Moving chicks to the coop...with one chick developmentally behind

[curiouseclectic]

Hello!

I have four Bielefelder chicks who are just about to turn 8 weeks old at the end of this week and I am hoping to get them outside permanently. I've been putting them in their coop/run during the day (weather permitting) for the past few weeks preparation. I'm in Pittsburgh and the lows at night are finally settling into the 50s.

Everything should be fine, as they are fully feathered etc., but one of the chicks (Mushroom) is waaaaay behind the others in terms of development. She's about half the size and not feathering out at the same rate. She had to have a hobble to straighten out her leg early on and never seemed to catch up.

My question is, is she okay at this level of feathering to withstand the 50s at night? I would ideally not like to separate her from the rest of the flock because she becomes distressed and eats less when she is away from the others, and obviously the rest of the birds are more than ready to go outside and I don't want to hold them back.

(For size comparison - Mushroom sitting in coop door with Fennel and Dill below)

Has anyone dealt with a chick this behind heading outside permanently before? Any advice would be great. During the day she hangs out with the others outside just fine and they've never (so far anyway) picked on her. I would say she's been out there in the low 60s while huddled down in the sun.
I'm also aware that she there could be a million of things wrong with little Mushroom, she may not make it, failure to thrive, etc. But I'm trying to give her the best chance possible! Thanks!

 

[FrostRanger]

They've been ready for several weeks now. This includes Mushroom. She's a bit small, sure but she'll be fine. For reference, my chicks were comfortably spending days outside in those temps at 3 weeks old and were outside full-time at 5 weeks (would have been 4, but I was sick that week). As long as she's otherwise healthy and is active and is eating and drinking normally, I wouldn't worry about her being the runt. She may or may not catch up in size eventually, but she should be just fine

 

[Debbie292d]

I baby my chickens but I had my 6-week old silkies outside when it was in the 30s at night, but they had a Cozy Coop radiant heater to lean on and they did. Two weeks later, we pulled it when it stayed above 40F at night. Now here too it's going to finally be in the 50s so certainly I'd not be afraid to leave mine out there.

I have a silkie hen that's half the size of the rest of them. She was a runt chick I kept (I sell most chicks) cuz she was so cute. She's still cute, just so little in comparison. Nobody picks on her. She laid smaller eggs then they did at first. That went on for about a month so I thought that's how they always would be, but she's since been laying the normal-sized eggs for a silkie.

 

[curiouseclectic]

Great! Thanks so much both of you I definitely over-babied them then Well, they are getting kicked out now

 

[curiouseclectic]

I baby my chickens but I had my 6-week old silkies outside when it was in the 30s at night, but they had a Cozy Coop radiant heater to lean on and they did. Two weeks later, we pulled it when it stayed above 40F at night. Now here too it's going to finally be in the 50s so certainly I'd not be afraid to leave mine out there.

I have a silkie hen that's half the size of the rest of them. She was a runt chick I kept (I sell most chicks) cuz she was so cute. She's still cute, just so little in comparison. Nobody picks on her. She laid smaller eggs then they did at first. That went on for about a month so I thought that's how they always would be, but she's since been laying the normal-sized eggs for a silkie.

Aww a tiny silkie?! I can't even imagine how cute that must be.

 

[Debbie292d]

Aww a tiny silkie?! I can't even imagine how cute that must be.

I'll get a better picture of her with her flockmates as this shot has no perspective.

I forgot to mention she sure molts more than they do too. She's usually black.