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

[oldhenlikesdogs]

The thing is, Atlas is not a young rooster. He's 3 1/2 yrs old, fully mature. He's a sweetheart to us, not a mean bone in his body. He does tend to be insistent in mating, though, at times, even with his older hens and he does not seem to want new girls for some reason. Goofball got stuck with one leg on one side of the bottom rung of the roost and one leg on the other when chasing Wendy around his inside pen yesterday. He was teetering for a few seconds and I was on my way to rescue him (and scold him) when he got himself off of it. Isaac used to make the Stukel BR hens stay away from special food until his own hens got what they wanted. He was very picky about his girls, though at one time, he had about 25 all to himself, and kept them all fertile, too. I said over and over to him, "Buddy, why do you hate the barred girls? Look at your own tail!" Why he was not thrilled with BR hens, I'll never know. He would mate them, almost grudgingly it seemed to me, like he had to, but he didn't really want to, LOL. Depending on what hatches from the Brahmas, he may get a furry-legged gal. We'll see if he likes her better.

The last eclipse must have been the year my younger son was born. He turned 38 this month.

Than Atlas should know better. My boys seem for favor certain hens too and treat others like they have the plague. Maybe he knows the molt is approaching and his breeding season is almost over, or maybe he's just an occasional butthead like any other type of male. Hopefully he knocks it off.

 

[1muttsfan]

I think it is likely that he, like many animal, does not like different - as in different hens from the ones he is used to. If so he will get better as different changes to the same each day.

 

[speckledhen]

I think it is likely that he, like many animal, does not like different - as in different hens from the ones he is used to. If so he will get better as different changes to the same each day.

He really is trying my patience, but not as much as others. I came into the house a minute ago and and yelled to no one in particular, "That chicken needs psychiatric help!"
DH: Which one?
Me: TINY!
DH: Well, of course.

I swear, some days, I really just want to snap her scrawny neck. She gets confused or riled up or whatever you want to call it and just starts running in circles, stomping on both crippled Amanda and Snow and then she gets everyone wanting to kill her, so they grab her or thunk her as she runs by, until I scoop her up and yell in her face, "STOP! JUST StOP!". Her eyesight is worse, she can't even see a huge pan or bowl at her feet and I have to point to it to show her, but when she is in one of these "chicken-with-its-head-cut-off" running spells, it's difficult to get her attention. GAH! If she had been anywhere else, someone would have already executed that crazy wench. I'm not sure how she made it to over 7 years old.

 

[speckledhen]

And this may be appropriate today. It was played at my 82 yr old FIL's graveside, believe it or not!Apparently, he loved Creedence.

 

[speckledhen]

My eclipse pictures. Neither camera would really capture the moon fully over the sun for some reason, though my video camera did better so I'm posting one of those. It still did not capture what you were seeing with your eyes, but the actual ground was awesome-the partially eclipsed sun was projected all over the ground. And it was black as midnight for a minute or so. Loved it! The chickens were a little disturbed and confused.

 

[kitkat5505]

We only had 90% eclipse here, but it was still pretty cool.

 

[speckledhen]

I thought the ground effects were cooler than the actual moon-over-sun. And complete darkness in the day was also wild.

 

[1muttsfan]

Very cool. Although Finn does not appear impressed.

 

[speckledhen]

Very cool. Although Finn does not appear impressed.

He was not. After all, he is a cat. They do not impress easily.

Some guy called today, apparently about the ad at the co-op for Aramis and Junior I forgot was there, only call I ever got on that particular ad. I told him they had just been sold but mentioned that in a couple of weeks, I'd probably have a 6 week old BR pair for sale. He said he'd call back then.

 

[speckledhen]

I see why Atlas is so frustrated, at least with Wendy. She squatted for him at least twice, but, she won't raise her tail for breeding, keeps it down. He will thunk her in the head, try again, still no luck, then he flogs her. She has not accepted him yet so he is losing his patience with her. I haven't seen the other girls squat and stay; they'll squat, then before he can actually get to them, they pop up and run away from him. His rooster pride is taking a hit, to anthropomorphize him a bit.