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

[1muttsfan]

That Dalton sure has a full tail, right Cyn?

 

[GabrielBane]

Love reading the way you regard your birds. I've made it a part of my required morning reading to stop by here and catch up.

Hope all is well!

 

[speckledhen]

That Dalton sure has a full tail, right Cyn?

Oh, yeah, he's got Hector beat in that department, that's for SURE!

Love reading the way you regard your birds.

I've made it a part of my required morning reading to stop by here and catch up.

Hope all is well!

Aren't you a peach? Thank you! Glad you're enjoying this crazy conversation. We're doing well up here. My husband and I will celebrate our 41st anniversary on Monday, but it's going to be raining cats and dogs, they say, so we're going to Bojangles in Murphy (NC) to get our favorite breakfast today. Hard to believe we've been married 41 years since I'm only 35, quite a trick, wouldn't you say??

But, hey, I got married when I was -6, so it works out. Actually, I had just turned 19 two weeks prior to that. I keep telling him that I'm too young for him. He's almost 4 years older. Old rooster, haha.

 

[Lil Peeps]

@Lil Peeps
I see you are also a Barred Rock lover. Dalton is a great name. If you've read for awhile on any of my threads,  you probably know that I have a huge temperament requirement for my large fowl roosters. Sounds like Dalton is being a bad boy! I always say in regard to roosters, Pretty is as Pretty Does. Me and Dalton would have a serious talk about his future in my barnyard, since temperament is an inherited trait, for the most part. But I sure get your dilemma with him. I've been there a couple of times in the past, may be there with my Brahma boy, Bruno, if he doesn't calm down some after I give him time to get his hormones regulated a bit.

The Belgian D'Anvers, my only bantam flock, are a very tiny bantam breed, barely larger than a Serama, and as far as I know, no one has truly bred/selected for temperament in them so I put up with some aggression from my almost 6 yr old porcelain rooster-he's a little jerk, but he's my little jerk, hatched here, not worth putting in crock pot, would barely make a chicken nugget. His son is much different, more friendly, though if I don't get him scratch from the jar fast enough, he's not above nipping or flogging to make me hurry, LOL. A flog from a less-than-two-pound rooster is like a puff of wind, though, and I'm not breeding these, letting my flock die out over time.

Atlas's line is so good in their temperament, I never want to lose that. I hope that if I interbreed Hector's line with Atlas's, the temperament veers to Atlas's side, though Hector hasn't been terrible, per se, just not as easygoing as my own line, generally. Nobody wouldn't want to be around Atlas! My husband the other day said something, can't remember the entire sentence, but it involved the phrase, "....a rooster of Atlas's caliber..." so we are both quite attached to sweet Atlas. Atlas doesn't have hens who are laying at the moment and most of his are older now, so not sure how many more actual chicks I'll get out of Atlas directly, but Apollo can carry the torch for dear old dad, even if it's with Hector's girls in the mix. Not sure how that will all shake out, but I have two good quality young breeding males and some nice pullets so we'll see.

Yes, I'm not happy with Dalton's temperament at all and we've had several talks. I held him lots as a chick and he was the sweetest thing, but I read to step away when they get into their hormones. So I gave him a little space, but shortly after he started becoming aggressive. I guess once he realized all the girls were his. It seems like I just have bad luck with usually getting the aggressive roosters. In my four years of raising chickens I have only ever had two nice roosters. They are both Silkies, One we hatched this year and he is possibly the sweetest rooster that I have ever had. He is already completely in his hormones at almost 10 months old, and he has never attacked me nor shown aggressive towards me in anyway. I wish Dalton would learn something from him, but all he does when he gets close enough is attack and chase him. I try to keep them separated at all times during free ranging when they're all out together for Zues's safety.

 

[Lil Peeps]

That Dalton sure has a full tail, right Cyn?

Haha,thank you for saying so, he's very proud of it!

 

[speckledhen]

Haha,thank you for saying so, he's very proud of it!

As he should be! LOL.



Finally, I found some rat stompers that fit me! I have an old Mt. Everest pair that has been great for many years, but I keep changing "chicken shoes" from one pair of tennis shoes to the next, not enough tread to keep me on my feet around this mountain property. And they wear out really fast, too. So, I decided I needed actual boots like my old rat stompers. I've looked for months and months; all women's boots are wussy as heck, not wide enough across the toe box, not enough REAL tread, too "fashion-y" for me and no men's sizes small enough. I wear a women's 7 or 7 1/2 WIDE width and sometimes the wide across the toes make the heel area too loose, so shoe shopping is not fun for me. *I also see that there are more extra large women's sizes than my size, which makes it harder still*

I was looking at the men's Brahma boots at Walmart when I spied "Size 6 1/2, Wide Width" WHAT? They have that small of a men's size?? That is so rare, so I grabbed them and put them on and Viola! They FIT ME! They are 100% waterproof brown suede, with MAJOR tread! I am so happy! And, of course, they are BRAHMA brand boots. Plus, they were reasonably priced at $34.95, more than I usually pay for shoes but WAY less than most of the other boots they had in stock. So, my old rat stompers will be my chicken shoes for winter and I have my new Brahma boots, albeit, men's boots.

These! REAL boots with REAL tread! No wussy lady-boots for moi!

 

[Lil Peeps]

As he should be! LOL. Finally, I found some rat stompers that fit me! I have an old Mt. Everest pair that has been great for many years, but I keep changing "chicken shoes" from one pair of tennis shoes to the next, not enough tread to keep me on my feet around this mountain property. And they wear out really fast, too. So, I decided I needed actual boots like my old rat stompers. I've looked for months and months; all women's boots are wussy as heck, not wide enough across the toe box, not enough REAL tread, too "fashion-y" for me and no men's sizes small enough. I wear a women's 7 or 7 1/2 WIDE width and sometimes the wide across the toes make the heel area too loose, so shoe shopping is not fun for me. *I also see that there are more extra large women's sizes than my size, which makes it harder still* I was looking at the men's Brahma boots at Walmart when I spied "Size 6 1/2, Wide Width" WHAT? They have that small of a men's size?? That is so rare, so I grabbed them and put them on and Viola! They FIT ME! They are 100% waterproof brown suede, with MAJOR tread! I am so happy! And, of course, they are BRAHMA brand boots. Plus, they were reasonably priced at $34.95, more than I usually pay for shoes but WAY less than most of the other boots they had in stock. So, my old rat stompers will be my chicken shoes for winter and I have my new Brahma boots, albeit, men's boots. These! REAL boots with REAL tread! No wussy lady-boots for moi!

Wow, those are great! So glad you found them!

 

[speckledhen]

Wow, those are great! So glad you found them!

Thanks. The weird thing is that they say a woman who wears a size 7 shoe would wear a mens' size 5, which is what my Mt. Everest boots are and even has it printed in the tongue of that boot, but the new ones are a mens' 6 1/2W. They are very roomy in the toe box and could be that I could have gotten away with a size 6, if they'd had one, but I think my feet have spread over the years from going barefoot in the house all the time and maybe wearing loose tennis shoes. So, my 7 1/2W in a women's size just seems to translate into a larger men's size than what the charts say I should wear. Whatever, with thick socks, which I like to wear in winter, they felt just fine to me, no pinched toes.

Do women have much larger feet than they used to? Seems the stores cater to sizes 8-10 for women and finding shoes or boots in a 7 or 71/2 is not easy to do. I do think they are overall taller than my generation.

 

[1muttsfan]

I don't know about that, I wear a 9 1/2 wide in woman's, and they are almost impossible to find. That translates roughly into a men's eight and a half regular.

 

[Lil Peeps]

Thanks. The weird thing is that they say a woman who wears a size 7 shoe would wear a mens' size 5, which is what my Mt. Everest boots are and even has it printed in the tongue of that boot, but the new ones are a mens' 6 1/2W. They are very roomy in the toe box and could be that I could have gotten away with a size 6, if they'd had one, but I think my feet have spread over the years from going barefoot in the house all the time and maybe wearing loose tennis shoes. So, my 7 1/2W in a women's size just seems to translate into a larger men's size than what the charts say I should wear. Whatever, with thick socks, which I like to wear in winter, they felt just fine to me, no pinched toes.

Do women have much larger feet than they used to? Seems the stores cater to sizes 8-10 for women and finding shoes or boots in a 7 or 71/2 is not easy to do. I do think they are overall taller than my generation.

Hmm, that is kind of weird, but if they fit good, I guess it just works! Haha, my foot is a 6 1/2 but I almost always buy 7s because I like a little extra room, makes more room for thick socks also like you said. So I would probably buy a 6 in men's shoes. I might look into getting some shoes like that for myself someday. They look like they would last WAY longer than any of my coop shoes ever do.