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

[speckledhen]

good grief, you've got your hands full with him!!

Yup, that's exactly right!

 

[1muttsfan]

If he turns out temperamentally unfit for you, any chance of trading him for one of the other boys?

 

[speckledhen]

If he turns out temperamentally unfit for you, any chance of trading him for one of the other boys?

Well, though I'm sure Andrew would let me have one of the others he took from here, if Hector really turns out to be aggressive to humans, he probably would not want him around his son. And I never bring birds here, which has always been my policy to keep my biosecurity intact, even when I trust where they came from. Only exceptions ever were my original BR rooster I bought from an FFA kid about 11 years ago, and June, the EE given to me by my friend, Kate, 8 years ago.

But, we're getting ahead of ourselves anyway. Hector may calm down and learn his lesson. I'm not throwing in the towel yet! I'd like him to chill and stay. He'd be one heck of a free range rooster, I bet.

 

[speckledhen]

I just gave Mr. King Hector an object lesson, showed him he is not the toughest thing in the barnyard. I had to do it in a way he was unlikely to be truly hurt. I had to get an older hen, known for being cantankerous to underlings but not to the extent that Tessa is. First, I tried 9 year old Barred Rock, Becca. Becca isn't frail so wasn't likely to get hurt herself or drop dead of a heart attack on the spot. Hector approached her and dropped his shoulder, as did she. They circled each other, then Becca sorta said, "Meh, whatev..." and walked away. Tried 7 yr old Georgie. She was not interested in teaching today, either.

Back to the drawing board.... then, I thought of my 6 yr old Blue Rock, Neela. She is pretty crotchety, doesn't back down from a fight, has some old lady spurs, albeit they're blunt and wouldn't do any damage. Bingo! He went up to her, her hackles came out, his hackles came out, and she jumped into his face. For a moment there, he was giving as good as he got, surprisingly! They were going at it, feet flying. I was pretty impressed at an 11 week old chick standing toe to toe with an old hen like that. Then, the magic moment came just as I was about to rescue him....he realized he was outgunned and RAN!

Guess where he ran to, though? Right to DH, who was sitting on a lawn chair! Hector jumped onto the little plastic table beside him and climbed onto the arm of the chair and allowed himself to be comforted! HA! Gotcha, you little tyrant! He even snuggled his head against DH's chest! He's never, ever done that, not once.

So, score 1 for the chicken psychologist!

 

[MistyMountain]

Oh King Hector, Please learn your lessons well!

 

[speckledhen]

Oh King Hector, Please learn your lessons well!

 

[Wyatt0224]

In your opinion does Hector appear better than Apollo? In case Hector takes a turn for the worst?

 

[speckledhen]

In your opinion does Hector appear better than Apollo? In case Hector takes a turn for the worst?

Well, to be frank, there is one area where Apollo has Hector beat and that is leg color. Hector has paler yellow color there than my line does, though it may deepen a bit with some age on him. Apollo's legs are eye-stinging intense yellow.

Aside from that, Hector seems as if he might turn out to be meatier than Apollo, though it's a little soon to tell. Apollo was "rounder" than he is now when he was Hector's age but he's had a growth spurt, making him long and lanky and "teenager-y". He reminds me a bit of the original Stukel male, Rex #1, at that age. That line was slow to bulk up, generally, it seemed to me, though their barring was pretty much perfection. Hector's barring is slightly better, overall, than Apollo's.

The kicker is temperament. Apollo is skittish from running for his life but I can pet him and catch him and he never bites, has never shown any aggression at all. I'm hoping that Hector will chill a bit. I have a video of him "herding" the younger Brahmas that I'm uploading and he looks almost like a meat chicken, he's so chunky...or maybe it's the way he runs, head down in "stalker-mode", LOL. You'll see when I get it uploaded.

 

[speckledhen]

Here you go, Hector "herding" the Brahma Brigade.

 

[Wyatt0224]

From here it seems like he doesn't have that big of a difference in body size with the brahma cockerels, (minus the height from his legs), or am I wrong? Is it their feathers that make them appear bigger? And he does seem to enjoy bossing them around. Has he been aggressive with any of the brahmas at all?