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

[speckledhen]

Questions for @uphilljill: First, have you had any tail-less roosters in your lines at all? I mean, not just late, but never came in. I'm puzzled by Hector's lack of a tail. I know from personal experience with other genes that a trait can pop up spontaneously in a line where it has not been seen in many, many generations, if at all, so you probably don't, but thought I'd ask.
Second question: If Hector is truly rumpless or just has a defect in the tail department, is he a viable breeder at all? He's passed 19 weeks old and still I see only a rounded bum on that boy. Of course, if someone wants to do a project of rumpless BRs, he'd be a shoe-in, LOL, if he is, indeed, that.

He dropped his shoulder at me this morning. I was just showing him Athena's egg. (insert eyeroll here).



....and bonus, Hector crowing (if you can even say that's a bonus, good grief). You hear the D'Anvers first. Turn up your volume and listen for Hector's wheeze at the end. He and Apollo are standing at the top of the rock wall in front of the barn.

Another video (see that bum?) and a couple pictures.

Handsome Apollo.


almost deleted this but it was so goofy, I had to post it, LOL.





Mary's highwire act.

Another gratuitous butt picture of Hector, haha


....and I completed the quilting on this Falling Leaves autumn quilt, at last. Have to make binding and get that part out of the way.

 

[uphilljill]

Here's an old thread on tails from the Plymouth Rock club msg board: http://showbirdbid.proboards.com/thread/3233

I've seen a lot of pitiful tails on BR males (not an uncommon sight) but never a truly tail-less cockerel before. Tails can take a year to fully grow out.

If Hector is rumpless or has some other DQ fault, don't use him for breeding. If he just has a poor tail (but other qualities you need) you can use him with nice-tailed females looking for improvement next generation.

 

[1muttsfan]

Those d'Anver sounds like some exotic jungle bird. And Hector - well it will be a powerful crow. Eventually.

I had a young male bird one time who I thought was dropping a shoulder on me, but it turned out he was just doing a little bit of an awkward dance. Apparently to him I was just one of the girls. He was one of the sweetest roosters I ever had.

 

[uphilljill]

18 weeks is still pretty young. I can see from the video that his wing feathers are still coming in as well, so perhaps he's just a slow developer. He seems to have a broad back which is nice, but keep an eye on the slope...he's looking a bit rainy day in some of the pics. Hopefully it'll level out when/if he lifts his tail.

 

[GingersHuman]

Haha! Hector's crow is pitiful! Starts out well but goes downhill from there!

 

[speckledhen]

Here's an old thread on tails from the Plymouth Rock club msg board: http://showbirdbid.proboards.com/thread/3233

I've seen a lot of pitiful tails on BR males (not an uncommon sight) but never a truly tail-less cockerel before. Tails can take a year to fully grow out.

If Hector is rumpless or has some other DQ fault, don't use him for breeding. If he just has a poor tail (but other qualities you need) you can use him with nice-tailed females looking for improvement next generation.

He's just slower than any I've had in all the years leading up to now. I sort of doubt he's rumpless, but hey, you never know with genes.

Those d'Anver sounds like some exotic jungle bird. And Hector - well it will be a powerful crow. Eventually.

I had a young male bird one time who I thought was dropping a shoulder on me, but it turned out he was just doing a little bit of an awkward dance. Apparently to him I was just one of the girls. He was one of the sweetest roosters I ever had.

He has danced over and over again. If that's all it is, he may never do more than that, but even that, I discourage strongly, or always have. I'm not one of his hens, silly goofball rooster. He seems okay other than those two incidents where he ran up behind me. If he does that again and hits me, it won't be looking good for Hector.

18 weeks is still pretty young. I can see from the video that his wing feathers are still coming in as well, so perhaps he's just a slow developer. He seems to have a broad back which is nice, but keep an eye on the slope...he's looking a bit rainy day in some of the pics. Hopefully it'll level out when/if he lifts his tail.

He just passed 19 weeks yesterday and yes, he is still molting out the juvenile wing feathers, too. Certainly, he's very wide, but he does tend to stand up higher in front. Atlas himself has a short back so has that slope that shouldn't be there. I do need a longer backed male, like Apollo is. Thankfully, most of Atlas's sons do take after the pure Stukel side of their mothers. Hopefully, like you said, when there is a tail to balance him out, Hector will be more level.

Haha! Hector's crow is pitiful! Starts out well but goes downhill from there!

Yeah, it's changed a lot since he started and he puts his all into it.

 

[Wyatt0224]

When Hector was dancing at you, do you think he meant in any aggressive way or was it maybe a game to him? Did he seem like he was testing your boundaries again?

 

[getaclue]

Hector's crow brought back some nice memories of when mine first started to crow. Thanks for the memories

 

[speckledhen]

When Hector was dancing at you, do you think he meant in any aggressive way or was it maybe a game to him? Did he seem like he was testing your boundaries again?

I don't think it was necessarily aggressive, but it is not appropriate, at least in my mind, though Xander does it all the time. He's like an over-wound wind-up toy turning right, then left, then in circles, and I can't get mad because he's hysterical with his bedroom-slipper feet. But, I've never tolerated it from large fowl roosters in the past. I'm not as concerned with the behavior in and of itself but more that it will escalate if he views me as at his level. Still, to his credit, he has not flogged me and does let me stroke his chest and wattles on the roost, even sometimes seems to like it. Hector is still on probation as far as temperament.

Hector's crow brought back some nice memories of when mine first started to crow. Thanks for the memories

Never had one quite like this here. It's really awful when he starts with his "morning voice". One thing about him, though-he is first to alarm at night if something goes on outside. The others will be silent or just growl and he carries on like it's his responsibility to guard the entire barn. He did it around 3 a.m. I listened and when he didn't continue, I went back to sleep. My Brahma hen, Caroline, seems to be on her last journey, sleeping on the floor under the little ramp that goes to the first step on the roost, very lethargic. If she passes during the night and flaps, I'm sure Hector will be the one to announce it.

 

[1muttsfan]

I had to let my Dad's elderly car go today, she has lived here since Dad died 2 1/2 years ago. She told me yesterday she was ready.