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

[speckledhen]

Wow, Cynthia. That is quite the problem. Will the county get involved? That poses a risk to not only livestock, but children and adults as well!! Not to mention the disease they most likely harbor and can now spread. We know we have a healthy bear population here as well as foxes, but have yet to see a coyote. Neighbors say they are around, though no pack like you speak of. None the less, our boys (8 and 6) are not allowed to go beyond the dog's wireless boundary unless we are outside with them. She adores the boys and on more than one occasion she has alerted us to stray dogs approaching and serves as a very good deterrent. She's become a good farm dog.

I absolutely do not mind sharing the land with the animals. I even understand the "mother nature tax" I sometimes pay for free ranging. But, wow, a pack--- that's just asking for so much trouble.

This is right at the NC/GA border area, but most of this activity is on the NC side (I live 8/10 of a mile from the NC line, which crosses the road they are running off of). I have no idea what Cherokee, NC would do, but I doubt that my GA county would do much of anything. Seems most of the havoc they're causing is currently on the NC side.

 

[1muttsfan]

So sorry GJ

 

[speckledhen]

So sorry GJ

Poor Gloria Jean. A few years ago, she got hatching eggs and brought MS in and had to cull her flock, including one of Suede's daughters. She was crushed, I know. I hate this for her!

 

[crazyhen]

Poor Gloria Jean is right.
Last yr., like a foolish idiot I got rid of my flock.(who were healthy) My husband had been unhappy with my health and wanted me to slow down some more. After 2 months I could bear it no longer and got chicks again. Oh, what a joy. I got 6 from TC and then went to flat rock and bought some
English orps. Jubilee, Partridge and lavender coocoo. Just some pretties. The lady was npip and had vaccinated for Mereks. I felt relatively safe with that. I lost three as chicks. They were silverlaced , then a comet, then a lavender, and now my beautiful partridge hen. Yes I could cry.
This is so discouraging for me. If I lose these I will not have more. I invest to much in them emotionally. I tried to do everything right. I wormed them etc. All pretty much doing well after the first loses of chicks until about a month ago. My coop is ideal. Clean and with plenty of air circulation. They have a big fenced in yard and sometimes I let them out in the grass and woods. I am down to 7 hens and a roo.
What else can I do? I do not want to lose any more. I called the agri. dept and the man who use to come and check passed away. He would have come and checked but this new guy acts like he could care less. I am too small for him to worry about ,I guess.I would like to know for sure what I am fighting.
About the cyotes, they are getting bad here at times. One night I sat on my porch and I could hear a pack in the mtns across from me. It sounded like a lot. The people in the cove here have large dogs, well behaved ones and I guess they make enough noise to keep them across on the mtn but they are a problem. I know some cattle people who shot on sight after they killed one of the calves last yr.
Yes we have bear and other animals. I love to watch the deer, racoons and other smaller animals. They are a joy to know they exist and prosper.

 

[speckledhen]

Poor Gloria Jean is right.
Last yr., like a foolish idiot I got rid of my flock.(who were healthy) My husband had been unhappy with my health and wanted me to slow down some more. After 2 months I could bear it no longer and got chicks again. Oh, what a joy. I got 6 from TC and then went to flat rock and bought some
English orps. Jubilee, Partridge and lavender coocoo. Just some pretties. The lady was npip and had vaccinated for Mereks. I felt relatively safe with that. I lost three as chicks. They were silverlaced , then a comet, then a lavender, and now my beautiful partridge hen. Yes I could cry.
This is so discouraging for me. If I lose these I will not have more. I invest to much in them emotionally. I tried to do everything right. I wormed them etc. All pretty much doing well after the first loses of chicks until about a month ago. My coop is ideal. Clean and with plenty of air circulation. They have a big fenced in yard and sometimes I let them out in the grass and woods. I am down to 7 hens and a roo.
What else can I do? I do not want to lose any more. I called the agri. dept and the man who use to come and check passed away. He would have come and checked but this new guy acts like he could care less. I am too small for him to worry about ,I guess.I would like to know for sure what I am fighting.
About the cyotes, they are getting bad here at times. One night I sat on my porch and I could hear a pack in the mtns across from me. It sounded like a lot. The people in the cove here have large dogs, well behaved ones and I guess they make enough noise to keep them across on the mtn but they are a problem. I know some cattle people who shot on sight after they killed one of the calves last yr.
Yes we have bear and other animals. I love to watch the deer, racoons and other smaller animals. They are a joy to know they exist and prosper.

I don't know what to say, GJ, except I'm so sorry for all the heartache you've been through. The Ag Dept is pretty much not interested in backyard flocks, generally, because truly, IMO, they don't want them to exist and cut into big agri-biz. Self sufficient folks are not what the gov't wants now because you can't control them, which is completely opposite to what it was in Depression times. Sad. I hate that your other guy is gone. When you find one who cares, it's a rare thing. Same here in GA. The former state vet, Dr. Bohannan, was awesome. The new folks are cavalier and just plain negligent and just check off the Marek's Disease box if they see one tumor, though there are lots of reasons for tumors in chickens that have zero relation to MD. That is irresponsible, but again, they don't care. Good folks are hard to find in gov't, in all categories, it seems to me.

Me, in thinking bout moving somewhere easier for my disabled husband to deal with, I am frightened about something existing there that I don't have issue with here. So, if there have been chickens on the property, I am leery about even checking it out. I tend to think my semi-paranoia has served me well in keeping mine disease-free, but not all folks are like me. I know you are careful, but none of us can see a germ and not everyone will tell you the truth about what you're buying from them.

 

[crazyhen]

We are of an age where we have to downsize. I hate not being able to plant in the yard, tend to my acreage here. I nor my hb are really able to keep our mtn side like we would like it. Its either let some of it grow up or hire someone. Who do not do a good job, unfortunately. As you know we have two properties. One on the coast and one in the mtns. He loves it there, I hate it. I love it here. Sooo we have kept both. Not an easy task on our minimum income. Sometimes I kick myself for not going there. But I really do not like or feel at home there at all.
The lady who sold us this place left but then got a place almost as hard to care for as this one before she was happy again. As long as I breathe and can set on my porch here, I am semihappy. I am not sure downsizing is the answer as much as caring about where you are. I would be happy to let the trees take back over the lower acreage and just keep up around the house mowed. I know my flowers are dying off in most areas. that makes me kind of sad. I did have fun gathering the different varieties , planting and looking at them for a long time,though. I have asked myself sooo many questions about staying here. Nothing is ever really settled. On the coast I could not grow things like I do here. Too much heat and dry sand. No real soil. After May most things burn out. Yes if I felt like going out when its 90+ degrees and watering everyday I could grow some things. But , you see that is my weakness, the breathing at 90 plus the humidity.
Sorry for this rant. Yikes
I really have had a blessed life. Good people in it for the most part and very little times of need. an easier life than most. Take care

 

[speckledhen]

We are of an age where we have to downsize. I hate not being able to plant in the yard, tend to my acreage here. I nor my hb are really able to keep our mtn side like we would like it. Its either let some of it grow up or hire someone. Who do not do a good job, unfortunately. As you know we have two properties. One on the coast and one in the mtns. He loves it there, I hate it. I love it here. Sooo we have kept both. Not an easy task on our minimum income. Sometimes I kick myself for not going there. But I really do not like or feel at home there at all.
The lady who sold us this place left but then got a place almost as hard to care for as this one before she was happy again. As long as I breathe and can set on my porch here, I am semihappy. I am not sure downsizing is the answer as much as caring about where you are. I would be happy to let the trees take back over the lower acreage and just keep up around the house mowed. I know my flowers are dying off in most areas. that makes me kind of sad. I did have fun gathering the different varieties , planting and looking at them for a long time,though. I have asked myself sooo many questions about staying here. Nothing is ever really settled. On the coast I could not grow things like I do here. Too much heat and dry sand. No real soil. After May most things burn out. Yes if I felt like going out when its 90+ degrees and watering everyday I could grow some things. But , you see that is my weakness, the breathing at 90 plus the humidity.
Sorry for this rant. Yikes
I really have had a blessed life. Good people in it for the most part and very little times of need. an easier life than most. Take care

I'm with you on hating the coast. I can't handle the heat/humidity, either. And I hate flat land and sand, blech! The mountains are my home.

I hear you about not being able to care for your place the way you want. I was just talking to Tom about letting us hire someone to bring in dirt to bring the level of the "yard" area up to cover all those nasty big roots that trip me up, then letting them spread and seed it. And making a permanent path/walkway from the driveway area, wandering past the steps and on down to the barn, or at least, to the pen gate. And I want to widen the steps, make them nicer-looking, but ready for a chair lift, if need be. But, Tom really wants more of a dumbwaiter type elevator platform so he can put bags of groceries on it and not have to carry them up the stairs anymore. On Monday, we are supposed to close on my late father's house. There won't be a huge amount from it because he took out a home equity line to keep his garage door business going when he should have folded it up, plus I'll have to let my sister take out what has been spent over the past year on utilities, taxes, the appraisal, etc, and then, there's the real estate fee. After all that, as long as there are no surprises, we may have enough to completely pay off our mortgage here. Then, we'll only have to pay yearly taxes and insurance on this place.

I told hubs that if I get our mortgage paid off, he needs to let me hire out some work to make this place more elderly friendly, for when we are less spry than we are now. He seems to agree, at least right now. May have to revisit the argument later, but at some point, the writing is on the wall, old guy. He has no discs left in his spine, a bad knee, etc. Time to let someone else to the real heavy lifting, even if it does cost twice to three times as much as it would cost us to do the work ourselves. Him letting me get the big steel barn built was the first big, "let someone else do it" project, even though we did the entire interior by ourselves.

 

[getaclue]

Please, don't vaccinate your chicks for Marek's disease. The link gives good information as to why it is more dangerous to do so. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/tthis-chicken-vaccine-makes-virus-dangerous/

 

[speckledhen]

Please, don't vaccinate your chicks for Marek's disease. The link gives good information as to why it is more dangerous to do so. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/tthis-chicken-vaccine-makes-virus-dangerous/

I've never vaccinated my birds for Marek's because of the facts in that article and I never will. Plus, something it does not mention that is CRITICAL is that the vaccine that laymen have access to for purchase is not the same as the one the hatcheries use and is pretty much USELESS, period. The only one that is of ANY benefit (and that's debatable since NO vaccination can prevent Marek's) is the one that is kept at -170*F. Only commercial facilities can store that. Any breeder who vaccinates is using a useless vaccine anyway. That's another reason that I'd rather hatch my own birds-I can't trust that someone has NOT vaccinated any bird I get.
From the article:

Quote:

Scary stuff. It only solidifies my position I've always held.

 

[crazyhen]

I soo wanted to have a nice flock again. Just a dozen good birds. I wanted a few English orps. They are so bustly and the tails waddle when they walk. Now I will have to wait until this runs its course. Waiting when you are over 70 is a crap shoot
Thanks for the information. Maybe this fall I could get some eggs from someone. Does anyone know someone with a clean flock of Orps. I would also like some blue or green egg layers. Oh my! I am hopeless. sigh!!!