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

[speckledhen]

I love that, Cheryl, very cool the way she has it set up. Guineas are great alarms, of course.

 

[speckledhen]

I guess I took these pictures a day or two ago and forgot to upload them. So here are some of the newbies. I think I may have three Cochin pullets and four cockerels. If so, even adding the six EE pullets to the mix, I can't keep all four bantam Cochin males in that flock. I'd have to rehome two of them. I'm keeping one of the Buff Cochin males, named him Magnus, and the bravest Splash Cochin male, named Gunnar. If I had four Cochin pullets instead of three, I might be able to keep all three remaining males.

 

[getaclue]

They're cute, and I like the colors you picked.

 

[getaclue]

They look content, and laid back, but alert.

 

[speckledhen]

They're cute, and I like the colors you picked.

I really didn't pick any colors. I just had the woman grab as many different looking EEs as I could among the six, making sure to get a brownish and the black one like my Gypsy was. The Cochins were just the last seven left so I took them all. I had no idea what color those were, other than I guessed at the buffs. I thought the light colored ones were lavenders, but I later found that Cackle does not have lavender bantam Cochins. They have splash. That means I can breed me some blues in the future with a male and female splash, so that turned out well anyway.

They look content, and laid back, but alert.

They are a really great bunch!

ETA: Atlas's sister, Wendy, died just a bit ago. She was on her feet yesterday, though lethargic. I didn't expect her to be gone today, but the entire barn was raising a ruckus as we went out to do chores and she must have just died within the last two minutes. Seems weird to lose a 7 year old hen when I have a few so much older than she is.
With Wendy's passing and Hector not roosting any longer, I know now how I will arrange the barn. Hector and his remaining four will go to the back 5x8 pen where the three D'Anvers are now. Atlas will move to Hector's pen where he first started out and the new chick group will occupy Atlas's current large pen between Hector's group and the one where Emily and June live. The D'Anvers will move back to the little coop where the chicks are growing out now, which was built as a pen for that group.

 

[getaclue]

Sorry to hear about Wendy passing.

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks, Cheryl. It was expected. She wasn't my favorite hen, always a bit of a bully, but I felt so bad for her since I knew what was happening to her. I'm glad she passed in the hospital cage and not in there with Hector. She was a good layer until a few months ago when it all fell apart for her.

 

[h2oratt]

Thanks, Cheryl. It was expected. She wasn't my favorite hen, always a bit of a bully, but I felt so bad for her since I knew what was happening to her. I'm glad she passed in the hospital cage and not in there with Hector. She was a good layer until a few months ago when it all fell apart for her.

Sorry to hear about Wendy. The new chicks are really cute.

 

[speckledhen]

More chick pics. They're growing like crazy. Poor things had to spend 3 days inside due to torrential rain, but the were released into the wild (pen) again today and had a blast.
Now that they are four weeks old, it's looking like the bantam Cochins are 4 male and 3 female. Two splash males, two splash females, two buff males and one buff female. Of course, all six EEs are pullets-I don't think there are any sexing mistakes in that bunch.

 

[getaclue]

They're still adorable. Thanks for the pics.