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

[getaclue]

As far as his other "issues" (besides the, hopefully, evolving teenage voice), he has been okay with me, getting out of my way when I walk toward him, letting me touch him on the roost w/o offering to nip. This morning, I opened his pen and two of the three girls shot out. Hector tried to walk out before the last girl and all I did was point my finger down at him and say, "No, wait for your girls, Hector, stay there." He stopped, let her go around him and didn't move until I said, "Okay, you can go". So, he's behaving for the time being. He still hasn't gone over the edge and actually flogged me. That is the "straw breaks back" moment I hope never happens.

But, I want to be really clear, and I think you, Mary, really understand, though he and the girls were a very generous gift for which I am so grateful, and I do like him for a lot of reasons, if he ever progresses to flogging or just renews his rear sneak attack bites and won't stop, he will have to be rehomed. I've never once seen a rooster stop flogging once he starts. He may quit for awhile, but eventually, the behavior continues. I have chased Hector with the long switches, swatted his bum, and "claimed" his girls for myself and intimidated him right back, but I can't carry a weapon around all the time and I just won't do it. There has to be a point where I can actually trust him.

I wish I had had room to keep one or two other males for awhile longer, or even the entire batch, but because I had already committed to buying the Brahma eggs (pretty much 3 years earlier) and these coincided with the Brahmas and I knew I'd be growing out and keeping as many of those Brahmas as possible, I just wasn't equipped to keep more than the BR quad. Thankfully, my friend, Andrew, generously offered to give me hatching eggs from the group, or any birds he owns, any time I say the word. So, they are still "in the family", so to speak.

I'm so glad to hear he's behaving much better for you now. By no means am I suggesting you keep a mean, untrustworthy cockerel/rooster. It was simply that he was at that "hormonal" stage, and while it can take a little time, training usually works. There are exceptions though, and I would never suggest anyone keep one that doesn't respond to behavior training. A mean cockerel/rooster sucks the enjoyment out of keeping chickens, not to mention that they can hurt you. If I seemed to imply otherwise, please forgive me, as I didn't mean it that way.

Maybe all his good behavior, and trustworthiness will come flooding in when his tail comes in.

 

[robhuncor]

Those Brahmas are so beautiful. I love those colors! And they seem so regal and calm.

I once hatched a beautiful bunch of Barnevelders out of lovely dark brown eggs and one of the pullets never developed a tail. We called her "No-butt'. Her back sloped down and curled under just like an Araucana. I checked very thoroughly under the feathers and there was no actual tail to grow any feathers from! In fact, it looked like she might have been missing a vertebrae too. I never knew whether that was an anomaly that occurred now and then in Barnevelders or if she had some genetic problem. Other than no tail, she was a gorgeous hen. She required a lot of butt washing during the course of her long life but she never had any trouble laying eggs.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm so glad to hear he's behaving much better for you now. By no means am I suggesting you keep a mean, untrustworthy cockerel/rooster. It was simply that he was at that "hormonal" stage, and while it can take a little time, training usually works. There are exceptions though, and I would never suggest anyone keep one that doesn't respond to behavior training. A mean cockerel/rooster sucks the enjoyment out of keeping chickens, not to mention that they can hurt you. If I seemed to imply otherwise, please forgive me, as I didn't mean it that way.

Maybe all his good behavior, and trustworthiness will come flooding in when his tail comes in.

I only felt you were trying, as I was, to give him every chance to shape up. I knew what you meant and I never thought you'd suggest I keep a mean rooster, so no worries! We can all hope his good nature shows up when the tail does. He's not really bad, but I do find myself not wanting him behind me without being aware of what he's doing, mostly because some days are still shorts weather and I have enough gouges from this year already on my bare skin, some from when Tessa was being a class-A witch. When I have jeans on, if he hits me, at least I won't suffer much injury, not at this spur-less age. How are you feeling, by the way? Was thinking about you because LH had her cancer surgery yesterday.

Those Brahmas are so beautiful. I love those colors! And they seem so regal and calm.

I once hatched a beautiful bunch of Barnevelders out of lovely dark brown eggs and one of the pullets never developed a tail. We called her "No-butt'. Her back sloped down and curled under just like an Araucana. I checked very thoroughly under the feathers and there was no actual tail to grow any feathers from! In fact, it looked like she might have been missing a vertebrae too. I never knew whether that was an anomaly that occurred now and then in Barnevelders or if she had some genetic problem. Other than no tail, she was a gorgeous hen. She required a lot of butt washing during the course of her long life but she never had any trouble laying eggs.

I love the Brahmas a LOT! I'm hoping the boys never show any aggression. So far, Bruno comes running when I call, or if he sees me across the pen and there are no big, evil bullies around me, he'll come trucking to see if I have anything for him. He certainly knows his name now, looks up every time I say it and sort of chortles in his throat like he's asking, "What?"

A tail-less BR, hmm. Well, that would be one for the books. If he was actually rumpless, as in missing that part of his anatomy to grow/support one, well, maybe someone would want to breed those, LOL. I'm not one of them, unfortunately. I'm not fond of the look of Araucanas, generally, never liked the rumpless look nor do I care for the ear tufts. I still haven't gotten around to upending the boy to check under his saddle feathers. That would take DH's help.

 

[getaclue]

Quote: I'm not even close to being out of the woods yet, but the meds, and breathing treatments the lung specialist has me on, are at least helping me to breathe better. I go back Thurs. for him to check me again. I'm so glad I had the good sense to go to a specialist, instead of letting my primary care physician continue treating me, otherwise I'd be in the hospital, or morgue by now.

 

[speckledhen]

Okay, can you tell me what's different here? Let's see how closely you've looked at the pics of my "yard".






And the pear preserves. I'll probably not use all these pears unless DH decides to peel and cut them up before I toss them into the pasture for the deer or I may give them to him to sell at the flea market. Takes a lot of them to make a small amount of preserves. I couldn't mash them for jam, just too firm and I was too lazy to pull out the processor.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm not even close to being out of the woods yet, but the meds, and breathing treatments the lung specialist has me on, are at least helping me to breathe better. I go back Thurs. for him to check me again. I'm so glad I had the good sense to go to a specialist, instead of letting my primary care physician continue treating me, otherwise I'd be in the hospital, or morgue by now.

I'm glad you're breathing better with the meds/treatments. Hope you continue to improve and beat this.

 

[speckledhen]

Gooooood Morning, Atlas Fans! The first sight this morning after daylight was a group of 8-10 deer, including 3 spike bucks and several fawns, playing in the pasture. They were kicking up their heels and having a great old time. I thought I'd have a bunch of game camera pictures of the festivities today, but I got one. Yup, one decent deer photo plus one that didn't take properly and a bunch of the Brahmas, Apollo and Hector out at the perimeter fence. Bummer. Here are the pics I downloaded, minus some in the dense fog from a few mornings ago that I deleted.
This one was previously downloaded. I rarely see bucks, but there are a generation of young ones who seem to love the pasture-maybe it's all the pears and pear trimmings I've tossed into the pasture for them.




Oh, I've spotted the rare Tail-Less Tyrant!



Today's romp picture. What a gip! I should have had ten or more.

 

[GingersHuman]

Nice pics! But that's the way it goes, think you'll have a bunch of good ones and they won't turn out at all.

 

[speckledhen]

Nice pics! But that's the way it goes, think you'll have a bunch of good ones and they won't turn out at all.

I know, I couldn't believe it. They were playing, jumping, eating and carousing in front of the camera for about 10 minutes or more. I reset the camera to take a photo burst of 3 pics rather than one. It is 8 MP at that setting rather than 10 MP but we'll see what happens. I put it out there to see if I got the coyote pack or dogs coming through and the chickens insist on hanging out at the back fence, good grief.

 

[MistyMountain]

I love it when the deer play!! I'd peel the pears for you just to watch you can them!!

I have a horror story for you all. We needed a second 100 gal water tank for Valentine. Every time we go to Tractor Supply, we say never again. Well, it is right on the way home for DH and had the better price on tanks, so he stops and gets one. They pull it down for him and say "It's a little dirty, is that OK?" It's fine, he says, as long as it is not rusty. We will wash it out anyhow. He gets home, pulls it off the back of the truck and calls me outside. They gave him a tank they used for chick days. Chick poop crusted along the sides with "Golden Comet Pullets" sticker still on the top edge. I was speechless. Now I am downright angry. I work hard to keep this place as biosecure as it can be and I feel like we brought in a bomb. It no sooner touched the ground before it was loaded back up and will be returned today, with a good piece of DH's mind I am certain. How could they? Seriously? Not only did they sell us a USED product, but a potentially contaminated one! This was the straw that broke the camel's back. Trashy bathroom, NO common cattle vaccines in stock, pallets of dog food blocking every isle with more focus on apparel, footwear and novelty items instead of actual farm and tractor supplies. We're done. We'll spend more money for piece of mind.

End Rant. Sorry to OT on you, Cyn. Just had to share this nightmare with people who would understand.