Undersized Chicks at 18 Weeks

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Your birds pictured are none of the breeds you listed in text.
I see 2 silver laced wyandottes, 1 red sex link and one Easter egger.

Did the hatchery send these directly to you or did you pick them up in the store?

You are at or over the recommended date from milling before the feed degrades. I recommend getting a new bag of a different brand that is 20% protein. I do not recommend Dumor, to many posts indicating poor quality.
I didn’t read the whole thread but I think these chicks had problems starting their life the first days after hatching. It could be water, feed or cold. That I don’t know.

I have experienced something similar 6 years ago with one chick. And it took a long time to figure out what was the reason for her slow growth. Not having a good start was the most obvious reason (conclusion with help of others). There where 2 more chicks of another breed I picked up the same day that did well.

Therefore I don’t think a starter with less proteïne is the reason.

At Wageningen university they did research on chicks not being able to eat and drink after hatching. If they don’t get feed and water after 36 hours, health is starting to decrease (factory farming ). If someone is interested I can ad a link to this article/research.
 
I didn’t read the whole thread but I think these chicks had problems starting their life the first days after hatching. It could be water, feed or cold. That I don’t know.

I have experienced something similar 6 years ago with one chick. And it took a long time to figure out what was the reason for her slow growth. Not having a good start was the most obvious reason (conclusion with help of others). There where 2 more chicks of another breed I picked up the same day that did well.

Therefore I don’t think a starter with less proteïne is the reason.

At Wageningen university they did research on chicks not being able to eat and drink after hatching. If they don’t get feed and water after 36 hours, health is starting to decrease (factory farming ). If someone is interested I can ad a link to this article/research.

The problem appears to have been sorted.
One being small/not growing I can see as poor start/failure to thrive but ALL having issues points to nutrition.

The feed the OP was sold turned out to be at least a year old. Degraded nutrients causing failure to grow at a normal pace.
 
Ok so I went through this whole thread, and I'm having an issue. However it is just one bird. They were sold to me from an individual as week old brahma chicks,and that was two weeks ago. I have one that is really starting to feather faster than the other and ( pretty sure) he seems to be a bit of a bully. Then one is just tiny. She has barely grown since we got her. Everyone is growing but her, and now she is getting picked on by everyone assuming because she is so small. I know they are light Brahmas because that is all he had. I go in each day and give her time with the food while all other birds are out of the box. They have Purina chich starter, probiotics, and electrolytes in the water. Putting that in water because a few chicks seem to have bad diarrhea, but she doesn't.
 
After several weeks of separation, two are easyer to integrate then one. Good luck.

I have them in a large clear bin. I am not starting any seeds at the moment which I do in a decent size fish tank. I can try to take that down and move it by the bin to keep them separate. Maybe if they can still see each other it won't be so hard to integrate as well.
 
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/
Do you make your own colloidal silver?
 
Here are some great studies on colloidal silver

First, silver on coccidiosis

http://silverdairyhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Meat-Processing.pdf

https://www.betterthangreens.com/colloidal-silver-2

https://patch.com/massachusetts/holliston-hopkinton/bp--natures-powerful-tools-1-colloidal-silver

https://www.lewisandlove.com/blog/colloidal-silver-what-you-need-to-know

https://www.thetempleofhealing.org/assets/pdf/CleansesFromBook/Parasite.pdf

https://www.herbalfarmwife.com/post/2018/07/27/colloidal-silver-for-chickens

https://afarmgirlinthemaking.com/how-to-beat-coccidiosis-and-keep-your-flock-healthy/#:~:text=The Coccidia parasite needs thiamin,the gut of a bird.&text=One drop of a high,to combat the Coccidia parasite.

Now these studies dont really have much to do with chicken, but more so effects on parasites, worms, bacteria and viral infections. If the direct link does not have the actual study, the study is then linked at the bottom of the page other than one or two which mention the studies but do not directly link them at which point you will have to find that particular paper on your own.

Also be aware that nano silver and colloidal silver are not the same things and both do not do the same things equally.

lastly, I want everyone to know that colloidal silver is not a cure all and does have side effects. Mostly, it can turn you permanently blue although extremely rare. I have never had it happen to a chicken (yet haha). If you are taking CS for personal use, or thinking of doing so because of any of this information then you should be aware that the condition is not reversible.

Lastly, listed below are studies involving colloidal silver and different types of bacteria.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7167925/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5110546/

Here is one on the effects of it against many different viral agents

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6264685/

Here is a more of an anecdotal one I'll throw in which while the usual bacteria is tested, fungi is tested as well. Short answer here is that it doesn't work much on fungi.

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.2011.0681

You have to pay to see the full article here which is pretty bogus hence anecdotal at best.


Colloidal silver was used as an antibiotic before we had antibiotics. It doesn't mean its any less effective than it was back then. For chicken especially. Not everyone has the means of a close vet or ability to get anti biotics. During those times, this is one of your best tools against illness.

CS will NOT work against everything. It will however, work against a good number of things.

Good luck!

PS I was thinking. Just in case anyone wanted some info about CS and its effects on good bacteria, here is a nice link for that.

https://www.argentyn23.com/the-science-of-silver/gut-microbiome-diversity-and-silver/

I figured, while I was there.
 
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Do you make your own colloidal silver?

Hi, sorry. No I do not make my own. I buy from people that test their batches. Although it's not that expensive to make colloidal silver, I like having tested batches from reliable sources. I will buy a high ppm concentrate and dilute it.

I will take a 4oz bottle of 2000ppm CS and use a dropper. I have a ppm meter that I will then use in the gallon of water to bring the ppm to 200 more than it was previously, aiming for around 200ppm. Some people go as low as 10ppm and some go much higher. I have not seen a difference in doing either.

Dont forget to measure your ppm before putting the silver in as there is a natural ppm in all waters which is a measure everything that's in it. (parts per million)
 

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