To help my chick grow? Or to brood her with ducks?

[kublackbird]

Here's my situation. Baby chick (1 of 5; two weeks old) is much smaller than her sisters.

(You can see a video of them here:

towards the end, the smallest chick is standing next to the biggest chick for size comparison.)

I'm hand-feeding her 4-5 times each day, giving her electrolytes, etc., and she seems to be hanging in there and even growing a little, but I'm worried that she's going to get trampled by the bigger chicks if she doesn't start to catch up to them soon. They aren't beating up on her, but she doesn't seem to be as involved with the flock as the bigger chicks are. (She sleeps to herself a lot, and generally just seems to be overwhelmed by them.) However, when I put her off by herself, with her own food and water, she gets very distressed. She clearly doesn't want to be alone. With that all in mind....

1. Is there anything I could be doing to help her catch up to her sisters in terms of weight? Is there any kind of chart or guideline to tell me what she even should weigh?

2. I'm getting an order of two baby ducks next week. If the little chick isn't starting to catch up by then, do you think it would be wise to let her live with the ducks for a bit? Then she wouldn't be alone, and the ducks will at least start out closer to her size. I know the ducks can't eat the medicated starter that the chicks are eating, but I'm thinking of a) feeding the ducks non-medicated chick starter and b) continuing to give the chick medicated starter when I hand-feed her.

Any thoughts would be appreciated--thanks!

 

[DAFox]

If you put her with the ducks, what will you do once they outgrow her -- which will happen pretty quickly?
You could put her with just one of the nicest, smallest chicks that she is already used to being with. It would be great if you could just block off a section of your brooder pen with some hardware cloth or something.
You, also, must think about what you will do if she never catches up. A bantam friend, perhaps. Or let nature take its course...survival of the fittest. My smallest hen rules the roost, by the way. She is very aggressive to the other hens.
Good luck.
Dale-Ann

 

[kublackbird]

Urgh. I know you're right (about the ducks eventually outgrowing her too). I just keep hoping that eventually something will click, and she'll start to make some forward progress. She's kind of in a holding pattern--not regressing, not taking off either--but it's taking a lot to keep her there. And, although I could certainly set up a separate brooder easily enough, my coop set-up is such that she's going to have to eventually make it work with the big girls...or not. I hate to separate them out now, knowing that I'm going to have to reintroduce them later.

 

[wildorchid053]

i would seperate her with a couple of little friends.. give it a few days then try her back in with the others.. they grow so fast you can judge better in a week how she is really going to do