Day 10 of Baby Chicks

Since the hatch date written on the sheet that came with the shipment said "hatch date: May 5", that's their birthday, and it's already Day 10 for these little ones.  We had Lavender (the smallest of the four) come down with 'pasty butt' on Saturday afternoon, which I cleaned up carefully with warm water and put her back in the brooder.  But then on Sunday morning, I found her trampled on by her sisters and unable to stand on her own.  Although she no longer had 'pasty butt' at that point, being unable to fend for herself from her active sisters, I made a decision to separate her from the flock and made a make shift home for her with an unused aquarium with a wirecloth cover, a heat lamp, and a thermometer.  She required assistance drinking and eating.  Her strength seems to come and go.  Within the few days, she was so far behind in size.  On Tuesday morning, when I got up for feeding, I found her unresponsive.  Although I was not surprised (Each time I checked on her hourly, I was relieved to see her alive and amazed at her spirit.), I felt sad that she didn't make it.  It's amazing how quickly we get attached to these little babies.  So Vendie is no longer with us.  I will always think of her whenever I look at the remaining healthy sisters, though...  Rest in peace, Lavender.

It's funny how 'dead' they can look when sleeping.  They are so relaxed.  I remember when I first saw one of the chicks sleeping like this with my first flock, I thought it was dead.  They do look like they just fell onto the floor, exhausted, don't they?  This was taken on Day 9.

Look how much their wing feathers have grown!  Chicks grow so fast.  I'm really excited that Vanilla is looking a lot like Coco (from my previous flock).  She looks like she'll be the 'wheaten' coloration. :D  She's also the biggest - which worries me a little bit... "What if she turns out to be a roo?"

They're suspicious of the camera, and won't look at it much.  So this shot is just plain amazing to me. XD  Got them just as they were waking up from a nap. Clockwise from upper left, Sage, Mocha, and Vanilla.  Look how cute their little tail feathers are!

Vanilla is the big sis, the boss chick of this trio.  So far, she's the largest, and seems to have the feistiest attitude.  The others seem to cuddle up to her when scared.  You can see Mocha's pretty wing feather patterns starting to form in this photo.

Eventually, they all go into the farthest corner from where I'm trying to take the photo and act like the people in an elevator - looking at nothing on the walls.

And they pretend that I'm not here.  "Just stay quiet and don't look at her.  If we can't see her, she can't see us."  XD

Well, the weather is supposed to warm up nicely toward this weekend and beyond, although we just had record cold overnight low with a freeze warning this morning.  If it's 85 degrees during the day like the weatherman says, they might be able to venture out off the ramp and into the run for a little bit of fresh air and dirt!  I think my last babies also ventured out at about 2 weeks of age (and it was hours of entertainment for our kitties to watch them LOL).