Well, I had a total of 12 babies in 5 litters, but I lost the youngest 5 to cold.
Misty Moon x McZ is a 1st-timer and she did better than I expected. When I first checked the nestbox in the morning, I found 1 live BEW and a peanut. Temps were very cold so I took the box into the house to decide if I should foster the singleton. I left the peanut for the time being to help keep the viable kit warm. When I checked on them a little later, I found another healthy kit! Cool! Still deciding whether to let Misty raise them.
Then Aeryn x Axl had her litter later that day. She had 2 sia sables and a himi. She's an experienced doe so I decided to let her raise Misty's as well so I could rebreed Misty to another buck.
All was well until yesterday. I had been bringing all the boxes in the house at night. I worked in the barn that day, but never thought to stick my hand in boxes to check on kits. I do that often when I'm worried about new litters. I brought the boxes in for the night as usual, and again didn't check the kits. When I went to take them out to the barn the next morning, I checked kits and Aeryn's box was rather cool. Oh no! I found the kits scattered all over the box. All dead but one. I tried to save it with the heat wrap, but it was taking its last breaths when I found it. So I lost both litters. Dang it. I could kick myself because this was mostly my fault for not checking them earlier.
In other news, I finally finished the barn remodel! Yay! I was getting tired of that project. I spent the day cleaning up my tools and organizing the barn. The last unit in the middle of the floor makes it a little harder to move around, but once I got my tools and stuff out it was better. I now have 46 holes in the shed, and several are empty which I like. I'm covered when it comes time to wean litters, and any possible new buns that come along. I'm not really planning on buying anything new, but you never know. I'll get new pix soon and upload to the Barn page.
Weather has improved. It dipped back down in the teens for 2 nights, and the one day only got up to 20F. Nice thing about the south, it doesn't last long. We got a pretty 3" of snow that lasted for the cold snap. They are calling mid 50s for today and decent for the weekend.
I'm heading to NC this weekend for the first show of '09. I'm debuting a couple of my fav jrs...Paint Job and Sweet Dream, and a couple other younger jrs. My entry is smaller than usual. Does are breeding and my best show buck Silverado is out of coat. I don't know what his deal is. I think he didn't molt at all last year. His coat is dead and oxidized. He should have been long past it by now. Grrr.
The following weekend it's the Triple Crown in SC. I'm really looking forward to that. It's ND and Holland Lop only triple open and youth specialty and always a lot of fun.
tnt
