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