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

[speckledhen]

I gotta get a trap for this sucker. Finn fought him all the way down the mountain a few days ago, kicked his kiester good, but he keeps coming up here and spraying around my cat's domain. Mine is fixed, surely this one is not. They rarely are around here. Finn wasn't when he showed up.

 

[getaclue]

I'm downright aggravated. Towards the end of January, I went on Zulily.com, and ordered 2 comforter sets. I tried to update my address, but their site wouldn't let me. Instead, I checked the box saying they were to ship it to the billing address. They got the billing address right, and billed the card.

A couple weeks later, in February, I had not received my order, so I contacted them. According to their records, it had been delivered. Further checking, and they sent it to the wrong address. They gave me the tracking number, and asked that I contact UPS to put a pick up order on it. I contacted UPS, and was informed that as the intended recipient I could not do it, but the shipper had to put the pick up order on it. In the meantime, my contact with the Zulily resolution team was going to reach out to their vendor, and get my order sent to to me. On March 4th she sent an email saying she was sorry for the delay, but had finally contacted the vendor, and my order was being sent. She did not have the tracking number, but would provided it when she got it. Last week I sent an email asking if I was ever going to get my order.

Today I got an email informing me my order had been delivered on March 9th, and the tracking number. I have not gotten my order, so I looked up the tracking number. It did not give the address it was delivered to, but gave the city. Yup, wrong city. I called UPS, and gave them my address, and asked if the package had been delivered there. Nope. While they could not give me the address it was delivered to, they did confirm it had been delivered to the wrong city. I asked if there was an apartment number in the address. They confirmed there was an apartment number in the address they delivered it to.

I sent an email to my contact at zulily, and explained they had not delivered it to my address. She replied giving the address it had been delivered to, asking if that was my address. I've sent her a reply explaining that is not my address, and that was what she was suppose to be taking care of. I included my current address. Sheesh! Talk about incompetence.

 

[speckledhen]

Chery, all I can say is . And one lost customer for Zulily. Idiots. Sounds like my phone company and the dental insurance company we just fired.

 

[speckledhen]

Our friend/probable cousin Grady is coming to get the six chicks today. I finally had to insist that Maretta stay in the barn away from them last night. The chicks did fine without her, having had short sessions without her already.
Usually, by now, at 8 weeks old, she would have rejected them, but with the weather keeping her tied to them because I couldn't get her former group outside so she wasn't in close quarters and fighting. She beat up on Athena and Zara and Wendy for awhile, and June laid down the law to her, as did Neela and Alice. Maretta avoided Georgie altogether and Georgie pretty much let June handle it, typical way my Delawares always were-if a hen got in their faces, they'd put the smackdown, but if not, they'd just leave them be. They were never big fighters, those Delaware hens.
Today, Maretta was sitting on a roost beside Athena peaceably, hardly a cluck from her. So she's not too awful stressed at this juncture, being away from those now quite large chicks.
Rowena will be gone today or tonight. She just quit eating entirely yesterday, is noticeably weak and her color is purple. She is very peacefully sleeping in a warm cage under a reptile bulb and I'm going to just let her be calm and quiet and unmolested. She doesn't seem to be in pain as she lays there quietly. I talk to her every time I go inside and she will look at me or tilt her head to listen. The hospital cage puts her at my face level.

So, out of that group of five, Atlas and his four sisters, only Atlas and Wendy will remain. Rachel died of some mystery-whatever. Robin was found dead under the coop, I think choked on something. So, just Wendy and sweet Atlas, 4 yrs old now. Though I've never found anything to say that a dwarf gene carrier has any longevity issues or any internal issues that we cannot see, at times, I wonder if that may be true in some way. These hens should be living a much longer life, not being hatchery stock. I mean, my Ameraucanas are all over 10 years old now with Amanda 11 and others 7-10 now. Wynette will turn 7 years old April 6 with Dru a few months after her, but they are pure Stukel, no Dellie dwarf gene in their bloodline.

 

[getaclue]

You may be onto something about the dwarf gene carrier not living as long. Hard to say since most people dispatch them before they get that old. It's an interesting observation though.

 

[speckledhen]

You may be onto something about the dwarf gene carrier not living as long. Hard to say since most people dispatch them before they get that old. It's an interesting observation though.

There's so little about the gene in the first place, but I've tried to find reference to how it may affect the carriers. I've not seen any health issues, per se, but they don't live as long as I think they should for being out of good stock on both sides, both the Rock and the Delaware, both big, robust birds.

 

[speckledhen]

I'm down six little heathens, yippee! Grady said the other two boys he got from me last time are big pets still. Yup, that temperament just keeps on giving!

 

[getaclue]

Glad you were able to sell them to a satisfied repeat customer.

Just because no one else has observed health issues, doesn't mean they don't exist. Like I mentioned earlier, most people don't keep chickens as long as you do. That could be a good reason why there's no information on health issues, and longevity of those carrying the gene.

I swapped roosters on the pullets today. They're were not happy, and that big new rooster was scary. He's been so patient with them. I took some mealworms out, and he called them over. He dipped his wing to dance for them, but they ran off. This evening, they were doing a little better. They'll be fine. He's a good rooster.

 

[speckledhen]

ETC called. Yes, we can get fiber optic internet! The downside, well, it will be about two weeks for them to get the lines to the house and get it set up. And the taxes on that $117 (we all know there are taxes, always, on phone, internet, etc, etc) bring the total up to $140/mo. I knew there would be additions to that total because of taxes and fees, but I guess I know how much or what the actual total would be. Still, many folks are paying that much for cable TV alone and there is no contract for a specified length of time, so I told my husband he could go ahead and we'd see how it goes. I know it will be a relief to him not to have to jockey with the big dish all the time and fight slow DSL to do anything at all on the web.

 

[getaclue]

Sorry about the 2 week wait, but considering they have to run the lines, that's not too bad. I think once you have it in, and get used to the tv lineup being a little different, you'll like it. As to the internet, you're going to love that part right from the start.