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

[speckledhen]

Hopefully by next year he won't be so cocky, and will be more humble and responsible. Strange that he's so picky.

I hope so. Maybe in spring he'll realize more girls are better than fewer girls.

 

[speckledhen]

It seems that Hector has some to his senses. We let Zara and Athena go out into the pen with him yesterday and when he went back inside, they went right along with him. Of course, I spent a few minutes telling him that he'd have more girls if he was nice to them. Maybe he understood me, LOL. I also want MaryJo, when she's bulked up some, and Atlas's daughter, Lizzie, when her chicks are gone, to go in with him as well. Atlas hates Zara and Athena and they seem to like Hector better anyway. So, looks like Hector will have a decent size harem, even if I can't breed from Zara or Athena due to the dwarf gene or Thea due to her wry tail issue. I wonder if Atlas would like Thea any better than his daughters since his has become a layers-only flock anyway. I won't want her hurt, though, not at all. We love that girl too much.

 

[speckledhen]

Hector's three kids are sold and will be picked up this coming week, after our monsoon passes through, but I wanted to show you how nice they're looking. Brandy yelled in her dog kennel this a.m. while they were outside and one of the boys came running inside, ready to rescue her, LOL. Great potential in that little man!

 

[Magical Garden Girl]

Agreed! These were very easy. Maybe it's just easier to sex Hector's line than the Stukel line.

Hector with Jill and Rowena today.
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Gorgeous Roo

 

[kitkat5505]

They look great, sturdy build, excellent barring. I'm sure their new owner is going to be very pleased with them.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

They are a lovely little trio.

 

[speckledhen]

Gorgeous Roo

Thank you! You are a new person on the thread, welcome!

They look great, sturdy build, excellent barring. I'm sure their new owner is going to be very pleased with them.

I bet he will. He says they will be going to a 4x7 pen of their own, which is close to what they have now so they should feel just fine.

They are a lovely little trio.

They are so friendly, it's insane. If I didn't still have both Hector and Atlas, I'd keep one of the boys and the girl for myself. But, alas, it's just too soon. I need more hens to go to that Great Roost in the Sky before I can add to my numbers.

New video today:

 

[kitkat5505]

I agree with what you said. I know so many people who are like that, always complaining about their situation but say no to everyone's advice. I've come to realize these people do not want to change, they want somebody to give them a magic fix for their problem that doesn't require them to actually do anything different. When we were first married we were terrible with money the first 4 years. We were poor college students with 2 little kids and basically just spent money on whatever we wanted. We figured when my husband graduated and got a better paying job everything would be fine, but in reality because we hadn't learned how to manage our money we just spent all that too. We finally had a wake up call when we had to go to our church leader to ask for help getting food and paying bills because we had so much credit card and student loan debt we couldn't afford anything else. My parents loaned us a small amount and by sheer luck my husband won a good lump of money from a contest and that was enough for us to make ends meet while we taught ourselves some better habits. 10 years later I still use the same menu planning system that has made the biggest difference. We have a written budget. We paid off our cars, credit cards and student loans (and the loan from my parents). Our only debt is our mortgage. Now out of both sides of our family we are the most financially stable, which kind of sucks because then they all come to us when they need money. We had to set firm rules for lending family money- written contract, $2k maximum, 1 year repayment max, only one loan at a time. I've had to say no to 3-4 family members this year because my dad is repaying us right now. We don't want to become the family bank and want them to learn to fix their own problems. It doesn't matter that we have the money, it's our money that we have worked hard to save and we are a big family. If something happened to my husband's job that savings could go pretty quick just providing the basics for a family of 10.

Anyway I went on a bit long lol. That's an issue that gets to me too.

And Jill looks like she needs a bath from all that sitting under the roost getting pooped on lol.

 

[speckledhen]

I agree with what you said. I know so many people who are like that, always complaining about their situation but say no to everyone's advice. I've come to realize these people do not want to change, they want somebody to give them a magic fix for their problem that doesn't require them to actually do anything different. When we were first married we were terrible with money the first 4 years. We were poor college students with 2 little kids and basically just spent money on whatever we wanted. We figured when my husband graduated and got a better paying job everything would be fine, but in reality because we hadn't learned how to manage our money we just spent all that too. We finally had a wake up call when we had to go to our church leader to ask for help getting food and paying bills because we had so much credit card and student loan debt we couldn't afford anything else. My parents loaned us a small amount and by sheer luck my husband won a good lump of money from a contest and that was enough for us to make ends meet while we taught ourselves some better habits. 10 years later I still use the same menu planning system that has made the biggest difference. We have a written budget. We paid off our cars, credit cards and student loans (and the loan from my parents). Our only debt is our mortgage. Now out of both sides of our family we are the most financially stable, which kind of sucks because then they all come to us when they need money. We had to set firm rules for lending family money- written contract, $2k maximum, 1 year repayment max, only one loan at a time. I've had to say no to 3-4 family members this year because my dad is repaying us right now. We don't want to become the family bank and want them to learn to fix their own problems. It doesn't matter that we have the money, it's our money that we have worked hard to save and we are a big family. If something happened to my husband's job that savings could go pretty quick just providing the basics for a family of 10.

Anyway I went on a bit long lol. That's an issue that gets to me too.

And Jill looks like she needs a bath from all that sitting under the roost getting pooped on lol.

And the nerve of some folks coming to you, the person with a large family, for money. Seriously, do folks ever even think? One person I was referring to already got a $1000 loan from us years ago, though we gave it with the idea that we'd probably never see it again. And we haven't. And the problems are just worse now than ever with that person. I won't give or lend again to certain folks. They don't learn unless they are forced to learn, unless they hit rock bottom. We gave up things, sold things, moved to a cheaper apartment or house, and if we sold a house, we paid off any debt owed at the time with the proceeds. We moved from a 2000 sf subdivision house to this less-than-1100 sf house that was an bargain priced property from an estate when we didn't have to do that. We could have bought one of those enviable log homes up on Watson Mountain that we see from our deck, but that would suck all the $$ out of our wallets. We decided not to have a normal cellphone-costs us $20 every three months for a phone card. We don't have DirecTV or Dish or any other pricey pay-TV service. We made choices. The folks I referenced refuse to do so.

Jill is wearing a saddle in the picture, the top of it is a faux leather so you can't really see it good. It got most of the bombs from above, though her wing tops are bare from being Hector's one and only girl who would squat for him; that is, until she went broody.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Your older girls are gorgeous still, look like they will be around for a good while.

Pay your bills first, live within your means and don't expect others to take care of you, that's how we live. I loan no one nothing. I grew up when you worked for what you earned, and there was shame in asking for help.