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

Today's sickie report:
Ro is lethargic, off her feed, not trying to get away from me when I pet her, not at all like herself, but if penicillin is going to do any good for whatever this is, it will take a little time. Since she was recently laying, it may not be anything reproductive at all. I won't do more than we've done. Gloria Jean was bloated for months, lost a ton of weight and we had her pegged for a goner, but her body took care of it and she came back to lay again. She seems bloaty again, though, keeps going to the nest without laying so she may be doing it all over again with Ro.

Carly is worse, cannot stand up, will not eat anything except torn up greens from the garden. I need to put her down, but she shows interest; she really does appear like someone who has had a stroke with severe weakness on her left side, keeps seizing periodically.

Pooh is not interested in food at all now, is sleeping in the cage. I've never had a dwarf hang on this way. The first two males years ago had a sudden seizure and died right in front of me. Then, Piglet was lethargic one day and gone overnight. Pooh has been doing this for three days now.
.... and while I'm watching these three, I'll probably lose one I don't even see coming. Seems to work that way, but when you have as many really old hens as I do, that's the way it is.

I cleaned out Hector's pen today completely and after a run to town for more shavings, will be doing all the rest of them. All the rain lately has made it feel damp just from the air, even with seven or eight fans blowing in there all the time. The shavings feel heavy and packed down though we stir them and remove all the bad poop every single morning (and sometimes, do a supplemental poop removal when they're stuck inside all day).

ETA: Hector's pen, the Brahmas, the baby pen with Bonnie and her 9 chicks and the Old Hens' pen are all completely cleaned out with fresh shavings. I have to do Atlas's and Georgie's group and see if the bantams need a complete redo or if they just need a freshening. Whew! And I got another 50# bag of chick starter. Seventeen chicks and two adult hens eat a LOT of chick starter.
 
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Oh, I am fairly sure that the confusing 5th BR chick is a PULLET! And I'm positive it's a Stukel girl, too. She is larger than the other two pullets, barring is Stukel type barring, no pink in comb or wattles, oh yeah, I have 3 pullets and two cockerels, yeah! So, I will sell the smallest pullet with a cockerel and only have one odd-man-out male to rehome. At 4 weeks and three days old, having zero comb/wattles, oh, yeah, GIRL!

Now, the gamble is this: She could be a dwarf gene carrier or not. But, she is probably out of Druscilla, just guessing. So she is the granddaughter of the original Rex, if so. Wynette tended to produce more cockerels, which is one reason I don't have one of her daughters so I'm betting one of the two males is Wynette's. That means that the two darker pullets and one cockerel belong to Jill, if my educated guesses are correct. Dottie produced pullets and maybe Dru is the same, so I'm thinking that pullet must be Dru's. But, just a guess, really. But, I'm quite positive she is a Stukel gal, after having both here.
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You are having quite the day. I almost always cull after about a week of being sick because I lose my optimism after that, but some I have had rally and improve. They will always keep you guessing. If they seem like they want to hang around I give them time to see how it goes. So sorry you have so many not feeling well

Your chicks look big and healthy. I think you are right about the one being a pullet.

We finally are having some dry weather, so hopefully we can get our hay baled before the rain returns next week.
 
You are having quite the day. I almost always cull after about a week of being sick because I lose my optimism after that, but some I have had rally and improve. They will always keep you guessing. If they seem like they want to hang around I give them time to see how it goes. So sorry you have so many not feeling well

Your chicks look big and healthy. I think you are right about the one being a pullet.

We finally are having some dry weather, so hopefully we can get our hay baled before the rain returns next week.

We have awful, wet, cool weather. Though I hate hot days, I sure don't like soggy ones with no end in sight.

Glad you agree on the pullet! I put the largest cockerel and smallest pullet up for sale. I will keep the Stukel pullet and the largest Hector pullet for the Heckster himself. He may need both of them since Rowena may leave us. It's awful having three birds not doing well, but all three are for completely different reasons. We knew Pooh was going to pass away, Carly had a stroke and Ro has something that is bloating her up. Sigh. When it rains, it pours ....and it's raining outside AND inside the barn!
 
Goodbye, Pooh-bear. We will miss you. She is buried next to her brother, Piglet. Pooh made it to fourteen-and-a-half weeks old and really fought to stay, but you can't overcome genetics, unfortunately.
 
Goodbye, Pooh-bear. We will miss you. She is buried next to her brother, Piglet. Pooh made it to fourteen-and-a-half weeks old and really fought to stay, but you can't overcome genetics, unfortunately.
Oh, she went quick. She was so cute. So Sorry, knowing it's coming doesn't stop the sadness that it happened. :(
 
So sorry about Pooh! I'm glad that you gave her a great life while she was here and shared her with the rest of us.:hugs Seeing her do her little waddle-run in videos makes me smile.
 
Oh, she went quick. She was so cute. So Sorry, knowing it's coming doesn't stop the sadness that it happened. :(
So sorry about Pooh! I'm glad that you gave her a great life while she was here and shared her with the rest of us.:hugs Seeing her do her little waddle-run in videos makes me smile.

Thanks to both of you. I already miss her. She didn't know that she had a fast expiration date, of course. She played and dustbathed and sparred with Cora until the day she just didn't feel it anymore. Bless her heart, what a sweet soul she was.
 

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