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

[speckledhen]

Well, that didn't take long. The two old gals have been in their new condos two nights. Yesterday, they were both outside with their group dustbathing, or Amanda was. Snow never does. She just pecks around a little, if I'm lucky. Today, I put them on the floor with their peeps, one on either side of their food/water bowl combo, while I let the old group out. Gypsy kept coming back inside and she would approach Amanda and Snow, head down, picking shavings and hay up off the floor, dropping one shoulder, intimidating the two girls. Snow was properly submissive, but Amanda, being head hen, stared her in the face while making these whining-growling noises. You could tell if I didn't interfere, Gypsy was going to jump Amanda. Two days, not even two full days of them being out of the group, even not fully out, and Gypsy is challenging Amanda for top spot. And she'd win since she can walk and Amanda cannot. Don't get me wrong, Amanda would fight, as much as she can-I mean, her beak is pretty lethal, but she can't win against a hen who is still agile. Geez. Cantankerous old women!

 

[speckledhen]

Got MJ's second egg this morning. And Betsy's crop seems to be functioning again, for sure. Lots of poop in the cage, and nothing in her crop from overnight! Bailey still has a small dough ball in hers, but it's not huge or hard. So, maybe, just maybe they'll survive this. I have to wonder how many folks would keep working on a hen for a month like we have Betsy. It's been difficult and frustrating, certainly.

The temps will be plummeting by Wednesday and they're used to having a small reptile bulb over them, being ailing hens. I want to put Betsy, at least, back in with Bash. She is fully feathered post-molt. Do you think, though she is rail-thin/bony, that she will be warm enough if the temps dip into the teens? She has to get used to it sometime. I don't want to shock her system. Maybe she'll sleep in a nest box. Normally, I'd hate that, but I know she'd be warm enough if she did.

 

[kitkat5505]

So glad Betsy is doing much better! I’d probably put her back with her group sooner rather than later so she can adjust to the temp change before it’s even colder. One of my EE has been going through a mini molt (she’s only 8 months old) and lost the feathers around her face, most of her long tail feathers, and thinned down overall. She has done just fine with our colder weather so far.

At 36 weeks finally got an egg from my other leghorn! Woke up to 2 white eggs in the nest box. Now to see if my last EE starts laying soon too. Silly girls starting this late.

And we got our first snow today, just a light dusting but my kids were thrilled and were out playing in it as soon as the sun was up.

 

[speckledhen]

@kitkat5505 I remember Utah snows, so light and powdery, much easier to deal with than snow down here.

At least, MaryJo did not copy her half-sister, Zara, and wait until 44 weeks. That is just ridiculously long to wait for the first egg from a BR.

 

[1muttsfan]

I think if Betsy's appetite is back to normal, and she is moving around well, she probably will be okay and with the other birds. I would probably give her a high-energy little meal just before bedtime, something with a little fat in it.

 

[speckledhen]

I think if Betsy's appetite is back to normal, and she is moving around well, she probably will be okay and with the other birds. I would probably give her a high-energy little meal just before bedtime, something with a little fat in it.

Will do, Mary, thank you. I saw Bonnie in a nest today, maybe she's coming back into lay post-molt.

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, funny story. The Old Hens #1 pen was outside today. When I went to put them back in, I found only Gypsy in the barn pen, saw Emily at the end of the aisle and figured, rightfully, that Panda was back there with her. I got them inside and went to find Tiny. Could not find her. I went around the barn outside, calling her name, no Tiny. Went back inside and was standing in front of their pen where we put the empty 5 gallon buckets we use to scoop overnight poop, thinking where could she be. After a few seconds, I happened to glance down and there she was, in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket, settling in like she had found the perfect nest. That's a first, even for nutty Tiny.

 

[speckledhen]

Tomorrow, we will be gone for maybe half to most of the day. It's our 42nd anniversary (yes, I married when I was -5 yrs old ). Since Golden Corral now has a brunch menu all week long, not just breakfast on weekends, we'll go to the closest one in Cleveland, TN, about an hour northwest, which, coincidentally, is directly across the street from Hobby Lobby. No ulterior motive there, eh?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Love Hobby Lobby, going next Monday with my friend. Congratulations on your anniversary. We must think alike, mine is on the 12th, I wanted a winter wedding too, though technically it isn't winter yet. We will be 30 years. It's crazy he's been stealing the covers at night from me for so many years.

 

[speckledhen]

Love Hobby Lobby, going next Monday with my friend. Congratulations on your anniversary. We must think alike, mine is on the 12th, I wanted a winter wedding too, though technically it isn't winter yet. We will be 30 years. It's crazy he's been stealing the covers at night from me for so many years.

Well, it wasn't so much I wanted a winter wedding as it was the end of the quarter at college and we did it then. Congrats on yours, too! I was actually two weeks past my 19th birthday when we got married, were engaged two weeks after we met, or was it three?