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
