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

[speckledhen]

How it going??

Hey, Isaiah! It's going...where, I'm not too sure. Today, both Atlas and Deacon are injured from fighting through the fence. Atlas has even unseated the back of his comb and it has a big gash on one side so he got the antibiotic treatment today. Deacon is limping badly on the foot with the big spur. He was already acting a little off so not sure what's going on with him aside from fighting with his nephew. Thankfully, Atlas is sweet and trusting and easy enough to handle.

Finn lost his newest flea collar, the one that we write his name and our phone number on. He only had this one a week. It's the fourth or fifth one he's lost now. I don't think I'll get him another one.

Last night was a wildlife extravaganza. My husband stays up much later than I. Outside the bedroom window on the deck, I kept hearing thumping. I tell husband and we both go out to find a big fat possum. We encourage him to leave, which he does by doing a kamikaze leap off the highest part of the deck about ten feet off the ground. A little bit later, I hear a fox alarm barking. I go tell DH, who doesn't hear that well so he didn't hear it. I ask about Finn, who apparently had just gone back outside a little while before the fox started. Finn comes zooming around the corner of the house and wants inside. Usually, the fox is barking because there are coyotes nearby. At last we all go to sleep. Then, again later, more thumping. DH decides to grab a pellet gun this time. I don't even get out of bed. A minute goes by and I hear it go off, then again. He puts it away and comes back to bed, says, "big fat raccoon". He also did a death defying leap off the deck same as the possum (the coon, not the DH).

Last night, I heard so many weird noises out the window, odd howling, crying, etc. And Finn does his usual jumping onto my bedside boom box to get my attention. He'll do it, the CD player pops open and he purrs loudly. I mean LOUDLY. At some point, I reached over and hauled him onto the bed where he stayed for a long time, then was back on the boom box, then my chest of drawers, then somewhere else. Does everyone has this much drama with a cat around? Needless to say, I got little sleep.

Sooo, how are you??

 

[Minflick]

Giggle. I slowed down to let a grey fox race across the road in front of me last night. The cat's newest 'Mom's in bed' trick is to get on top of my printer and turn it on. Which means I have to get up and turn it off, as it's bright and it will BLINK.....

Bad kitteh.

 

[holm25]

I'm good. Got home from hunting today. Never got a thing but m going back thursday. I have to get pics of my Pekin hens that I hatched they are bigger and meatier than they're parents. Their bellys even drag on the ground!!

 

[robhuncor]

Quote: Loki, my big fat Ragdoll cat, sleeps on my bed, same spot every night. Since I broke my foot, I've moved to the opposite side of my Queen sized bed so I can hang my foot with the big boot on it off the side (actually, I balance it on top of the cat scratching post that is just the right height for it!) But Loki took offense at his spot getting invaded by my feet and refused to move to the other side He lays down and fights it out with the big boot!

But after 2 weeks of this, he suddenly gave up and switched sides last night. Kitties are creatures of habit but I guess he finally got the message!

 

[speckledhen]

Please think good thoughts for Deacon. A few days ago, he and Atlas were fighting (well, they fight at their divider fence every day) and both were injured. Atlas unseated and gouged his comb and Deacon was limping. Deacon tends to jump and fight with his feet so not unexpected. Over the past week, his comb has been dark on the back, never getting lighter, just not his usual color and I remarked on it to DH and Ladyhawk. She said her guy's was dark, too, probably nothing. Still, something told me he was off. He was cantankerous, biting my thumb when he'd eat out of my hand, just acted not like himself lately. And his limp was worse, but he did the usual roosterly duties.

Today, he didn't come out with his hens. I looked inside, didn't see him, thought he had to be dead not to come outside with his girls, until I craned my neck upwards and saw him in a nest. Ran around to the door and inside and his leg was behind him. Thinking he may have actually broken it, I took him to the house but on the way, I felt what at first I thought was his crop, oddly shaped, like a raised flattened area, like strangely compacted feed, but it wasn't in the center. I parted the feathers and found a terribly infected wound on the right side of his chest, same side as his injured leg. Maybe the infection has spread down his body and that is affecting his leg, but needless to say, we doctored the wound, removed the top scab, blood poured out like a waterfall, slathered it with strong antibiotic ointment that DH had when he tore the skin down his shin falling on a ramp outside, and wrapped a t-shirt around his body. Then we dosed him with a kick-butt hit of penicillin. He's in Zane's old cage and we are dreading what is going to happen. Could lose him unless the antibiotics do the trick.

I'm thinking his long spur may have gotten caught on the fence when he and Atlas were fighting and Atlas got in one good hit with one of his own spurs, sending bacteria into Deacon's chest. I never saw any blood, but Deacon has red streaks in his barred feathers anyway and I may have missed it. He's been so grouchy lately after I touched an awry wing feather and it hurt him and he bit the fire out of my arm. He's been sort of avoiding me ever since, so I haven't been picking him up much, but he was slowly coming around until last week when he began limping and acting oddly again.

Pics of the wound, right side of his chest. We cut a good bit off of that spur so it wouldn't get in the way of him laying down and maneuvering in the cage.


After scab removed and blood started pouring.

 

[getaclue]

My roosters would fight between their dividing fence too. Home Depot sells a few sizes of plastic hardware cloth (also deer, bird block), which has the 1 inch squares, and it's fairly inexpensive. I used zip ties, and connected the 3 ft. tall size on one side of the existing divider fence. It's easy to do, and the holes are small enough to keep them from doing any real damage to each other.

 

[speckledhen]

My roosters would fight between their dividing fence too. Home Depot sells a few sizes of plastic hardware cloth (also deer, bird block), which has the 1 inch squares, and it's fairly inexpensive. I used zip ties, and connected the 3 ft. tall size on one side of the existing divider fence. It's easy to do, and the holes are small enough to keep them from doing any real damage to each other.

Already there. It's on BOTH sides, except in the short area underneath the coops where it's on Deacon's side only. So, they got hurt in spite of it.

 

[MistyMountain]

Oh Deacon! Keep fighting, buddy! Sending good thoughts your way!

 

[robhuncor]

Poor guy - you're doing your best, the penicillin should do it's work. Maybe a shot a day for 2 or 3 more days.

 

[speckledhen]

Oh Deacon! Keep fighting, buddy! Sending good thoughts your way!

I hope he will. He's such a love. DH is more attached to him than I am, but he reminds me of Zane in so many ways, other than his need to fight. He never fought at all until that day he turned when his brother, Rex, was chasing him and stood up to him, hitting Rex in the chest and dealing him a hard blow that killed him. From then on, he realized he didn't have to take anymore guff.

Poor guy - you're doing your best, the penicillin should do it's work. Maybe a shot a day for 2 or 3 more days.

I hope it will. He'll get at least 2-3 more days, that was the plan. I hate that he was in so much pain and still was standing tall at guard over his hens just yesterday while free ranging. At least he managed to get himself into that nest box.

ETA: What I'm afraid of is that the wound is not related to the leg injury except that he got them both fighting Atlas. If he caught his spur in the fencing and was struggling to free himself, he may have gotten tendon damage. If that's the case, we should know in a few days.