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

[speckledhen]

More Atlas babies. I either have 4 pullets 2 cockerels or 3 and 3. Time will tell, of course. They are too much underneath mama for me to count reliably, but here are some pics.

In the pic below, the little one on the right with leg extended is a cockerel-the head spot has "frosting" plus no dark wash. I have two like that that I know of and two definite pullets with super dark legs.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Thank you, Kara. This a.m., Maretta pooped (like a dog, according to DH-her poop has been very solid all the way through, which means she's been eating enough) and drank and went back to her babies, which I had covered with a warm hand towel to keep them from panicking.

It looks like, from the dark wash on the leg fronts, that I may have four pullets and two cockerels. I don't even really bother looking at head spots on these as a primary indicator, doesn't work so well on the Stukel lineage. First, leg color, then to verify, add the head spot and down color, either very black or grayish-black. Hector's line is easier to sex by head spot, or was in the few I've been able to hatch. I just wish Jill would start laying again. With babies cheeping in the barn, you know the broody-crazies are bound to get started.

Another of my ideas was whether external temperatures can dictate sex of chicken eggs like they do for reptiles. Seems like I got more females in cooler weather, but I don't hatch often enough for it t be scientific. Always better to have more pullets.

 

[1muttsfan]

It would be great to have 2 trios

 

[speckledhen]

Another of my ideas was whether external temperatures can dictate sex of chicken eggs like they do for reptiles. Seems like I got more females in cooler weather, but I don't hatch often enough for it t be scientific. Always better to have more pullets.

Since the hens determines the sex of the chicks and it's already in place by 5 days into incubation, I'm not sure how temperature would affect that. I sure hope I have more females than males. It helps when selling them.

It would be great to have 2 trios

Except that they are all full siblings out of Atlas and his daughter. If you recall, I hatched only two chicks out of Isaac's son, Deacon, and Isaac's daughter Sammie Jo (or was she Rex's daughter? Can't remember). Both were dwarfs, Rocky and Jet. I guess what I'll do as far as selling them will depend on if one of them is a dwarf or not. If I know for a fact that MaryJo is a carrier, she will be relegated to position as layer-only. I don't want to knowingly introduce that gene into Hector's pen.

 

[getaclue]

The chicks are sooooooooo cute! The quilt has turned out gorgeous too. Congratulations are in order all the way around.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Since the hens determines the sex of the chicks and it's already in place by 5 days into incubation, I'm not sure how temperature would affect that. I sure hope I have more females than males. It helps when selling them.



Except that they are all full siblings out of Atlas and his daughter. If you recall, I hatched only two chicks out of Isaac's son, Deacon, and Isaac's daughter Sammie Jo (or was she Rex's daughter? Can't remember). Both were dwarfs, Rocky and Jet. I guess what I'll do as far as selling them will depend on if one of them is a dwarf or not. If I know for a fact that MaryJo is a carrier, she will be relegated to position as layer-only. I don't want to knowingly introduce that gene into Hector's pen.

Well that rules out that theory and I learned something new.

 

[speckledhen]

The chicks are sooooooooo cute! The quilt has turned out gorgeous too. Congratulations are in order all the way around.

Thanks. It helps that Maretta is a very experienced mother. She already moved herself closer to the waterer and is calling them to eat. Don't have to worry about her.

Well that rules out that theory and I learned something new.

Would be nice if we could make it happen, but it only works with reptiles. The sex organs of the chick are already formed by 5 days into "cooking" so temps won't change that. Maybe when folks incubate them and have temp fluctuations, they think that made them have more of one sex than the other, but it may be that one sex survives those temp swings better than the other, not that the sex changed.

 

[speckledhen]

We were in the barn this a.m. when Tom looked out Bash's window and said, "There's a humongous possum by the gate!". It was about 8:30 a.m., fully daylight, but very rainy and overcast. We ran out the door and he was waddling down the hill toward the Wilson's property. The gate was wide open but he didn't come into the pen. He was probably so fat, he was late getting home before full light. That is the very first time I've seen one in the daytime. He's as big as Finn, surely the one that keeps coming up on our deck. Finn won't mess with him at all. We do not keep cat food outside, before anyone asks. The only time there is ever cat food on the deck is if we are going to be gone all day and may be out past Finn's suppertime, between 2:30 and 3:00 p.m. (that cat has a very accurate internal clock, I must say).


I took a long nap yesterday afternoon. Late in the day, I felt like I may have a fever so I got the thermometer, which rarely is used around here, and I had a slight one, 99.4*. This a.m., not at all. I've been drinking organic ACV tea with ginger, cinnamon and raw honey daily, plus other herbal teas, trying to kick this mess out. I have also been using the nasal spray the dr gave me for my sinuses and I took some sudafed, but that's it, nothing stronger. I'm not really more tired except for the coughing fits that wake me up during the night. I've been working on my quilts most of the day so other than the nap, it's business as usual.

I was supposed to go to the lab Friday to get blood drawn prior to our dr visit mid-Feb, but I really didn't want to go to a lab where sick people are when I was in the middle of this so I put it off. I may just bite the bullet and go tomorrow. I need to mail off something anyway, but I so hate to be around anyone right now! Tom can mail stuff for me, but he can't have my blood test for me.

 

[speckledhen]

Taxes done and transmitted already, yippee! I'm always glad to have that over. We cannot itemize, even mortgage interest is not much at all, makes it a bit easier to get it done fast.

 

[speckledhen]

Saw this. It's XANDER! Well, a rooster like Xander, anyway. The comments were bizarre, though. They said, "It's not a chicken, it's a rooster". Apparently, some folks believe that chickens are female and roosters are some other species, LOL.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1520928898023656