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

[1muttsfan]

sweet boy!

I'm glad the non-keepers have a home.

 

[speckledhen]

sweet boy!

I'm glad the non-keepers have a home.

And among those should be good keepers for Andrew. I'm only letting them go because I can keep only one male. There are four of the five that I think are probably good, just have to figure out which of those will stay here. The smallest one, #5, reminds me of the smallest male out of Atlas when Wynette was raising her chicks. He had the best barring but started out being a good bit smaller than the other three. He did bulk up later, though, so there's hope for the little guy. He's quite a smart little fellow.

 

[speckledhen]

Yesterday, the largest cockerel sat on my lap, overseeing his siblings like a little king. He is calm and regal for a less than 6 week old chick. He's not a lot larger than #2 or #3, but he is somewhat. My only hesitation is he has seven comb points. I know combs are not the main deal, of course-Isaac had six and produced wonderful progeny. Rex did not have a perfect comb, but his son, Atlas, does. I took photos of #1, the largest guy, and since he was standing near me, #3, who I believe will have a six-pointer. Both are beautiful, straight combs, both nicely barred boys. They'll be six weeks old this coming Wednesday and I will not make a final decision right now, but I am assessing them almost daily for cues as to which is the front runner. ALL are friendly and wonderful and active, very healthy little birds.


If you see anything that makes you lean to one or the other, just chime in, please.








And #3

 

[robhuncor]

I'm chiming in with a few thoughts. Years ago I bred and showed Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. I had one litter every now and then and raised them as my children - in fact that's why I stopped breeding - it was like selling my children. At the time they were considered a rare breed and my mentor was the top breeder in the country. She had a wonderful philosophy about how to look at a dog and the same theories also apply to chickens - or anything. You have to take the whole package. Try not to pick them apart for faults. All individuals have faults - some big some small, but how pleasing to the eye is it? Keep a positive outlook as you evaluate. You have looked at a lot of chickens in your day and you know what looks good and makes you feel good. That's the one.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm chiming in with a few thoughts. Years ago I bred and showed Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. I had one litter every now and then and raised them as my children - in fact that's why I stopped breeding - it was like selling my children. At the time they were considered a rare breed and my mentor was the top breeder in the country. She had a wonderful philosophy about how to look at a dog and the same theories also apply to chickens - or anything. You have to take the whole package. Try not to pick them apart for faults. All individuals have faults - some big some small, but how pleasing to the eye is it? Keep a positive outlook as you evaluate. You have looked at a lot of chickens in your day and you know what looks good and makes you feel good. That's the one.

I do agree. If I feel especially good about one, though another may be better in one obvious area, I tend to gravitate toward that one. They are all friendly at this point, but you do expect that of a BPR, or I certainly do. The only thing I don't want to do is breed in a bad trait that is hard to overcome, i.e., side sprigs on a comb, narrow body, bad leg color, etc. I see none of that here, just one of each sex is quite a bit smaller than the others, though they could very well catch up later on.

I took a few more pictures as my husband was being his typical chick magnet self today. One pullet has very faint, almost no barring, across her chest. She's overall very dark, almost like you see on a cross like my Delaware x BR pullets. I'm not saying she's a cross, don't get me wrong there, but I've never had a straight BR pullet come out this way. It made me think of Jill's super dark male she had, though I don't think she bred from him for this batch, not sure she even has him anymore. Will be interesting to see how she turns out. And one pullet has very wide white bars, reminding me of my first hatchery BR pullet, Lexie, who everyone kept telling me was a cockerel way back when. They are opposites, just like Lexie and my Ivy were. Sort of made me nostalgic watching them today.






This gal is the dark one, reminds me of my late Ivy in my original flock.







This pullet is the one who reminded me of Lexie, Ivy's "sister". I'm gonna have to keep this one, no matter where she falls on the size scale, but I think she's in the middle, not the smallest one.


Nice perch for watching the skies.

 

[chickenneighbor]

This girl has a really sweet face.

 

[speckledhen]

This girl has a really sweet face.

She is a doll, but then, they all are. Even the one who was biting has chilled out a lot. They love going outside. It's a huge stampede when I open their pen in the barn and say, "Let's go outside!". They all run down the aisle for the exit and you'd best get out of the way!

 

[uphilljill]

I don't have the dark male any more and haven't used him in years, but I still occasionally get dark males. I've been focusing on vigour and type the past few years and trying not focus on combs too much unless there's a DQ fault. An old-time breeder told me last year the the females pass on the comb but I haven't tested that theory out myself yet. Your chicks are growing nicely!

 

[speckledhen]

I don't have the dark male any more and haven't used him in years, but I still occasionally get dark males. I've been focusing on vigour and type the past few years and trying not focus on combs too much unless there's a DQ fault. An old-time breeder told me last year the the females pass on the comb but I haven't tested that theory out myself yet. Your chicks are growing nicely!

I didn't think you did, but she just reminded me of the photo I saw in your album. An extra point on a comb is not a big deal. They are pretty straight. And they are all growing very nicely, yes, they are! I know that Rex, my single factor barred male who was Atlas's sire, did not have a super great comb, but Atlas's is perfect so maybe it is the females who pass on the comb like the breeder told you, I don't know for sure. One thing I do know is that a chick is the combination of two parents so a minor flaw is not a big deal.

One of my 9 yr old BRs, Amanda, is out of McMurray parents. She produced a daughter with my McMurray BR rooster that I named Zoe, who was a very large hen, very fine barring with the bars so thin. Anyway, her chicks were extremely difficult to sex and she would produce super dark sons. A friend of mine got Zoe before she was a year old and she always had trouble sexing her chicks. It was very weird to see a BR whose parentage was known produce males that looked like black sex links. This little gal also reminded me of Zoe and her progeny. Why that happens, the extra dark ones, I'm not sure, but it obviously does.

 

[1muttsfan]

Good advice, Robin - it is so easy to pick them apart.

My favorite is the big one covered with chicks in the hammock. He's a keeper