The Evolution of Atlas: A Breeding (and Chat) Thread

[getaclue]

speckled, you hit the nail on the head! He is stressed, and scared. He's kept up this strong front, so I didn't really realize how much this has been affecting him. It became more apparent this morning.

 

[speckledhen]

speckled, you hit the nail on the head! He is stressed, and scared. He's kept up this strong front, so I didn't really realize how much this has been affecting him. It became more apparent this morning.

Not to mention, he feels helpless in the situation, I'm sure. It's hard to watch someone you love suffer and know there's nothing you can do to stop it other than lend moral support.

 

[speckledhen]

Remember the elderly woman across the road from me who had two Golden Comets and one was taken by a fox? Not sure if I mentioned it, but DH went over awhile back to fix her heat lamp she had and the coop had not been cleaned in maybe ever. Poop was piled a foot high in there. She does not feed the remaining hen anything, expects her to find her own food and on occasion, throws her some corn or cornbread. Never had supplemental calcium. And she says that she is "soooo much work". What work? You haven't done diddly squat!

Well, last night, she called. Her hen is so weak, she cannot walk. She says that hen has not laid an egg since the other died, which was around a year ago, I think. She wants to know what might cause her to be so weak. My husband asked if she had wormed her. No. Did she look for lice/mites? No. So, this poor little hen has had zero nutrition and zero real care her entire life and this woman wants to know what's wrong with her. How about malnutrition? How about blood sucking mites/lice? How about an ignorant owner?

Now, this is odd. Supposedly an African Horned Tortoise wandered up to her place and is living with the hen. ??????????? I dunno where she got the idea that's what it is, don't know, but seems not a good thing to have a reptile living with the hen. Now, the poor hen is dying. My husband says no way does he want to go over there and do anything with that bird. We all know she's dying. I can't believe that poor hen had to live in filth her entire life.


And I began watching a woman on Youtube, had good things to say about a lot of stuff, BUT... she is showing birds with nasty nasal gunk, swollen eyes and telling how to treat that with colloidal silver and such now that we can no longer buy antibiotics for the OTC. Um, lady, WHY? I know how to fix antibiotic resistance. Don't use them all the dang time. PLUS, for goodness sake, stop thinking all your birds have sinus infections and not MG, realize they are contagious and put them out of their misery! GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Animals I understand, people, not so much.

 

[1muttsfan]

That poor thing. Hope she passes quickly.

 

[speckledhen]

Animals I understand, people, not so much.

you said a mouthful. I am so angry with her. She's so ignorant and chooses to stay that way, it seems.

That poor thing. Hope she passes quickly.

Me, too. I hate knowing she is over there in all that disgusting mess. She's better off dead, poor sweet little hen.

 

[GabrielBane]

That poor hen. Peoples disregard for other living beings is always troublesome to me. I hope the tortoise found the way it came from and finds itself a new place before it has the same fate.

 

[speckledhen]

That poor hen. Peoples disregard for other living beings is always troublesome to me. I hope the tortoise found the way it came from and finds itself a new place before it has the same fate.

Lord only knows what she's feeding that thing!



Well, it's a very warm January week. Today it hit 70* up here, super warm for our elevation right now. This is Atlas's weather, for sure!







ETA: I am worried about Dusty, my 9 yr old Blue Orp. She has sour crop, never had a crop issue her entire life, but it could be just her system shutting down in preparation for her exit. She lost the sight in her left eye entirely over the past year or so. The crop is usually a barometer for the condition of the entire system, so we may lose her soon. She is Suede's only remaining hen and the last original one that was there when I put Xander in at 17 weeks old.

 

[Wyatt0224]

That's a real shame with the hen. It seems like a lot of people treat chickens like a dumb animal, when in fact a chicken is an incredibly social animal and very smart. Atlas looked like he was loving life in those photos.

 

[getaclue]

For any animal I've taken on to care for, I always tried to make sure I knew what it's needs would be for a healthy life, and always done my best to meet those needs. For the most part, I've succeeded. I can't think of any animal that thrives in true filth. That's inexcusable.