This is one of my bator chicks that hatched last weekend. Is something wrong with it? None of the rest of them do this. It holds its wings out on this funny angle all the time. I can't find anything in my chicken health handbook about this. Any ideas? Are they just growing too fast for him to keep up?!
Here is another picture. The tips of the feathers face downward. They are never flush with the side of the chick's body - always stuck out.
They are on medicated chick feed for coccidiosis. Soon they will transition to regular unmedicated chick feed. I just like to use the medicated for the first couple of weeks to give them a good start.
Hmmmm Don't know? i had one hatch this spring and his wings stuck out and seemed to big for his body.
He stayed small and never really grew. I had to move him to some other chicks when his siblings out grew him. He lived though i still had to move him once more to chicks again and he eventually started growing and was the same size but 3 months older than the ones he was with. He eventually grew into a nice rooster and i sold him.I wondered if it was a recesive dwarfisim gene. Does your chick peep more than the others and seem cold or tremble a little mine did all these for awhile.
Interesting Harmony - I did notice that he looked a little smaller than the others. I didn't notice him peeping more right now, but they all peep quite a lot when they are getting their "inspections" from me! I think he might also sleep more but not sure. I am keeping a closer eye on him and will see what else happens. At least his wings are actually feathering, which is good I suppose. Two of my 9 chicks are just growing leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. It's interesting to see all the differences.
he is adorable! since there seem to be no other signs of distress, it liekly is his breed... some kind of bantam mix... actually any cross may do that. liekly a she, feathering so fast. Chuck is a cross breed adn for the longest time she was small with big wings. She gre into them and now sports a body size more like her roo-dads, a Buckeye, but has the refinement and grace of her hen-moms, a Leghorn...
so, which egg did he come out of?
I had a couple that just seemed to need a little extra time to grow into their bodies. They are all lovely smarty-pantses now.
He came out of a slightly khaki color egg, no speckles, not really blue but not really brown. Standard size egg though, and from the birds we got from Jim's barn, all of which are standards. The mix could be anything of barred rock, light brahma, easter egger, dark cornish, black australorp...
I'm just so glad you're all not saying "Oh that's a terrible chick disease and you have to cull it now..." That gives me a tremendous amount of relief!
My sight impaired Barnevelder roo ran around with his wings out for a few weeks--and he peeped a lot. I think it was like running around with your arms out and your eyes closed. He improved over time--I washed his face repeatedly to remove some sticking egg membrane, which helped a lot. He free ranges well now, but needs to stay with the other chickens. I know he can see a little--but his sight is not normal. I spoke to the UC Davis avian vet and he said blind chickens do well as long as they know their surroundings and are with other birds. They do tend to be smaller though--that is one way they pick them out at commercial hatcheries.
Not that that means your chick is blind or anything--but the wings sort of reminded me. My Welsummers kept sinking down and walking on their hocks so I was sure something was wrong with them--but they are fine. Just big.
Nemo was just the opposite.. his wings were always way too small for his body.. they just now, at 5 months look sort of normal. he always looked like someone cut his wings off.
Well, yesterday he seemed in a really bad way. He was getting lethargic and sort of droopy and sleepy all the time. I thought I was going to lose him for sure. I started poking around on other websites and found one where somebody had the same symptoms and it turned out to be that the bird wasn't drinking. So late last night I started giving him sugar water by sticking his beak in it and he was really drinking. Then I showed him the chick waterer again and left him overnight. This morning he was still kind of droopy, and felt way lighter weight than all the others. I gave him more sugar water and showed him the waterer again, sticking his beak in it for a few seconds at a time to really get the point across (not over the nostrils of course). I also read on that other site about the Enfamil Poly-vi-sol vitamin drops for babies. I went and got some at Walgreens today and gave him a drop about 2 hours ago. I got the kind without iron - I wasn't sure which to get. Anyway, he is now running around with the other chicks and holding the wings higher. I think he is on the mend, and I really believe he was not drinking and that was making him tired and weak, and he couldn't hold up his wings right. They are not as droopy or sticky-out now.
I hope someone else can benefit from this experience in case it ever happens to them.
Claire
Yes claire i didn't mention that before but mine seemed to not be able to understand how or what to do about thier hunger. I do the same thing with mine with the getting them sip some water and it works but be careful i accidently drowned one last year useing an eye dropper i felt so bad so now i just put it in thier water and i dip thier beak in it until i know they take a sip.
then whenever they start peeping i do it again it usally takes about 2 or 3 times and then like yours they just start eating and doing better. Sorry i didn't mention it earlier but i know so much about these birds and i know you do too that sometimes the old memory bank has a crash.
maybe it is to hot in there for it
that is wat adult chickens do to cool down
Well he is doing MUCH better today. Instead of being sleepy and dopey, he is running around like a crazy chick with the others. He is still holding out the wings on a weird angle, but they are not as droopy. I have also seen him eating and drinking, so I think we are in the clear.
That is a good lesson Harmony - I didn't know about drowning with an eye dropper. I don't want to take that risk. I will put it in the water next time as you suggest. Fortunately I didn't have any disaster this time.
Claire glad to hear all is well i'm sure he/she will grow into a handsome bird. Yes the eye dropper was a tragic event it's so difficult to squeeze the bulb and it not come out too fast. I'm setting my hen today wish me luck i'm on the 21 day watch please inform CF i need a little dusting lol
