calichooks
Chirping
- Apr 17, 2020
- 80
- 150
- 81
I couldn’t figure out what thread for put this in because nothing seemed to totally match. Anyhow we ordered 20 chicks in April, all 20 survived and we sold 12 of them leaving us with 8 beautiful friendly little hens. We had 4 barnevelders and 1 cockerel and 2 pullets would beat the living daylight out of their slower-developing sister, they were much bigger than her, and got their feathers in first. We sold her siblings off and she stayed with us because she was injured and her neck had been plucked wholly by her barnevelder siblings.
now i know chickens are more adept at noticing when something’s wrong with another chicken. while Peanut has grown into a beautiful, sweet (but skittish due to her siblings) barnevelder, she is much, much smaller than every single other hen she was raised with. Our golden comets (that weigh 4 lbs at most) are much bigger and heavier than her. barnevelder hens are supposed to be a heavier breed at 6 lbs, but she’s got to be a measly 2-3 or so. i don’t know- she’s like holding a pigeon.
almost all of the chicks we raised with her have started laying. i don’t mind if she is late to it, it just makes me wonder why she’s so tiny, and if she’ll grow any more at all. is this chicken dwarfism? are runts a thing? she was the same size as her barnevelder siblings in the first few weeks.
the pictures don’t do it justice how small she is. she isn’t a bantam because we ordered standard birds and her siblings were normal size. if you picked her up and compared her to another chicken her age (like the golden comet) you’d be surprised at just how light she is. the picture of chicks is her (in the front) and the rest of her barnevelder siblings.
now i know chickens are more adept at noticing when something’s wrong with another chicken. while Peanut has grown into a beautiful, sweet (but skittish due to her siblings) barnevelder, she is much, much smaller than every single other hen she was raised with. Our golden comets (that weigh 4 lbs at most) are much bigger and heavier than her. barnevelder hens are supposed to be a heavier breed at 6 lbs, but she’s got to be a measly 2-3 or so. i don’t know- she’s like holding a pigeon.
almost all of the chicks we raised with her have started laying. i don’t mind if she is late to it, it just makes me wonder why she’s so tiny, and if she’ll grow any more at all. is this chicken dwarfism? are runts a thing? she was the same size as her barnevelder siblings in the first few weeks.
the pictures don’t do it justice how small she is. she isn’t a bantam because we ordered standard birds and her siblings were normal size. if you picked her up and compared her to another chicken her age (like the golden comet) you’d be surprised at just how light she is. the picture of chicks is her (in the front) and the rest of her barnevelder siblings.
