Aussie Finch Forum

We have 8 normal quail chicks, approx. 2 weeks old. in the last few days most of them have been growing out of sight and starting to get wing feathers. However one of the chicks is a real runt, he has barely grown in the last few days, and compared to the biggest chick it is now 1/2 to 1/3 the size... if it was a human baby it would be considered failure to thrive. Is this normal, or is there something very wrong with the chick? He seems active and running around, though seems to keep a little away from the others and tries to stick close to mum.

This often happens. I'm not saying this is the solution only postabilities, interbreeding, first egg laid and not incubated properly egg remained on edge of nest and didn't get consistent humidity and temp.But most of all and more than likely it's just a runt.

this happened with my late quail Skinnipeep-he was tiny! he hatched only 1 day after the last lot, but was at least 1.5cm smaller at all times.
he grew up to be fine and happy though with no probs so hope yours does too

Thanks for the replies. He is still running around so assume he is reasonably healthy. Will just have to wait and see when he decides to grow!
Welcome back Jay!

As Buzz and Jay have already said it happens. Most of the time they eventually catch up or at least grow sufficiently to be OK. Occassionally they are weak and die.
LML