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

[speckledhen]

LOL. I wish I could just clear and seed. But we live on beach sand and it's difficult to do anything but weeds.

About Isaac, it wasn't that many years ago that no one ever talked about their senior chickens and problems with age. I have a JG, my first hen who is 8 years old and she waits for me to lift her up onto a small table every night . I have a 7 year old silkie roo who needs to be lifted out of the coop in the morning because he can't walk the ramp down. So I do understand all the posts you write about your elders. They are worth it, aren't they!

Yes, they are! Gypsy has been laying over the past couple of weeks, pretty pointy blue eggs, 4-5. She turns 8 years old in November. Caroline, my hatchery Buff Brahma, is 8 1/2 yrs old, as are Barred Rock sisters, Becca and Amanda. Amanda still lays an egg here and there herself though she can't even walk. Snow, my splash Ameraucana, has obvious troubles with her joints. She flaps her wings to help herself along when she is negotiating uneven ground and she lays on her side to take pressure off her hock joints. She is 7 years old. They are amazing gals, these oldsters of mine. I have never heard of an elderly Delaware rooster, not yet. Isaac may be the oldest one in my experience and I'm lucky he's mine.


ETA: He's getting his bars!

 

[Peanutsmomma]

Have I got a homesteading story for you! Today, we decided prior to Mark's return tomorrow to supposedly finish the land work, we would cut down a dying tree that was not only leaning, but also leaning downhill. DH cut the wedge from one side then proceeded to cut the other necessary cut from the other side, but he made a mistake and the bar and chain became pinched in the tree as it shifted. We worked for well over an hour, trying to remove the saw from the tree without damaging the bar and chain, which meant me having to hold the heavy Husquvarna saw up in the air so the bar would not bend, all the while DH treks up the big hill back to the house several times. Once he brought back an old McCullough saw, but found the chain too dull to do much good. Then he goes back up the hill again to get a chisel and hammer to chip out part of the piece holding the bar/chain in the tree, can't find a chisel, uses a flat screwdriver. Can't find his regular axe, brings a short handled axe. Nothing was working. He's becoming tired, I'm becoming tired. I'm afraid that he will bring the tree down on himself, not being as able to get out of the way fast as he thinks he can. I'm thinking to myself, "Lord, please help us with this tree. He's going to hurt himself."

Sometime during this sweaty ordeal, I had suggested that he bring a socket and remove the body of the saw from the bar, buying another bar/chain and then using that to bring down the oak, thereby releasing what I felt was an already damaged bar/chain on the Husky. He didn't do it, was making too many trips up the hill to the house, hurting his knee and his back and I was afraid of the pain he'd be in for the next few days if this continued, worse if the tree suddenly released and fell on him or his legs. So, as he's chipping away at the tree again, I casually glance down and, lo and behold, see this buried half way into the dirt on its side, laying beside my right foot.


I had not noticed it before. I picked it up, tapped the dirt out of it, and say, "Well, what do you know? Do you think this will fit your saw?". DH says, "Probably". Guess what? It did. He removed the bar/chain and we were finally able to get that chipped out of the tree, back onto the saw and it works just fine!

Now, DH says this tool does not belong to him, that probably Jamie and his dad lost it when they was logging that 3 acres for us a few years ago. Even more astonishing is that of all the places it could have been on over 3 acres of land, it was right by my foot, next to that oak, the very moment we needed it, and after Mark had run his bobcat and bulldozer over that spot numerous times. All I could do is say a prayer of thanks and tell DH to not lose that miracle socket wrench! I'm still shaking my head over this one.

Cyn, I had goosebumps reading this! If that is not an example of divine providence I don't know what is.

Sorry to read about sweet Isaac's problems. Anytime you post about him having a hard time it just makes my heart ache.

 

[Peanutsmomma]

Beautiful pictures! Looks like the pasture is coming along nicely!

We have had a rough week. I am now fully understanding what you mean about the roosters... they really do find their way into your heart. We were visit3d by 2hat I can only assume was a dog on Tuesday and I am now down 1/3 of my flock plus one that is in a pet carrier recovering. It was like a killing spree. Mean old Willie Roo had to have been the first to go... he was free ranging to protect the littles who.slip through the fence. The others were in the run with his son, Blackbeard. Whatever it was bent the door on the run and went wild. We found chickens in all directions. Devastating. Willie Roo had to have out up a good fight. Him, three hens and 4 four week old chicks were killed. I've lost hens before... but Willie... that mean ugly rooster... was special. He was unmatched in his ability to defend the flock. Something so amazing to watch him fight off hawks. He loved the babies, too. Most recently he took on 5 six week old guinea keets.

Oh, I'm rambling on. Forgive me, just a bit broken hearted. One ray of sunshine though, when I was looking over the mess that was leftover, I heard some peeping in the tree above me. There he was... a little cockerel that has looked just like his Daddy Willie since day one. I had no intention in keeping him, until now. We'll call him Willie Two. I hope he grows up just like his Daddy.

So sorry to hear about your losses Misty Mountain.

It looks like Willie Two has some big rooster shoes to fill.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:

YOU STILL HAVE CAROLINE???????? What an old lady, LOL. She's a big girl, right?

 

[speckledhen]

YOU STILL HAVE CAROLINE???????? What an old lady, LOL. She's a big girl, right?

Heck, yeah! She's a big old Brahma gal, only hatchery bird I have now, though it seems her pendulous crop, like an old lady's sagging bosom, is about half of her size these days, LOL. We just keep an eye on it, massage her to make sure things are passing through, and she keeps on trucking. She kicks butt in the old hens' coop on a daily basis and watches out for Amanda, who, though she is crippled with arthritis, is second in command. That Amanda has an amazingly wicked "thunker" and she can grab someone walking by her and make them scream. She'll do it just for the heck of it. Gotta love a feisty old woman.

They all hate and harass 5 year old Tiny. Poor Tiny Terrorist. Nobody loves her. The other day, I saw Becca, Amanda's same age sister, jump Tiny, grab her head feathers and not let go. Tiny was screaming and struggling and Becca was riding her like a bronco. I think they hate her because she flogs and bites Tom. They all defend Daddy from the evil Tiny Terrorist, especially Panda. That half blind, tempermental Amerau-EE-Sumatra-whatever she is is hated by all equally. I seriously can't believe she made it past 5 years old.

ETA: Mark is here this morning with a tractor with a rear attachment, tilling and scraping the lot, prepping for hydroseeding. Yea! On a down note, our 20 year old riding mower blew a rod in the engine yesterday, necessitating a more than $1000 purchase of a new one. Sigh. Have to have one now that we have a big area that we can actually mow, not just jungle. Bought that Weedeater Lawn Machine in 1995 for $695, first big purchase I made with real estate commissions and it's been a good one, only needing the battery charged when it sat too long.

 

[1muttsfan]

That tractor only cost you $34 per year. Hope this one lasts as long. And as far as the wrench, what a story!

Nice to hear about the old timers. Winters up here are so brutal and so long, I do not have the heart to keep birds with bad arthritis once the weather changes in the fall, they just look miserable. My neighbor kindly puts them down for me. Maybe when we eventually move to Florida it will no longer be necessary.

 

[speckledhen]

That tractor only cost you $34 per year. Hope this one lasts as long. And as far as the wrench, what a story!

Nice to hear about the old timers. Winters up here are so brutal and so long, I do not have the heart to keep birds with bad arthritis once the weather changes in the fall, they just look miserable. My neighbor kindly puts them down for me. Maybe when we eventually move to Florida it will no longer be necessary.

Amanda and Isaac always have their special heat spots. They seem to do pretty well in winter, but they are getting way up in years.


Looking at a 22 HP 46" cut V-twin engine mower. Home Depot has one on sale for $1299 and DH gets a 10% military discount on top of that. Could be a great one for us, more comfortable for him to use, too. Even has cruise control.

 

[speckledhen]

We bought the mower, being delivered on Tuesday. The lot will be hydroseeded either Monday or Tuesday. Here is some of it, ready for its new covering. And he even mowed up the fence line onto the main lot as a favor. Poor DH had been whacking at it with cutters, not making any headway. This was so easy for Mark. Jungle, gone. Gotta get a tractor one day with the proper attachments.

Though you may not be able to really tell how it lays, here are some photos of the lot ready for seed.






















And the favor:



As you can tell, my house is in a jungle and it will take over if we don't keep beating it back.


Mark cleared the fence line up to this telephone pole, this photo taken a few weeks ago.

 

[holm25]

Looks great!!!

 

[speckledhen]

Looks great!!!

Thanks! Can't wait to see it all green.

The deer are everywhere back there, see their tracks, hear them crashing through the brush. One was in my driveway this morning. Heard a fox bark three times, went out to see if I could see it and saw a doe next to the gravel turnaround instead. The bottom lot will begin clearing/cleaning up as soon as this one is seeded but I won't own that one. Will close on that with the new owner in the next couple of weeks. It's full of blackberry brambles now. Heard quail again back there for the first time in years; guess they like the hiding places afforded by the stuff that grew when the trees were thinned out a few years ago, but those will be disappearing again and a house will be put back there.