Failure to thrive

My chicks will be 3 weeks old this coming Monday. All are doing well. One however, has not grown since the first few days. She's getting feathers (slowly) but she has not really increased in size. However, she is still eating, drinking, pooping and is only a little less active than the others.

I handraised cockatiels once upon a time, and had one clutch with a runt in it. I used to handfeed starting at two weeks and when I pulled the chicks, there was this one tiny little guy, still buck naked while his siblings were all getting big and starting to get pinfeathers. But he kept eating and eating and so I kept feeding, always expecting him to die at any time. He's now 14 years old. He did turn out smaller and has weak feet and legs (hence the name, Tiny Tim) but he's otherwise healthy.

So I'm wondering if maybe this chick will turn out the same way. The others aren't picking on her, which is probably because she is active and not just laying around looking like a target.

Anyone ever had a chick refuse to grow or grow really slowly?

I don't blame the hatchery - when you hatch that many eggs there's bound to be ones like this.

I had a tiny chick like that--I eventually had to separate him (with another chick for company) from the main group. He survived and became a very beautiful rooster. He just couldn't compete when he was younger and he was very slow to feather out.

I thought that one of my cornish crosses was a runt, untill I realised that someone had slipped a white leghorn into the batch by mistake. DId you hatch them yourself or buy them from the hatchery. There have been several times over the years that I have ended up with an odd chick.

As with any species, a runt, a dwarf or undersize offspring will shoe up. I had a dwarf kitten once that never grew bigger than an 8 week old normal kitten. It had shorter legs, a large head and was deaf as a post, but otherwise normal in every way. Right now I have a fawn, that is half the size of the ones his same age, but normal in every way.

Last year out of 75 chick, I had one cornish cross and one turkey that feathered really slowly, but they did and I could hardly ttell them from the rest in the end.

I wouldn't call him a failure to thrive unless he shows other symptoms of weakness. Fairlure to thrive causes malnutrition and more problems than size.

They are hatchery chicks. The others are going like gangbusters. This one's just a little "slower" than the rest (activity wise), but you have to watch for a while to tell.

I have one Modern Game that might fall in that category.. it's not sickly, but it's just small and not the energetic hyper lil thing the rest are.. I'm not worried about it cause I have plenty for breeders, it's too cute to cull.

I have had several chicks just like that and i just had to remove them when their brood mates grew bigger than them because they were kinda picking at them.
But they turned out fine it took them longer to mature than it did the others but they eventually caught up {:~)

Out of 5 Silkies, I had one that died on day two, and one that stayed tiny. They are now outside in the "big" coop. and s/he is catching up. I still can tell which one s/he is, but Tiny Fluff is now as large as the next smallest, and they're all growing. I really expected to lose him/her, but am pleased that it hasn't happened. Part of TF's survival may be attributed to the other bantams. He seems to be a favorite, and when peril looms, s/he simply dives under the nearest Bantam and they all crowd around like the wagons are circling :)

I'm very fond of my Banties :)

She's still hanging in there. The others are three times her size, which is quite comical in some ways. Sort of the like the puny freshman surrounded by the seniors on the football team. :)

Love your story Catmad - if only they were all like that, huh?