Underweight 4 month old

[Fpaul]

My sweet Starcrunch with a parrot beak is soooo small. It doesn’t seem like she’s growing to the right size. She’s a Green Queen. Her Easter Egger sister and Australorp sister are 2 times bigger than her and the same age. She definitely seems hungry and eager as she constantly runs to me for food. I’ve been giving her starter/grower mash with water for a few weeks now daily. I just don’t feel like she’s changing. She’s not lethargic or anything either. Her comb is a good color. However her wattle is like a little soft wrinkly ball and pale. I’ve never seen a chicken with a wattle like that.

So could there be an underlying issue here besides her problem beak? Is that the only reason she’s underweight? And if it is, what else can I do besides wet mash to get her up to par?
She’s wonderful so I’d like to do whatever I can to improve her weight.

 

[Smileybans]

Have you tried weighing her each week to be sure she’s not gaining, or is losing, weight?

 

[STACEYH]

Pictures would help.
Have you dewormed her?

 

[Fpaul]

Here’s two photos of her and a comparison with her sisters.
I plan to go to TSC here soon. What kind of dewormer should I get?
I haven’t been weighing her but I’ll try.

 

[NatJ]

So could there be an underlying issue here besides her problem beak?

Yes, there could be. Whatever caused her beak to be weird like that could have also caused the odd-shaped wattles, and might have caused some other problems as well.

If she does have other problems, there might not be any way to tell what they are or any way to help.

what else can I do besides wet mash to get her up to par?

If she needs more food, the only way to help is to make sure she does get enough food.

If she has trouble eating, she might spend lots of time "eating" but still not get enough. I think it would be a good idea to check her crop to make sure it's actually getting full two or three times a day (definitely morning and evening, and maybe middle of the day too.)

If she spends most of her time with an empty crop, then she is probably not getting enough food.

Wet mash made from starter/grower food and water sounds like a very good choice of food for her.

 

[Fpaul]

should I add a little bit of syringe feeding too? Like yogurt or add some lightly scrambled eggs to her diet to beef her up a bit? I’ll be more diligent about checking the crop. I only checked once today.

 

[NatJ]

should I add a little bit of syringe feeding too? Like yogurt or add some lightly scrambled eggs to her diet to beef her up a bit? I’ll be more diligent about checking the crop. I only checked once today.

I would focus on the wet mash first.
It should have everything a chick needs to grow, if she eats enough of it.

If you make sure she gets enough for several days, and it doesn't seem to make a difference, then other things might make sense too.