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
