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

[BantyChooks]

Well, thank you! There could be some others saying, "Well, she's one of those... I knew it, I just knew it!" LOL

We all have an inner aluminium-foil hat bit.

 

[sue25]

I had two beautiful Barred Rocks. The hen was a good size. My roo Buddy is very big. The hen was killed by a dog that got.into the yard. We found.the dogs owner but was to late for my lovely hen. She paid to replace the hen but I haven't found a very good one yet. In the meantime I don't know what to do with Buddy. I would.like to rehome him but no one wants such a big.rooster.

This is him now

 

[speckledhen]

@sue25 Sorry about your girl. If Buddy is very sweet tempered, you could stress that aspect of him to help with rehoming. I sometimes have a difficult time selling even my best line of Barred Rock males unless I have a girl to go with them.

 

[speckledhen]

Today is one of those days when you start out with the high and it's all downhill from there, plus RAIN all day. Yuck. My brown bat is still here. He's been on each corner of the house, then he moved to the actual side of the house, then down a few sections. He's never done that before, but apparently, he was still going on nightly insect forays. It's always the one bat so I think it may be the same bat.

And I'm trying to pull coordinating fabrics from my stash to do a small quilt with this airplane fabric, still not really in the mood, but I'll get there. It's a weird blue, so not sure I have the best things to put with it, but there are multiple shades of blue, plus red, white, gold, and maybe something else, will have to look closer.

 

[Leahs Mom]

@speckledhen
You MUST stop posting photos of your place. It is causing me to covet.

Okay, seriously, I love seeing the photos of your property. I've always desired to live in the Blue Ridge/Smokey Mountains just for the beauty of the scenery.

 

[speckledhen]

@speckledhen
You MUST stop posting photos of your place. It is causing me to covet.

Okay, seriously, I love seeing the photos of your property. I've always desired to live in the Blue Ridge/Smokey Mountains just for the beauty of the scenery.

Thanks, but it's a nasty, rainy day. I thought I could show the fall colors, but they didn't translate to the camera that well. We went to the barn and cleaned up this a.m. and have not been back out since-I'll have to "suit up" and go back because now, DH is watching the GA-FL game. Sigh.

 

[1muttsfan]

Buddy is a very handsome boy, his barring is quite good. Do you think you could find a companion hen or two to keep him company until you can see about getting another nice BR next year? You might not be lucky enough to find another nice roo.

 

[sue25]

Buddy is a very handsome boy, his barring is quite good. Do you think you could find a companion hen or two to keep him company until you can see about getting another nice BR next year? You might not be lucky enough to find another nice roo.

He has a couple of ISA Brown chickens to keep him company. One of the ISAs is pretty big. She is this year's hen.

 

[speckledhen]

@sue25 Buddy is a nice hatchery type BR boy. To me, temperament is paramount, even in show quality BRs, so hopefully, he's a nice guy. His barring is better than most hatchery BRs. What you look for there are bars straight across the feather, not chevron-shaped (V-shaped) to tell you what I'm looking for when I say that. His is somewhat chevron in places, but it's fairly evenly spaced on Buddy, which gives him a balanced look. Some hatchery BRs are just awful in that regard.
In rehoming/selling him, if you decide to do that, he would be more for a backyard flock, not a breeding flock, due to his very "meaty" comb, which is his main flaw that I can see from the photos, which is why I mention temperament. To me, that is such an important thing in a backyard flock rooster, that you don't have to watch your back to work around him in the pen. Pretty is as pretty does. A rooster who is absolute perfection in looks is a cull if he is mean as a snake. If he's sweet, why not keep him and let him take care of your other hens? I had a BR rooster over a bunch of hens of various breeds in my earlier years and he was wonderful.
Nice ISA Brown hen.

 

[speckledhen]

It's snowing! It won't stick, but it's our coldest high today so far, only 40* predicted, and a low in the mid-20's. Yesterday, it poured a cold rain all day. Today, the lady who is buying all the Brahma chicks plus two of the older boys is coming from SC to get them. They're going to live where the nights are not as chilly as they are here, for sure!

Mind you, I don't like snow. I have lived in Utah twice, and Ohio for almost 12 years, and Colorado before all that and I'm over snow. Thankfully, we don't usually have that much here.

ETA: Lisa, we're supposed to be colder overnight than you are in Wisconsin! Our low is 25*or 26*, depending on which program you are using. The Brahma chicks are going to where it will be about 10* warmer overnight tonight.