My idea of using different color rubber bands on the chicks' ankles did not work out well. We tried one each on four of the chicks to watch the interaction. First, the babies would peck at their own little bands and literally pull themselves right off their own little feet! Other babies would chase them around trying to eat the bands. So we clipped the bands off, and back to the drawing board. We might try later. But for now, we will think on ways of telling them apart.
The meal worms are still pretty tiny, so I pulled out about 20 very small worms and fed them to the babies. Now, that was cute! One of the chicks ate more than her fill! She would grab a meal worm and run to a corner of the box to eat her treat then quickly run back and grab another.
Last night was hard boiled egg yolk mashed into tiny pieces. That was not quite as big a hit as the meal worms, but some of them did enjoy that treat.
The warmer is working well for the babies. No pasty bottoms.
This afternoon, I held all the chicks on my lap in our first "social" gathering. We only spent five minutes because they were climbing all over each other and I didn't want any injuries. Hopefully, as each day goes by, they calm down. It is interesting to see that they are already, at only a few days old, forming a hierarchy!
It was a good day.
