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

[speckledhen]

My Mille Fleur Belgian D'Anver rooster, Spike, seems to have had a relapse. He is throwing his head back over/on top of his back when he drinks water, even did that to look over at me in the adjacent pen; reminded me of an owl's head on a swivel.
Found him a few minutes ago after hearing his distress squawks in the barn, in a pile on the floor, breathing hard. I guess his sire was beating up on him again. He is losing his balance and panicking over nothing, stresses over something and his brain seems to go haywire. If he gets any worse where he can't eat or drink or his crop begins to malfunction, I'll have to put him down. What doesn't help, or maybe what precipitated the relapse, is that he's in a molt, has one tail feather left. That always makes any problems ten times worse.

 

[speckledhen]

I heard Spike in distress over the baby monitor before we went to the barn this morning. When we looked into the pen, I didn't see him right away, asked where Spike was. Tom said, he's in the corner, I think he's dead. He was in a pile in the corner, head to one side, completely still. When I touched him, he squawked and jumped so I held him for a long time and he went to sleep in my arms, not at all Spike-like.
I finally placed him on the roost and got some of the eggs-and-grits with turmeric, olive oil and aspirin mixture that I had given Atlas and Dru to eat for their painful joints and offered it to Spike. He ate like he was starving. I know he's been eating a little, but he's also lost weight and is molting. So I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to put them all back in their little coop with attached covered pen and low-to-the-ground roost and nest boxes. Spike doesn't have to jump up high, can hide easily and Aubrey has a lot more to occupy his attention than torturing his ailing son, plus it has a ton of natural light and zero drafts, all the ventilation being up high on the wall. I won't need it as a grow out pen for awhile.

 

[getaclue]

Poor Spike. I hope he does well with his special diet.

 

[speckledhen]

Poor Spike. I hope he does well with his special diet.

I made an executive decision to move that group back to their separate coop with the attached/covered pen. Aubrey will have more to distract him from Spike's issues and maybe not beat up on him so much. I had planned to do that when spring was in full swing anyway, so I just hurried it along.
I'm doing a short video about always making contingency plans for chickens, i.e. hospital cages, separation coops/pens, etc.

 

[h2oratt]

Dh took the youngest grand to VPK this morning. They decided they're going to pull a prank on her teacher. Awhile back, the teacher gave each of her students a small stuffed dog. It's cute, and grand really loves it. She got a box, and made a dog house for it, got a couple little plastic bowls, cut up blue construction paper to fill one with water, and she cut up brown construction paper for the other bowl, as food. She got a smaller box, put in a washrag, to make a bed for it.

Yesterday, one of the kids took their stuffed dog to school. Grand was telling grandpa that she too wanted to take her stuffed dog to school. Grandpa told her that it hasn't grown much, and the teacher might think she's not taking care of it very well. When she gets home today, the pair of them are going to scour the internet, in search of a large stuffed dog, that resembles the one the teacher gave her. She'll take it in, and tell the teacher it eats a lot, and is growing up just fine.

Cute story, I am jealous that your grands get to go to school. Our GKs in calif are still on online learning.

 

[speckledhen]

Anyone want to guess what is going on in my barn right now after all the fertility drama? I have a broody, first one since 2019. And guess who it is? It's mean Jill the Pill, the evil wench who was broody exactly one time and crushed the only chick left by hatch day. Story of my life....incubator Round #2 or Jill who malfunctioned as a broody the first time around. If it was one of the Brahmas, no contest. But, JILL?

 

[getaclue]

ROFLOL. I'm sorry. I know it's not even close to funny for you right now. BUT I'm on the outside looking in, so it's funny to me. Are her eggs even fertile? Do you want to hatch from her?

 

[speckledhen]

ROFLOL. I'm sorry. I know it's not even close to funny for you right now. BUT I'm on the outside looking in, so it's funny to me. Are her eggs even fertile? Do you want to hatch from her?

Jill is Maddie and Jane's mother (gosh, I miss Jane! She was so funny) so she'll produce nice chicks. I am not 100% sure her egg I cracked open was fertile, but if any of them are, hers will be. She is Hector's one true love, LOL.
I fired up the incubator. What I may do is, if she looks serious tomorrow, I may give her a few eggs to try and put the rest in the incubator. If she is successful, I may give her the other chicks that hatch from the incubator, if there are any. Bash is breeding the hens like crazy. I have one of Jill's, one of Maddie's and five Brahma eggs total. Probably BJ's won't be fertile, but Bailey's, Cora's and whoever else's is in there should be, if he really is fertile.

 

[getaclue]

A Hector/Jill combo should produce some nice looking chicks. It could jump start your line.

 

[speckledhen]

A Hector/Jill combo should produce some nice looking chicks. It could jump start your line.

I don't want to keep a large fowl rooster anymore, though I wouldn't mind keeping a Jill or Maddie daughter.