any thoughts on that?? I am not against grabbing a few chicks from the store so she has time to feather out and still have buddies.

thanks

 

[Kikiriki]

Im also wanting to get these guys outside by the weekend. Everyone else is feathered out quite a bit, but this little one. Im not sure she would do well outside without more feathers. Any thoughts on that?? I am not against grabbing a few chicks from the store so she has time to feather out and still have buddies.

thanks

I would not be moving them outside. I am in Florida, our nighttime temps in the high 60's and I wouldn't put those chicks outside yet.

Mine stay in the house until 5 weeks old, and only if their feathering is mostly done on their whole bodies.

 

[vsmenagerie]

I would not be moving them outside. I am in Florida, our nighttime temps in the high 60's and I wouldn't put those chicks outside yet.

Mine stay in the house until 5 weeks old, and only if their feathering is mostly done on their whole bodies.

thanks for your thoughts Kikiriki, though I did not ask if I should move the rest out They will be going out into a tractor with their light and they are already used to cooler temps out from under their light in the room I have them. They are not my first batch of chicks, but I do not have much experience with runts, which is why I asked that question. I don't want to harm her. I think I will get her a couple buddies on friday so she can hang out in the house until she's feathering more. As for the others, they will be perfectly fine out in the tractor, with an enclosed house and being covered at night. Chicks with their mothers do not stay in an enclosed warmed area until they are fully feathered. I am not sure if you thought I meant I was moving them without their heat source or not.

 

[Kikiriki]

I would not be moving them outside. I am in Florida, our nighttime temps in the high 60's and I wouldn't put those chicks outside yet.


Mine stay in the house until 5 weeks old, and only if their feathering is mostly done on their whole bodies.

thanks for your thoughts Kikiriki, though I did not ask if I should move the rest out They will be going out into a tractor with their light and they are already used to cooler temps out from under their light in the room I have them. They are not my first batch of chicks, but I do not have much experience with runts, which is why I asked that question. I don't want to harm her. I think I will get her a couple buddies on friday so she can hang out in the house until she's feathering more. As for the others, they will be perfectly fine out in the tractor, with an enclosed house and being covered at night. Chicks with their mothers do not stay in an enclosed warmed area until they are fully feathered. I am not sure if you thought I meant I was moving them without their heat source or not.

Yes, I did! I was horrified, to be honest...

It sounds like you have more experience than do I, so I am so sorry for the misunderstanding!

My only runt died. Went from very active one day to dead the next morning. No idea what happened, except possibly cocci. They had pooped more into their water than anyplace else that night. I now use a "roof" over the water for the chicks.

If you do elect to keep the runt inside, I would absolutely keep a buddy, too. But if they have heat out there, it may be best to keep them all together. If it was me, I would make the decision based upon how frequently I could check them.

Again, sorry for any insult!

 

[vsmenagerie]

Yes, I did!

I was horrified, to be honest...

It sounds like you have more experience than do I, so I am so sorry for the misunderstanding!

My only runt died. Went from very active one day to dead the next morning. No idea what happened, except possibly cocci. They had pooped more into their water than anyplace else that night. I now use a "roof" over the water for the chicks.

If you do elect to keep the runt inside, I would absolutely keep a buddy, too. But if they have heat out there, it may be best to keep them all together. If it was me, I would make the decision based upon how frequently I could check them.

Again, sorry for any insult!

I was thinking you might have thought that! I have my tractor set up so that I can safely put heat lights in it they are quickly outgrowing their brooder in the house and I think they would just like to be out in the sunshine. I know I like to be out in it! I also have a cover to put over the entire thing at night to keep drafts out and it warms up most of it that way I put some dirt in their brooder the other day and they went quite nuts over it and made a giant mess scratching it up.

Ive been keeping a close eye on her and she does well with everyone, she just is not feathering out. I see some tiny ones showing on her wings now, but everyone else is probably 60% feathered out now, so she stands out haha I wondered if maybe she was not a standard cochin after all but I am sure by 2+ weeks old, even a banty would be feathering. I am hoping she is just slower to mature and that she is a she!

 

[Kikiriki]

I want to hear how this turns out, so I hope you will post updates

 

[One Chick Two]

I was thinking you might have thought that! I have my tractor set up so that I can safely put heat lights in it they are quickly outgrowing their brooder in the house and I think they would just like to be out in the sunshine. I know I like to be out in it! I also have a cover to put over the entire thing at night to keep drafts out and it warms up most of it that way I put some dirt in their brooder the other day and they went quite nuts over it and made a giant mess scratching it up.

Ive been keeping a close eye on her and she does well with everyone, she just is not feathering out. I see some tiny ones showing on her wings now, but everyone else is probably 60% feathered out now, so she stands out haha I wondered if maybe she was not a standard cochin after all but I am sure by 2+ weeks old, even a banty would be feathering. I am hoping she is just slower to mature and that she is a she.

We have a standard partridge cochin male. He was a mystery chick in with our RIR. He took a LONG time to initially feather in, and was easily one month behind everyone else in feathers. However, he stayed the same size as the RIR chicks, and keep up with their size. We suspected (due to his 'roo stance') but, didn't know for sure he was a male until he was 3 months old and finally grew in a single saddle feather.

The males take an incredibly long time to feather in, and aren't full adults until they are 2 years old. They keep growing until then.

 

[vsmenagerie]

We have a standard partridge cochin male. He was a mystery chick in with our RIR. He took a LONG time to initially feather in, and was easily one month behind everyone else in feathers. However, he stayed the same size as the RIR chicks, and keep up with their size. We suspected (due to his 'roo stance') but, didn't know for sure he was a male until he was 3 months old and finally grew in a single saddle feather.

The males take an incredibly long time to feather in, and aren't full adults until they are 2 years old. They keep growing until then.

I am afraid its a boy :/ which will be ok maybe.. I ordered 2 roos in my batch and the two cochins were supposed to be girls lol I plan on free ranging as much as I can and we do have predators so I wanted a couple roos but 3 will probably be too many! I may have to get more hens haha I got the cochins for my youngest to have his own chickens, as I have read they can be pretty docile. thanks for your post!! We will have to see how it goes I guess! This one has grown some but is not keeping up with everyone else in that aspect obviously.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

It could be a pullet. Cochins are a very slow maturing breed, so the faster feathering chick= pullet thing doesn't work with them. I used to breed standard Cochins, and my boys would grow at the same rate as the girls. Occasionally the would feather out slower (and sometimes faster) but size wise, they were usually a tad bigger as juveniles.
I think you have a runt.
I ordered some partridge Chanteclers from Ideal (also a pretty slow maturing breed). I got a couple of pullets and a cockerel. Both of the pullets are tiny little things, not even half the size of the other chicks that I ordered. They're STILL lagging in feather development at more than 2 months old. The cockerel, however, is growing at the same rate as the other breeds I got, and his lovely, brilliant red feathers have all grown in already. The feathers that the 2 runts do have say they're girls (so far). Usually the females are a drab brown, while the males get lovely mahogany and sometimes orange-ish feathers. I've ordered from Ideal several times, and they've been right with their sexing all the rest of the times I ordered, so I'm going to put my trust in them this time as well.

Maybe there's just something going on with Ideals chicks this year? My runts are healthy and active, just wonky looking.

Good luck with yours.