Happy Holidays to Me!

I have some Xmas babies. Yay!

Shadowland's Honeycomb (tort) x Raspberry Run Messenger (himi) had 3 on 12/26. 2 black, 1 tort. The tort program is off and running. She made a lovely nest and is taking good care of the litter. I'm always a bit nervous about does I didn't raise, but she's a pro. She's even accepted the cold weather routine where I take nestboxes in the house at night. Have to safeguard this litter. There was also a peanut but I don't know what color it was. It was lighter than the tort so maybe blue tort, or dare I say sable pt.

I was hoping for more torts, but I'll take it. Black carrying for tort is almost as good, and they're also carrying himi which I can use in that program. She kindled early in the morning, and I'm calling the birth date 12/25 since it was so close. Is it a terrible lie to say they were born on Christmas Day? I think not, and I can give them holiday names.

New thoughts about Messenger. I've been calling him "tort himi". His color is rather light, and when I bred him to sable pt, I got all sable pts. So I assumed he was in fact tort, but I guess not. The blacks prove he isn't or there would have been all torts. I guess he's really "sabled himi". He's out of sable pt which explains his light uneven point color that often happens to himis out of shaded.

Flashdance (broken black) x LB92 (broken otter) had 2 on 12/27. 1 black, 1 black otter. Alas, no brokens, but I'm very pleased with this little girl! She's so small, I didn't know if I'd ever get anything from her, and this was just her 2nd attempt. I was taking a big risk giving her to LB because he's so big. He maintains at around 2.10 or more, but he seems to mesh well with does smaller than him, and this litter proves it again. I won't be keeping the otter, and normally I'd cull it right away. Since she only has 2, and I don't have a foster to give her, I'll let her raise both to keep the black safe. I'll definitely repeat this match.

The other does didn't do so well. Dreamcatcher x Artisan had 5, but only one was born live. I don't know what happened. She's 60/40 for reliability. They were all broken, too. The survivor is a cull as it has no butterfly or ear color, and it might be a sable chin. Fugly. I gave it to another doe and don't really expect it to survive in that nestbox. If nothing else, it proved Artisan for his new owner.

That other litter would be Chevelle (himi) x Dot.com (broken black). She had 2, but only one was alive. At least that's a good sign for her future success. But I don't like her kit either...it's charlie-marked. I gave her the Dreamcatcher kit and left them in the barn last night. It's wicked cold this morning at 11F so I won't be surprised to find them dead when I go out there. The heaters can only do so much.

Rayven (black) x LB failed again. She just dumped a DOA peanut. I don't know what her deal is. She was such a good doe, but now not so much. I don't think it's due to LB (she's another small doe). Her last litter with him failed too, but the one before that was fairly successful in raising one to weaning.

Voodoo Chile also failed. Again. I guess it's time to give up on her. She's so gorgeous, it kills me I have nothing from her. She was due today but dumped a peanut on the wire 2 days ago. Didn't pull any fur. I hadn't given her a nestbox yet because she hadn't asked for it. Just in case she has more coming I gave the box. If she does drop more today, I don't have any hopes. Remember I said how cold it is.

In other news, I think the blue w/brown eyes is a fader. Didn't look good yesterday. It's going on 5 weeks. Darn. Even though it had those odd eyes, the blue color was real nice, and I probably would've kept it for the dilute gene. Oh well.

The south enjoyed a white Christmas. Some areas hadn't seen it in decades or ever. I got 6" or 7" here. Surprisingly, areas south and east of here that rarely get snow got a lot more. It was a steady fine wet snow that went on for a good 2 days, and stuck to everything. Very pretty, but I don't appreciate the novelty of snow the way most southerners do. I moved down here to escape it.

They're calling a major warm up for the new year...50s and even 60s. I can't wait for that! It also makes it more possible for me to do the 1/1/11 (how's that for a cool date!) Taylorsville show. Here's hoping that easier winter I've been waiting for will happen for the rest of the season. Although, a fast snow melt and the rain they're also calling is going to make a big muddy mess.

Today I'll be tattooing some jrs, and making final decisions about what to move out. I've been on the fence about a few.

tnt

Happy Holidays

Christmas is around the corner, and if all goes well, I'll have some Xmas babies. Got litters due on 12/26-28. All but one of the does are already nesting. Especially pleased that the tort is nesting as well since she missed the last time. Really looking forward to her litter.

Weaned a batch and have been going over them sexing and all. Got a couple promising brokens, and finally there are does in the mix. Also trying to sex the youngest litters. Bugger - too many bucks in that round, and of course they're the ones I need to be does...as in the bigger ones. ID's dotty kit looks like a buck, and the one with the excellent pattern might (please oh please) be a doe. The dotty one is looking more showable, too...the dots are getting bigger.

I've got a mystery in ID's litter. I thought for sure it was a siamese sable. I swear it was up until about a week ago when I realized it looked suspiciously blue. It's about 4 wks old now, still looking blue, and pretty nice blue at that. It's even displaying a bit of the white undercoat that sometimes happens on dilutes. The problem is its eyes are brown! WTH? It's not blue seal...sire is himi. Blue would be cool. I haven't got a dilute in the barn right now (even though so many carry it), and really want them. But brown-eyed blue is wrong!

I did get a couple blues in Sept, but they had the extreme white undercoat that doesn't grow out very well, and they were both bubbas. I think I can blame that on the sire. Dams were unrelated, but both were bred to the same buck.

I'm giving Manna Pro Show Supplement another try. I talked to the TSC manager and she got some in for me. They don't really carry it, but she could order it for me. I didn't want to mess with it if there wasn't a steady supply.

My main reason for wanting to try it again is the tort jr buck. He's been very slow to regain the weight he lost (a lot!) traveling to and from convention. He's not going to make Jan shows if he doesn't get more flesh on real soon. The problem is that he's not a big eater. He should have recovered by now, but he just doesn't eat enough.

I think it's working! Not only does he feel better, he's eating more. Yay! On the other hand, it looks like I have a fussy bunny on my hands. He's been picking out the supplement and barely touching the regular feed. Soon as I get him back to fighting weight, I'll cut back on the supplement. Been giving it to all the show string as well, and they like it, too.

Still awfully cold. I was counting on an easier winter this year. Seems like the weather patterns should have cycled around by now. Not. We might even get Xmas snow. All this snow threat could put a glitch in my show plans for Jan, too. There's 3 in Jan, including Jan 1st. Here's hoping. Haven't been to a show in a while or had anything I looked forward to showing. I do now.

Happy Christmas to All

tnt

Criminy!

Waaaa! It's too cold! It hasn't been above freezing for 5 days. 9 days ago it was 71! Yesterday, it struggled to be 31, and I think that was only because the sun finally came out. Haven't seen much sun for awhile, and we got a little snow here and there. This morning it was 15, the lowest so far. The forecast for my old place in mid-MI is exactly the same as here! That just ain't right! I can't wait to get past the winter solstice on Dec. 21 when days start to get longer again. I really really hate being cold. As of today...100 days until Spring.

Ok. Got that gripe out of my system. What else?

I'm glad I have no litters due right now. Although it might be ok if I did. I moved all the buns into the shed when I saw the forecast called for all freezing nights. I've been running 1 heater, but had to dig out the other this week. 1 is enough to keep water from freezing when it's above 20, but any lower, I need 2. It's actually not bad in there with both heaters, so chances for litters surviving are better. There's none due until around Xmas, and hopefully the weather turns by then.

Allow me to endorse the electric oil-filled heaters. I highly recommend them for this purpose. They're similar to this....


It's real efficient, and most important, it's safe for a rabbit barn. You can touch the coils and not get burned. I lay my gloves on it to warm them up, and even a nestbox that needs warming. I've thawed water bottles on top of it. I don't have to worry about hay or shavings (I store them well away from it to be safer), or the wood floor of the barn catching fire. One time a kit just a few days old, somehow escaped and ended up on the floor. I found it under the heater where it stayed nice and warm. Smart little bunny! You can pick up this heater for about $40 which I think is very reasonable for the great job it does. I've had the 1st one for about 6 years and it still works just fine. Might have to replace it eventually as the surface is getting a little rusty. Not sure how that affects its efficiency.

Remember the near disaster with Infinite Detail's litter? Here's what I got out of that.


The dotty kit is as close as I've got to my beloved Dot.com. This isn't out of Dot, but ID is related to him. Cousin or something. It's iffy for showing, but if percentage of color is based on placement, it might be good to go. There are dots everywhere...even on the tail and elbow. The head markings are perfect.

Normally, the 2nd kit's pattern would turn out messy later, but knowing this broken line as I do, I think it will be pretty clean. Stunning, isn't it? The other 2 in the litter are solid black and siamese sable. Now I know ID carries shaded. I really didn't think she did as there's been other opportunities for it to show up.

This is Dot.com as a baby.

Until he began to look like a bunny, he looked exactly like a Dalmation puppy! I was so proud when Jamie Green saw him for the 1st time, and gave him the BOG leg. Brokens were still pretty new then. He said, "I don't have anything like this!". For those that don't know, Jamie is the judge who got brokens accepted. Unfortunately, Dot went over legal weight when he was fully mature so he hasn't been to a show in a long while. He's not going anywhere, he has a forever home.

I'd give anything to get this dotted pattern consistently. It's an elusive goal as the spot patterns aren't as predictable as the blankets.

Keep warm! 100 Days Until Spring!

tnt

That was close

I had put a doe up for sale. She was bred, but I didn't think I'd have to move her before Jan, so she was kind of up as "pre-sale after litter". The doe in question is Infinite Detail - broken black. She was bred to himi RR Messenger. Yeah, I know, a bit unorthodox. It was an experiment to see if ID carried non-extension for tort. It was very possible. Messenger does. He's useful that way. Because it was an experiment, I could have given up the litter to a buyer if I had to.

So a buyer came along and was traveling a ways to get them. We worked out the details and set up the meet for yesterday. Then it hit me that ID was due the next day! I don't know why that didn't register before. For some reason I thought there was more time. I wasn't sure of the buyer's experience level and didn't know if she'd be ready to deal with a litter that was due anytime. I didn't want to send ID that close to her due date anyways. She had to stay put for now. A frantic game of phone tag followed. I had to catch the buyer before she hit the road so she wouldn't make the long trip without knowing what she was not getting. We finally hooked up, and worked out a different deal as she still wanted to come for the buck in the package. I wanted to delay the meet until later in the week to get past ID's kindle, but she didn't have any other free days in the near future.

In the meantime. I hadn't been out to the barn yet. It was very cold that morning and I just don't do cold. Chores were waiting for it to warm up a bit, and delayed even more by phone tag. When I finally got out there, ID was calmly sitting in the middle of her cage with a mouthful of fur. I swear she was glowering at me! "Hey, you know that nestbox I need? Need it NOW." I quickly gave it to her and she immediately began to pull more fur. By the time I left to meet the buyer, the box was full of fluff.

I'm so glad I didn't move her!!! When I got back late that afternoon, the litter had arrived. She would have kindled in transit for one thing. The other thing is that this litter is lovely! She doesn't have a lot of pattern and I don't think I've ever kept anything from her. No showable brokens, no daughters. She had 5 which I think is also her biggest litter. 2 very nicely marked broken blacks, a solid black and a ? I think the ? is a siamese sable which I didn't really expect from her, but shaded is there way back in her 3rd generation. Breeding her to himi must have pulled it out. There was also a peanut the same color. On the downside...apparently she doesn't carry non-extension.

The lesson learned: Pay attention to the calendar! And don't pre-sell bred does.

This worked out so nicely, Messenger will be getting more broken does. I know I'll be dealing with broken himis down the road, but the type and pattern he can produce should move the broken program forward some more. I've bred a Messenger daughter to Dot.com for the same reasons.

In other Nestbox News:

Lady Blaque is due today as well. She was nesting yesterday. This is a repeat breeding to LB92. The original plan was to foster whatever ID had to Lady B so I could sell ID, but since ID has such a good-sized litter, I guess she'll be raising them. I should be able to move her out by the time Jan shows come around.

Foxy Lady x LB had a litter of 2 poorly marked brokens (true charlies?) on Thanksgiving Day. Since they weren't keepers, I didn't safeguard the litter like I normally would. Lost them the next day to cold. The first litter from this match produced a beautiful broken doe, and I was hoping for a bigger litter with more of the same. Try try again.

Shadowland Honeycomb came pre-bred but she missed. Or maybe lost them to absorption in transit. She is now bred to Messenger and I do expect tort out of that. It will be interesting to see if she carries shaded. I wouldn't mind having sable points again.

The older litters are looking real promising. Camaro's first litter with Anaba might be 2 does. Camaro is spending a working vacation at a friend's. I hope to get something for myself out of that as well. A little more diversity in the himi lines would be good. The broken litters are all very cute, but iffy for cleanliness of pattern. Haven't sexed them for sure yet, but there might be some does.

Weather is up and down. Very cold one day, unseasonably warm the next, it's hard to call it. I had to deal with frozen water bottles for a couple days, but the low this morning was 64!. The current forecast says I'll probably be moving the rest of the herd into the shed very soon, and dusting off the heaters.

tnt

Got em

Went down to my friend's yesterday to pick up the Torts. I'm very pleased with them. They're a bit rough around the edges but that's to be expected with what they went through to get here. They flew from Washington state, spent most of the week in convention coops, then the 24 hour drive home to TN in carriers, and the last 2 hour leg to my place.

Whiskey Mac is so cute! He's in the process of growing his head. Even though light in flesh from his travels, I can tell he has a rock solid butt. He's very sweet, and lit right into the hay when I got him home.

Honeycomb is also very cute. She was vocally grumpy when I moved her into my carrier to leave. I don't blame her. Brenda's house is a bit chaotic with 4 big dogs and a little BEW buck who rules the roost. She was quiet when I got her home into her own hole. Look forward to her litter that's due in about a week.

Visiting Brenda is a lot of fun. Moonwalker is the house bunny (bred by me) and it's a blast watching him tear around the house. Makes me want to try a house bunny. The big dogs include a 150 lb mastiff that's the handsomest sweetest guy. Moonwalker just climbs over him if he's laying in the way. Moonwalker accepted me pretty quickly and if my hand was hanging in reach, he was right there begging for attention. My pant legs and shoes were thoroughly chinned.

She and her husband own and operate a pet shop so there's a lot of other critters there too. A couple parrots, including a talking African Grey, and a chinchilla in the living room. Lizards, snakes, fish, guinea pigs and rats occupy other rooms. Always a fun visit.

I have a couple litters due today. Both 1st timers so keeping my fingers crossed. Another is due the same time as Honeycomb and a couple more a few days after that.

Still really nice for weather but I believe that's changing this coming week. Wish it was like this all the time. 50s-60s at night and 70s-80s daytime would be the ideal climate for me. Is there such a place?

tnt

Ready for winter

I finally finished the barn remodel. You can see it here. Glad that's done so I can move on to something else. I figure I'll be moving all the buns in by the end of the month when we'll start getting more freezing nights. I eliminated the center unit for now, but I have the parts to put it back together if I need it. I don't plan to need it. I like the extra room to move around and position fans and heaters. I'm thinking about investing in a couple of bins big enough to stow a bale of hay which could sit stacked in the middle of the floor. I might make a playpen to sit on top of it. I'm sure the buns would enjoy that.

ARBA Convention is over and as I write this, exhibitors are checking their rabbits out to go home. Congratulations to all the winners and high placings. Wishing everyone a safe journey home.

This means my new Torts from Shadowland Rabbitry will be here soon. A friend is bringing them back for me, and I'm going down to get them this weekend. I've posted pix that I have from their breeder on my site. Whiskey Mac placed 2/6 jr bucks at convention. Honeycomb is pre-bred to a broken blue out of Micro Ranch lines. My transporter friend told me she's stealing Honeycomb. I guess that means she really likes her. Can't wait to see them. Honeycomb is due about a week after she gets here, along with another doe I managed to get bred for the same time.

Why Torts? Why not? No really, I do have a plan. At this time, I'm mostly only showing in the AOV group with Brokens and Himis, but there's occasionally something worth entering in the Self group. I've given up on broken agoutis, and don't intend to keep or show any solid otters that come out of the broken otters. Tort will give me another group to enter without having shadeds, and they'll fit well with the broken selfs.

Honeycomb's next mate after this litter will be Messenger. He carries non-extension and I should get tort out of that. After that, Whiskey Mac should be old enough to breed. I'll be giving him broken black does that might carry tort, too. Litters should be a little more colorful next year.

There's a glitch in this new plan, but I'll deal with it when the time comes. You see, I was counting on Blue Tort passing which would have had them officially recognized and showable in Feb. Something went wrong and they failed. Big bummer that. The broken blue that Honeycomb is bred to came from the Blue Tort presenter's lines, and that means they could show up in my litters. I probably won't keep Blue Torts to maintain the herd size where I want it, at least until if and when they are accepted. They might be useful for the dilute gene, and type will decide that.

Another interesting thing that could happen involves Foxy Lady, the one broken chestnut I'm keeping for now. There's a good chance she carries non-extension, too. What might happen? Bred to tort, which I might try, I could get orange or fawn. Not that I want them, but broken orange is so pretty I won't mind too much.

Well, it's another gorgeous fall day so I'm off to take advantage of it.

tnt

More babies

Yay. I'm pleased.

Dreamer x LB92 had 3 - 2 broken blacks, and a charlie. There was also a peanut.

Dreamcatcher x Smith's DA (on loan) had 2 - A broken black and a black. This was one of DA's last breedings before he went back to his owners.

Dreamcatcher didn't build a nest as of last night. She had kicked everything out, and I forgot to add more material to her box before I closed up for the night. I barely caught the kits in time this morning. She pulled piles of fur which probably helped save them. They were alive but cold and they were doing that awful gasping squeak that is often their last breaths.

I had decisions to make. The broken I want for sure but I don't care about the black. Dreamer has the charlie that I wasn't sure I wanted either. What to do, what to do. I hate to tie up a doe and nestbox on just 1 or 2 kits so I usually try to economize. I gave Dreamcatcher's broken to Anaba where it will be safe and easy to tell in the himi litter. That can be a problem when fostering look-alikes around and these brokens do all look a lot alike.

I was going to give the charlie to Dreamcatcher to raise with her black, and if they died, it wouldn't be a great loss. Then I got to thinking this could be that elusive true charlie I've been looking for. The reason I'm thinking it might be a true charlie is that it only has color on the eyes and a little on the ears. Considering the heavy patterns on the rest of the kits and the parents which have proven to throw their heavier pattern consistently, it looks like a safe bet. I had given up growing out possible true charlies as none had proven to be true, and it wasn't worth wasting time on them. Those other not-charlies came out of a spot pattern parent which just threw lighter spot patterns that looked like charlies. That's not the case here. If this is a true charlie, it should carry the heavier pattern of its parents. So this and the type potential from the sire made up my mind to grow it out.

I don't know of anyone else raising broken dwarfs who has acquired a proven true charlie. If nothing else, it will be an interesting experiment. If it turns out that I'm wrong again, I'll go back to the original plan which is to not waste time on possible true charlies. For anyone reading this that doesn't know what a true charlie is. A true charlie will have a broken gene from each of its parents...double-broken. When bred to a solid, it will produce ALL brokens.

So it now stands that Dreamer has her whole litter. Anaba has her 2 himis and Dreamcatcher's broken. Dreamcatcher has her black which probably won't survive being an only kit, especially as cold as the nights are lately. It was also gasping more than the broken sibling when I found them. That often means it's past the point of no return. The other reason I decided to leave it with her is that she didn't get to raise her last litter. This way she can have it until it dies a natural death if that's what happens.

Here's wishing luck, fun, and safe journey to everyone going to Convention!

tnt

November

Weather has been very nice. Cooler than I like at night, but days are perfect. Got first frost Oct. 30. Fall color is going strong. We had enough rain this year for a good display. I never realized how stunning Crape Myrtles are in the fall! All mine were small and set back by the droughts. This year they are more mature and they're on fire!

Out of 7 babies (5 litters) I have 2 keepers. These are both out of Lil' Bit Farms LB92 (broken otter), different dams.


Broken Otter buck, out of Lady Blaque (broken black), about 5 wks. I have high hopes for this guy, but he might go too heavy like his sire which will shorten his show career.


Broken Otter doe, out of Foxy Lady (broken chestnut), about 4 wks. Future show doe for sure. She's quite a bit smaller than the buck so I'm not worried about her going overweight. She's also the only doe out of all those litters. Dang.

LB's scorecard is looking real good. He is proving to throw his clean pattern consistently. Yay. That's one of the reasons I bought him. There's also a broken black self brother to the buck with the same pattern. The doe's litter (she was the only live kit) included a dilute broken that also had good pattern. Yay Yay. I needed this.

Both Lady Blaque and Foxy Lady have fairly clean blanket patterns, as does LB. Lady's is pretty heavy (what I consider over 50%), and Foxy's is more striped and within limits. All the broken kits have showable pattern and there was only 1 charlie-mark. When I bred LB to Infinite Detail who has a lighter spot pattern, there was a solid blue and a charlie. The only decent pattern was on 2 peanuts (of course it was). That didn't work out very well for me, but might be worth repeating to see if I get usable results. So far I've only bred him to 1 solid doe and while type is promising, there were no brokens at all. He may mesh best with broken mates.

He carries self and dilute, and so far, throws more selfs than otters. That works for me. He's producing small offspring with a small doe, but bigger brood does like L.Blaque and I.Detail produced bigger kits that may not be showable after they reach mature weight. Like him.

Nestbox News:

1 new litter so far. Anaba x Camaro (himis) had hers yesterday. More about that in a minute. Dreamer x LB92 is pulling fur as I write this. I'm looking forward to this litter so I'm very glad she didn't kindle in the night. There's a few more due today and later this week. Reminds me. I have to move those other does into the shed today.

Anaba. This is Camaro's first litter. She missed the first time with him. Camaro was cleaning up the AOV group until his broken toe took him off the show string. Anaba is still my best himi doe who also had a successful show career. Needless to say, I can't wait to see how this litter turns out.

It's not often you get to watch a litter being born. Anaba gave me quite a show yesterday. I was out there most of the day working on the cage remodel. Almost finished, BTW. She began pulling fur early in the afternoon. I hoped that meant she would kindle before I closed up for the night. She did. On the wire. Right in front of me. She's experienced and had put the fur in the box, so I don't know why she dumped them on the wire. I whisked them into the box as soon as she seemed to be done with them. There's 2 kits and they are fine this morning.

The 3rd was a peanut which she ignored after it was dropped on the wire. This was interesting to watch. The kit hung from her mouth in the sac like in a sling as she chewed the sac. When she finally chewed through it, the kit dropped. It was still enclosed in most of the sac. It was alive at first, it moved a little but then it stopped. Maybe it suffocated in the sac? How lucky it was a peanut and not something I wanted. If it had been a viable kit, I would have tried to get the sac off myself, but since it wasn't, I left it there to see what she would do. It turned out I had to clean up the mess and the rest of the afterbirth left on the wire.

As I said, I'm almost finished with the cage remodel. I'm finishing up the buck/jr units now. Just in time. I'll move everybody into the shed when we start to get a lot of freezing nights. I expect that at the end of the month or so.

tnt

More broken thoughts

The recent litters have me musing about how brokens and solids work together again. I'm probably repeating some of what I've said in a previous blog, but I can't remember exactly. It was long enough ago that it might be new to some readers.

One theory suggests that solids out of broken affect pattern. Supposedly, a solid out of broken will carry the broken parent's pattern. Dreamer's litter supports this. She had all brokens with her rather messy pattern. The sire is the black on loan, and I know his history. He came from a line of messy pattern.

Messy is what I call the kind of pattern often DQ'd for scattered white. It's not really scattered white, it's a freckled blanket that feathers when the guard hairs grow. Judges see it as scattered white. It's a frustrating double standard. I'm told that 6 or more white hairs in one place is considered a foreign spot on a solid rabbit. But the broken standard says that white spots in a colored area are allowed. These feathered freckles are spots and they are quite a bit more than 6 hairs. The spots are white to the skin.

I should mention that my over-50% brokens have a large solid area of color on the body. There are no white hairs to be found there. The messiness begins around the edges of the blanket where the freckles appear. It is NOT scattered white.

Back to the theory. I'm now wondering if solid out of broken has the ability to pull more brokens. It's pretty unusual to get all brokens in a solid x broken litter which happened in Dreamer's. On the other hand, I also wonder if pattern is a 50/50 thing. Rayven is solid out of broken x solid. She has never thrown a broken in 3 litters. Her full sis Rana, also solid, has (none alive). Did Rana get the pattern but not Rayven?

Which brings me to my theory that solids with no brokens in the background also affect pattern. But now I wonder how that is. I used to think (read it somewhere) that all solids carry a broken pattern as part of the genetic color code. It might even be related (strictly my speculation here) to the insidious spotting gene. I've had solids that gave great pattern almost every time, and some that never gave a broken keeper. Is it maybe that they actually don't carry a pattern at all? If this is true, it might explain why my little black buck usually pulls the pattern of his broken mate, and it was actually herself that threw the good pattern. Maybe other solids were just paired with mates that didn't throw pattern consistently?

In conclusion. Breeding broken dwarfs is still a crap shoot! I'm getting better type on the messy patterns (of course I am), and the cleaner spot or streaked patterns leave a lot to be desired. I plod along. I'm bound and determined to produce better brokens.

Nestbox News:

A few more babies.

Foxy Lady x Lil' Bit Farms LB92 - 1 broken otter. Nice pattern. Foxy and LB both have pretty clean pattern so I hope this kit will be a breakthrough. She also had a dilute broken. It was alive at birth but it got pretty cold that night. I barely got to the other in time to save it. Fostered to Infinite Detail so I can repeat this breeding right away.

Infinite Detail x Lil' Bit Farms LB92 - 1 blue, 1 charlie. Normally I'd cull the charlie but I decided to grow it to see what I've got. I. Detail is a broody-lookin true dwarf. I thought she was a BUD but she always throws peanuts. She and LB share a Darkside ancestor and I'm hoping they will mesh. That's the main reason for growing the charlie. I've yet to come across a true charlie. I've grown a couple to breeding age, but they proved to not be true charlies, just charlie-marked, so I quit trying. Maybe this time I'll get lucky. Of course, if the type isn't there, I won't bother. Oh yeah....there were also 2 peanuts. You know they had pattern! Grrr.

A couple others were misses. I was getting a bit worried that Camaro was shooting blanks. This is the first time I've used him. Both his does missed, and the one was proven. Yesterday, I tried rebreeding some, and I got mixed up. I put Anaba with him and when she fussed, I looked at her card. Yeah, I had already put her to him. Duh. I hope her vocal refusal means that she took this time.

Speaking of vocal rabbits. Don't often come across chatty bucks. Other than the squeak or moan of a successful mating, bucks don't have much to say. LB is an exception. He's pretty loud when he "gits her done", but then he goes on to talk to his doe some more. Wonder what he's whispering in her ear.

In other news:

Got the Fairview show this weekend. Even though I don't have much to show, I'm looking forward to it. From what I've seen in the grapevine, looks like a lot of people are planning to attend, so I'll see friends. Ugh, I have to tat a jr I plan to enter. Dislike having to drag out the tattooer for just one ear. I suppose I could tat a couple others I'm not showing or at this point planning to keep.

Last thought for the day:

I've seen a trend lately and don't know what to make of it. Actually not all that lately, but it struck me again so I'll mention it. Facebook. I'm not a big Facebooker. I check in, comment sometimes, but not a real user. I've seen a lot of breeders post their sale lists on FB instead of their website or forums. Is that really all that effective? You have your friends list, but aren't many potential buyers excluded? Do you only sell to "friends"? FB doesn't come up in a rabbitry search because most FBers use their real names. So all others would only find you via a breeder list or google for rabbit sites, and if you don't post your sales on your site, you just might lose a buyer. I don't email someone to see if they have something not listed on their site. I just assume they don't, and I bet there are others like me. I also don't accept or request friends just to have access to their FB. Some people seem to collect all the friends they can. If you have rabbits for sale and a website, post them on it and give everyone who is not a "friend" the opportunity to find you. A website are still a valid and important way to put yourself out there, ya know.

tnt

October

Chilly! The calendar and weather are matched for sure. Fall color hasn't really started yet, but there's bit of yellow and red here and there. It's also been very rainy. Almost steady rain for the last 5 days. I need to get out in the garden and start cleanup. The soaking will make pulling weeds so much easier.

But first I have to finish the project in the barn. I got one brood unit done in time for some litters that were due. The does are in the Summer House until their due dates, and I've been rotating them in and out as those dates come. If they give me a litter, they stay in.

Here's a pic of the 1st finished brood unit.



There were a few flaws in the original design. It wasn't that easy to clean the wavy panels, and it wasn't leak-proof. That's a needful thing with a wood floor. I laid flat vinyl flashing over the panels which solved the leaks. It can now be raked out much faster with a squeegy, and I can do light wet cleaning as well. The urine guards are attached to the frame instead of the cages which is part of the leak-proofing. Everything is directed onto the chute. The cage strips were attached directly to the legs, and the units couldn't be moved outside for heavy cleaning very easily. I added some support rails and the cage strips now slide out of the units.

I'll update the Barn page when it's all finished. Since I'll be maintaining a smaller herd, I eliminated the unit that stood in the middle. It was mostly in the way, anyways. I have the parts if I need to put it back together. This cut the barn back to 36 holes. In a pinch, I can use the Summer House for overflow during winter, but it's my plan to not need it.

Nestbox News:
Yes, I have some babies! Considering the does have been idle for most of the summer because of the heat, they've done remarkably well. Currently 2 does on litters and 5 babies. I'll take it! A few more due next week.

Rayven x Lil' Bit Farms LB92 - 1 black. It's a tiny thing and yay...not an otter. Also 2 DOA solids. Have yet to get broken out of this little doe.

Dreamer x Smith's DA - 1 broken black with her pattern. She had 2 DOAs and they were well-marked brokens, too. I love getting an entire litter of brokens out of a broken x solid pair. Fostered to Rayven.

Lady Blaque x Lil' Bit Farms LB92 - 1 broken black, 1 broken black otter, 1 blue. I'm very pleased with this litter! Only one otter and it's not the solid blue...yay. Oh and no charlies which would be expected from broken x broken. The brokens have plenty of pattern.

Do you get the feeling I don't like otters? Well, there's a lot behind my resistance to otter peer pressure, but I won't go into it. I can live with broken otters, but I'll cull all solid otters. LB92 is broken black otter so I'll get them. He's here as a parts rabbit for type and pattern, and the added bonus that he carries self and dilute. So far he throws more selfs than otters, and that works for me.

Guinea News:
Some came up MIA, and there's only 9 of the original 14 now. All the flocks (remember, there were 3) have joined into one. I can still spot the 2 original adults, but it won't be much longer and they'll all be identical. Yeah, those supposed-to-be pieds I bought from NC are not. Oh well, at least there's more genetic diversity. Next year, I'll see about bringing in more color variety.

Show News:
Next show is Fairview, NC. Don't have much to show, but it's so close I have to go. I'm down to 1 sr buck and a couple jrs. That's bad. Sr does that were doing well on the tables are now retired to breeding. Not breeding all summer meant few fall jrs. Sr bucks are off the show string for this reason or that. I'll get some litters out of them and then decide what to do with them.

Sadly, in the last couple months, 3 local dwarf breeders were forced to sell out due to personal circumstances. Seems to be a lot of that going around. We'll miss them and their lovely bunnies at shows.

Oh and one last thing. Dark Moon Graphix is now open. Offering custom web art design and a few freebies.



tnt

September

It really cooled off a lot! It was a chilly 43 this morning. I can finally turn off the AC in the house and open windows again.

The Murfreesboro show yesterday was a real nice day. Also quite cool. It was almost too cool in the showroom. Stepping outside into the sun felt good. I don't have a lot to show for it. RR Messenger earned another BOG leg for a total of 6. Other than that, I was almost embarrassed by my entries. I have next to nothing to show these days. At least I enjoyed visiting with friends.

I did get rid of some stuff, including the old computer. I'm sure ticket buyers were excited to see something like that on the raffle table. Works for me if it's of use to someone else. No one is interested in buying an old computer, but they'd take it for free. I'd rather it benefit a rabbit club than post it in classifieds.

As I said, I have little to show lately. It has not been a great year. Spring litters didn't yield much, and later breedings were unsuccessful. The extreme summer heat wave forced a hiatus on breeding, and I don't have very many jrs for fall shows. Current srs are very limited due to molt or condition. Some of the does that showed well as jrs have matured into broody does. I'll be attending very few shows for the rest of the year, and distance will have a lot to do with it.

Sales Policies. I've always viewed long, elaborate, riddled with legalize sales policies as rather pompous. I tried to keep mine as short and simple as possible. I now know how those policies become so convoluted. Issues are always coming up that create the need for new clauses and clarification. If all buyers were upfront, and respectful of the seller's position, sales policies wouldn't be needed at all. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

Enjoy the coolth.
tnt

End of Summer

Can't say I hate to see the end. It's been too hot for the last 2-3 months and not much has been done outside. I'm looking forward to some coolth.

A remodel in the barn has been hanging over my head, and it needs doing now. Been too hot to work out there, but it should start being cooler soon. Nothing major, just an adjustment in the design of the Brush-Clean System. Even though the units are light enough to be moved around in the barn easily, moving them outside is another story. This is necessary for hard cleaning of the cage wire. I've got a plan to make the cage strips detachable from the supports. I also want to make the poop shelf removable but haven't figured that out yet. They are tied on with zip ties and I suppose it's not a big deal to just cut them off and replace the ties a couple times a year. A bit wasteful but it's probably what will happen.

I bred some does this week and last. This is another reason I need to get that job done now. I'll start with the brood holes so the does can be moved in when it gets close to their dates. I'll do the buck/jr holes in time for freezing weather.

Instead of my usual routine of breeding every open doe at once, I'm spreading it out a little. A few this week, some more next week. Most of the gals have been up for it. It will probably be hit or miss. It's always iffy to get does back in production after a summer hiatus.

My management plan is to keep the head count where it is now at around 30. I'm culling harder than ever and it might go even lower than that. I'm liking the smaller feed bill and less work. I'm down to 8 sr bucks and one of those is the loaner who will go back to his owner eventually. I'll sell some older does after I've exhausted all buck options for them. Of the current batch of jrs, I'm only keeping 2 does and I might change my mind about one of those. They're himis and I don't really need both of them.

Decided to do the Murfreesboro show this weekend. I was debating because it's one of those long drives and I have so little to enter. I need to sell a few so that made up my mind. And seeing friends I don't see as often. I don't have another show on my calendar until October.

tnt

Nuthin much new

Not a lot going on in the rabbitry. Still hot. Still just the 1 litter. Still no does bred. Still waiting for it to cool off. The boys could all be heat sterile.

I'll be getting pix of Foxy's 2 babies soon. They are about 4 weeks old now and so very promising. I think the Smith's buck was just what I needed. They're both bucks and the blue has good deep color. My dilutes haven't been that impressive lately. One buck was so light, 2 judges questioned whether he was blue or lilac.

So I'll talk about guineas again. Just got the latest issue of Backyard Poultry and there's a fun article about guinea fowl. The author talks about what she's learned from her guineas. Kind of like "What I learned in kindergarten". I'll talk about my observations of my flocks.

Yes, I referred to the flock in the plural. There are 3 separate flocks.

Flock #1: The adult pair and their 1 keet that survived hatching in the "wild". These 3 stick tightly together and the only ones that leave the fence for most of the day. Such a cute little family! In the morning, they head for the front yard and proceed to scarf up all the Japanese beetles they find. My gardens thank them! Jap beetles aren't super fast, but it's still pretty amusing to watch the birds take off like a shot and snap them out of the air. Guineas are such funny looking birds when they run.

Flock #2: The 7 from NC that were supposed to be pied. So much for that idea. They are showing some adult plumage now, and it's not there. This flock includes Rooster Cogburn. This is also the flock that forced me to change the dog and cat feeding routine. Cogburn roosts on the porch at night, and even though it's nearly dark when I take the food out, he hops down to grab a bite. I'm ok with that. I just don't want the guineas doing it, and they've gone to roost for the night. Since I changed the routine, they aren't coming up on the porch as much. BTW, I made a "rattle" to spook them off the porch. It's a plastic gallon water jug with some stones inside. I throw it at them and tied a string to it so I could reel it back in. After a few spooks, I can now just shake it at them and they take off. There is at least 1 hen in this flock.

As I write this, Flock #1 just went out front. No, I didn't see it. I heard them on the house roof. I still don't get why they don't fly over the fence which would be much easier. Who knows what lurks in the minds of guineas.

Flock #3: The 4 from the hen's last clutch. Same clutch the wild baby came from. For some reason, they aren't roosting high at night. They settle in under the shrubs around the rabbit shed. Maybe it's too crowded with all the others on the "guinea rack". Might have to throw another one together. I've only heard 1 hen in this one so far.

The only time the 3 flocks come together is in the morning when I go out to tend to the rabbits. After I'm done, I toss out the cracked corn mix for the birds. During that time, they are chasing around as I move around in the Summer House. I mess with them. Heheh. Every time I go to the side where I usually throw out the corn, they bombard the fence and even go up on the metal roof. Which then has the rabbits on alert. It's noisy. I open the corn container but don't give it to them. The next time I walk over there, I get it ready to toss. Then do something else with the rabbits. When I'm ready to leave, I wait until they are at another side and then toss the corn. Mad dash to the feed station ensues!

I find it very interesting that these flocks are so segregated. I don't know how they know, but the adult pair recognize the baby they raised. They chase their other 4 identical keets away.

Update: Found one of #3 dead the same morning I wrote this blog entry. I think what might have happened is that it was seriously injured by an adult. I assume that based on where I found it. There is a narrow space between the shed and Summer House. More than once, I've caught an adult beating up these smallest keets as they move through there. There isn't room for them to move out of the way fast enough. I now have the space blocked. I'm pretty sure it was the 3 week older singleton that was also a hen. That's an unfortunate loss because there's not a lot of hens.

I'm thinking the hen won't lay another clutch this year. Apparently, if they raise a clutch, they don't lay again until it's grown. By then, it will be fall, and too late for any more.

I've seen some ads for color guineas. Notably Royal Purple and Lavender. I believe this is what my first pair was. I definitely want to bring some in. Hopefully next year. I have all the guineas I need right now.

In other news:

I have a new computer! Yay! I took advantage of TN's Tax Holiday last weekend and upgraded from my old XP to Win 7. I'm loving it! XP was getting clunkier by the day. The new one is so much faster and Win 7 is a very slick interface. Almost every operation has been simplified. Bout time, MicroSoft! Not only that, but the eMachine I settled on (great price) is so tiny. My desk has a space on the one lower side for the CPU and the old puter took up most of it. The new one is so small, I can put it on top of the desk which gives me easier access to its functions, like the DVD drive and USB ports. This also means I don't have to pull the desk out to change connections in the back. I'm going to install some shelves in the old CPU space for more storage. Oh yeah and another thing. The eMachine is nearly silent. I read 1 review that said "you can hear it thinking". The only time I've heard a peep out of it is during boot up.

I got a new toy, too. A Netbook that was covered by the tax free weekend. I've been thinking about it since I got mobile broadband. Didn't really need it, but there are times it will come in handy. The occasional overnight rabbit show. When the power goes out for any length of time. I usually end up reading a book by candlelight or the clip-on book light (not very comfortable), but now I can go online or play games when that happens. It's nowhere near as powerful or fast as the desktop, but good enough for the price and size.

Oh wait, one more new thing. I guess the title of this entry isn't accurate. I bought a new domain name. I've owned 2 for a long time, and didn't see myself needing another. As I was backing up and weeding out my bookmarks in anticipation of the new puter, I discovered a site I've always liked was closed and the domain name had gone up for sale. It was originally a decal store with really unique graphics. It can cost a small fortune to acquire a domain name 2nd hand, but the price was very reasonable. So I snapped it up! For now, it's forwarded to my other domain and host. I'll eventually move it over so the URL matches the site. DarkMoonGraphix.com. Stay tuned.

tnt

Random stuff

Still so hot and humid! I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be glad to see the end of summer, but I'm just biding time in the house until it cools off. I'm hoping this hot summer means a warmer winter. The last couple have been too consistently cold, but we should be due for a milder one. I hope. It's why I moved down here.

I have one little litter. Just one. 4 does were due this week, but only one was successful. Foxy Lady x Smith's DA has 1 black and 1 blue. Yay! It's been a while since I got a live dilute. Even better, they're selfs. I would have been ok with agouti, but I learned that plan could go off track when I got the otter in the agouti litter. The agoutis were brought in for type, but the plan was always to keep more selfs. Oh and the only broken in Foxy's litter was a DOA dilute peanut. Figures.

The does that failed went back out to the Summer House, and Foxy has the fan all to herself. She was really antsy at first, which is unusual for her. She didn't pull much fur so I added some from the stash. That was probably a mistake but I wasn't thinking. I should have waited a bit before giving the box back to her. She immediately began pulling it out. I heard furious squeaking and hurried to see what had happened to the kits. She had pulled the blue out with a mouthful of fur! Yikes. The kit seems ok. She settled down the 2nd day and the neighbor doe being gone might have helped. The kits are fed and clean. They've been migrating to the front of the box (probably because of the heat), and what fur is left is bonded to the shavings. I've removed more shavings so they don't bounce out of the box off the thick mattress. Hmmm, maybe Foxy knew it was too hot for fur.

I have no other does bred. It's just too hot so I'm letting it go for now. Besides, even though I've never had a case of heat sterility, it could happen this year. It hasn't been below 85 for more than a day in weeks. I promised to breed a sold doe, but I'll have to warn the buyer it'll be a crap shoot. The buck is going through a rough molt, too. That's said to be a bad time to breed.

Of dogs and cats and guineas:

My routine has been to feed the dog and cats in the morning when I go out to feed the rabbits. Whipper gets his in a dish on the porch. The cats' food goes in a dish in a plastic pet carrier on my work bench. This is to keep the dog out of it. I guess due to the heat, Whipper hasn't been eating in the morning. He just leaves it till evening. I hate that because it gets infested with ants. In the past, I've tried to force him to eat when I give it to him by taking it away if he doesn't. He goes hungry till the next morning. Didn't like doing that because he's not a fat dog, but it did work. I might give him a cookie which he'll eat anytime to hold him over. The cats mob me whenever I rattle the carrier so it doesn't really matter when they get theirs.

Cogburn learned dog food is tasty and comes up to snatch tidbits out of the dish. At first Whipper would nudge him away, but he gave up and ignores the bird now. I didn't mind that. It was funny to watch, and it's not like the roo eats that much.



Then come the guineas. Grrrr. The 7 older keets charge up on the porch when I feed the 4-foots and mob the dog's dish. I've been trying to teach Whipper it's ok to chase them away, and he kinda gets it. Yesterday had me running back and forth and it was way too hot for that! I'm out tending the bunnies, and there the keets go up on the porch. A lot of scrambling and noise as they furiously grab beakfuls and Whipper tries to get them away. I go running back, grab the broom to shoo them off the porch. I must have looked like a crazy woman! This happened several times in the time I was trying to feed and water the rabbits, and I was way sweatier than necessary. I even tossed out the corn for the birds which should have kept them busy, but it didn't for long. Dog food is better. Not only do I not like the guineas on the porch, I can't have them eating all the dog and cat food. Oh forgot to mention. Cogburn also discovered the cat food and goes in the carrier to get it. So of course, the guineas do, too.

Ok fine. New routine. I'm waiting until dark to put out dog and cat food. The birds have gone to roost by then. I just have to remember that's the new routine so I don't forget to feed them.

I'm going to turn out the 4 keets still in the Summer House as soon as I cut the grass. Probably today. I like to mow at least once before I turn them loose so they aren't so startled by the lawn mower. The older guineas aren't concerned.

tnt

Night Show

Last night was the Taylorsville Night Show. Just as hot and humid as last year. Came home all sticky and grody. At least I was done fairly early. I hit the road about 11:30 pm and got home around 2:30 am. Really don't like driving that far at night. Ran into some drizzle and light fog which slowed me down even more. I can make much better time home from a show in daylight.

I had nothing to show and only entered 2 pre-molt brokens. As expected, they didn't show well. The only reason I went at all was to sell some buns and guineas. At least that part worked out well. I came home with 4 less buns, and no guineas. Well, I also brought home the new buck that I had to pick up.

The guineas generated a lot of interest! I brought 14 keets. 6 were pre-sold for sure, 4 were maybes that did sell, and the other 4 sold easily. I could have sold all I could bring! I'll keep that in mind for the future and incubate all the eggs I can get my hands on. I'd like to bring in more colors. I'll look into that in the future as well.

I'll have to get real serious about a pen for them if I want to incubate and sell on a regular basis. The grow-out cage works to some extent but it's a hassle. I had to refresh their water a couple times a day because they stomped in it which splashed it out and fouled what was left. The cage was in the way when I was tending to the rabbits. I learned to water the keets after I was done walking around in there. Hmmm, maybe I could rig some sort of cage for the water dish. Something that would allow them to get their heads in but not their clumsy feet.

There is still the one free-range keet following its parents around. I was thinking about plugging the space beside the gate that it was walking through to keep it confined to the fenced yard until it's big enough to fly over the fence. Turns out that little bugger can already fly!!! I looked out yesterday to see both adults and the keet on the porch roof! I had no idea they could fly that high that young!

There's still the 3 I picked out to keep from that clutch running loose in the Summer House. And the older singleton. That one might be a hen. I'll give them another week or two and then turn them out with the rest. That will be a population of 14. Ticks and bugs are history!

Shouldn't I be talking about rabbits? There's really not a lot going on there. I have to move the 4 does that are due this week back into the shed today. They need their nestboxes now.

I lost another baby. One of K10's brokens looked peaked Thursday. Friday it was dead. Don't know what happened there. Might have been the stress of moving the litter out of the shed. On one hand a sad loss (it was the best marked), on the other, I'm ok with it. I prefer to lose weak constitutions earlier rather than later.

Taleah's litter and the otter fosterling are still my keepers. Also still liking Infinite Detail's black.

Oh, do you want to know about the new buck? Against all my attempts to avoid otter, he's a broken black otter. Lil' Bit Farms LB92. Wonderful pattern and darn good type. Another plus is that he carries self and dilute. I sure hope he works out for me. Many thanks to Candy at Root'n Toot'n Rabbitry for this guy.

tnt

Wicked Hot

The thermometer said 97 one day this week. 95 most of the time. The yard and gardens are suffering the lack of rain in this heat. Of course, if it rained, it would cool off a bit. Forecast says maybe today. At least the lack of rain also means lower humidity. It could be a lot worse.

Had the 1st casualty this week. A 4 week old baby died. I've never lost a rabbit to the heat before. At least it wasn't one of the more valuable kits.

Yesterday, I moved all the does and litters out to the Summer House except one. King's K10 is still inside because her litter is barely 3 weeks old. She's in the lowest tier at the end near the window, and now has the fan all to herself. I took the nestbox out earlier this week to give her some room to stretch out. I worried I'd lose the kits if they stayed in it. They have a resting board in place of the box. I'll move them outside in another week.

It's sad the the only litter that really matters to me is Taleah's. And the otter she's fostering. K's litter is 2nd in that I want to see the type she throws, even though the brokens aren't exciting for pattern. Infinite Detail's solid black is a maybe. Other than that....all pet quality.

I was going to breed some does but the heat made me back off. I decided to let it go for now. It's just too hot. I have a few litters due in 2 weeks, and not sure how to handle it. The cages outside aren't set up for nestboxes. The doors aren't big enough to get one in there. I do have the 3 larger cages I set up as holding cages for weanlings, but they don't have rodent and snake proof wire like the rest. Keeping my fingers crossed that it does cool off by then.

In guinea news:

Pictures!

These are the 2 "wild" keets and their parents. Now about 3 weeks old. I'm amazed they are still out there. The parents are bringing them to the feeding station now. I toss out the cracked corn/bird seed mix for them and the others. I was doubly amazed to discover the keets can get up on the roost the adults use. It's a wood rack I built for them under the carport outside where the rabbits are. The rig is almost 5' tall! Have no idea how they get up there. Looking at the situation last night, I think they use the wheelbarrow that's there as a jumping off point. Considering the keets are so small and have no flight feathers yet, that's a pretty good trick.

These are the older NC pieds. About 10-12 weeks old...I forget. Cogburn is so happy to have a "flock" again. There is a bit of bickering at the feeding station between the 2 groups. I toss seed out in 2 different place to give them some peace.






This old converted rabbit cage holds the 17 (same 2nd clutch as the 2 free-range keets) I hatched in the incubator. Plus the singleton from the 1st clutch that's about 3 weeks older. This cage works pretty well until they are big enough to turn loose in the Summer House. I just move it around to give them cleaner ground, and rake out under it as needed. It also saves on feed. They throw it all over and can pick it off the ground.

I picked out 4 of the bigger ones that I'll be keeping and turned them loose yesterday. I have at least 1 order for 6, and a tentative order for 4 to deliver at the Taylorsville show next weekend. I'll take all 14 with me and maybe be able to sell the other 4 as well. I won't be turning those loose. It will be too hard to catch them when it comes time to load up for the show, so they'll stay in the cage until then.

This was taken earlier this spring. This turkey strolls into the yard sometimes and the guineas dash out to greet her. It's a funny thing to watch. The guineas are good-sized birds but the turkey looks like a dinosaur towering over them. After the initial meet & greet, they lose interest in each other. Probably because they don't speak the same language.

I fear I may have lost something this morning. I heard the guinea's distress call (not the loud alarm call) that I heard when the cat got one of the keets a couple weeks ago. It was still dark and I don't know why the guinea would have moved off the roost at this time. I hope it wasn't a keet. I also turned out a couple garden bunnies yesterday and the one cat might take them. That would be Abby, the younger one, who hunts birds and other things. Stevie has never bothered garden bunnies and doesn't actively hunt birds. I could live without Abby.

tnt

July

Happy Birthday, America.

It's been dry and hot, but not as uncomfortable as the last couple weeks. The dry probably helped a lot there. Rain has missed this area lately, and humidity is much lower. When I went out to close up the rabbitry last night, it was actually cool out there. I imagine the bunnies going "aaah". Maybe I'll breed a couple does this morning since the bucks should feel pretty good after a cooler day and night.

Down to just 4 does on litters in the shed. 3 litters are about 3 weeks old. The other almost 2 weeks. When I checked litters last night I missed the black in the youngest litter. Ok where the heck is it? I have baby saver around the brood holes but it doesn't cover the cage door and I've had kits get out before. I found the kit in the gutter! Glad it didn't make it to the floor, or into the bucket at the end of the gutter. I had cleaned recently, and the bucket was empty so it might not have been a disaster. Well, the bucket was mostly empty. There was still some stuff stuck in the bottom so the kit would have been real dirty. But before that, it might have been hard to find if it had even occurred to me to look in the bucket. I had cleaned out nestboxes and it was full of fur and shavings.

There's not much exciting in the litters. Too many 5-8% brokens and blacks. I probably would have culled the charlies at birth, but some of them are out of the newest opal buck and I wanted to see the type he throws. And there were 1st timers that needed to raise a litter. I guess I'll be doing the Knoxville Fair in a couple months. I was debating because the meat judges piss me off, but it's a great place to unload pet culls.

So what do I like in the litters? There's the himi and black from RR Taleah x Back In Black. I'm hoping BB shortened them up. Taleah is a bit long in the midsection and a short buck works best with her.

There's an interesting black from Infinite Detail x Back In Black as well. It looks like it could be a throwback to I.Detail's dam that came out of the Darkside line. Fur seems longer and that's a trait from that grand dam.

And then there's this damn otter that came out of Foxy Lady x Rhapsody's Burt. I was expecting agouti, dilute, broken, and got a black otter. The DOAs were all those other things. Grrr. After going on about how I don't do or want otter, it's the cutest kit in all the litters. I mean seriously cute! I think it got the stuff I wanted from Burt...head, width. Now what am I gonna do? Oh and worse, I'm pretty sure it's a buck. This is gonna put a big wrench in my program. Oh well, at least I know that pair meshed. Foxy is already rebred to Burt since I fostered the otter to Taleah.

I'm heading over to the Dickson show tomorrow. Not looking forward to that long drive (5 hrs) but I hope to sell buns that need selling. Especially since I bought another buck. Yeah, I did. I'm not getting him till later this month so I'll keep it under my hat for now. I decided to just enter the first 2 shows instead of staying for all 3. The sooner I can get on the road for home the better. I don't have much to show anyways. I only entered 3.

In guinea news:

The adults still have 2 "wild" keets. I'm amazed they are still out there. I'm sure the heat had a lot to do with their survival after hatching. After losing 1 to the cat and then another disappeared, the adults are very protective of them. I've seen the male run the cat away when she came too close, and he also fends off Cogburn. Yesterday, the hen brought them to the "feeding station" for the first time. I have to remember to take the camera out with me when I feed this morning. She hasn't come into the fence much since they hatched, although the keets can and do walk right through the chainlink. She will pace and fret outside the fence when they do. You'd think she would just fly over the fence to be with them, but sometimes they are birdbrains that way.

I turned the oldest keets out into the yard this week. They were too annoying in the Summer House. Even though I clipped a wing before turning them loose in there, they can hop pretty high. Had to run netting to keep them from roosting on the lowest rabbit cages. When I put the youngest keets out there in the "brood" cage, they were immediately on top of it. Out they went. So now I'm tossing cracked corn/birdseed mix out for them, which also makes the adults and Cogburn come running.

Cogburn adopted the older keets as his flock. So there's now 3 flocks in residence and they bicker. Cog and the adults go at it pretty seriously so I have to toss the seed in 2 separate places so they aren't so close to each other. It will be interesting to see if all of them eventually integrate into one flock. I'm going to sell most of the youngest keets. I have a couple tentative orders for them, and will take them to Taylorsville in a couple weeks. Of course the orders were for more hens but I don't think I can fill the orders that way. I'm just now hearing the female call from the oldest ones so I doubt I'll be able to sex the youngest ones in time. Probably have to settle for straight run. Including me.

More bird news:

My canary hen is setting on 2 eggs. After I sold the finches, I moved the canaries out of the big aviary cage into smaller, more easily maintained cages. The pair that were together in the aviary went into the larger of the 2 cages, and the single male into a slightly smaller one. I put a small dish of grit in for them and the hen decided this made a fine nest. Even though I hadn't given her anything to make a nest with. She laid them on the grit. When I cleaned out the big cage, I found more eggs in the tray. She had been laying all along. I tried to get her to use a better nest, but she wasn't having it. So fine, the dish it is. I lined it with some tissue and noticed she had pulled in some string I had given her after the fact. I'll give her a handful of hay today. The tissue alone isn't a very good nest. Sooo...we'll see how this goes.

tnt

Building a better rabbit.

Thoughts on abnormal genes.

The goal of breeding is to improve the animal - breed to the standard for solid type. Health, temperament, fur, and flesh condition are also traits to be selected. Culling to eliminate undesirable traits and defects is part of the process.

A lot of high-ranking breeders insist the Max Factor (MF) gene is vital for nationally competitive dwarfs. Perhaps so, since that is what wins these days. But is it a better rabbit? Why are we perpetuating such a defective gene?

MF advocates argue that by that definition, the dwarf gene is defective in producing peanuts. Yes, that's true, but it can be avoided to some extent. A false dwarf doe (lacking the dwarf gene) bred to a true dwarf buck (the show bunny) can produce show quality offspring and there will be no peanuts. Other dwarf breeds also deal with peanuts, and it's just a fact of life with a dwarf breed. However, those other breeds do not accept another defective gene as desirable.

MF is harder to avoid if you are breeding to the current fashion. MF carriers
are bred to each other to get that desired type, but at the same time producing
more kits that must be destroyed. Many a MF breeder has lamented the high number of MF kits in a litter. One of the advantages of an animal that has litters is being able to choose the best from the litter. If there is only one viable kit (or none), there are no options. You have to rely on the parents to give their all in that one kit. Since these "high quality" rabbits probably cost a very dear penny, that's asking a lot.

Back to the question - is it a better rabbit? One of the main things that makes a species successful is its ability to reproduce. Natural selection culls defects very quickly. Man steps in, breeds a mutation that wouldn't survive in nature, and creates a new breed. That's all well and good, but sometimes fashion creates very unsuccessful animals. Is a dog breed successful if it can only reproduce with man's intervention (C-section)?

Peanuts rarely survive past 3 days. We don't have to destroy them, nature does it for us. MF kits can survive with the terrible deformities if not culled at birth. Some breeders allow them just to see how long they'll survive, or worse, because they have a soft heart, but the poor things are usually blind with constant eye infections, can't get around well enough to keep themselves clean, and they can't breed. While there can be an entire litter of peanuts, it's usually just one or two, leaving some healthy siblings. Breeding MF, the odds are much less favorable.

I could include hippos in this, but no one knows just what, if anything, they contribute to the breed. They might be a side affect of MF or the dwarf gene, and are becoming more common. No one seems to be going out of their way to eliminate the gene.

I admire the European (especially the UK) view on animal husbandry. Certain types of breeding are frowned upon and even illegal because of the defects it produces. They don't appreciate the MF gene, and it's ironic that it came from there. Maybe it was culled to export sales?

While MF is mostly a Netherland thing, other dwarf breeds may be victims, too. If Netherlands were used in development, or to improve type, the risk of introducing the MF gene is there.

I should mention that I haven't seen MF in quite a while. I didn't go out of my way to eliminate it, nor do I seek it specifically. It just went away. I think mostly due to MF-carrier does that never produced any keepers. That's pretty much the last time I saw it. I'm sure it will pop up again as I bring in new rabbits. I just don't think about it either way when choosing new stock.

Sadly, Americans are slaves to fashion with less regard for the integrity of gene pools. If ARBA was to look more closely at how our Netherland Dwarfs are being bred, would they consider educating judges on how to recognize this defective gene? I doubt it. Is it more important to breed a winning rabbit or a better rabbit? Why can't we have both in the same package?

tnt

Summer litters

The heat is still brutal. There's now only 6 working does in the shed and only 3 have litters. The other 3 are due next week. They seem to be handling it ok. They lay against the front of the cage to catch the fan breeze. I'm just running one oscillating fan. The does are all in adjoining holes so it hits them all. This is definitely a breed that can take the heat better. I can't imagine trying keep a larger breed safe in this heat.

Got a few new litters this week. Nothing exciting in the broken department. 2 litters (3 kits) are by Rhapsody's Burt and I'm looking forward to how they turn out. Did they get his big fat head? I want that!

One of his kits isn't identified for color yet. Dreamer's 1st time (good girl!). Anything could come out of this buck. I talked about Burt's colorful heritage in a previous blog. It started out pink and had an orange cast that made me think tort. By afternoon, faint spots had appeared so it is broken. Maybe dilute, but I don't know. Blue usually has color at birth. I haven't seen opal in the box yet so don't know what that looks like. Non-extension broken (sable pt, tort) is often colorless at birth, especially with 10% pattern. I'll have to wait for fur to make a better guess.

I have a bit of a dilemma. I should really back off breeding for the rest of the summer. Predictions say this heat is here to stay. That's not a big problem for the well-proven does. They can take the summer off after their current litters, and some of them will go up for sale after this anyways. It's the younger ones that I need to prove or keep producing. And then there's the Smith's black on loan. I need litters from him before I have to return him, and he's a new option for does I thought I was done with. These two bucks are the MVPs in the barn right now. I guess I'll use them on whichever does are open for them. I better get to that this morning. It was a bit cooler and less humid last night.

In guinea news:

Have I got guineas! All the 18 eggs in the incubator hatched. One died the 2nd day. I think it was the one that had difficulty coming out of the egg. I helped open the shell, but maybe it was just weak to begin with. With the 7 older NC pieds and the 3 week old singleton, that's 25 keets! I think I'll sell some. I only need maybe 10 or 12 to maintain a working population.

The 4 I left with the hen also hatched. They left the nest yesterday morning and that was so cute. Both parents showed them around the garden. I knew I should have cut the grass before they hatched. They're so tiny they can barely see over it and I have to look for movement in the grass to see where they are. The parents seem very protective of them, whistling and chuckling to keep them in line. Unfortunately, it's not likely that they'll survive. I see the parents in the garden this morning but it's too overgrown to see if the keets are there.

tnt

Sum Sum Summertime

Whew, it are hot! I broke down and shut up the house and turned on the AC. I really hate to do that, but I was miserable. I'd much rather have fresh air and the sounds of outside inside. Oh yeah, and there's the electric bill. I like my minimal summer electric bill.

Spent some time in the Summer House this morning. It was time to turn out the guinea keets that have been living in a cage out there. First I had to muck it out. Haven't done that since I moved rabbits out in March. It needed doing and didn't want to worry about keets slipping out the gate while I was hauling manure out. It wasn't too bad in there as far as working in the heat. There was a bit of a breeze coming through.

My poor working does in the shed. There were just 11, and only 2 have litters at their side. I realized they don't have to stay in there all the time. I can give them a break from the heat by putting them in the Summer House until their due date. So I moved the 2 does with 5 week old litters out, and 2 open does. One kindled a DOA litter last night, and the other was a miss (again from Sterling). The rest are due today, later this week, and next week. I'll move them out if they fail. This also helps with the heat in the shed, I'm sure. Less body heat.

It will also be easier when I'm breeding them. Instead of hauling them out to their buck and then back to their hole in the shed, I can just leave them out there. Oh yeah, and less cleaning for me in the shed.

One of the does due today has pulled a pile of fur so I'm expecting them anytime. The other is still messing with her hay nest.

We had our Rendevous at the Smith's Saturday. That's always a nice time. Gary loaned me a real nice black buck for my broken does. I begged. He kinda owed me, although I didn't mention that. I loaned him brokens to get him started in the variety 2 years ago. This buck isn't out of my line but in a way it is. Some of my original brokens came from my good friend in MI, and this black is out of a broken chestnut Gary bought from him at convention. He might not have had a shot at the buck if not for me being a friend of the breeder. I'll be using him as much as possible before I hook up with Smiths again to return him.

In guinea news:

Oh cool! I just now looked in the incubator (it's here in the living room) and one of the guinea eggs pipped. I knew it should be any time now.

When I turned the older keets out into the Summer House, they immediately had a dust bath orgy. That was fun to watch. The cage they were in has a wire bottom so they can't do that in there. I just put the cage on the ground so they can pick at the feed that drops in the dirt, but they can't wallow. They also began finding the bugs crawing on the ground and in the manure. Should go through less feed now.

I'm getting serious about the poultry pen. I ordered something to serve as a coop. I looked all over online and pre-fab chicken coop kits are expensive! I found lots of ideas online and in Backyard Poultry magazine, but I'm not really motivated to build one from scratch.

One guy used dog houses. Hmmm, there's an idea. So I looked into that. Still pretty spendy and they weren't big enough. Would need more than one. A forum friend turned us onto a Petsmart coupon that was only good for a few days. So I went to Petsmart.com and found the perfect thing. It's a simple wood flat-roof style with a hinged top. Price was right (and saved $15 with the coupon) and maybe even less than I could have built from scratch. It will go together very easily and just require a little customizing for birds. The dimensions (biggest model) given are almost as big as my kitchen island! That's pretty darn good sized. I think this will work.

Now to make up my mind where the pen will go. My original plan was to pen in the back corner of the fence. A lot of work that will be. It's hard to dig post holes in this rocky ground. Then I thought I could put it on the east side of the rabbit shed. The fence is about 12' from the shed. I could connect shed and fence and would just need to finish the ends.

My other option is to use the rest of the carport where the rabbits are. That would be super easy. I can just run wire around the carport's poles. The hardest part would be building the gate. They'd have a roof over their heads, and be more protected from predators. Whipper keeps bad guys out of the yard, but beside the shed, he couldn't help much, and I'd have to put some kind of netting over the entire thing. The only problem with this option is that I do store things there. Like the lawn tractor, garden wagons, and wheelbarrow. Lately I've been lazy and just park the tractor beside the porch. It's handy to electricity if I need to jump it or pump the tires. I guess I could just get a cover tarp for it. Should anyways if I'm just leaving it there. Yeah, I'm really leaning towards this option.

It's my plan that the chickens be allowed to range in the fenced yard most of the time. It will be fun to have more pretty birds in the garden. Guineas aren't all that pretty, ya know. And Cogburn really really needs some hens. He's rather annoying and needs something else to occupy him.

In other news:

Finally got to see the neighbors. There are 3 of them! 2 horses and a donkey. I thought at first it was a mule, but then got a better look at it.

Like the new look of the blog? I didn't care for any of the ones that were originally offered when I started it, so I just tweaked a plain template. When I logged in to post today, a pop up offered some new ones. This one's soft colors match my logo and hummingbirds are special to me.

Keep cool.

tnt

June

Summer is in full swing. Been uncomfortably hot and humid lately. It threatens rain almost everyday as thunderstorms flare up. Some of them have been intense, lightening and thunder cracks way too close, but not a lot of rain out of them.

Current litters are about 4 wks old. Now they are cute! Rayven's look like 2 black does and a chocolate buck. Haven't sexed Anaba's yet. Emaline's kit (fostered to Rayven so she could be sold) is a doe, I think. None of the himis are showing much color and that's disappointing. But it's been very warm since they were born so not unusual. All of them are looking promising at this point.

How can I see that at 4 wks? Well, I know my lines for one thing. All these kits are the same size and all have small ears. The bigger longer-eared non-show bunnies begin developing about now and I don't see that anywhere. That's not to say some might go less than showable in the next couple weeks. My BUDs tend to have shorter ears than the typical BUDs, but they will be longer than I like, and they can begin to gain in weight/size. I've noticed the himis from the Raspberry Run line will change quite a bit soon. Now that I've learned how that line develops, I can make early cull decisions.

We have our Southeastern Dwarf Fanciers Rendevous this coming weekend. I always look forward to that. Other than that I don't have concrete plans for any shows in the near future. I've updated the sale page and pre-sales are pretty much what will get me to a show for a while. I only have 4 jrs to show, and 2 of those are now sr age but not mature enough to compete as srs. Not really worth the drive for just 2 or 3 rabbits.

In guinea news:

The 1 lone keet from the 1st clutch is still alone. The other 5 eggs didn't hatch. Poor baby. I wonder how it will integrate into the flock later. The gooseneck clamp lamp I had set up as the brooder heat crapped out the other day. The keet seemed cold at first, but by the next day it had adjusted. At 11 days it has enough feathers and it's been hot enough so I wasn't too worried. But I did have to find something to replace the lamp for when the 2nd clutch hatches (if it does). I must be off on my calculations as I had the 1st or 2nd week of June as estimated hatch date. When I candled the eggs the other day, they are only half full. Hatch is definitely not happening right away.

The hen is still sitting most of the time on her remaining eggs. I don't feed them much during the warm months. They don't need it, they find all they need free-ranging. I began tossing some bird seed out to them when I feed the rabbits. Just to remind them where they live. This seems to keep them on the property. Now they come running again when I head out there. If the keets she's sitting on survive, I want her to show them this.

Interesting thing about guineas. Ducks and sometime chickens will bond to a human if that's the first thing they see when they hatch. Not so with guineas. The keets are very wild and will panic and dash around if I even come near. The older keets outside are calmer now when I feed and water them, but if I put my hands near them, they run away. I'll have to put the chicken wire top on the brooder bin pretty soon. The loner will be able to jump high soon and I sure don't want it loose in the house! I'd never catch it!

I forgot to mention in the last blog. Lost one of the NC keets. Don't know what happened but it was one of the smallest ones.

In other news:

There's a horsey neighbor again. One was trailered in about a week ago, but I never saw it. The field is so over-grown that I could only see it if it came down near the gate and it didn't do that. Then the trailer was back about 4 days later, but apparently they brought a different horse and took the other one away. I've glimpsed this one when it came close to the back fence. Also over-grown back there so it's just a glimpse. My dogs sometimes alert me when it's in that area. All I know is that it's brown.

tnt

Taylorsville, NC

Don't have anything to brag about. It was a pretty good show for fun and I did sell some things which made it worth the drive. It was such a long hot day! Very humid. The show ran way too long. I think the officials were new to this (not the usuals) and judges were standing around waiting for a breed. A couple judges were no-shows which also put a glitch in the efficiency. I didn't get home until 8:30 and that's pretty bad for T-ville. I was grumpy and very tired by the time I got home.

And geez, did I feel grody! I've noticed this before at this fairgrounds when it's hot and humid. My skin was so sticky I couldn't wait to get home and wash off! I think the fans everyone set up for their rabbits have a lot to do with it. It's blowing stuff on the floor all around. We're sweaty and it sticks to us. Yuck! I saw evidence of this a couple years ago at the T-ville night show. My friend and I stayed at a motel that time. She showed me the white motel washcloth after she washed her face off and it was covered in black soot! I didn't notice it on mine so much because I went straight to the shower with soap.

In guinea news:

I moved the incubator eggs off the rack in anticipation of the hatch. I candled them all and only found 6 out of the 18 that looked viable. I moved them just in the nick of time! The next morning, 1 hatched! So far there's still just the one. Poor little thing looks so small and lonely in the brooder bin. It's eating and drinking well. I gave it an old washcloth to snuggle against and it seems to like that.

Since I couldn't count on the rest hatching, and at this point I'm thinking they won't, I stole 10 more from the hen's 2nd clutch. Estimated hatch for those is around the 1st week of June. This time I candled them before placing in the incubator, and they seem to be good to go. I'm not using the turner rack this time. I'm just turning them by hand once a day or so. The hen still has about 10 and she's sitting almost constantly now.

The older keets are out in the rabbitry in a converted rabbit cage. They're still too small to let out of the cage. I'll turn them loose in the rabbitry in about a week and they can learn insect catching skills on the rabbit manure. They should be big enough to turn out free range in a month or so.

Haven't decided when my next show is. I'm in a rather bad place right now. I only have 4 jrs to enter and most are now officially srs. They aren't yet competive as srs. I'll need an ulterior motive to drive very far to a show.

tnt

Another litter

Just one. Anaba x Raspberry Run Messenger has 3 lovely himis. She's my best himi show doe (6 legs) so I looked forward to this litter. When I say lovely, I really mean that. I don't think of newborn kits as cute, especially pink ones. I don't see cute until they are 2 1/2 to 3 weeks old. Open eyes, round faces, fuzzy...that's cute. Anaba's kits are all the same small size (a good thing), clean, plump, and pretty in pink. She's taking very good care of them, and as all my himis, she's very calm about it.

Rana failed. She built such a nice furry nest, but dumped the DOA litter on the wire. Looks like she had difficulty getting them out. There were only 2. She was 2 days late, but I didn't worry much because her last litter was late. I had my hopes up too high since she didn't do too bad the 1st time. Try try again.

I should get a photo of Rana. I just noticed this morning that she has perfect "poodle pom poms" on her front legs. Does pull nest fur so funny sometimes. Her fur is very thick and lush unlike most rabbits that have smoother fur on their legs.

All the does than needed rebreeding are bred except for Rana and Gypsy Eyes. I'll get to them real soon.

Rayven is also taking excellent care of her 3 + the himi fosterling.

In guinea news:

I picked up my order of 8 keets on Monday. About an hour drive into NC. Interesting guy. Has a wonderful place in the mountains. He only raises guineas and has a pretty cool setup for that. Turns out he's published author of historical novels.

The keets are in a rubbermaid bin in the kitchen. They're only about 2 weeks old, too small to go outside yet. I'll move them into the rabbit cage I converted to accommodate young birds until they are big enough to turn loose in the Summer House. When they are big enough that they don't fit through the chainlink fence, I'll turn them out to free range.

In the meantime, it's kind of smelly in that area of the kitchen. The chick starter feed gets...ummm...fragrant. I guess because they kick it out and it mingles with their droppings and the shavings which might be a bit wet because they also kick water all over. I have to clean it out every few days. Oh well, should only be another week or so and they can go outside. They grow fast.

The hen is sitting on her 2nd clutch more. I've marked the calendar and will try and save as many as possible when the hatch comes. I already know that hatchling keets won't survive long around here.

Abby would probably be the one to get them. Abby is the bird hunter. Her mother Stevie is the ratter. I've seen a decline in birds at the bird feeders and the bluebirds abandoned their initial attempts to nest in the birdhouses. Grrr. Abby even curls up for a nap in the birdbath near the feeders. Without a lot of rain, it's dry most of the time.

One of the things I have to do before the keets can go outside is plug up the places Abby gets into the Summer House. I caught her in there a couple times and couldn't figure out how she got in. The 2nd time I watched and what she does is climb the dogrun and slip in the gap between the top of the run and the carport roof. I'll patch it with chicken wire. Haven't caught her in there in a while, but I know as soon as I put those small peeping things out here, she will try.

Not much else. Next show is Taylorsville, NC, and that's probably it for a while. There's the SDF Rendevous in June but that's not a show. I don't have anything else on docket until the Newport, TN show in August. I'm debating the Dickson, TN in July. That's the other side of Nashville and such a long drive. I'm really backing off long drives to shows this year. I did enjoy the Dickson show, so I'll see how I feel when the time comes.

tnt