The chicks are really growing! Today we inspected everyone’s colored bands and replaced those that were getting small.

All but three bands needed changing out. The chicks escaped the barrier we put in the brooder, so we laid out the cut ends of the zip ties to see who else needed checking.

While we were doing band switching and health checks, we noticed that Seashell has a little something extra; namely two toenails on one toe (both feet). From a quick Google search, and browsing some chicken forums (oh my, I’m browsing chicken forums), it seems that the gene that causes extra toes sometimes throws extra nails too. We learn something new everyday!

I nearly forgot to take a video today, so the poor babies were upset about my bright video light. Luckily they settled down quickly after the lights went off.