Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Mother of Chaos]

I am 55 this year, but surgery on my eyes, is terrifies me.

I had Lasik at around 40 or so. I had last seen the big E on the eye chart when I was 16. I was scared witless, and despite the pre-op dose of Prozac, they probably had to replace the arms of the chair I sat in after I clawed them to shreds.

But you know, when they switched sides to do the other eye, and I blinked and could read the time on the wall clock with my new improved first eye, I was converted.

As long as they offer that Prozac and let me do my Lamaze breathing from 40- some-odd years ago, I’ve learned that I can handle it

The dentist, on the other hand…

 

[MrsNorthie]

I had Lasik at around 40 or so. I had last seen the big E on the eye chart when I was 16. I was scared witless, and despite the pre-op dose of Prozac, they probably had to replace the arms of the chair I sat in after I clawed them to shreds.

But you know, when they switched sides to do the other eye, and I blinked and could read the time on the wall clock with my new improved first eye, I was converted.

As long as they offer that Prozac and let me do my Lamaze breathing from 40- some-odd years ago, I’ve learned that I can handle it

The dentist, on the other hand…

See, I don't like meds either. haha

 

[fuzzi]

I had Lasik at around 40 or so. I had last seen the big E on the eye chart when I was 16. I was scared witless, and despite the pre-op dose of Prozac, they probably had to replace the arms of the chair I sat in after I clawed them to shreds.
...
As long as they offer that Prozac and let me do my Lamaze breathing from 40- some-odd years ago, I’ve learned that I can handle it

The dentist, on the other hand…

I'm with you on that. Since I'm retiring soon and won't have dental coverage I made the effort to go to the dentist. They were very considerate, and I didn't dig my fingers deep in the chair arms.

But an extraction is scheduled on Friday...


Tax:

Doris is learning to grab greens alongside the hens!

 

[BDutch]

It's actually very simple. I only had one eye done so far.

Here the normal procedure is both eyes with 2 weeks in between.

In the same post I had typed out Eastern NC, thought it would be obvious. Sorry.

I must have been tired, sorry.

 

[Perris]

Often one downsizes a flock in fall to have fewer mouths to feed through the winter. How are the logistics of going into winter with several hungry new birds?

Your question on downsizing (culling), in conjunction with my recalling (in response to something else entirely) shortly after, that

(all 3 boys died of unknown cause(s) more or less young, while all 3 girls are still thriving)

triggered an idea that popped into my mind, upon which I'd like to solicit the opinions of others here.

The gendered fates of the Penedesencas that hatched and were raised here together by the same broody, at the same time, in the same environment (and on the same feed of course), could be coincidental, or not.

Rare breeds start with small gene pools. Then it is common practice among breeders trying to preserve/ 'improve' them to cull aggressively, in the male line especially. Breeding sons to mothers, which is also common practice among breeders, exacerbates the genetic homogeneity.

I wonder if the purebred Penedesencas eggs I got all had an inherited defect on the Z chromosome, and the cockerels, lacking a W chromosome, couldn't compensate for it, unlike the pullets. Then the survival of male as well as female hybrids would suggest that they have enough admixture of (an)other breed(s) to compensate for the defect too. What do you think? Reasonable possibility, or have I misunderstood something in the genetics (with which I do struggle)?

 

[kattabelly]

I wonder if the purebred Penedesencas eggs I got all had an inherited defect on the Z chromosome, and the cockerels, lacking a W chromosome, couldn't compensate for it, unlike the pullets. Then the survival of male as well as female hybrids would suggest that they have enough admixture of (an)other breed(s) to compensate for the defect too. What do you think?

Ok to copy this over into my chat with the breeder in Shetland? Like I say, I can't remember for sure what he said happened with his birds but I think they came from the same person, possibly via a third party.

We talked a bit about this when I was there yesterday - he isn't a fan of inbreeding and looks to source different lines of breeds when he can, or crosses with similar breeds and then breeds back to the standard.

 

[Perris]

further to the last, I found this:
The Avian W Chromosome: Simply a Y with a Different Name?
(Prepared by P.D. Price, T.F. Rogers, and A.E. Wright)

"expression of genes on the avian W chromosome is not limited to the ovary. Instead, studies from chicken and collared flycatcher show that many W genes are active in both somatic and reproductive tissue [Smeds et al., 2015; Bellott et al., 2017; Xu and Zhou, 2020]. While this does not preclude a specific role of the W chromosome in oogenesis, it has led to suggestions that this chromosome has instead been selected to maintain gene dosage and ancestral expression levels of essential genes. "

in https://karger.com/cgr/article/162/8-9/405/837021/Fourth-Report-on-Chicken-Genes-and-Chromosomes

 

[Perris]

Ok to copy this over into my chat with the breeder in Shetland?

be my guest. Good luck with sourcing some.

 

[rural mouse]

Your question on downsizing (culling), in conjunction with my recalling (in response to something else entirely) shortly after, that

triggered an idea that popped into my mind, upon which I'd like to solicit the opinions of others here.

The gendered fates of the Penedesencas that hatched and were raised here together by the same broody, at the same time, in the same environment (and on the same feed of course), could be coincidental, or not.

Rare breeds start with small gene pools. Then it is common practice among breeders trying to preserve/ 'improve' them to cull aggressively, in the male line especially. Breeding sons to mothers, which is also common practice among breeders, exacerbates the genetic homogeneity.

I wonder if the purebred Penedesencas eggs I got all had an inherited defect on the Z chromosome, and the cockerels, lacking a W chromosome, couldn't compensate for it, unlike the pullets. Then the survival of male as well as female hybrids would suggest that they have enough admixture of (an)other breed(s) to compensate for the defect too. What do you think? Reasonable possibility, or have I misunderstood something in the genetics (with which I do struggle)?

Seems reasonable to me. Your experience along with the breeder's problems with the males strongly suggests something along those lines.

Wyandottes in the US suffered from a decrease in fertility. Theoretically linked to rose comb.* To increase the fertility, straight comb breeds were bred in. Now, many aren't pure rose comb (RRpp), but carry straight comb (Rrpp) so pop straight comb (rrpp) about 25% of the time.

*my thoughts: if it were linked to pure rose comb, then ANY pure rose comb breed would also have that problem. Hamburgs (like Cheetah: all his offspring have been rose comb, excepting the cross with pea, but she's walnut so RrPp, so pretty sure he's RRpp, 10 in total), Dominiques, Sebright, Rose Bantam, other assorted bantams, Redcaps... Haven't seen any evidence on those either way.

 

[no fly zone]

I envy you! I live surrounded by wavy or zig-zagged lines that are supposed to be straight, plus double vision.

I’ve gone target shooting a few times in the past, and surprised myself with how well I did. That was a loooong time ago though.

I consistently qualified expert when I was in the Army, but my eyesight has been going downhill since 2021. Not sure how well I'll shoot next time I pick up a rifle.