Chicks, man

Yesterday, I went into TSC and they had just a few bantam chicks. I figured what the hey, I'll give em a try. There were only 5 colored ones and some whites. There's a minimum purchase of 6 so even though I didn't want white, I got one. I think I'll check in every time I go into town to see if they stock anymore.

Sold as assorted so no idea what they are. It will be fun to see what they turn out to be. There's variation in the colors so I don't think they will be the same. There's a bit of what looks like barring or lacing on the wings of a couple. One I'm guessing will be black as it has a lot of black fluff around the chest and shoulders. That's it 2nd from the top in the photo.

What a difference from guinea keets! Keets are wild from the getgo. They dash around insanely if you put your hands anywhere near them and never outgrow it. These chicks are so calm and gentle. They scurry away, but it's not a mad dash. I'm going to handle them alot in hopes I'll have tame birds that can actually be handled. Sure hope there's some hens in the mix. They're in the house in the same bin I raised keets in with a heat lamp.

The summer house revamp for chickens is under way. I have time since these chicks are so small. Although I do need to get it done so I can confine the guinea hens when they lay. Should be pretty soon. I've seen mating going on. In fact, just saw some more boffing outside the window. That will be the job de jour for a few days.

BTW, this post title is what "The Soup" calls one of it's segments, but it's not about chickens. Pops into my head every time I see chicks. Love that show!

Nestbox News:

Honeycomb x Sugardaddy had 2 fat healthy torts on 3/21. There was also a very bizarre kit. You can see it here. It's interesting that both of the Shadowland torts have reawakened Max Factor and hippo in my herd. It's been so long since I saw it, I didn't know if it was still there. Apparently, it is.

This litter also proves Daddy as another non-extension carrier. Hope they got his head/ear. I took a ruler to his ears and they are exactly 1.5"!

Oh that's right, don't think I mentioned the MF litter. Foxy Lady was sold right after her litter was born (fostered). She was bred to Whiskey Mac. It was an experiment. She's chestnut, he's tort. She had 4 and one was MF. Of course it was the best broken in the litter and not chestnut. I gave the broken chestnut to Anaba who had 1, and the other 3 to an inexperienced doe who failed. That other doe culled the 3 for me, as I knew she would.

The surviving broken chestnut looks like a doe and is very cute and promising right now at 4 wks, but is 75% color. She's the last of the agoutis and will be sold. She might be of interest to orange breeders since she carries non-extension.

Spring has sprung and there's lots of bloom around here. I was surprised to see snow on top of the mountains when I went out yesterday. Hadn't really paid attention to the forecast. It's been a bit cooler but not cold.

tnt

Oh well

Lost all of Flashdance's kits. Well, all but one but I'm pretty sure that one is history, too. I don't know what was going on with them. As I said in the last post, she didn't seem to have any milk. But when I gave the 2 torts to Lady Blaque, Lady's kits were fed, but the fosterlings were not. Flashdance's solid tort died that night, but the broken is still alive as of today.

Yesterday, I pulled Lady out and held her on her back to let the kit nurse. It was real eager to nurse and I thought it was. But it didn't plump up. Tried a different approach by holding her on the table in a show pose to expose her belly and put the kit under her. Again, I think it was suckling but for some reason not getting any. Lady was so good about all this odd handling.

This morning I tried again, but the kit was weaker and didn't suckle at all. I expect it to be gone by tomorrow. It also bothered Lady because she jerked every time it did latch onto the teat. I think it was biting too hard. Of course, it had the better pattern of the 2 broken torts so it's a real loss.

Luckily, Flashdance was eager to breed again. I didn't have an open doe to breed with her so I hope the ones that were bred 3 days earlier can help. It looks like the only way I'll get anything from her is to foster them off immediately.

Dreary and cool today, but the forecast for later this week calls for awesome with sunshine and 70s!

5 days until Spring!

tnt

Nestbox News 3.11.11

I have torts all over the place! Yay! There's currently 7 torts in 3 litters.

Tuesday, Flashdance x Whiskey Mac had 1 black and 2 torts. 1 is broken with good pattern.

Thursday, Lady Blaque x Whiskey Mac had 1 charlie-marked black and 3 torts. I think 1 of those is broken, too. I say think because it's hard to tell on light colored torts for a few days.

Cool! It's so good to see something besides black, and I'm especially pleased to get broken tort in a 1st generation. That was my goal in bringing in the Shadowland torts...broken torts. And I've now proven 3 of my does to carry non-extension.

Now I have a problem. I don't think Flashdance has any milk. She spends a lot of time in the box with her kits but it doesn't look like they are fed. I'm going to have to mark them so I can give them to L. Blaque. Won't be able to tell the torts apart otherwise. Have to do that today or I'll lose them. Poor things are so thin.

Got the 2 himi sr does bred to the loaner himi buck this week. I look forward to how that turns out. He's very nice with the great head that I need. He's housed next to Messenger who now looks very plain in comparison. Actually, I knew Messenger lacked in the head, it's just more noticeable now.

The older litters are doing well at 5 weeks and still looking promising. I love love love the broken blacks from Dreamcatcher x Whiskey Mac! The torts from Chevelle x Mac look good, too. I haven't sexed for sure yet, but I'm pretty sure one of the torts is a doe.

I have to check, I think there's a couple does due near the end of the month.

In other news:

Guinea eggs! I didn't expect to find them this early in the year. Actually, Tanner found them. I yelled at him for digging at something in the back garden. When I had to yell again, I went out to see what he was doing there. He was eating eggs!!! There were 4 intact eggs and I don't know how many broken ones. Since I hadn't missed a hen, I think she abandoned the nest right after laying. Probably because Tanner bothered her. That's one way I discover a nest is when I don't see the hen, but a male is hanging nearby. I just threw those eggs away. We've had so much rain the nest was a hole made of cold mud, and the hen wasn't setting so I doubt they're viable to try hatching. Last year, the 1st clutch wasn't fertile.

As soon as I get the Summer House rearranged for poultry, I'm going to start confining the hens in there. I think I still have 2 hens in the 4 that are left. I've caught them mating more than once recently, and I think they laid about 30 days after mating according to my memory of last year. So yeah, got to get on that.

Got a heckuva deal at TSC yesterday! They mailed a coupon for $10 off a $30 purchase. No kidding...only had to spend $30 to use it! You don't see that very often. 100 lbs of Manna Pro doesn't come to that much, so I had to buy something else. What should it be? I could've got another bag of MP, but don't need to store more than 2 bags at a time. I went with a bag of black oil sunflower seed which I needed anyways for the wild birds and guineas, and another rubber water bowl for the animals.

These rugged rubber bowls are great in the yard. They won't crack when they freeze. During winter, I set them where they catch as much sun as possible. The black rubber collects solar heat and melts ice faster. For the warm months, I move them to a shady spot.

Ugh! Way too much rain! There's flooding everywhere, the bottom of my yard (the "driveway") is covered in water. I went out yesterday, and the creeks are high and fast and muddy from all the run-off. It's supposed to be clear and dry for most of the next week. I'll need at least 3 weeks of no or minimal rain to dry up the standing water and mud here.

Oh yeah, and my lovely white collie isn't so white right now. I'm hoping he's as fastidious as Whipper about licking his feet clean.

8 days until Spring!

tnt

Buyers

A recent request for a show rabbit made me write a long explanation of how the "rabbit world" works. I think it's worth blogging.

The buyer asked for a great show buck with some legs behind him. This was to be a youth's rabbit. They had no interest in breeding, they just wanted a rabbit good enough to win for the youth. They did explain that the child would get attached and want to show, and that's the reason they needed a really hot rabbit, so they didn't end up with cages full of rabbits that didn't turn out to be as great as they thought. They had shown dogs in the past, and didn't know if the rabbit world worked the same way.

This is part of my response.

"In the rabbit world, you'll find more breeding stock than great show rabbits. Breeders keep their best in the breeding program. You'll be lucky to find one willing to sell a proven winner. The best you'll do is their culls and it will probably be young and unproven on the judging tables. Some culls are better than others, but they are culls just the same because they don't meet the breeder's standards.

While a pile of legs can indicate quality, it doesn't always, and it shouldn't be the main reason for buying. A rabbit can earn legs and Grand Champion certificate (only need 3 legs for GC) at shows where the stiffest competition is not present, and then tank at shows where they are. Some people pick their shows for that reason...to avoid the competition and rack up legs on a 2nd or 3rd rate rabbit.

The best way for a newbie to buy a rabbit is in person where you can get a hands-on explanation of what to look for. A young bunny from quality stock can go on to show very well. Buy the rabbit...not the pedigree or legs."

There were a lot of things I could have added, but didn't because it was obvious this was someone who just wanted the best (at any price) so their kid would WIN, and I didn't feel like going there.

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for parents buying the best rabbits they can afford to get youth started, and there's nothing wrong with showing that purchased stock. What parents of this other mindset don't understand is that kids who are indulged this way won't get the respect or feel the pride that comes from winning with a homebred rabbit. A youth who has developed a quality line from their original stock will have all that and more.

This buyer also wondered "if it would be possible to get a great rabbit from a busy breeder who needs an extra person out there showing their rabbits off". That gave me a chuckle. I didn't bother explaining that most breeders won't loan or stud out rabbits except to trusted friends, let alone "lease" them. It should give other breeders a grin as well if they go around asking for that.

No, I didn't add all that. Often one rabbit can create a future breeder and ARBA member, and I didn't want to discourage that. I didn't have anything that met their needs, so I referred them to sites and a respected local breeder that could help in their search.

11 Days until Spring

tnt

Dalton

I had a good time. Always great to see friends I don't see very often. I delivered rabbits, but didn't sell any that weren't presold. This show is usually good for day sales but not this day.

Came home with one I didn't plan on. Isn't that how it always goes? A friend loaned me a real nice himi buck. I just happen to have a doe or two that he can have right away. Chevelle's litter is about 4 weeks and she's in good condition so she'll get him sometime this week. I think that will be a good match. I need more diversification in the himi lines. They're getting a bit tight, but not at the point where line-breeding would be a good idea. I might even toss him a broken doe for his type.

I headed out a bit earlier than I usually manage for this show. I've always miss-timed it and get there after the showroom and parking lot are already crowded. I was there plenty early enough. The drive down was easy and I made good time. Coming home was another thing. It was a drizzly dreary day, and it began raining for real when I got on the x-way and it didn't stop. That slowed me down a lot. I didn't get home until after dark and I unloaded the rabbits in the rain.

I only had AOVs so I had a lot of free time. The show moved along pretty fast, this one is run very well, but the agouti and tan pattern classes were big as usual. We had good dwarf judges, but results were all over the map. It was very cool that Show B was taken by himi (not mine) and smoke pearl. I'm always happy to see something other than otters win. Show A I think was otters, Show C was otter and siamese sable. Like I said...all over the place.

How'd I do? Dotson got the BOG leg in C. Yay, finally someone appreciated him. My friends thought he was real contender. He was up against a very typey broken smoke marten sr buck who was borderline for over 50%, and took it in A and B. We had Jamie Green in C and his is the opinion I respect the most when it come to brokens. He DQ'd 2 bucks for over 50%, which left Dotson standing, and he showed himself very well.

I don't think I got any other legs, although Judge B really liked Chevette. I wish now I had entered her as the jr she is. She's only a couple oz over, and I doubt any of the judges would have questioned her weight. She doesn't look big. But I was being ethical. That judge did knock her down for condition. She had been rooming with Dreamspinner and I didn't notice until 2 days ago that DS had yanked a patch of fur off Chevelle's back. They're separated now.

I got the legs for the Spartanburg show, and Cirocco and Dreamspinner each earned one. Neither is likely to come out again, though. DS is broody with a rather heavy pattern and already well over jr weight. CC is probably going to breeding very soon. I'll get a couple litters out of CC for her pattern and HQs, but since she's an otter, I'll move her on as soon as I've proven her.

In other news:

Why do I never have the camera when I need it? There was the coolest scenario Friday while I was out getting things ready for the show. There's a yard bunny who is getting braver. He will now come up and chin my shoes, and he isn't afraid of the dogs. Whipper I'm not worried about, he won't bother him. I have to keep an eye on Tanner so he doesn't chase too hard. He's pretty good about listening to me.

At one point as I was going into the barn, both Tanner and the bunny were right there with me. We stood in a close triangle for a minute or so and just stared at each other. I went into the barn and then saw something I wish I had the camera for. Tanner was sitting as straight up as physically possible. Front legs tight to his body, and his neck was curved like an Arabian horse with his eyes and ears trained so hard on the rabbit I could see the tension. The bunny was about 18" from his front feet. And there they stood for several minutes, not moving anything other than an occasional ear flick. Then Tanner broke the spell when he tried to move his head closer to the rabbit. I think he just wanted to touch noses or something. The bunny bounced off and Tanner followed, but he wasn't chasing. I was fascinated watching that little drama.

Damn, still raining hard. It's been real bad and there's a lot of flooding in the area. The bottom of my yard is real soggy. There's was quite a bit of wind the last couple days and I hoped it would dry it out some. Doesn't look like that's going to happen for a while.

13 Days until Spring!
tnt

March

Aaah. Winter is over as far as I'm concerned. If I was still upnorth, it wouldn't be. There's daffodils blooming and the pretty little wild blue/white speedwell looks like tiny stars in the grass.

Had a close call this week. I completely forgot that Anaba was due a day after 2 other does. She hadn't asked for a nestbox which would have tipped me off. I went out that morning to find her cage covered in fluffy white fur. Oh dear. I quickly gave her a box, moved fur into it, and she went to work. She had her litter by that afternoon. Nothing exciting, however. Sire is Whiskey Mac, but no tort. She has the 1 black that was born alive. I gave her the broken chestnut from Foxy Lady because she's leaving this weekend. I don't want that kit either, but I'll let Ana raise it. Foxy Lady is the last of the agoutis and this kit will be sold if it's saleable. It's 80% broken, but will be useful for someone's broken program if it's a doe.

Black. I am so over black! I want something else in the nestboxes! Tort, blue, something else. At least I'm getting torts, but I really want some blues too. Almost everything I've got carries dilute but I don't have an actual dilute, and no one is throwing it. Well, there's Chevette, the pretty blue himi, and if I have to, I'll take her to broken.

Got the Dalton show this weekend, and entries have been sent. I'm only showing 4 and all in the AOV group. 1 himi, 3 brokens. Whiskey Mac still has no flesh on his butt so he's staying home. I don't know what his deal is. He's eating plenty, and getting half high calorie suppliment, but still has a boney butt. He must have had it at one time to place 2nd jr buck at convention, but the traveling took a hard toll and he can't seem to get it back. At least his babies are looking real promising which is his reason for existence.

Oh yeah, those babies look promising. About 4 weeks old now. The 2 broken blacks from Dreamcatcher are so cute! The 2 torts and 3 blacks from Chevelle, too. Mac is a lighter tort and I like that brighter rusty color on his babies. I can see his round head on most of them. The dams should help his rather paper thin ears. Bonus...most of them are does!

Dotson is being debuted this weekend. I wasn't sure if I'd keep him when he was younger. While I loved his dotty pattern, body, and posabilty, I did not like his plain head. My lines usually show the head much sooner. It's turning out much better so I look forward to seeing how he does on the tables. Unfortunately he's hefty and this will be the only show he's entered as jr. He'll be over jr weight by the next one.

Chevette also went over jr weight, but I think she can pull it off as sr. She's really filled out well.

In other news:

Lost another guinea, and now down to 4. I'm blaming the resident fox. Haven't seen it again, but I assume it's out there. I made up my mind to turn the Summer House into a poultry pen. I found a home for the 2 big strips, and will keep the 2 smaller stacks for some of the bucks and jrs.

I think there's only one hen left, and as soon as I get the pen set up, I'll start keeping her in it most of the time so I don't lose her, too. I'll build her a nesting thingy I saw in my poultry magazine. It was a simple A-frame deal designed for geese. Since guineas like to nest under shrubs and tall grass "tents", it should work for them, too. I'll probably be seeking more hens, and I hope to find colors.

All for now. I have to get motivated.

17 Days until Spring!

tnt