Worried about our 10 week old pullets

[averycatherwood]

Our 10 week old chicks are dramatically smaller than what they should be. We have them on grower feed and they still run around and fly like crazy. I just don't understand why they are so small. They're acting very healthy though and are eating and drinking. Any ideas of what could be happening? I'll attach a pic


By they way, the left on is an easter egger and the right one is a dominque

 

[donrae]

They look in the normal range for that age to me

Dominiques are a lighter bodied bird, they're not as heavy or meaty as a Rock, say, or an Orpington.

My Easter eggers are also lighter than my other dual purpose breeds. Your birds look fine to me.

 

[subhanalah]

They look in the normal range for that age to me

Dominiques are a lighter bodied bird, they're not as heavy or meaty as a Rock, say, or an Orpington.

My Easter eggers are also lighter than my other dual purpose breeds. Your birds look fine to me.

especially if they are pullets. Roosters would be bigger, I think.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

Are they fully feathered? Their heads still look like they have fluff...? They look a little smaller then ours. Do you still have them under a heat lamp? What is your weather like? Maybe if they have a lot of room to free range they are just burning a lot of calories...

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

And could it be possibly that you are wrong on their age? They look like 7-8 weeks to me...

 

[averycatherwood]

We took them off the heat lamp a while ago because we heard that it helps them become more hardy. Our weather has been cold until just a couple weeks ago so we have been able to let them outside. Do you think we should stop letting them outside so much? They still have some fluff on the top of their head

 

[Firekin1]

I harden my chicks off quickly, they're 5 weeks and perfectly happy at 45-50°F, but they're all feathered in with the exception of their heads, their coming in now (Ameraucanas), and at 5 weeks they're almost the same size as your 10 week olds there, but poultry grower is meant to slow down their growth to improve their bone strength for adult bird weights, and since they are a lighter type bird, they're probably right where they should be.

 

[LauraCatherwood]

especially if they are pullets. Roosters would be bigger, I think.

Thank you everyone. This is our first time raising baby chicks and we have done everything "By the books" Or, so I thought. We are at a loss here!

My only idea is that they have not gotten enough sunlight? We are not wrong on their age as we bought them from a breeder and they were one day old.

The one I am sure is a roo is teeny tiny, much smaller than the rest.

These are two Dominiques and one Easter Egger.

 

[CrazyChickGirl]

I would just wait and see. Maybe they are just slower growing... Maybe it's in the genes or something.