So it turns out one of the 16 Australorp chicks keeled over in the night. We found him buried under his brethren. I feel bad, afraid he might have been crushed even though we had the heat lamp positioned right. I think it was right. The chicks did spread out and didn't pile up except when we were handling them. He was a big one, too. RIP
One chick is spraddle-legged. Well, one of her legs is spraddled. One is straight. We followed an online tutorial we found here using band-aids to fix her little crooked leg, but she keeps ripping it off! Suggestions?
Lastly, I'm starting to worry our new 7-month-old RIW roo may be gay, or at least has the mentality of a 5-year-old child.
My hen: "Good morning, handsome. You're looking particularly roostery today." *peck peck*
My roo: "Oh my god, it's touching me! It's touching meeeee!" *flees in abject terror*
she seems to have accepted them without any fuss whatsoever. This little one peeking out has already been pecking at Cookie's face and eye and she just has that contented mommy look lol
His head/neck was arched back but I couldn't see any injuries. No lice or other parasites that I could see. The back of his neck was plucked, but I'm guessing that happened post-mortem by his former friends - there weren't any injuries on his neck. His comb looked weird, like the color was drained out of it.
