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

[speckledhen]

Notice that Athena's barring is becoming more distinct as she feathers in more-I've seen that in most of the pullets here. On the other hand, I don't care for how the barring across the chests of the males sort of blurs out. I doubt it will sharpen up over time. I just hope they are an improvement over Atlas's barring, being more on the BR side than their sire is, so that the Stukel blood is "doubled down". But, the pullets should be at least as good as Tessa and Lizzie.

I have these because I had two simultaneous broodies but I wonder if they will be good enough to keep any of them. Been an irritating day so forgive my mood. Someone got snippy with me on a group because, after a case came out like I was sure it would, I said they should not jump to the Mareks conclusion every time a bird went down; this was in regard to a cockerel who suddenly was on his side and no use of his legs, just overnight, no other birds affected. I thought it was an injury, maybe he flew into a wall or was hit on the back of the neck like Deacon was, did not present at all to me like Mareks. Told the owner what to do and that she would decide, if he did not recover, whether to cull him or what her next course of action was. So, she did and did a great job of it. Very rational woman. And after two or three weeks of supportive therapy, that cockerel is on his feet this morning, yea! BUT, some person called me out, saying this is FB, not a vet. Well, lady, folks treat it like it is, just like they do BYC and everyone who may have read or heard even one fact about Marek's immediately goes to that conclusion, regardless of the details of the case. I was just saying you have to be a detective, not jump to worst case scenario. But, that apparently did not sit well with some. Always amazes me when someone who literally knows nothing offers their "expert" diagnosis and the poor owner is worried unnecessarily. I mean, how many thousands, maybe even millions of these "what's wrong with my bird?" stories have I been through here? Good grief.




I do like his wide stance.

 

[1muttsfan]

I see what you mean about the cockerel barring. And boy does #3 look smaller now!

While Mareks is always possible with lame birds, there is no need to panic people unescessarily - if it is Mareks then it will not respond to treatment, and it is anyways too late to do more than watch and wait. No reason not to try some nursing care. I had a young hen I had to cull a week ago, she went down while I was out of town with leg weakness, and the other birds beat her up a bit before my friend found her. She went into the storage area and spent 3 weeks separated with food and water, but ate very little and never got strong enough to walk normally. She was vaccinated for Mareks as a young chick, so I suspect she just got badly injured somehow.

 

[speckledhen]

I see what you mean about the cockerel barring. And boy does #3 look smaller now!

While Mareks is always possible with lame birds, there is no need to panic people unescessarily - if it is Mareks then it will not respond to treatment, and it is anyways too late to do more than watch and wait. No reason not to try some nursing care. I had a young hen I had to cull a week ago, she went down while I was out of town with leg weakness, and the other birds beat her up a bit before my friend found her. She went into the storage area and spent 3 weeks separated with food and water, but ate very little and never got strong enough to walk normally. She was vaccinated for Mareks as a young chick, so I suspect she just got badly injured somehow.

This was just sudden, like he was fine at roost time, in the morning, he was a puddle on the floor, legs to the side. No others affected. I saw nothing to indicate Mareks, oh, but they all were jumping on that bandwagon. Probably read one Wiki article and decided that's what it was. I'm so done with stupidity, I really am. I was added to this group without my permission and I just un-added myself. At least here, people know that I am not new to this game and rarely get too snarky with me. I just wish folks would use common sense. Or should I say, uncommon sense? Like you said, why not nurse him awhile and see and she did and he's recovering. But, I can be called names by better folks, LOL.
Oh, well, I loathe FB anyway. About to delete my page again. It's sort of like, here is the grim future of society sprawled out on your feed for you to agonize over daily. Enough already. LH and I have the Blue Roo Creations FB page but I'm in one of those moods that I want to become a ghost again, no one knows who I am, nobody can find me, close the gates, lock and load.

 

[1muttsfan]

I only go on my BF's facebook account, a little surfing and I'm quickly done with ignorance, wierd naval-gazing selfies, and crude violent jerks. Then I come here

 

[speckledhen]

I only go on my BF's facebook account, a little surfing and I'm quickly done with ignorance, wierd naval-gazing selfies, and crude violent jerks. Then I come here

I think it's time to surf right out of my account. I already avoid Random Ramblings here, why go to a site that is all RR? I can see what I want on the news. But mostly, I don't want to see any of it.

 

[getaclue]

speckled, I fully understand. I get into it every once in awhile on a couple of the Florida poultry FB sites. The last time I got into it was with some guy that got upset with me because a lady had hatched a chick that couldn't walk. Everyone said it was splay leg, and I told her it was curled toes on the one foot, and provided pictures of how to make a boot for it. She did, and the chick was fine, but some guy jumped me about having a bleeding heart, not wanting to cull inferior chicks, bringing down the overall heartiness of chickens, etc. Oh, and we bleeding hearts, if we couldn't bring ourselves to cull inferior stock, do like nature does, just toss it out in the woods.

I responded that high temperatures, and/or fluctuations in temperature usually are the cause of curled toes, and it's not really a defect, but the result of hatching in an artificial environment, with an easy permanent fix. I further added that I would not engage in any further conversation with someone that wasn't smart enough to use a more humane way of culling, other than to throw chicks out in the woods.

He posted that I must be a newbie, and the chickens in my avatar were not my actual birds, but taken from someone's website, and I was missing out on a very good discussion and learning experience. I never replied to him, or on that particular post again. I really didn't give a dang what he thought, or had to say. The lady's chick got it's foot fixed, and that's all I really cared about.

 

[speckledhen]

speckled, I fully understand. I get into it every once in awhile on a couple of the Florida poultry FB sites. The last time I got into it was with some guy that got upset with me because a lady had hatched a chick that couldn't walk. Everyone said it was splay leg, and I told her it was curled toes on the one foot, and provided pictures of how to make a boot for it. She did, and the chick was fine, but some guy jumped me about having a bleeding heart, not wanting to cull inferior chicks, bringing down the overall heartiness of chickens, etc. Oh, and we bleeding hearts, if we couldn't bring ourselves to cull inferior stock, do like nature does, just toss it out in the woods.

I responded that high temperatures, and/or fluctuations in temperature usually are the cause of curled toes, and it's not really a defect, but the result of hatching in an artificial environment, with an easy permanent fix. I further added that I would not engage in any further conversation with someone that wasn't smart enough to use a more humane way of culling, other than to throw chicks out in the woods.

He posted that I must be a newbie, and the chickens in my avatar were not my actual birds, but taken from someone's website, and I was missing out on a very good discussion and learning experience. I never replied to him, or on that particular post again. I really didn't give a dang what he thought, or had to say. The lady's chick got it's foot fixed, and that's all I really cared about.

Sounds too familiar. Yeah, the little 4 week old pullet I have with Ida now would have been culled but she's healthy as a horse, no leg or foot issues, was just crammed into the egg too tightly. I know some old timers that say they buy birds all the time and never quarantine, that it's stupid, they never have any problem. Well, when you put the axe to the neck of any bird that sneezes without figuring out if it's environmental or contagious and you buy from others that do the same, you never know if you actually have had a problem. So, newbies listen to that person rather than me and they end up with sick flocks.

Anyway, I'm going to delete the FB page anyway. I only stayed because everyone pressured me to, even though it makes me feel bad, almost dirty, like I need a shower when I read the feeds, so I want to be one of the cool folks who reject FB, ha !

 

[1muttsfan]

He posted that I must be a newbie, and the chickens in my avatar were not my actual birds, but taken from someone's website, and I was missing out on a very good discussion and learning experience. I never replied to him, or on that particular post again. I really didn't give a dang what he thought, or had to say. The lady's chick got it's foot fixed, and that's all I really cared about.

 

[speckledhen]

Exactamundo. You almost have to ignore all the nasty voices around you to help the person you're trying to help. It's like running the gauntlet sometimes. It can just be exhausting! And some days, I frankly would rather just not try when they get so bad. Always amazes me when people will be giving suggestions to someone on a chicken problem, then somewhere in the conversation, they'll say, "oh, I don't have chickens yet, that's just what I *heard*" ACK!

 

[1muttsfan]

I worked summers for years as a saddle guide at a riding stable. We had a form for people to fill out to help us determine their level of horse expertise. It is amazing how many people checked off the Experienced tab -

"You are an experienced rider?" "Yes"

"Do you have horses of your own?" "No"

"Have you had horseback riding lessons" "No"

"How many times have you ridden a horse? 100 times?" "No"

"50 times?" "No"

"10 times?" "Oh yeah, 10 times for sure"

Then we would bring the horse out and watch them attempt to mount, often from the wrong side while the horse just stood there with a "Not AGAIN" look on their face