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

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Funny you should say that! I have one that calls for me all morning and would be very happy to be carried around all day! Very demanding.

One goofy hen comes to the house to get me in the morning, and another likes for me to toss scratch at her and she tries to catch it in mid air. They all have such different personalities. People don't understand how intelligent chickens can be until you own them and you get manipulated by them.

 

[speckledhen]

Funny you should say that! I have one that calls for me all morning and would be very happy to be carried around all day! Very demanding.

That was Gypsy and it's also my two remaining Belgian D'Anver hens, Aimee and Penny. Gypsy was quiet, but still demanding and I was always happy to oblige that one. Aimee is LOUD! I can hear her caterwauling in the pen to be let out. She has some lungs in that little body!

I probably spend too much time thinking about all the critters I've had and lost over the years. Some definitely get to you more than others. I try to keep chickens at a distance but many become friends to me. I suppose losing a few favorite critters in the last year contributed to some of my depression.

Yeah, I get that. Gypsy is the one I loved most in that entire barn. Now that she's gone, I'm not as enthusiastic. Tom is attached to Snow, who yells her head off and dances around the cage, begging him to come get her, and he's very fond of my Blue Bookends, Neela and Alice, both so frail now. But, they need to go. It's really time. I'll miss them all, but never as much as Gypsy.

One goofy hen comes to the house to get me in the morning, and another likes for me to toss scratch at her and she tries to catch it in mid air. They all have such different personalities. People don't understand how intelligent chickens can be until you own them and you get manipulated by them.

They can be so smart and learn so much language. Amazing creatures.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

@speckledhen , any plans to hatch this year or are you taking the year off? I keep saying I'm gonna take a break, but than I get bored, and chicks are fun. . I'm also gonna try geese this year. 4 of them. Never had those before so it should be interesting.

 

[1muttsfan]

That is true of how many people see most animals - as dumb, unthinking, animated eggs, meat or milk. They have no idea how appealing, friendly, kind and funny animals can be. Honestly I think many people don't want to think of animals that way, because it makes it much harder to kill, eat, neglect and mistreat them.

My friend's mare is mad at me right now. She bought hay last fall and when she got into the second half the bales turned out to be some of the worst hay I've ever seen. My pony immediately developed heaves, and now her mare has as well, so she's had a shot of steroids for the last 3 days. She's a grudge holder so she'll be snooting me for a while I'll bet.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That is true of how many people see most animals - as dumb, unthinking, animated eggs, meat or milk. They have no idea how appealing, friendly, kind and funny animals can be. Honestly I think many people don't want to think of animals that way, because it makes it much harder to kill, eat, neglect and mistreat them.

My friend's mare is mad at me right now. She bought hay last fall and when she got into the second half the bales turned out to be some of the worst hay I've ever seen. My pony immediately developed heaves, and now her mare has as well, so she's had a shot of steroids for the last 3 days. She's a grudge holder so she'll be snooting me for a while I'll bet.

Heaves is a terrible thing that doesn't go away I believe. I'm always glad we make our own hay. Quality of purchased hay is always questionable. We get some moldy bales some years too despite trying not to. It's hard to make hay in Wisconsin because it gets so humid and it keeps hay from curing properly. The constant threat of rain also give us small windows to get it done.

I stopped eating meat when I was 18. Nothing like coming home from school to find your animal friends hanging on the butcher truck.

My husband eats meat, but he hunts so at least the deer lived a decent life before. I don't like that many farm animals are now grown in confinement, so we try not to buy too much of that.

 

[speckledhen]

@speckledhen , any plans to hatch this year or are you taking the year off? I keep saying I'm gonna take a break, but than I get bored, and chicks are fun. . I'm also gonna try geese this year. 4 of them. Never had those before so it should be interesting.

No. I can't handle chicks right now. Brandy is insanely broody and I've never denied her eggs. As per usual, her crop is bloaty, does this every single time she goes broody. I think she eats only grains (which we curtail when she's broody for that reason, but she finds them anyway) and not enough water consumed and they ferment in the crop, probably exacerabated by lack of activity. No, can't do it, just cannot do it.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1281237488705196

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

No. I can't handle chicks right now. Brandy is insanely broody and I've never denied her eggs. As per usual, her crop is bloaty, does this every single time she goes broody. I think she eats only grains (which we curtail when she's broody for that reason, but she finds them anyway) and not enough water consumed and they ferment in the crop, probably exacerabated by lack of activity. No, can't do it, just cannot do it.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1281237488705196

I have tons of broodies too. I have been breaking them since February. It's one part of chicken keeping I don't like. All that crazy screeching.

A break from it all sounds like a good thing. Now if only the broody hormones would stop.

 

[speckledhen]

I am not hatching, not only because I have too much on my plate, but because I have too much on my plate, I am not adding any birds, period. I'm letting them all die out. I'll get them down to a reasonable number of layers and then stick with those, and I guess at the point I need more, I may get hatchery sexed pullets. I'm not even sure about that, really.

I need to get to a point that if we wanted/had to move, I only have a few of birds to move that can all be in the same pen together. I need to be someone who has five hens in a small coop, I think. I'd miss my roosters, but I guess I could have a bantam Cochin or the like to satisfy that emotional need to hear and see a rooster with my girls, like my sweet little Xander.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I really like my bantam Cochin roosters. It's why I have quite a few running around here. They are goofy little boys.

I really like big gorgeous show bred birds too, but they are always broody. Hatchery birds can still go broody, but most don't if you pick the right breeds. I probably couldn't pick up most of your chickens. They are big birds.

One day I think I'm only gonna keep bantams. They definitely are much easier, and I swear their eggs are better.

I could never move from here either currently. I think about downsizing yearly. Eventually I will have to do it too.

 

[speckledhen]

Yeah, I love broodies and babies, but my life situation is too taxing mentally and emotionally at the moment. I hope Brandy will snap out of it soon. She's a very dedicated broody.
MaryJo is still unsteady on her feet. She is in the hospital cage unless I put her in the small pen attached to the former coop that is closest to the big barn for a few hours. She refuses to eat eggs now so it's hard to get vitamins down her. May have to add them to her water. I even was shaving liver off the frozen block of it I have from when we rehabbed Lizzie and I don't know if she's eaten much of that, either. Maretta is still energetic, but her crop just hangs. It is not impacted or actually bloated, but feels like a bean bag, very pliable and loose, but something is stopping it from functioning normally still. The places on her side are still big scabs that don't heal, just stay crusty. I can't do anything for her except push stuff out of the crop into the chute.

So you see why I can't take on chicks right now. I adore Bash and his girls, but dang, they are so broody and HUGE and eat a ton, unlike my hatchery Brahmas, so I won't be keeping them anymore. They are so pretty and I like big birds, especially big blue birds. Love that huge blue chest on my boy, reminds me a lot of big old Suede, seeing that. But where Suede was super wide, Bash is high and wide. He'd be very intimidating if he wasn't such a big teddy bear.