It's been a non-eventful few days here, other than I just noticed another iris bloom about to open. I am in awe that I still have blooming irises almost in November! What a blessing they've been this year. Gotta find more of those re-bloomers to plant. How can we be almost in 2026?? I still vividly recall the Y2K drama.
Since the Atlas thread has become the chat thread, getting back to the Omega Rocks. You know I talk to my chickens because I've seen how they can learn so much more language than most realize. I talk to both of those boys a lot every day when they're in their interior pen. They look me in the eye and listen to every word, and I don't see any sort of expression that says "I'm gonna get you." Their eyes are so expressive, but soft. I realize not everyone understands what I mean by that, but I know that hard look from years back when my hatchery-descended rooster, Dutch, turned on me. His eyes became so cold after that, a marked shift in personality at well over a year old, only time that has ever happened to any of my roosters. I know the turning point with him, but too long to talk about here.
Each of these boys knows his name very well. Angus is so full of energy every morning, bouncing all over, tracking me as I go up and down the barn aisle first thing turning on lights so I can see to clean up. He paces back and forth following me, working himself up so when I open the door to let them out, he's like a spring let loose and bounds out of the door, then immediately turns back to the girls. They shoot out past him if they can, but Nathaniel holds back and walks out beside me because that particular version of Angus is very likely to engage him on the spot. You have to let him get his jollies out, that explosive morning energy (Hector was a lot like that) and then he calms down. He doesn't come at me at all and I don't sense any aggression from him. If I interrupted him in his morning assault, it might appear he is, but I see that healthy rooster energy every morning from him. For awhile, I was extremely cautious, but I'm getting used to his personality.
Mary, you may be right about Nathaniel just being sociable. I still don't quite trust him so the caution around him is still there, more so than with Angus. It's interesting that Angus will usually come back to get Nathaniel if he is hanging around me after the group goes out to their free range area.
Nathaniel and Angus have been behaving nicely with me and mostly with each other. However, yesterday Nathaniel was mating one of the girls while out in toward the pasture area. Angus took exception and knocked him off. For a moment, I thought the Big Battle was coming. Nathaniel didn't just run. He came back at Angus, both had feet clashing in mid-air for a split second, then Nathaniel came back to his senses and took off. If he'd continued, I may have had to intervene, but if I don't stop the tiny skirmishes if they are self-limiting. Roosters gonna rooster, as they say.
There is more of a difference in the size between those two now. Angus is filling out a lot and he is broader overall than Bash, a good bit larger than Nathaniel. If he turned on me, I think I'd just lay down and cry because he is everything I was hoping to get from my breeding male in this group. If you saw Nathaniel without seeing Angus, you'd think he's a looker, but if Angus walked up about then, it would be a "wow" moment.
