Diary of Mommy Satin’s First Hatch

[yakitori]

Day 9

I made a guess the gender thread for the chicks if anyone wants to take a shot at it!

They are starting to look quite different!

 

[yakitori]

Day 10 -

The babies are so much more active now. They’re like little butterflies, fluttering and jumping all over the place.

I put in a few roosts in the nursery, which they are quickly out growing. I’ll need to figure out where to house the little ones at night soon, I’m leaning towards putting them in a dog crate (with hardware cloth modified over the door > inside the large 4ft dog crate > inside the run. The run isn’t really predator proof, but a triple layer of protection should work

Alternatively I can have them in the coop, but the coop is fairly small and I will need to figure out a way to keep the little ones protected from the big hens...

Atleast I have a week to figure it out

 

[yakitori]

Chick no. 6 has taken a liking to me as his personal perch.

I’m wary of raising aggressive roos by being too friendly with them. So I’ll have to see if he ends up being a roo as I plan on handling those less.

 

[yakitori]

Day 11 - Giant planter babies

Indecisive weather decides to be cool again, chick pen is now out on the grass.

it seems Momma has imprinted on the pen as a safe zone. I opened the pen so they could explore more while I was gardening. She brought the kiddos out to explore a bit, then went back to the pen to nap.

That giant ol’ planter was her former “nesting box”

 

[TheDuckGuy]

Paint, my satin hen just hatched her first clutch! 21 days and all 6 eggs made it to hatch (whew). It was an eye opening and nerve wracking experience, but at the end of it she brought six adorable chicks to the world!

Momma Paint
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Pre-chicks

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They won’t have names until I decide to keep one (or six), so for now they will go by their egg number. This is not some kind of dystopian chicken keeping practice, I promise

Here they are!

Chickie Three, One and Five (from left to right)(all delawares)

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Chickie number 4 (SLW x delaware)
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And...poor chickie number 2 who took a long time hatching. She hatched 12 hours ago with a swollen looking belly, and is still not quite fluffy. She has a lot of fight in her though, so I hope she makes it
(delaware)

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last but not least.. chickie number 6! She was the largest egg in the clutch, and pipped the wrong end, but thankfully came out none the worse for wear
(delaware)
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My gold birchen hatched 2 out of four of her babies last week

 

[yakitori]

My gold birchen hatched 2 out of four of her babies last week

pics!

 

[TheDuckGuy]

pics!

Chick 1 and 2 on day 5

 

[yakitori]

Day 13

l’m wondering whether the barring pattern is telling of gender...
Top to bottom in order:

Oldest but not wisest
Five - light patterning

shoulder conquerer
Six - dark patterning

no longer poopy butt, but still getting pooped on
Three - dark patterning

slowest feathering
One - Almost no patterning

flat comber mutt
Four - Light patterning

I’m going to go out on the limb and say six and three are females can’t wait for genders to show!

 

[yakitori]

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Chick 1 and 2 on day 5

They are too cute! are you keeping them all?

 

[TheDuckGuy]

They are too cute! are you keeping them all?

Yes they're my chicks but the mom is my uncle's