one of my chicks is super hungry and eats almost constantly

[Rowanh16]

i have 9 chicks that i got april 28th so they’re a month and a half or so old and one of them eats almost non stop all day. all the rest are asleep right now and she’s here eating. i go out to hand feed them so they aren’t scared of me as adults and she is always eating even when others go off to explore. she eats out of the feeder too and isn’t being picked on so it’s not that she’s just eating when she can. almost every time i see her she’s eating. she’s not much bigger or heavier than any others and i havnt seen worms or anything. they’ve been raised indoors for the most part so an illness is unlikely. she’s one of the bigger chicks but not the biggest or concerningly large at all. just wondering if this is normal since none of the others do this even one’s that are supposedly her breed. (the girls who were sorting the chicks didn’t seem to quite know what they were doing so possibly a hungrier breed? she’s a darker grey than her two other grey sisters and doesn’t have a mohawk like them)

 

[ilovemybabychickies]

Maybe she just is a little piggy? We have a chicken who is always just eating constantly... her name is little Debbie and we call her little diabetus. Maybe something else is going on internally?

 

[SandyRiverChick]

I would just watch her crop to make sure it's emptying overnight. I just had one like this and she would up with serious crop issues.

 

[NatJ]

she is always eating... almost every time i see her she’s eating. she’s not much bigger or heavier than any others

I would check her crop, to be sure it does contain food (daytime) and empty properly (during the night.)

I would also take a good look at her beak and face, to see if anything seems wrong there.

If she is not much bigger or heavier than the others, she might not eating more food. She might just be taking more time to do it, which could indicate some kind of problem (example: crossbeak, or maybe difficulty swallowing, or poor eyesight so she misses what she is trying to eat, or quite a few other possibilities.)

Or she might not be digesting her food properly, so she might need to eat more just to grow at the same rate as the others.

Checking the crop is one way to check how much she is actually eating, and is probably much easier than trying to separate her from the others and measure how much she eats (and then having to figure out how much the others eat, to know what is normal.)

just wondering if this is normal since none of the others do this even one’s that are supposedly her breed. (the girls who were sorting the chicks didn’t seem to quite know what they were doing so possibly a hungrier breed? she’s a darker grey than her two other grey sisters and doesn’t have a mohawk like them)

You could post a photo of her and of the other "same breed" ones, and tell what breed they are supposed to be, and someone here might be able to tell if she really is the same breed or not.

 

[rabney]

This is just a guess, Maybe the hungry one is a breed of what some call a meat chicken? I've heard they need food with higher protein because they grow faster. Maybe she is trying to make up for the extra protein she needs.

 

[B_Chickle01]

i have 9 chicks that i got april 28th so they’re a month and a half or so old and one of them eats almost non stop all day. all the rest are asleep right now and she’s here eating. i go out to hand feed them so they aren’t scared of me as adults and she is always eating even when others go off to explore. she eats out of the feeder too and isn’t being picked on so it’s not that she’s just eating when she can. almost every time i see her she’s eating. she’s not much bigger or heavier than any others and i havnt seen worms or anything. they’ve been raised indoors for the most part so an illness is unlikely. she’s one of the bigger chicks but not the biggest or concerningly large at all. just wondering if this is normal since none of the others do this even one’s that are supposedly her breed. (the girls who were sorting the chicks didn’t seem to quite know what they were doing so possibly a hungrier breed? she’s a darker grey than her two other grey sisters and doesn’t have a mohawk like them)

“Little Diabetus” I’m dying. Sounds like me and my mom. We all have crazy names for our animals. Nick names too

 

[Rowanh16]

I would just watch her crop to make sure it's emptying overnight. I just had one like this and she would up with serious crop issues.

her crop has been emptying fine and about a month ago she started laying and none of the rest have so she’s just a bit ahead of them i think. she doesn’t seem abnormally bigger than her but is definitely still top of the pecking order for the chicks. thank you for the suggestion and heads up