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

[speckledhen]

Nothing to do about any of that except hope they work out the bugs. This is not our real life anyway, right? (Sorry, Rob!)

I took photos of the 9 week old BR group this morning. They were 9 weeks yesterday. Still no bites on selling the pair or the extra male. And I still have no idea if it's Drea or Drew. DH says it's a girl. IT sits next to the pullets all the time rather than the boys. I think Male #1 is a Hector son. Acts like him, has a comb that seems unlike a Stukel comb. The #2 male could be an Atlas son or a Hector son, but I am swaying toward a Stukel from the comb alone. Drea/ Drew is certainly a Stukel, no doubt in my mind. All have that nice gravy boat chest already.
@1muttsfan what do you think about who may belong to who? I notice that MaryJo and Drea/Drew are about the same size, both very large like the boys. Notice that Male #2 has a more refined comb, but still it is larger than Drea/Drew's.

 

[h2oratt]

Here is my husband with the hen

 

[h2oratt]

Now we have another lady who wants to bring her barred rock over. Oh well. This one is having a ball in our overgrown garden.

 

[speckledhen]

Here is my husband with the henView attachment 1069886

Awwwww! It's love at first sight! My husband's favorites have always been the BRs, though our 9 yr old splash Ameraucana hen, Snow, is completely in love with him and him with her. She will use supreme effort to push herself up and over to him, though she has lost the use of one leg from arthritis. He will be inconsolable when she's gone.

 

[speckledhen]

I may step in something here, very off-topic, but I don't understand why folks don't get the difference between "sell" and "sale". The chicken swap group on FB is full of "Chickens for Sell". No, it's "For SALE". I have chickens to sell, I have chickens for sale. I'm running a yard sale. I'm not sure when I began seeing that, but not when I was in school. I knew the difference in 4th grade and never saw this confusion when I was growing up. And these are folks who seem otherwise adequately educated and able to write plainly. It's very common around this area, but again, not something I ever experienced growing up.

It frustrates me and I have to stop myself from correcting it. Of course, I don't correct them because I know what they mean; the point is to make yourself understood, even if you don't always have the correct spelling or word usage. I don't usually bring attention to something of that sort unless I really am confused about their meaning, and on rare occasions, trust me, I have been very confused! But, if it's on a professionally printed sign or billboard, I'm more apt to correct them. I still haven't gone to the corner farmer's market to tell them that, on their humongous banner across the parking lot, "cantaloupe" is not spelled "canalope". Don't sign makers tell customers that they are misspelling words? I could not do that job and let something go out like that. But, the word usage issue bugs me more than the spelling one. My own college-educated husband misspells a lot of words and uses me as his living dictionary. The difference in him and me is that he was not a reader growing up, while I was an avid reader, reading maybe 10 books every week as a child. I think that makes a huge difference. And kids do not read like they did when I was a child. They watch.

There is one large sign attached to a building that houses a corner business here, hand lettered, that reads "Not responsile far fire are thef". I'd say it's most likely an elderly local with little education, if I had to hazard a guess. Again, I did understand the meaning, though it took me a couple of read-throughs to get it when I first saw that. I hope this is not the future of our educational system. Ramble over.

 

[getaclue]

Cyn, it may have to do with the language on FB. Apparently there is an issue with offering chickens for sale, which is not permitted, but offering them for sell, prevents the automatic filters used by FB, from flagging it as an animal being for sale.

Yes, I have always been an avid reader, and they taught us spelling in school. We had spelling books, with a weekly word list. We had to learn to spell the weekly words, use them correctly in a sentence, and know the definition. Yes, kids today are very illiterate, for the most part.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The English language and how to properly speak, and write it, is disappearing. I blame texting, and an increasingly lazier younger generation, who do not often learn it in school anymore. I believe I read writing in cursive is a dying art, and some schools no longer teach it. I could be wrong though.

 

[getaclue]

oldhens, you are absolutely correct.

 

[speckledhen]

Cyn, it may have to do with the language on FB. Apparently there is an issue with offering chickens for sale, which is not permitted, but offering them for sell, prevents the automatic filters used by FB, from flagging it as an animal being for sale.

Yes, I have always been an avid reader, and they taught us spelling in school. We had spelling books, with a weekly word list. We had to learn to spell the weekly words, use them correctly in a sentence, and know the definition. Yes, kids today are very illiterate, for the most part.

Actually, I'm sure it isn't the FB language. If a price is listed, FB automatically calls it a sale ad and lists it as such and flags it, whether they say "sale" or "sell". They'd never get around it that way. They don't know any better, I'm sure.

The English language and how to properly speak, and write it, is disappearing. I blame texting, and an increasingly lazier younger generation, who do not often learn it in school anymore. I believe I read writing in cursive is a dying art, and some schools no longer teach it. I could be wrong though.

I agree 100%. Kids allowed to graduate while being completely illiterate is a huge problem, just like getting trophies for showing up, but not for achievement of any kind. They are lazy, though I sort of understand using abbreviations and such for words while texting for expediency's sake, but you must know the difference in shorthand for texting and actual proper written English. They don't. I hate texting, I really do. I am thinking of going back to a non-smart phone for a lot of reasons; that way I can say I don't text, don't send me texts because I cannot get them nor answer them.

And how can you sign a document without cursive? No one has told me that yet. I guess there are so many digital signatures nowadays, that, too, it disappearing, the signing of your name.

 

[getaclue]

I stand corrected. Yes, texting, digital signatures, and too many teachers that just pass out the requirements expecting the kids to do them on their own, but not really teaching, has produced a generation of illiterates.