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

[1muttsfan]

That makes life easier.

 

[speckledhen]

That makes life easier.

Yes, it sure ought to. Again, the little coop is empty. Tessa has broken out of her broody spell, thankfully-sure didn't need her to hatch anything with 21 chicks in the grow-out pen.

There is one BR male who is head-thunking. I bopped him lightly on the back of the head a few times like his mama would, if he had one raising him, but he'll settle down when they all get used to each other, I think.

Now, to watch and see how many blue Partridge I have as opposed to the regular Partridge and what the male/female ratio is. If they feather similar to the Orpingtons I had, and the flight feathers on the males are much longer for awhile than the rest and the pullets' wing feathers are a fairly even fringe, then have 3-4 Brahma cockerels. If you can't go by that, then, again, I'll have to wait and see. I know I have 6 BR pullets, still not sure on #7.

 

[speckledhen]

Was in the barn early this morning. DH had already let Atlas out with his harem. I heard a hawk scream loud and close. DH stepped out the door and I trotted outside to ask where the hawk was. It was in the tree right next to the corner of the barn. And it was a redtail. It decided to sail off over the power line easement when we stepped outside. I looked for Atlas and saw his hens crammed underneath the two lawn chairs next to the gate, but not Atlas. He was a short distance away from the hens, out in the open, standing tall, head cocked sideways looking up, seemed to have his feet planted wide apart, ready to do battle. Good boy! I really feel he will engage a predator head on if push comes to shove. If he ever has to really do that, he will probably be taken out by one of the coyotes or foxes around here, but at least he will be doing what a rooster is programmed to do, protect and defend.

I keep telling people that they do not have to have a human-aggressive male for him to do what he should do in regard to the hens. Atlas is a prolific breeder, too, just like Grandpa Isaac. Once, a crotchety old breeder here on BYC told me that the aggressive males are better breeders so he didn't care about temperament, suggesting he preferred an aggressive rooster. POPPYCOCK! Isaac handled 25 hens at one time in his prime, kept them all fertile, and he would never have done a thing to hurt anyone other than an attacking predator. Atlas could probably handle close to that many, though I don't have the room here to find out. A good-tempered rooster, now that makes life easier!

 

[MistyMountain]

I love to see a rooster do that. I need to find an Atlas! I don't feel as comfortable letting the flock out as I did with Willie Roo. I'm sure Blackbeard would try, but I am not as confident in his abilities. I need to find a mix of the two-- hawk smart AND not aggressive to people. I was hopeful this Sandhill order may hold my future king of the flock, but they would have to ship for that to ever happen.

Hawks are our biggest threat here. We do have coyotes, foxes and a couple bear sows with cubs, but the dog lets us know about them. She has also been watching the crows, so she may be starting to be a hawk dog too.

She was barking yesterday at our boys on the play set. I thought maybe she had just realized they were there and thought she needed to bark at them. I was giving her a hard time, telling her to hush, when I saw the german shepherd type dog running across the field through the treeline behind them. I switched to praise, and called the boys up to the house just to be extra safe. The neighbor must have had guests and they were calling this dog back across the field.

 

[1muttsfan]

I'm sure that a rooster is no match for many predators one on one, but they sure can give the girls time to run.


When my little AB rooster matured I was not sure he was even breeding the girls, never saw him at it and no squawking and fussing like with past roosters. He is just not hen aggressive at all, but he does get the job done

 

[speckledhen]

I love to see a rooster do that. I need to find an Atlas! I don't feel as comfortable letting the flock out as I did with Willie Roo. I'm sure Blackbeard would try, but I am not as confident in his abilities. I need to find a mix of the two-- hawk smart AND not aggressive to people. I was hopeful this Sandhill order may hold my future king of the flock, but they would have to ship for that to ever happen.

Hawks are our biggest threat here. We do have coyotes, foxes and a couple bear sows with cubs, but the dog lets us know about them. She has also been watching the crows, so she may be starting to be a hawk dog too.

She was barking yesterday at our boys on the play set. I thought maybe she had just realized they were there and thought she needed to bark at them. I was giving her a hard time, telling her to hush, when I saw the german shepherd type dog running across the field through the treeline behind them. I switched to praise, and called the boys up to the house just to be extra safe. The neighbor must have had guests and they were calling this dog back across the field.

I've done that, too, then realized there was a reason. There was a bear cub strolling through a local grocery store within the past week. We definitely have bears, but I don't consider them a main threat.

I'm sure that a rooster is no match for many predators one on one, but they sure can give the girls time to run.


When my little AB rooster matured I was not sure he was even breeding the girls, never saw him at it and no squawking and fussing like with past roosters. He is just not hen aggressive at all, but he does get the job done

That's what he's there for, certainly, to give the girls a chance, even if it means sacrificing himself. Ladyhawk's Lancelot is one in a million, having encounters with stray cats, rottweilers, coyotes and even rolling around on the ground with a fox once (her vet had to stitch up his breast muscle that time). He's six years old next month and a crochety old geezer. I'm amazed he's lived this long, but he's a huge Blue Orp with lethal spurs.

I think I may go ahead and sell Apollo and Athena as a pair and keep Zara for a layer. Those two are attached to each other, more than he and Zara that he was raised with. It's better anyway since Athena is only his half sister, not a full sibling like Zara is. He is sweet, but very skittish, mostly due to always having to run for his life from Atlas's hens. Atlas doesn't bother him at all, at least, not yet. My friend, Karen, has gone the way of charging more for her birds lately (and getting it), fed up with locals who are on the verge of being hoarders or just plain old traders. Not sure what to charge now at their age, Athena being 15 wks Wednesday and Apollo 13 weeks.

ETA: I did put them up for $20, most of that for Athena. Apollo is so attached to her and cries like a baby if he can't find her.

 

[speckledhen]

The Heathens have been divided from the Angels for the night. Guess which is which? They were merciless, having a good time making them scream. And I got new shoes today for chicken shoes, with bright white laces-that was good sport. I felt like I was in the middle of a shark feeding frenzy, LOL.

That "gate" was used under the nests in the original coop about 11 years ago to give two newbies a safe place from the main flock-the end opens, but this time, it's just bungeed in place. It will work...until the Heathens find a way over. It's only about an inch higher than the main roost they are already flying up to now, except on the hinged end that slants down (followed the brace that held up the original nests in the first little coop we built) Glad we kept that all these years.



Today, I did a recount and unless I have one girly-man, I have 7 Barred Rock pullets and 5 cockerels. Since I'll be keeping one cockerel, I'll only have to rehome four of those and should have pullets to go with them, or maybe three of the four, just depends on how many I actually keep. I think Andrew (@gojira )would like to raise up a pair or two to compare them with his Atlas progeny he has now so he has first pick after I make my choices.

 

[1muttsfan]

Considering everything a nice number of both to select from.

 

[speckledhen]

They are 4 weeks old today. Check out the Dirty Dozen, aka Heathen Horde.











Got 5 of the 7 pullets in one picture here.

 

[1muttsfan]

They are only interested in World Dominion. That's all.

Some nice wide girls in there.