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

[getaclue]

seminolewind, I'm so sorry to hear of your cancer. I hope the chemo kills the cancer. Hopefully, when things improve with you, your ability to eat will return too.

 

[speckledhen]

How are you doing yourself, Cheryl? When I said I love the ladies on this thread, I definitely include you and Mary and our regulars like Julie in CA. We've have a lovely core group here.
Atlas has been crowing his heart out and he sounds so weak, but he keeps going. I'm going to miss my big guy a lot and so will Mina. She is so attached him now; it's just too dangerous to put her in his pen with him. He makes advances and she's just a teensy bantam hen, but she loves having a man around, without question. And he loves the company as well.

 

[getaclue]

I'm so sorry to hear about how Atlas is declining. I know it's part of life, but knowing that doesn't make it much easier.

 

[speckledhen]

Atlas had another episode yesterday. He was eating from his bowl so I left to do other things in the barn and I was right outside his pen when I heard a thump. He was on the ground like he'd lost his legs and was just sitting looking dazed. In a few seconds, with me lifting him onto his feet, he got his balance and seemed to be okay, but his color is so dark. I don't see how he can keep this up, but he's a tough old bird.

 

[seminolewind]

Karen, I am so sorry for your health issues. I have had aversion to food at times, just did not want to put anything in my mouth even when I was hungry, not sure what that was about, but I get that. I'm glad you were able to find a few things you could eat. I'm eating basically beef, butter, bacon & eggs plus some tuna, light Greek yogurt and heavy cream in my coffee. I'm almost never hungry, lost my extra weight, but could stand to lose about 10 more pounds (though my older son said " Mom, you're tiny" and a nice lady I struck up a conversation with in the makeup department at Walmart said the same thing. I feel like they were talking about someone else, LOL.) Wishing you a full recovery. Digestive stuff is hard enough to deal with, no matter what, but cancer, I can't imagine.

Robin, gosh, I completely understand how you feel! I'm so sorry for your loss. Your poor hen. When my friend Ladyhawk got my late Suede's big splash son, named him Thor, she was completely in love. She moved across the country with that boy, adored him. His favorite hen was one of my Delawere Isaac's daughters. She found him dead near the door one day, no explanation, with the hen sitting next to his body. That hen grieved for weeks, always sitting the last place she was with him. They do grieve and people just don't understand until they see it.
I'm glad you like the calendar. They always ask me to nominate two people to receive free calendars and it's hard because there are so many lovely BYC folks who have been with me for many years and they all deserve one. I value my friendships here, wish we could meet in person. I met Ladyhawk (Cetawin here) on BYC and we bonded over our love of Blue Orpingtons. She got her Lancelot because she loved Suede. We were closer than sisters for all those years and her visits were bright spots in my life. You can make real friendships online through shared interests and it's a great thing, considering online, people can pretend to be something they are not. I love you ladies; you've been such wonderful bright spots in my life as well.

You may remember this beaded masterpiece portrait that Ladyhawk made for me of my Suede. There are over 30, 000 beads on it, created on brain tan deer hide that she tanned herself with feathers from Suede, his favorite hen, Meg, his and her son, Hector, and others. I use canned air to clean it. View attachment 3334905

That beaded pic of Suede is just beautiful! I love it.

 

[seminolewind]

Atlas- how old is he now?

 

[seminolewind]

With this food aversion I can eat Big Macs, Burritos, soup, chips, veggies, but I made cod and couscous tonight and after 2 bites I felt the gag come on and now my dinner sits on the table. I'll try again later.

I went to let the chickens out this afternoon and they made a quick dash for the freeze dried soldier fly larvae, and then a quick dash back into the coop. 35 windy degrees and we are getting into the 20's at night until Christmas. It's just plain cold! And it's always a battle between DH and me about the indoor temperature.

I can certainly put a sweater on .

 

[speckledhen]

Atlas- how old is he now?

He's about to turn 9 years old, if he makes it a couple more months.

 

[speckledhen]

Winter storm and wind chill warning for the GA/NC/TN tristate area! Temps in single digits, as low as 4* predicted for us, but it could be lower since I'm about 400 ft higher than the town that is my address, especially Friday morning with wind chills from 10-20 BELOW ZERO, depending on elevation. It has not been this bone-chilling cold here since 2014 when Isaac got frostbitten toes from sleeping on the floor in the old raised coop at 2*F (for those not in the U.S). Even back then, it was not for days on end like they're saying now. PLEASE think of your pets and your livestock! I know folks on this thread will. Chickens can handle cold if they are out of wind and have deep bedding like straw or hay to hunker down into, but like dogs and cats, they DO NOT have antifreeze for blood! They *can* freeze to death. GET READY for the scariest temps around here in years if you're in this area-your animals and you are not used to this. I do worry about the oldsters, though, especially Atlas.
Poor old Atlas, Druscilla and Mina. I'll have to switcheroo a couple of heat lamps around so Atlas has more heat than he usually does since he sleeps on the floor, plus Dru and Mina will have to spend those nights in the wall cage in his pen which has a heating blanket under the floor and reptile bulbs overhead as well as partial covering to keep that heat inside the cage. Tom is going for straw or hay today for extra bedding for the others. T'he larger birds like the Brahmas and Hector's girls will be okay with extra bedding and simple heat spots from the ceramic reptile bulbs. It won't be pleasant for the big group of bantam Cochins and EEs since they have never experienced this kind of cold in their lives, but they are corraled into one pen and their body heat will help them a lot since there are 15 of them. Thankfully, I now have no naked chickens!

 

[speckledhen]

The King is dead. I just buried my Atlas. He died with me beside him. He was sitting peacefully in a bed of hay and shavings under a nice warm heat lamp. I got more hay, put it behind him, intending to pad his bed when he stood to eat. He stood up, I shoved it into place, he took a few bites from his bowl and sat down. When I looked back, he had his neck stretched out far in front of him. Then, he began flailing, making upset sounds like he wanted to get up, but couldn't. He was breathing so heavily, then the flapping began and he stopped breathing with my hand stroking his side and talking to him. Thankfully, just yesterday, I had widened and deepened his resting place near Hector, thinking that I wanted that done before the big deep freeze came tonight. I am almost always with my boys when they go, it seems, and hopefully, that's what they feel, comfort from mama. Many wouldn't understand, but Atlas and I were close; he liked for me to put my face against his and talk quietly to him when I picked him up. He'd get very still and lean into it. Such a good rooster, always.
This thread has been going for so long, dedicated to Atlas. I never expected for him to live to 9 years old, but he now holds the record for longest lived large fowl rooster here.

This is the first time since I got my very first Barred Rock rooster when my original flock was just 10 months old that this property has been without a BR rooster here; really, several of them at a time. That is almost 18 years.