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

[speckledhen]

Thank you. And yes, I'm much better.

 

[speckledhen]

I wrote an article for BYC:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/thyrogenous-dwarfism-in-poultry.72684/

 

[getaclue]

Good article!

 

[speckledhen]

Good article!

Thank you, Cheryl. Most people in general have no idea that dwarfism can exist in chickens. Lucky me gets to experience TWO types in my chicken keeping career, woohoo (sarcasm here). Many years ago when I had my original BRs, a dwarf popped out of hatching eggs I sent to someone out west. He was some type other than thyrogenous because he did live for maybe a year, if I recall. He had short legs and I don't remember that much about him, but the lady called him Midge. He was the only one ever. And he had the same parents that my Zane and Dutch did.

 

[speckledhen]

Today, I'm tired. I'm not just physically tired, but a little mentally blah as well. Been rather stressful lately. My BIL is in the last stages of COPD, now in the hospital because he fell and was there for two hours. He is supposed to be in hospice care, but they refused to come, said what did it matter that he was on the floor when my SIL called them (she was at work, so was the other sister, we live 2 hours from there). So, they said call an ambulance, which they are not supposed to do, had to take him off hospice or the hospital refused to treat him. He had a possible blood clot, etc, etc. He acts like he's owed something by his siblings, been babied and fussed over all his screw-up life so no one is happy with him, but he is dying so it's difficult. Enough of that. He has to go into a nursing home and WE, the siblings, will have to foot the bill for a few months until the VA will take over, whatever part his disability money doesn't cover. His daughter is an RN, no family, lives in SC and refuses to have anything to do with him. Ok, enough family drama on that front.

DH had an MRI of his knee done, has to go have that interpreted in a few days. But, he's not feeling good, very tired all the time, not feeling the love with the chickens, but he does the chores with me and gets out of the barn as fast as he can. In all truth, lately, I'm not feeling so thrilled with the work there, either. All the other stuff is dragging me down. The property is a jungle, cannot run the equipment to do the work myself, DH won't hire anyone to help because the days of hiring ambitious teenagers (oxymoron there?) to do it are over and everyone wants to be paid engineer's wages for yardwork. I am finding myself wishing for much smaller numbers and I don' t have all that many as it is, less than 40 birds. I need the oldsters to go ahead and pass on, to tell the truth. I hate to say that, but it's true. If I had just Hector's group and Bash's group, it would be enough.

Hector was being a bit of a butthead today. He ran up to me, looked like he was sort of braced to launch himself upwards, neck down, but head cocked up looking at me, like he was about to attack me. I just told him to cut out that @#%$ and I fast-walked him away, fussing at him the whole time. He's so full of energy in the morning. He does the same thing if I pick up Thea, who loves to be held, like he's jealous. He doesn't actually do anything, but it bugs me.

I have been thinking of how to simplify a few things around here. I have 5 BR chicks, 3 from Jill and Hector and 1 from Dru, 1 from Wynette, though no idea of which is which. Of those 5, there are 2 pullets and 2 cockerels and the 5th is leaning toward cockerel, but not sure yet. So, that would be 2/3 split. I was going to keep one or two pullets for Hector but I may, may, mind you, keep a cockerel and both pullets and sell Hector with Jill, Lizzie and Tessa. This is all being mulled around in my head right now. We'll wait and see how the boys turn out in the group, of course, because if they suck, no need to sell off Hector, be better to sell the boys and give him the new pullets. I would then put Thea in with the rooster-free layer group, let Atlas head up the other layer group (though they are mostly older unless I move Rowena and Wendy in with him to sub for Lizzie and Tessa).

It might look like this (but I'll probably chicken out, no pun intended).

Atlas w/ main layer flock
Ida, Wynette, Dru, Gloria Jean, Rowena, Wendy

Bash's Brahma group
B.J., Brandy, Betsy, Bonnie, Bailey, Cora

Layers w/o rooster
June, Georgie, Maretta, Neela, Alice, Dusty, Zara, Athena, Thea

Old Hens
Snow, Amanda, Tiny, Gypsy, Emily, Panda

Bantams
Aubrey, Spike, Aimee, Penny, Carly, Mina, Sissy


Sell Hector with Jill, Lizzie and Tessa as a breeding quad.
Barred Rock Chicks include 2 pullets and 3 cockerels (?), decision pending.

I asked DH if we could keep only one large fowl rooster, which one would it be-he didn't hesitate. He said "Atlas". Then, I asked if he could choose between keeping Hector or Bash only, which one then? He said "Probably Bash".

 

[getaclue]

Has DH had a full physical lately? I ask because most men usually hate going to the doctor.
Why can't you run the equipment to do the yard? Is it just a matter of learning how to use it? It's really not that difficult. Is it simply beyond your physical capabilities? Maybe downsizing to something you can manage would be a good option at this point.

I'm not trying to tell you what to do, rather tossing out a few suggestions to consider. Sometimes being on the outside looking in, can offer a little more perspective. Especially, since Dh and I had to take our age, physical condition, and how we would handle things in our declining years into consideration when buying, and setting up this place. The sad fact is, we're not as young as we used to be, and not going to get any younger.

 

[speckledhen]

He's under doctor care every six months and sometimes more. He has degenerative disc disease which is not treatable by surgery (did consult a new surgeon who said, paraphrasing, "sucks to be you"), had MRI on his knee, still waiting on appt to get the scoop on that. He hurt that years ago when he was sweeping leaves aside and hit a hidden stump, his knee kept going when the ankle didn't. It has become really painful lately.
He is tired overall, mentally and physically, and it wears on me. He barely tolerates most of the chickens-though I chuckle, the other day, one of Hector's girls was giving him a hard time about going back into the barn. He had to chase her around and around and his knee was in pain. So, he came back in and said, "Next time I go to get Hector's group back in, I'm going to take a gun with me."

As far as equipment, it's not a flat, manicured property that is just easy to manage. It's a mountain property, some wooded, some with pasture, that is loaded with blackberry brambles and the evil cowvine. It requires chainsaw, weedwhacker and riding mower. This riding mower is a 22 HP automatic which, if you get on a hill, the wheels spin and it takes two people to get it moving again, him driving, me pushing. It's not as good as the 20 year old YardMachine that it replaced when that one crapped out. And forget the reverse on it if it's not on perfectly level land. If the equipment actually fails, I can't fix it. I can't take it anywhere to fix it. I can't do pull-chain starters and he barely can, either. And the scope of the property is also part of it. 2 acres of woods and another almost 2 in more open land, some actual pasture.

When we bought this place 15 years ago, it was a bargain, part of an estate we got for about $14K under the appraisal (I think the family was shocked that it appraised that high, I know I was). We've shaped it into a much better place, a workable mini-farm. But, hubs was not in as bad of shape and my ankle had not been broken. It has 9 steps to get up into the house. If you go in through the back basement door, you have to go up 13 steeper steps to get into the main house. It feels like home, no small thing for a military family. Neither of us has ever lived in one place this long. We really don't want to move. My husband hates discussing moving. I tell him if we do, we don't take any furniture except the few small pieces that came from my grandmother, period. We've been trying to clean out stuff for over two years now, though my father's death slowed all that down a lot. Now that most of that is over, we are continuing, but it's a slow process with working around his disabilities and I physically just don't have it in me to pound steel posts through sandstone to replace the driveway fencing we started replacing or know which things he wants to keep and which he does not for me to do the clean up alone.

 

[1muttsfan]

I also find myself very short on time to take care of the 24 Acres of woods, pasture and yard, as well as a house that's much bigger than I really need. However, I never planned on staying this house into my old age, I've lived here quite happily for 8 years but I can see a point where I will trade this in for a single story house closer to town, and winters in Florida.

 

[speckledhen]

I also find myself very short on time to take care of the 24 Acres of woods, pasture and yard, as well as a house that's much bigger than I really need. However, I never planned on staying this house into my old age, I've lived here quite happily for 8 years but I can see a point where I will trade this in for a single story house closer to town, and winters in Florida.

oh, no Florida! No no no no no! LOL. I never want to live close to town, never want the flatlands. I love the mountains, but if I had a secluded place surrounded by privacy fencing next to the USFS, where it was on a high hill, but the actual property was pretty level, that would be excellent. But, no neighbors. I can't live around people anymore. It never works out.

 

[speckledhen]

On a brighter note, our property taxes were cut way down this year, to do with my husband's age (though he had to apply for it and they still charge for the schools even now). Went from $685 to $399 and even the extra lot went from $125 to $59/year! If I'd known those lots would go down, I might not have let the bottom one go! I did not realize they would be affected since they are each separate from each other and from our main property.