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
