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
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
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
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
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Got a few babies.
Not too bad. Looks like blanks again from Sterling, but at least there are babies.
Rayven x Dot.com - 5! 3 alive. She's a teensy doe so that surprised me. And just her 2nd try. 2 blacks, 1 choc. Bummer...no brokens.
Emaline x Raspberry Run Messenger - 1 himi and 3 peanuts. I left her the 1 live peanut with the viable kit. Then decided to sell her to someone who asked for a himi doe and fostered the viable kit to Rayven. Took a while for her to get it right. This was her 6th attempt.
Yes, I give does more chances than most breeders would. My himi lines tend to take longer to produce so I keep trying until they do. They eventually do.
Voodoo Chile x Ford's Ranger had a pile of peanuts! 4...2 were alive. Wellhell.
I have yet another opal buck. He was dangled in front of me at the TN show last weekend. Since Sterling hasn't produced, it was a lucky dangle for that seller. His name is Rhapsody's Burt and he goes back to Fandango, one of my favorite brood bucks. He's out of a Fandango son that I sold to someone else. Wonderful head/ear on Burt! He has a wide solid body but it's a bit flat on the topline. I'll try him with the brokens for his dilute gene and head/ear. And as back up for Sterling.
Since Fandango carried EVERYTHING, there's a good chance Burt does too. Self, choc, and non-extension could come out of this guy.
In guinea news:
The hen laid another clutch under the dayliles in the front yard last week. Thursday or Friday is when I noticed her MIA and the male standing guard. This is a very informal garden around the electric pole created to eliminate trimming around the pole. I decided to leave them alone to see if she hatched them. Then she seemed to abandon them. The hen last year only left the nest long enough to graze. This one spends little to no time on it.
A few months ago, the electric company replaced old poles with new. They had to leave the old pole because the phone wire was on it. Had to wait for the phone company to move the wire before they would come back to remove the old pole. When I saw the guinea nest was less than 3 feet from the pole, I just knew they would come out to get the pole now. Sure enough, they came for it the other day. They didn't disturb anything much. They just pull it straight out of the ground.
So I figured the guinea wouldn't return for sure. Darned if she did! She sat on it for quite a while yesterday. I don't hold much expectation for a successful hatch, she's just not sitting regularly.
Should be hearing from the NC guinea breeder soon about my order for keets.
In other news:
The horsey neighbors are gone already. They were only here for a week. This happened once before so I'm not sure what that's about. Maybe they were just holding them until other pasture arrangements were made.
tnt
Rayven x Dot.com - 5! 3 alive. She's a teensy doe so that surprised me. And just her 2nd try. 2 blacks, 1 choc. Bummer...no brokens.
Emaline x Raspberry Run Messenger - 1 himi and 3 peanuts. I left her the 1 live peanut with the viable kit. Then decided to sell her to someone who asked for a himi doe and fostered the viable kit to Rayven. Took a while for her to get it right. This was her 6th attempt.
Yes, I give does more chances than most breeders would. My himi lines tend to take longer to produce so I keep trying until they do. They eventually do.
Voodoo Chile x Ford's Ranger had a pile of peanuts! 4...2 were alive. Wellhell.
I have yet another opal buck. He was dangled in front of me at the TN show last weekend. Since Sterling hasn't produced, it was a lucky dangle for that seller. His name is Rhapsody's Burt and he goes back to Fandango, one of my favorite brood bucks. He's out of a Fandango son that I sold to someone else. Wonderful head/ear on Burt! He has a wide solid body but it's a bit flat on the topline. I'll try him with the brokens for his dilute gene and head/ear. And as back up for Sterling.
Since Fandango carried EVERYTHING, there's a good chance Burt does too. Self, choc, and non-extension could come out of this guy.
In guinea news:
The hen laid another clutch under the dayliles in the front yard last week. Thursday or Friday is when I noticed her MIA and the male standing guard. This is a very informal garden around the electric pole created to eliminate trimming around the pole. I decided to leave them alone to see if she hatched them. Then she seemed to abandon them. The hen last year only left the nest long enough to graze. This one spends little to no time on it.
A few months ago, the electric company replaced old poles with new. They had to leave the old pole because the phone wire was on it. Had to wait for the phone company to move the wire before they would come back to remove the old pole. When I saw the guinea nest was less than 3 feet from the pole, I just knew they would come out to get the pole now. Sure enough, they came for it the other day. They didn't disturb anything much. They just pull it straight out of the ground.
So I figured the guinea wouldn't return for sure. Darned if she did! She sat on it for quite a while yesterday. I don't hold much expectation for a successful hatch, she's just not sitting regularly.
Should be hearing from the NC guinea breeder soon about my order for keets.
In other news:
The horsey neighbors are gone already. They were only here for a week. This happened once before so I'm not sure what that's about. Maybe they were just holding them until other pasture arrangements were made.
tnt
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Eggs!
There's not much happening in the bunny barn right now. The 2 litters are almost 3 wks old now and I've been attempting to sex them. Still pretty small for that, but there might be broken does. Several litters are due around the 2nd week of the month.
So I'll talk about guineas. I've been watching closely and the hen finally laid on Thursday - 4.29. There are 18 eggs and they are in the incubator. The adventure begins.
There's an acre and a half for her to hide in, so what do I look for? They always stick together. Members of the flock are rarely out of sight of each other. When I noticed I could only see one of them, I paid attention to him. She won't be far away. Then I listen for her call. The hen is very good at hiding. Even when it's found, it's hard to see her on the nest. She eventually calls out and then I can pinpoint her location.
I was very lucky she nested where I could get to them. With all the prickly brambles around here, that could have been a problem. She was in a little "cave" of tall grass under a honeysuckle on the outside corner of the fence.
When she got off the nest and was out of sight, I collected the eggs. At first I left her 2 in case she wanted to lay more, but she didn't return to the nest. I guess she knew it had been disturbed. I collected those eggs as well.
Of course, I knew I should have had the incubator set up and ready to go, but I procrastinated. Turns out that was ok. I researched and learned it's best to let the eggs "settle" for most of a day before starting incubation. Settling lets the contents of the eggs stablize and brings them to room temperature before exposing them to the much warmer incubator. These were so freshly laid, they were quite cold. While the eggs settled, I set up and regulated the incubator.
That was tricky. It's real sensitive. One of the things I couldn't get right was the humidity. There's several small holes and one larger one in the top. I covered them with tape and the humidity immediately came up. Then it was too hot. So I uncovered some of the small holes and that seemed to do the trick. Still can't get humidity above 50% so I hope that's enough. The incubator is a styrofoam model with a circulating fan. This may have something to do with why the humidity won't go any higher.
It also came with an automatic egg turner but I couldn't get it to work. Don't know what was going on there. I bought the unit used and had to print a manual from the website. The diagrams don't match what I have. I suspect I didn't have it installed correctly but couldn't see any other way. I ended up removing it and will just turn the rack by hand.
In the meantime, I had put in an order for some keets. I found a breeder within reasonable driving distance in NC. He has pearls and pied pearls. Cool! A different color will be nice. I ordered 8 pieds and he says they should be ready to go within a month or so. He has a lot of orders to fill before mine.
As annoying as that many guineas can be, I really really need them! I'm already finding ticks on the dogs and me. Yuck. 2 adults aren't enough to control them. I saw hardly any ticks last year when I had more birds! I did find a good way to dispose of any ticks that make it into the house on my clothes. I drop them in the fish tank. The cichlids love em!
In other news.
Haven't been able to get a good snap of the horses. They're shy and won't come close to me. They are being very well taken care of. The owners are out here at least once a day and spend time with them back by the barn. I can't see the barn very well from here so don't know what they do.
Oh I almost forgot! I finally have highspeed internet! Don't know why I didn't know this but I just found out I can get mobile broadband from my cell phone company. It seemed to me I should have been able to get wireless internet, but I guess I asked the wrong questions. A friend turned me onto the facts. I ran to the cell store and got the stuff. I'm lovin it! So many things I can do now that I couldn't before. I can even watch videos. So far I'm not a big video surfer because it still takes time to load one, but if it's less than 5 mins long, I'll go for it. But photos and heavily-coded websites...I can do that! It only took a few seconds to update my anti-virus where before it took too long and bogged down the internet while doing it. Not only that, I don't get disconnected all the time. My dialup ISP had a policy of disconnecting after 3 hrs (the Fair Use Policy), and it often dumped during inactivity...like composing a long post like this. I have finally joined the real world.
It was my plan to drop the land line phone and dialup bills. Together they are about the same as the broadband plan. When I talked to the phone company, he was so eager to keep my business, he came up with a new plan to save me money. What a racket! All this time (or at least since I've had a cell phone) I was paying for stuff I didn't have to. I don't make long distance calls, I use cell minutes, so didn't need that part of the bill. A couple other things and he cut my bill in half or more. I said ok, I'll try it your way. If it's still too high, I'll disconnect permanently.
Well, that was quite a ramble about things that have nothing to do with the rabbits. Oh well. I do go on sometimes.
tnt
So I'll talk about guineas. I've been watching closely and the hen finally laid on Thursday - 4.29. There are 18 eggs and they are in the incubator. The adventure begins.
There's an acre and a half for her to hide in, so what do I look for? They always stick together. Members of the flock are rarely out of sight of each other. When I noticed I could only see one of them, I paid attention to him. She won't be far away. Then I listen for her call. The hen is very good at hiding. Even when it's found, it's hard to see her on the nest. She eventually calls out and then I can pinpoint her location.
I was very lucky she nested where I could get to them. With all the prickly brambles around here, that could have been a problem. She was in a little "cave" of tall grass under a honeysuckle on the outside corner of the fence.
When she got off the nest and was out of sight, I collected the eggs. At first I left her 2 in case she wanted to lay more, but she didn't return to the nest. I guess she knew it had been disturbed. I collected those eggs as well.
Of course, I knew I should have had the incubator set up and ready to go, but I procrastinated. Turns out that was ok. I researched and learned it's best to let the eggs "settle" for most of a day before starting incubation. Settling lets the contents of the eggs stablize and brings them to room temperature before exposing them to the much warmer incubator. These were so freshly laid, they were quite cold. While the eggs settled, I set up and regulated the incubator.
That was tricky. It's real sensitive. One of the things I couldn't get right was the humidity. There's several small holes and one larger one in the top. I covered them with tape and the humidity immediately came up. Then it was too hot. So I uncovered some of the small holes and that seemed to do the trick. Still can't get humidity above 50% so I hope that's enough. The incubator is a styrofoam model with a circulating fan. This may have something to do with why the humidity won't go any higher.
It also came with an automatic egg turner but I couldn't get it to work. Don't know what was going on there. I bought the unit used and had to print a manual from the website. The diagrams don't match what I have. I suspect I didn't have it installed correctly but couldn't see any other way. I ended up removing it and will just turn the rack by hand.
In the meantime, I had put in an order for some keets. I found a breeder within reasonable driving distance in NC. He has pearls and pied pearls. Cool! A different color will be nice. I ordered 8 pieds and he says they should be ready to go within a month or so. He has a lot of orders to fill before mine.
As annoying as that many guineas can be, I really really need them! I'm already finding ticks on the dogs and me. Yuck. 2 adults aren't enough to control them. I saw hardly any ticks last year when I had more birds! I did find a good way to dispose of any ticks that make it into the house on my clothes. I drop them in the fish tank. The cichlids love em!
In other news.
Haven't been able to get a good snap of the horses. They're shy and won't come close to me. They are being very well taken care of. The owners are out here at least once a day and spend time with them back by the barn. I can't see the barn very well from here so don't know what they do.
Oh I almost forgot! I finally have highspeed internet! Don't know why I didn't know this but I just found out I can get mobile broadband from my cell phone company. It seemed to me I should have been able to get wireless internet, but I guess I asked the wrong questions. A friend turned me onto the facts. I ran to the cell store and got the stuff. I'm lovin it! So many things I can do now that I couldn't before. I can even watch videos. So far I'm not a big video surfer because it still takes time to load one, but if it's less than 5 mins long, I'll go for it. But photos and heavily-coded websites...I can do that! It only took a few seconds to update my anti-virus where before it took too long and bogged down the internet while doing it. Not only that, I don't get disconnected all the time. My dialup ISP had a policy of disconnecting after 3 hrs (the Fair Use Policy), and it often dumped during inactivity...like composing a long post like this. I have finally joined the real world.
It was my plan to drop the land line phone and dialup bills. Together they are about the same as the broadband plan. When I talked to the phone company, he was so eager to keep my business, he came up with a new plan to save me money. What a racket! All this time (or at least since I've had a cell phone) I was paying for stuff I didn't have to. I don't make long distance calls, I use cell minutes, so didn't need that part of the bill. A couple other things and he cut my bill in half or more. I said ok, I'll try it your way. If it's still too high, I'll disconnect permanently.
Well, that was quite a ramble about things that have nothing to do with the rabbits. Oh well. I do go on sometimes.
tnt
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