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

[h2oratt]

@GingersHuman
no fair! But, I have Apollo, whose had a tail to envy since he was a young teenager, as most of these do. Hector is, well, "special".

I don't think you can compare as different breeds mature slower esp. heritage breed. Is smudge a leghorn?

 

[speckledhen]

Smudge isn't a Leghorn, may be a cross. He has a honking big rose comb and the red in the wings says something else is in there. His coloring is like a red sex link rooster.

Hector is actually slower to get a tail than any BR male I've ever had, heritage line or not. So, I do think he's "special", LOL.

 

[speckledhen]

Caroline passed away about 4:15 p.m. today. She had been surrounded by her loyal subjects from early this morning, all day long.

RIP, Queen of All, January 7 2007-Oct 28 2016 You almost made it to your 10th hatch day.

 

[getaclue]

Sorry about Caroline. She had a good long life.

 

[speckledhen]

Sorry about Caroline. She had a good long life.

She did live a good life, only having some crop issues later in life stemming from her pendulous crop, plus her nares always gave her trouble and at the end, they had cysts blocking a good portion of each of them. And I recall that early in her life, she broke one of her middle toes. She did have the fungal infection with some of the others that weird summer in her 5th year and got over it with Oxine misting, but from then on, she had recurring bacterial sinusitis that we had to treat periodically. This last time, it did not respond to two rounds of Tylan nor to massive doses of penicillin plus Terramycin eye ointment (it backed up stuff into her eye, her nares being so compromised). She was losing massive amounts of weight. I knew that her systems were shutting down. And then, she stopped eating a week ago. Caroline was originally with big Suede so she is laid to rest close to the big blue guy, her first rooster, a place of honor.

 

[h2oratt]

Caroline passed away about 4:15 p.m. today. She had been surrounded by her loyal subjects from early this morning, all day long. RIP, Queen of All, January 7 2007-Oct 28 2016 You almost made it to your 10th hatch day.

Wow speckled hen. It is amazing. I didn't know how long chickens could live. I am amazed at her flock sitting around her protecting her. What a beautiful passing. Isn't that what we all want?

 

[chickenneighbor]

So so sorry for you, DH, and your flock. She won the chickens' lottery when she became your pet, and lived a long, happy life, with the best of care and love. RIP, beautiful Caroline.

 

[h2oratt]

Smudge isn't a Leghorn, may be a cross. He has a honking big rose comb and the red in the wings says something else is in there. His coloring is like a red sex link rooster.

Hector is actually slower to get a tail than any BR male I've ever had, heritage line or not. So, I do think he's "special", LOL.

Why is it orpingtons don't have much of a tail?

 

[speckledhen]

Wow speckled hen. It is amazing. I didn't know how long chickens could live. I am amazed at her flock sitting around her protecting her. What a beautiful passing. Isn't that what we all want?

Yes, I would hope someone would care about me that way. The respect shown to her was very touching. But, I've lost quite a few head hens and it always happens that at least one member of the flock takes on that duty of presiding over the death of the leader.

So so sorry for you, DH, and your flock. She won the chickens' lottery when she became your pet, and lived a long, happy life, with the best of care and love. RIP, beautiful Caroline.

Thank you, you're so sweet. She gave us a lot of love.

 

[speckledhen]

Why is it orpingtons don't have much of a tail?

That's just the way the breed is, more Cochin-like in that regard. Also, their bodies are so round that the tail by comparison isn't showy like on some lean bodied breeds. It's rather weird because they say they were created by crossing Minorcas over Rock hens then adding clean legged Langshans into the mix. How that ended up as an Orpington, I have no idea.

Big Suede didn't get his tail until he was up there in age, I seem to recall. Folks kept asking me when he was going to get one, but that is more typical of an Orp male than it is a Rock male.