Hector's World: Adventures and Mayhem at Mountain View Poultry (or Sequel to The Evolution of Atlas

[1muttsfan]

Such a sweet, funny boy. Time sure goes faster for the boys, they age so quickly.

Merry Christmas, hope the season treats you all with joy and love

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks, Mary. I miss giving Hector his special chest rubs and telling him what a good boy he is. I do call to him from the deck and he sees me so he knows I'm here, but I'm sure he has no idea why I have not been in the barn in ages. Maybe in his little chicken brain, he doesn't ponder those things, but I empathize with my birds and I love that goober.

 

[1muttsfan]

Merry Christmas, friends. Hope it being happiness and healing to us all.

 

[getaclue]

 

[speckledhen]

Been awhile since I posted on Hector's thread. He's still kicking, though his legs are very shaky and he tires quickly, sits a lot. Jill is broody for the 2nd time in her life at just under 6 yrs old and she isn't getting eggs. She failed the first time, crushed the only chick as it was hatching. I don't need more birds anyway. Hector is frustrated with her. She is occupying the bottom nest and he sits in front of it unless they're outside. Today, he tried to pull her out of it. Guess he's sick of her sitting there just like I am. She's been broody about a week now.

 

[1muttsfan]

I'm glad to hear the old boy is still around. He certainly has his opinions about things!
All the roosters that I've had that have passed the age of three have seemed to get arthritis too.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, Hector is VERY opinionated! I think he injured his leg jumping down from a nest box in a different pen and the injured joint developed arthritis, as those tend to do. Don't I know it from experience! He still takes care of his girls, but he is crotchety as heck about things, has zero patience with Maddie, especially. He lets me rub his chest occasionally and has to listen to me call him the best Hector I've ever had, LOL.

 

[speckledhen]

My camera hog was caught on two different cameras so thought I'd share on his thread. On the first one, the date is way off, was taken in the last two weeks.

Here he is trying to catch up to his roaming women. His legs hurt him and he lays down a lot, but he manages most of the time to go with them. Some days, he'll stay inside the pen and watch from there.

Miss Maddie, his daughter. Maddie is not his favorite and she is too much like her mother lately, hates to be picked up. When her sister, Jane, was alive, she was friendlier than she is now, but she's not bad, just demanding. She wants her morning 14 grain scratch and if I'm too slow, bending over to clean under the roosts, she will peck me on top of my head, not hard, just enough to remind me that she is waiting. Patience is never a chicken's strong suit, is it?

 

[1muttsfan]

Still such a handsome fellow!
I have two bantam Speckled Sussex that I hatched out last year, and I have three more that hatched out this year from shipped eggs. I'm thinking about getting rid of my big rooster and just keeping a few hens for eggs and the bantams otherwise. They are so stinking cute.

 

[speckledhen]

Still such a handsome fellow!
I have two bantam Speckled Sussex that I hatched out last year, and I have three more that hatched out this year from shipped eggs. I'm thinking about getting rid of my big rooster and just keeping a few hens for eggs and the bantams otherwise. They are so stinking cute.

Hector sure is a handsome guy and he's still sweet without losing his flirty thing he does. Remember when we used to call him The Little Tyrant? I'm very fond of my big guy.
I did that exact thing you described when I selected the large fowl Easter Eggers and some bantam Cochins. I adore the little goofs. The boys manage to breed the EEs so I could hatch those eggs if I wanted, but the EEs are just so skittish and crazy other than Rayna and Layla, they drive me nuts, LOL. The little Cochin hens are super adorable and I love the roosters. Not a bad one in that bunch! If I allow a broody to sit, it would be with bantam Cochin eggs. And in the future, I can see just having them alone. So far, only one of the three hens has ever gone broody. Cricket has been broody twice now and she is clucking a third time, but hasn't gone over completely. I may have to let her do it this time.