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

[speckledhen]

CHICK PICS!!! Bonnie is being a perfect mama. And tell me I don't have two BR cockerels here.

Those are not head spots, they're head splatter!




















Oh, Hector with Jill, Thea and mean Rowena today.

 

[Wyatt0224]

Maybe you will have better luck with the next three barred rock eggs. Beautiful little brahma chick!

 

[MistyMountain]

Congrats on the chicks, even if they are boys!! This early spring weather (my windows are open today, again!) and seeing all the chicks has given me spring fever. I happened to notice that we have no plans to go anywhere in the next two months and that I have two coops that are entirely empty... sooooo the incubator is warming up downstairs. I'll probably have to insulate it, though, as we will not have a consistent 68-70* room temp this time of year. so... easter eggers it will be! Too bad my mottled java eggs are too tiny.... but they are perfect size for on top of an English muffin!

for pullets from your next hatch!!

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, good grief! These boys! I found Hector bloodied out in the pen when I went to put him back inside. Could not figure out how. Then, I saw one of the poop buckets turned over that I sat in front of the dog cage that stays in front of Apollo's pen. There is a 2' wall there already, but the corner it makes is perfect for the dog cage. Apollo can't reach over the wall and his roost isn't adjoining that front wall, either. But, it was obvious when I saw new blood on Apollo's comb and blood on a piece of plastic that sits up there that Hector had jumped up onto the dog cage to get at Apollo and had torn his comb on some of the wire fencing. My husband heard me fussing at Hector over the monitor while I tried to clean him up (he fights me when I pick him up every single time, won't just let me do it) and came out onto the deck to ask what the problem was. When I told him that Apollo was bloodied yet again from fighting, this time with Hector, he said, "Get rid of one of these roosters!" Eek. Yeah, I get it. I'm tired of them right now myself.
Can I just say

? Bash is never in the middle of all that, but if he could get to one of them, I guess he would be, though he has less chance of being bloodied since he has a more compact comb/wattles than the Rocks do. Sigh.

 

[holm25]

Oh my gosh Cyn! They are so cute! i hate to say it but I agree... They both look like cockerels...

I know how you feel with your roosters.... None of my roosters are fighting through fences but they do fight when I let everyone out while I clean cages.

 

[speckledhen]

Oh my gosh Cyn! They are so cute! i hate to say it but I agree... They both look like cockerels...

I know how you feel with your roosters.... None of my roosters are fighting through fences but they do fight when I let everyone out while I clean cages.

I'm pretty positive these are both male, even though this line is harder to sex. If there is almost no dark on the leg fronts, plus the scattered, irregular head spot(s), that says both boys. Cute as heck, though! I can't even figure the F-? number of the generation.
Isaac x Ida = Rex.
Rex x Ida = Atlas
Atlas x Ida =Apollo and Zara
Atlas x ? = Athena
Apollo x Athena and Apollo x Zara = the current BR chicks.

I was torn between getting rid of Hector or Apollo if I had to let one go. There is a third option....let them both go, which after the last two days sounds so darn tempting! I have Apollo's progeny here, though none out of Hector yet. The next broody may get those. Aimee, my Belgian D'Anver, and Carly, her sister, have suddenly started laying again after a year's hiatus. They are both broody types. If I can be sure an egg isn't Thea's, that would give me chicks out of Jill and Rowena with Hector.

Without Hector and Apollo, that would leave only Atlas over the BRs for quite some time, plus Bash and the Brahma girls and the two older Belgian D'Anver roosters. Sure would get quieter in the barn for awhile, LOL!

 

[Wyatt0224]

Those immature boys. If only they knew how to get along everyone's life at your place would be easier.

 

[1muttsfan]

Isaac and Ida are the original parents, so F1 (Rex)- F2 (Atlas)- F3 (Apollo)- F4 (Athena)- F5 are the current chicks.

 

[speckledhen]

Those immature boys. If only they knew how to get along everyone's life at your place would be easier.

Yes, but they are not electing to make my life easier!

Isaac and Ida are the original parents, so F1 (Rex)- F2 (Atlas)- F3 (Apollo)- F4 (Athena)- F5 are the current chicks.

Thanks, Mary. I'm up into the generations, then. Wait, wouldn't that be just F4 since Athena is the mother? I have one chick each from her and Zara, both with Apollo. And mostly thanks to Ida, who always seemed to be laying when I gathered eggs, apparently.

I would have given the Brahma gals eggs from Atlas's pen, but not one of his girls has been laying recently. They're getting up in years except for Tessa and Lizzie and Tessa was molting so badly, no way she'd lay eggs during that. She's still very thin, but her feathers are mostly back, thank goodness! And we're having a spring in winter, yet again! It's actually hot in the sun, 70* in the barn. I had to turn on the fan and open the roll-up door.

 

[1muttsfan]

Yes if Athena is same generation as Apollo then they would both be F3 and chicks would be F4