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

[speckledhen]

In dogs, they call them "throwbacks". I would assume this applies to chickens, and pretty much all else in the animal kingdom as well. The original color of chow chows is red. When raising black chow chows, you can breed black sires to black dams. They will breed true, except.... Over a 15 year period, you can expect at least one throwback that will be a red chow chow, instead of black.

Yup, comes back to bite you (sorry, dog pun!).

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

A splash is a genetically a black bird with two copies of the blue gene, washing out the color. A lavender is a bird with the lavender gene. It only produces lavender when bred to lavender unlike blue, black, splash. Lavender and blue are just two unrelated genes and work differently.

Interesting, some day I mean to learn a bit of chicken genetics. So many factors in chickens.

 

[speckledhen]

Genetics are interesting. But, some people bug me because, on one hand, they tell you that genes can hide and pop out later, then on the other hand, they simply refuse to say that I can get something unexpected that doesn't follow the rules in a book. That is a contradiction. Tiny is a contradiction. Rita, my BLRW x Ameraucana is just a cross of two breeds, each of the parents being recessive for their comb types. She was 100% explainable, though the least explainable thing about Rita, if there is anything is her brown egg. Rita died not too long ago, one of my best layers, as the weirdos seem to be.
That does not equate to the lady who sent me the eggs lying to me, as was suggested. In fact, the woman told me I might get an oddball chick because her husband's rooster got into the Ameraucana flock. And that was Rita. She sent me 6 BR eggs and 6 BBS Ameraucana eggs for free-the Ameraucana eggs were just extras because the BRs were a fertility test for her. No reason for her to lie to me. The BR eggs were fertile, but the shells were not great and began to seep in the incubator, none hatched. Not all the Ameraucana eggs hatched, but I think there was an Ameraucana male I had to sell.

 

[speckledhen]

Up to about 31" diameter. Seems the diameter corresponds to the round you're on. Should have noticed that when I saw a total of 50 rounds and 50" in the pattern, LOL.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm going to lose Betsy, I think. She has no meat at all on her keel, her crop is still a doughy ball in spite of massage multiple times each day. I have no idea what caused it and cannot seem to fix it. It's not hard, just a dough ball that is pliable, but won't go away, even pushing it back through the hole as much as possible. I'm so sick of problems. I spend so much time making life right for these birds and I still can't get a break. Folks who throw them into disgusting pens and feed them crap seem to get away with it, or maybe it just seems that way. Could be they lose birds right and left and just don't care, go get more. Expendable commodities.
Zara is a completely naked chicken. Betsy is dying, one of only two blue partridge girls I have in my main breeding group. Lizzie is recovering, but it's extra to do to keep her separate and not an overnight fix. Not a good day for me.

***and yet, the Tiny Terrorist lives on, her crazy, psychologically impaired self. She'll outlive them all.

 

[kitkat5505]

I'm going to lose Betsy, I think. She has no meat at all on her keel, her crop is still a doughy ball in spite of massage multiple times each day. I have no idea what caused it and cannot seem to fix it. It's not hard, just a dough ball that is pliable, but won't go away, even pushing it back through the hole as much as possible. I'm so sick of problems. I spend so much time making life right for these birds and I still can't get a break. Folks who throw them into disgusting pens and feed them crap seem to get away with it, or maybe it just seems that way. Could be they lose birds right and left and just don't care, go get more. Expendable commodities.
Zara is a completely naked chicken. Betsy is dying, one of only two blue partridge girls I have in my main breeding group. Lizzie is recovering, but it's extra to do to keep her separate and not an overnight fix. Not a good day for me.

***and yet, the Tiny Terrorist lives on, her crazy, psychologically impaired self. She'll outlive them all.

So sorry she isn’t getting better.

 

[speckledhen]

Thank you. Me, too. Today, I did something I have not done in a couple of years. I put Oxine in all the waterers, including hers. It kills fungi, viruses and bacteria. My vaporizer broke so I need a new one, but it's a bit chilly to mist the entire barn anyway. I just feel better doing something, even if it won't save Betsy. We're going into the cold weather season when they will be stressed, seemed a good thing to do.

 

[1muttsfan]

Poor girl.

I think it's more likely that people who take such bad care of their chickens just don't really notice or acknowledge when they have birds die. It's just not that big a deal to them.

 

[speckledhen]

Poor girl.

I think it's more likely that people who take such bad care of their chickens just don't really notice or acknowledge when they have birds die. It's just not that big a deal to them.

Maybe so, Mary. I'm just very down today. I'm sure she got hold of something out on range, or as sure as I can be. Who am I kidding? I have no idea. That group, Hector's group and Atlas's group are the ones that get to run the property more than any other so they have more opportunity to grab something bad, though I'm not really sure what it could have been. They cannot get to compost at all. Maybe she ate some dead, decaying thing that the cat left, who knows? I can't see how that would do this but I don't know. Some days, I think I know nothing at all, or they're trying to make a fool of me.

She is really losing all interest in any food now; I mean the mush I've been giving her, the soft egg mixed with soupy yogurt. Today, I grabbed an old jar of my dad's chopped up canned unsweetened apples, which are super mushy and fairly tasteless and mashed them up into sauce, added a little cinnamon and ginger. She tasted them, but won't eat them. Tom massaged and massaged her crop, pushing the stuff back toward the proventriculus, and she would moan and moan every time he did it. Poor, sweet thing, it makes me want to cry.

 

[Pyxis]

Maybe so, Mary. I'm just very down today. I'm sure she got hold of something out on range, or as sure as I can be. Who am I kidding? I have no idea. That group, Hector's group and Atlas's group are the ones that get to run the property more than any other so they have more opportunity to grab something bad, though I'm not really sure what it could have been. They cannot get to compost at all. Maybe she ate some dead, decaying thing that the cat left, who knows? I can't see how that would do this but I don't know. Some days, I think I know nothing at all, or they're trying to make a fool of me.

She is really losing all interest in any food now; I mean the mush I've been giving her, the soft egg mixed with soupy yogurt. Today, I grabbed an old jar of my dad's chopped up canned unsweetened apples, which are super mushy and fairly tasteless and mashed them up into sauce, added a little cinnamon and ginger. She tasted them, but won't eat them. Tom massaged and massaged her crop, pushing the stuff back toward the proventriculus, and she would moan and moan every time he did it. Poor, sweet thing, it makes me want to cry.

Poor girl I wonder if she has a blockage in there, something that's keeping the food from passing, or only allowing a little to pass. Long grass can do that, or long pieces of hay, or twine, etc. It gets stuck in there and makes a blockage. Most times it has to be physically removed. I've seen people do crop surgery for such a thing, but honestly that's not something I would attempt.