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

[speckledhen]

Snapped a couple of pics of Hector and his girls. He's grumbling to beat the band. He doesn't like the roost in there because the steps are spaced differently (better, actually) than his former roost. He is so clumsy, that boy. He slides down the side support like kids down a staircase bannister.

Two pics are of Alice's healing wound. Looks so much better. She is doing okay in there with June and Georgie. But side note: Hector doesn't like Wendy any more than Atlas did. Not sure what's up with that. No roosters like Wendy!

 

[1muttsfan]

Oh you can see the ground, looks so nice!

That Aubry is the cutest little sqeaky toy.

Looks like Alice really enjoys that heat lamp. I like the new arrangement, maybe Hector will behave himself

 

[getaclue]

Alice's wounds are looking much better. Keep treating it, and it won't be long before it's totally healed.

 

[speckledhen]

Mary Jo is dying. No idea why. She molted, lost almost all her muscle, would not eat no matter what I did. Suddenly, a few days ago, she got a voracious appetite and was eating all the eggs and grits, whatever I gave that group. Today, she was sitting on the roost with her eyes closed and she is dying. She may be a dwarf gene carrier, no idea, never bred from her because of being Atlas's daughter, but if organs are smaller or deformed because of that, her life expectancy may be compromised. She's only about 2 1/2 yrs old, named after Hector's Mary that died at just a year old.

 

[1muttsfan]

Oh that's too bad!

 

[getaclue]

Awwww, that's sad. I'm sorry.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

So sorry Cynthia.

 

[speckledhen]

MaryJo just passed. It was so fast, though she had become skeletal because she refused to eat. Nothing was wrong with her crop, she just would not eat. I tried so many times to give her special food to entice her to start eating again, but she acted like it was poison. Then, two days after she suddenly seemed to come alive, she is gone. I hate mysteries, but though I cannot find any data so far to suggest that dwarf gene carriers, if she indeed was, have anything wrong with their internal organs, it stands to reason that it is a possibility. None have ever lived that long, not compared to my other heritage line hens.

Wynette has been looking lethargic and not that interested in her feed over the past week, but she is almost 9 years old so pretty old for a huge hen like herself. Poor Atlas will have no one left unless I swipe a couple of Hector's girls for him, but Zara and Athena seem to be getting along with Hector right now. I see him with those two plus Jill and Thea out rummaging around in the leaves. Wendy is off by herself and Jane and Maddie are in nests. Jane has been squatting for him quite a bit since he was put in there with that group. Atlas has only Wynette, her niece, Dottie, only about 6 mos younger, and Gloria Jean, who is the same age as Wynette.

 

[getaclue]

When you were feeding baby food, how much did you give per feeding?

 

[speckledhen]

That was Thea that I was feeding baby food to, if I recall, not MaryJo. Thea's crop was doughy and sluggish. MaryJo's was just plain empty from no interest in food.

As for Thea, I had three jars of baby food, those small ones, one was beef with beef broth for her protein, one was English peas and one was a combo of corn and sweet potatoes. I gave about a tablespoon each, in a bowl, and mixed a dollop of plain yogurt with the tomato juice to flavor it since she was rarely one to want just yogurt. So, it was not much, but it seemed to pique her interest in food, give her some energy and was soft and, of course, being for babies, low to no sodium, just plain veggie and beef purees. I had to get nutrition through that wasn't grains and that she might want to eat, unlike her layer pellets. When her crop was bad, she knew not to put much on it, but she could never resist that 13 way scratch, which is the last thing she needed on a sluggish crop.