Undersized Chicks at 18 Weeks

[LizzzyJo]

Wait....sorry to hijack....i was suppose to deworm my chickens?

Haha! the same thing happened to me when I first started chicken keeping! I heard deworm and I was like whaaaaaat? Deworming is one of those issues where you will find people for and against it. Kind of like the supposed vast benefits vs true dangers in feeding Apple cider vinegar (cue the yelling here from people ).

Definitely if you see worms or a bird seems like it may have worms then you deworm. You do not ever HAVE to deworm without an issue present. Not like puppies.

 

[Miami Leghorn]

I recently recieved an order from Murray McMurray all Leghorns and a few Faverolles,and
one Ancona. They seemed growing up all evenly but as their feathers started coming in, the Brown Leghorns just took off.Especially one that just lookes like a senior in the freshman class at high school. Even if those Leghorn chicks were a few days older than the rest,NO WAY they would get that MUCH bigger so quickly. I researched and read,asked...I boiled it down to either; genetics,poor nutrition absorption,due to digestive bacteria/virus,or poor chick feed.I wormed them early just to be on the safe side.But they never caught up to the Brown Leghorns. I realized of course that the Faverolles and the Ancona-although Aconas being cousins of the Leghorns- are a different variety of chicken...so I was only comparing the rate of growth between the Leghorns. I believe that genetics play an important part,but nutrition also plays into it.I had an batch of eggs that I incubated and a few of the chicks developed crooked toes after a few weeks which took me alot of work to straighten out. I suspect that commercial feed sometimes does not fill in the gaps that some chicks may require down to genetic makeup for proper development ,which in turn creates deficiencies that manifest as; slow growth,crooked toes,etc.

 

[DuckYouMan]

On the note of worms. Colloidal Silver works wonders. I put this in all of my pets water. Dogs, cats, chicken, ducks, horse, cows etc. It takes care of all kinds of issues relating to bacteria, viruses and worms.

The only side effect thats been recorded is that it can rarely cause a person to turn permanently purple. Seriously. It used to be used widely before anti biotics. Anyways. I also use it to spray down any equipment I need to wash. I use it in just about literally everything down to toothpaste (great for bad breath).

I also give this with pre and pro biotics and niacin to all of my new chicks. Especially for bandaging wounds.

quick reference

https://buddiesnaturalpetfood.ca/colloidal-silver/

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I was responding to a query from another poster about my older chickens. In an earlier post, I stated the breeds you mentioned, except that those are Americaunas, not Easter Eggers. My feed is 20%. I think what you’re saying is even if I purchased it in April and it was current for this season, it is too old by now. My neighbor gave me her more current 25-lb. bag of Southern States starter grower and I plan to feed that from here on out.

Americanas and easter eggers are the same thing mcmurray doesnt sell true Ameraucanas

 

[Es_In_Miami]

The girls have been on viable feed for a week. They’re growing and eating more. Still not up to size but I think/hope they’ll get there in another few weeks. That old food probably didn’t taste very good either!

I took in three undernourished hens. Two were described as 2.5 y/o that stopped laying, the 3rd a young pullet near 4 months. The hens looked OLD OLD with dull feathers, dull comb, thin, spent. The little one was small and skiddish. One hen died 3 days in. The other two turned out to have roundworm which spread to my girls. Everyone went on dewormers. Everyone bouncing back well today.

With good feed alone the new birds grew and filled out quickly. At three weeks post arrival the two year old started laying. In five weeks she lays daily. The little hen has nearly doubled in size. She was about the size of your August 31st chick photos. She is less skiddish and both look and act so much healthier today. The feather development alone is incredible.

I'll bet you're chicks will catch up in size and plumage in no time. Looking forward to updates. Stay strong and chicken on

 

[Miami Leghorn]

Americanas and easter eggers are the same thing mcmurray doesnt sell true Ameraucanas

Wow...
Revelation

 

[DuckYouMan]

Undersized chicks could have something to do with stress as well from shipping. My tomaru I ordered are wildly difference sizes after a month old. My larges one is normal size while the smallest is super tiny. Still the size of a lot of my new born chicks. She's still feathered out and all, but the size difference is pretty large between them. She was pretty slow to take off compared to the others as well after she got here from shipment.

If all your chicks are the same size, I'd guess that's not what it is but interesting all the same.

 

[Araucana Nest]

Just found this thread and read through it since I was curious to read the final diagnosis and results. I'm always checking dates. It's too common to find long ago milled feeds on the shelves. TSC rotates their feed, which to them seems to mean send it to another store. My local feed store brings in most of their inventory once a week so it is always fresh. You have to be very vigilant about dates with feed, especially in feed stores that pick out the sacks and load for you or if you order online.
I've never purchased from McMurray but if this had not been a feed issue, I would have guessed genetics.

 

[TheBajan]

Jumping in here with a similar situation. I'm fairly sure it's not due to poor diet. Here it is...

I purchased 5 Silverudd Blues from Greenfire hatch date was July 13th. Two of them died within the first 3 days. Of the three remaining, two of them lagged behind in growth and at four weeks old they were half the size of their hatch mate.
In August I purchased 6 more. Again from Greenfire with a hatch date of Aug 10. One of them died at 10 days old leaving me with five. Of those five, two of them are still tiny. By that I mean that they are not fully feathered and they are the size of about 1 1/2 week old chicks.
So my current flock of Siverudd Blues consist of 3 that are 9 1/2 weeks old and 5 that are 5 1/2 weeks old. I integrated them together last weekend and held my breath hoping no one would pick on the two tiny dots. To my amazement, not only did no one pick on them, they seemed to actually adopt them. My two tiny babies immediately started trying to crawl under the older birds for warmth and protection. Two of the three tolerated this and while they didn't comply with the babies requests, they did allow them to nestle up close. The funniest and sweetest part of this story is that both of the older birds are little cockerels... only the hen basically said no thank you!
Anyway, I diverge. The thing I wanted to point out here is that even though these guys are vastly different sizes, they got on just fine when we brought them together. Also, since both batches were fed the same food and some grew while others didn't, I don't think it was the food. The two from my July hatch date that were lagging have caught up with their hatch mate. You can see the various sizes in the pictures. Sorry the lighting is so bad. We keep the heat lamp going for the tiniest two because they are not fully feathered yet.
The 'dots' have started turning around since we integrated them with the older birds. It just seemed to liven them up and give them both a boost.
To be honest, last Saturday, one of them was so bad off that I really expected to find it pass away by the next morning. Instead, we brought in the older three and it just found it's "mamma" and came back to life.

 

[TheOddOneOut]

I have two RI Reds and two Barred Rocks.
The starter grower is 20% protein. There isn’t a date on the bag. I may have cut that end off. But I got the 50-lb. bag in April. My feed store lady—who I trust—said it was new for this season. They haven’t quite finished the whole bag, but I give them as much as they want to eat.
I called McMurrey and they’re baffled as well and asked me to send pictures too, which I have. They double checked the order and said they did NOT accidentally ship bantams.
Thanks.

She's actually an Easter Egger.
How has this turned out?