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

[speckledhen]

Had to recheck my chicken list I have running. Now, after the three deaths, I have 43 birds, total. Of those, 38 are large fowl, 8 bantams (7 D'Anvers plus Xander).
Out of the 38 large fowl, there are 5 males, so 33 layers or future layers, though a good number are non-layers, in "henopause" or close enough to it that I know I cannot count on their eggs, not getting 3-10 in an entire year.

Of the 33 layers, 10 are pullets-Hector's three, Apollo's two and the five Brahma pullets. So, 23 mature hens. Of the 23 mature hens, 15 of those are 7 (I include the ones who will be 7 in early spring) up to almost 10 years old. So, I have only 8 "mid-range" hens, with only 4 fairly young ones under 3 years old. Needless to say, if all 10 pullets would start laying, the old gals would not be carrying the weight of my egg production.



Rita sunbathing with her only "son", Rex, Atlas's sire. Rex was the son of Isaac and Ida.


And a thread Ladyhawk put up about the "DelaRex", good for a laugh. We both witnessed this incident, son defending his mama against a big white beast, lol.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/796637/isaac-beloved-roo-of-speckledhen-was-attacked-yesterday

 

[h2oratt]

Sorry about Rita.. sometimes the surprise chicks turn out to be the best.

 

[1muttsfan]

So sweet, and such a pretty color too

 

[GingersHuman]

So sorry for your loss.

 

[speckledhen]

Sorry about Rita.. sometimes the surprise chicks turn out to be the best.

Yes, they sure do. She was awesome.

So sweet, and such a pretty color too

Yes, she was a gorgeous deep red, with some bluish lacing on some of her feathers and some blue underfluff. At first I wondered why she came out with a single comb, but genetics say that a rose comb x pea comb can produce about 25% single combs so that solved that mystery.

So sorry for your loss.

Thank you. I feel so odd since it was completely out of the blue. Thankfully, she was not ill, very spry and sassy up until she went to bed last night. If there was something wrong, it was entirely hidden. I already miss her so much. It's just not the same without my only red girl. After my original RIRs passed away and I had the dark, heritage RIR hens, Rita was the only red hen left here.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I see about half of my older birds just go one night while looking good the day before. I think they have heart attacks, I prefer it to needing to cull them, it is harder when it's an older bird. Sorry you lost your hen.

I too always recount my chickens after losing one. Interesting that you did it too, I though I was just crazy.

 

[speckledhen]

I see about half of my older birds just go one night while looking good the day before. I think they have heart attacks, I prefer it to needing to cull them, it is harder when it's an older bird. Sorry you lost your hen.

I too always recount my chickens after losing one. Interesting that you did it too, I though I was just crazy.

Considering that Rita was going on 7 year old, plus that she'd had an especially difficult molt accompanied by a crop issue, it could be that her aging system was just too depleted. I tried to get her to gain weight, but her body wasn't recovering the way I hoped it would. She was still the same Rita, though, every day, always showing the youngsters who was in charge but being a lap chicken with us.

I, too, prefer they go suddenly rather than deteriorate over time, but the bad part about it is that you just are not ready for it. I mean, the first two were almost 10 years old and she certainly didn't have that much age on her, not like they did, but she did live a decently long time for any hen who is a heavy producer as Rita was up until this last molt.

I have my "Chicken List", which also has the RIP list of birds who died here (doesn't include ones that started here, but passed away at someone else's house). The RIP list now has 55 birds on it, which sounds crazy, but over 11 years, starting with the original ten, it's really not that many. I remember every one, the voice, the personality, etc. At least they had a safe and happy life, as much as I could give them that. They all deserved it. Rita is the first of that batch to pass away. Neela and Alice and Emily, the BBS Rocks, are all laying. And Tiny, the other weird bird from the BBS Ameraucana eggs with Rita, is also laying. They are all the same age, most suffer from a hint of arthritis, especially Neela, but they all seem okay at this point.

***Tiny has obvious Sumatra somewhere in her background and I never really knew what to call her since she lays a brown egg and has no beard/muffs from her Ameraucana mother. Maybe she ought to be called a "Sumatracauna"? LOL. Funny, she and Rita could very well have been from the exact same mother, just different sire***

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I only need to look at this picture occasionally to know no matter how long a bird has lived it is better than these poor chickens.


This needs to be outlawed.

 

[speckledhen]

I only need to look at this picture occasionally to know no matter how long a bird has lived it is better than these poor chickens.


This needs to be outlawed.

Amen to that. They never know the joy of a dustbath or the sun on their backs. Mine have a positively luxurious life compared to that H*e*l*l.

 

[speckledhen]

My camera juice was too low so when I hit the video, it began taking photos instead. I caught this one of Hector and all five BR pullets carousing while Apollo chased the Brahmas, trying to steal their women. I did manage a short clip of that uploading of Apollo chasing Bruno before the juice completely ran out on my camera. It seems that Apollo has an unnatural attraction for foreign women with hairy legs, LOL.

See, Hector has all five-Thea, Jill, Mary, Athena and Zara.