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
