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

[speckledhen]

Hello! I've been lurking and reading through this thread from the beginning for about a week and I wanted to thank you for documenting this journey with Atlas, Hector and your other birds. I've learned a lot from reading about them. And of course, I've enjoyed watching them grow, so to speak, in your pictures. What beautiful birds you have!

I hope you and yours are doing well. And how is Atlas doing?

Oh, thank you! Nice to have you here. Atlas is doing pretty well, other than his arthritic hock joints. He always looks a mess because Wynette plucks his hackle and saddle feathers and picks at his poor comb. But, he seems to be doing well other than his joint issues.
Hector eventually got his own thread, Hector's World, but this one is where most of us hang out anyway, and Hector's journey really started because of Atlas, in a way.

 

[speckledhen]

Three of Jill's are pipped, half that I put in there out of Hector's pen. Still just two Brahmas.

 

[1muttsfan]

 

[aquila]

I'm glad to hear Atlas is doing well! I'm about half-way through reading this thread but I had to skip to the end to see how everything turned out so far. I'll have to check out Hector's thread when I come across it - I assume he eventually grew a tail right?!

And I hope you have good luck with this batch of eggs! It sounds like they need to hurry up and !

 

[Leahs Mom]

When you all have to "take out" an adult bird for an illness, what method do you use? I know how to process a chicken for meat, and the usual way it to hang and cut the throat. But I'm wondering if that's the quickest, least painful/distressing way - either for the meat bird or a sick bird.

I had a vet tell me that they had done some research and felt that dislocating (I assume that means breaking) the neck was least painful. I'm not sure I believe that or any of the talk about pain experienced in either way.

Thoughts?

 

[speckledhen]

Popping in before coffee to say 5 are hatched and about 10 are pipped that I can see. Definitely like this is Day 21 rather than yesterday. Three BRs are here and two Brahmas. Off for coffee, yawn...

 

[1muttsfan]

Yay sounds like they finally got going!

Properly done, cervical dislocation is quick and effective, and can be done by anyone even those without considerable hand strength. It is shown in this video at 1:00 (thanks to Aart for posting this). This is how I dispatch all adult birds. Notice that you slowly stretch the neck before the final jerk.

 

[speckledhen]

Yay sounds like they finally got going!

Properly done, cervical dislocation is quick and effective, and can be done by anyone even those without considerable hand strength. It is shown in this video at 1:00 (thanks to Aart for posting this). This is how I dispatch all adult birds. Notice that you slowly stretch the neck before the final jerk.

Mary, are you sure this is the right video? Maybe it's too early in the a.m.

ETA: Oh, weird, I went and found it and now, you have the right one up there. The other was guy processing something like a cornish hen.

 

[1muttsfan]

Apparently the correct video had been flagged for adult audiences, but
I did finally get it in. That guy was cute though, love a man that cooks!

 

[speckledhen]

Four Jill babies have hatched, the other two pipped, so 100% rate on Hector progeny, both fertility and hatch rate, good for The Little Tyrant. I can tag one as a pullet, the others look male, but hard to say for sure yet. One Brahma hatched during the night and lay on its back with its bottom in the egg so long into the morning, I decided to try to get it out of the egg, but found that it was literally glued to the shelf liner, dried in the shell bottom and to the liner, poor baby. If I had not finally checked to see why it was not righting itself, it might have died there. Others are about to begin zipping, pips are enlarging. A few are not pipped that I can see from above, but maybe they are on the bottom.