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

[speckledhen]

The other two eggs from Atlas's pen that Aimee was sitting on have no sign of life at the end of Day 21. I candled them, full of chick, but not in the air cell, no movement, so I'd assume they expired before I put them in the incubator. The little son of Atlas is turning 5 days old tomorrow and he seems very calm and healthy and at least, Aimee has that one chick to raise. I left the two eggs in the incubator until tomorrow and will candle them. If not in the air cell, that will confirm they are both gone.

 

[holm25]

That's too bad at least she has a chick. I hope they hatch!! I just lost to chicks today.

 

[drumstick diva]

holm hope they hatch for you

 

[speckledhen]

Both were deceased, seems like right about Day 18 or so. Bummer.

Atlas's gate on his pen was falling apart and I think I had a zinger of an idea to replace it-with a preassembled deck railing section! It was slightly narrower than the two screen doors bolted together that were serving as the gate to his pen-those were rotten and only the hardware cloth was holding it together. Had to add some 2x4's to fill in the opening and a new steel post to fill in a side gap, but it was easier than trying to build a gate from scratch! Now, he has a new, sturdy, pressure treated "prison" gate, lol.




Son of Atlas, about a week old. Too bad he'll be a single chick.





And new Lizzie pictures! She's 17 weeks old and doing fine in Atlas's group. She takes her place on the roost every night, no hiding in the nests like most newbies try to do. She's still really skittish but she'll calm down as she matures.







Garden, phase 2. Cucumber plants pulled up, Contender bush beans and yellow straightneck and crookneck squash planted. The supplemental corn patch doesn't seem to be doing all that well. They are very small but tassels are already forming on the shorty plants. That was not amended soil, just tilled, just an experiment to maybe add some corn to the main patch in the big garden.
Sandwich type tomatoes are turning but the salsa ones are still all green-lots of those. May have to buy more canning jars if they all do well.





The lone pepper plant that has fruited. Some of the bells have buds again but not sure there is time to get many before the frost, certainly not before I need them for salsa.






And McIntosh apple tree has a good number for the size tree it is. Hope the deer don't decimate it before they are full size. The Gala has a good number on it but not as large as these are.

 

[holm25]

The gate is perfect!!

Lizzie is so pretty!!! R u going to keep her for breeding??

The garden and apple trees look great!!!

 

[speckledhen]

The gate is perfect!!

Lizzie is so pretty!!! R u going to keep her for breeding??

The garden and apple trees look great!!!

Thank you. YES, Lizzie will stay with Atlas. She is what I was hoping for in this line. And the ones that @lockedhearts bought from me are looking great, also, especially one of the pullets and the male.

 

[MistyMountain]

Yay for another son of Atlas!! He's so cute! Lizzie is quite beautiful! So happy you hung on to her!

Your garden looks great! My little garden of tomatoes has yet to produce a ripe fruit… but there are plenty of green ones! I have heirloom mr. stripey and purple cherry sized along with a few sweet 100 cherries to keep the boys happy. I pulled two "almost" ripe peaches from the trees this morning in hopes that they will ripen well on the counter and we will at least get to eat a few before the squirrels and deer strip all the trees. Our apples are coming in like mad too. No clue on what kind we have as they were here when we moved in. I do know that there are 4 red apple trees and 3 green apple trees, though. The greens are doing well this year after having a terrible year last year. I think there were maybe 5 apples between the 3 trees last year. We had a frost at the worst possible time for them.

I managed to make 7 jars of freezer jam from our wild raspberries. One jar is already gone, having used it to top my cottage cheese for breakfast. One jar went down to family at the farmhouse in GA yesterday as well. Kinda my start at canning. I have all the supplies, just need to do the real thing now! Hopefully I can make lots of applesauce this fall. Next year our garden will be HUGE, which is super exciting.

I snuck out this morning before everyone woke up to gather just enough raspberries to make some wild raspberry and peach jam. I hope to take some of that, along with a homemade jar or salted caramel and a jar of my raspberry jam to top cupcake sized cheese cakes at my SIL's house tomorrow. Our nephews is on leave from the army and he LOVES cheesecake. Gonna make sure he gets spoiled before he gets deployed.

Anyhow, I've rambled on. Glad to see things are going good for you. Love to hear about the pasture clearing. We did that this past winter. Grass and clover coming up well back there, but more work to be done this winter. DH calms down on that stuff in the summer because of snakes and it is just too hot.

Trying your method for sour crop on my favorite NH hen. She has not been herself the last two days and I am pretty sure that is what is going on with her. Hope she can pull through!

 

[1muttsfan]

That Lizzie looks like she knows her own worth - and very pretty too! Her head looks so small compared to her big fluffy body.

Only one tomato here has set fruit so far, it is a black cherry type and boy they really are BLACK, I wonder how you tell when they are ripe? The only green part is the very tip of the bottom, right from when they first started getting bigger.

Misty - Yum.

 

[speckledhen]

Yay for another son of Atlas!! He's so cute! Lizzie is quite beautiful! So happy you hung on to her!

Your garden looks great! My little garden of tomatoes has yet to produce a ripe fruit… but there are plenty of green ones! I have heirloom mr. stripey and purple cherry sized along with a few sweet 100 cherries to keep the boys happy. I pulled two "almost" ripe peaches from the trees this morning in hopes that they will ripen well on the counter and we will at least get to eat a few before the squirrels and deer strip all the trees. Our apples are coming in like mad too. No clue on what kind we have as they were here when we moved in. I do know that there are 4 red apple trees and 3 green apple trees, though. The greens are doing well this year after having a terrible year last year. I think there were maybe 5 apples between the 3 trees last year. We had a frost at the worst possible time for them.

I managed to make 7 jars of freezer jam from our wild raspberries. One jar is already gone, having used it to top my cottage cheese for breakfast. One jar went down to family at the farmhouse in GA yesterday as well. Kinda my start at canning. I have all the supplies, just need to do the real thing now! Hopefully I can make lots of applesauce this fall. Next year our garden will be HUGE, which is super exciting.

I snuck out this morning before everyone woke up to gather just enough raspberries to make some wild raspberry and peach jam. I hope to take some of that, along with a homemade jar or salted caramel and a jar of my raspberry jam to top cupcake sized cheese cakes at my SIL's house tomorrow. Our nephews is on leave from the army and he LOVES cheesecake. Gonna make sure he gets spoiled before he gets deployed.

Anyhow, I've rambled on. Glad to see things are going good for you. Love to hear about the pasture clearing. We did that this past winter. Grass and clover coming up well back there, but more work to be done this winter. DH calms down on that stuff in the summer because of snakes and it is just too hot.

Trying your method for sour crop on my favorite NH hen. She has not been herself the last two days and I am pretty sure that is what is going on with her. Hope she can pull through!

Hoping your hen pulls through, too. I hate when that happens. The jam (and salted caramel?? I LOVE caramel!) sounds great!

That Lizzie looks like she knows her own worth - and very pretty too! Her head looks so small compared to her big fluffy body.

Only one tomato here has set fruit so far, it is a black cherry type and boy they really are BLACK, I wonder how you tell when they are ripe? The only green part is the very tip of the bottom, right from when they first started getting bigger.

Misty - Yum.

Lizzie is looking really nice. I'm so pleased with this gal. Wonder when she'll lay for me.

 

[crazyhen]

That Lizzie looks like she knows her own worth - and very pretty too!  Her head looks so small compared to her big fluffy body.

Only one tomato here has set fruit so far, it is a black cherry type and boy they really are BLACK, I wonder how you tell when they are ripe?  The only green part is the very tip of the bottom, right from when they first started getting bigger.

Misty - Yum.

Misty the dark tomatoes turn a brillant red right on the bottom. I have the purple plum type. They look wierd but taste full of good acidic flaver a lot like the old tomatoes use too. But they do have to be completely ripe.