Chicks - Day 3

Everyone is still doing great. I can't believe how quickly their baby feathers grow. All 4 are showing feathering on their wings through the down. Clearly not the "keeper" feathers as the Australorps are white but still noticeable feathers that were not there 2 days ago.

Speaking of feathering I found a website ( http://animalsciences.missouri.edu/reprod/ReproTech/Feathersex/sld006.htm ) that showed how to "feather sex" - determine the gender by looking at the wing feathers. Now from what I understand the hatchery has to breed the chickens to have this trait (ie. rapid feather male X slow feathering female). I am not sure if my chicks were bred this way HOWEVER the BA & BOs all have rapid growing feathers of different lengths, SOOO (fingers crossed) it looks like we do have all girls (the Red Star is bred in a way that the females are "red or golden" in color so we already know she's a girl).

Since it seems as we know they're all girls I've decided they should have their official names. I've been kicking around some ideas for a while (most recently was thinking of giving them "vintage" name - geraldine, beatrice..) but decided on the following:

Luna (Black Austrlorp)



Kya (Red Star/Gold Comet - Red Sex Link)



Soleil (Buff Orpington - deep yellow; looks larger)




(and the only name I'm stuck on is the last - thinking maybe...)
Sunny, Sora, or Miku??? (Buff Orpington - pale yellow; looks smaller)




With the exception of Luna, the pic don't do their absolute cuteness justice.


Weights this morning were as follows:

Luna: 1 1/2 oz
Kya: 1 5/8 oz
Soleil: 1 3/8 oz
Miku: 1 1/2 oz


Lastly, The waterer - The day the girls arrived I tapped each of their beaks on the nipple of the water bottle to show them water would come out BUT I kept an ice cube tray full of water in the brooder to be sure they learned to drink and did not dehydrate. The second day (yesterday), I tried to draw their attention to the water bottles by tapping the bottles making the nipple move and drip water. Luna was the first to pick up but the other 3 (although watching Luna closely) wanted nothing to do with it and made a bee-line to the tray. So I removed the tray and just put a small container under the water bottle to catch any drips. I also added apple cider vinegar to one of the bottles. Luna went nuts for it and drank a LOT. Kya quickly started drinking from the ACV bottle then both. The stubborn Orp sister still refused and would pick up the drips from the drip container. By this morning though all 4 are drinking from the water bottles!!

HOORAY smart (and a couple stubborn) girls!!

:)