Today, we have 5!

Our very first hatch!  

Today, we counted 2, 3, 4...no...5 BCM, and one empty keet shell (so sad...it is gone).

We thought all was lost and were no longer waiting for babies, but were thinking of cleaning up the nest boxes to try again. I am so glad that we didn't! They are happily catching mosquitoes and cuddling under mom silkie.

My oldest came and excitedly  (this x 100) announced that we had 2. I went out with her to see, and when she slowly and gently lifted the new mom up, out popped out the rest, one by one.   Three are darker overall...is this the indicator of being boy/girl or can it also be an indicator of blue or black coppers or splash? How do I tell what is what...wait until they feather out?

She went back to sit on the other eggs. Is it possible that she will hatch out any more in the next day?

Anyway, rejoicing here. It is always nice to see new ones.

Congrats! That's exciting!  I love how little peeps will hide within mama hen's feathers. So cute!
If blue, black and splash, you should be able to tell which is which by chick down colour. Black will be the darkest and look black, usually with yellow markings; blue will appear silvery, could be either light or dark, and also with yellow markings; and splash will look buttery/yellow and be the lightest of the bunch. And I would definitely leave her be, just in case more try to hatch.

Okay. I checked this morning, and since they were running around off the nest, I could see...there is one more. The new one is certainly lighter than the rest, but not so silvery like the pictures that I found. The darkest ones certainly do look black.     

So...I guess that I need to figure out what the other 3 are then. By your description, I am wondering if there are then 2 blue and one splash. I will have to see if I can get a picture of all of them. It will be easier than trying to figure it all out while they are running around and/or hiding. lol I really don't want to handle them too much.

Yay for another one! Mama hen knew exactly what she was doing staying on that nest.   And pics would be great. We all looooove pics here.

Congratulations!!!   So exciting! Good for mama hen and good for you!

Well, we went out and checked them, and to the best of our knowledge, we have 3 black pullets, 1 blue pullet, two blue cockerels, and 0 splash. We were hoping for one black cockerel, but are still pleased with what we have. I find it interesting that she hatched out only marans and no LB. On the other hand, to be fair, the hens took what they liked to some extent. We have one hen still sitting, and she took the remainder of the eggs in that nest and rolled them up and over a ledge, over to her nest, up another ledge and they are now under her. She has too many now in my opinion, but we are happy to let her sit and see what might come of it all. She seems to be covering all of them... Hens can be funny things.  

We also have a nice bundle of tiny muscovies just hatched (8 so far that we found). It is like Christmas...all at the same time.  

Congrats Laurie. So glad you were able to hatch out the marans. How do you know they are pullets at this age?
Holly
 

We found instructions online on how to properly feather sex them within the first 2 days. Time will tell if we did it right...the feathers on the wingtips are so very tiny. We were so surprised that they were no heavier than a cotton ball. lol We didn't want to hurt them and hoped that they would not get too stressed, since this our first time with such very young ones. They are still perky and running around, so I guess we did okay.

Here was the best explanation (with pictures) that we found:
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Have fun when you try it. It is interesting.