Very pleased.

I have a few kits out of the borrowed black buck. So far, they look very promising.

Dreamcatcher x Smith's BL4 has a lovely broken black. Almost a week old now. Dreamcatcher is great about raising singletons. Even during winter and without my intervention, she raises them successfully. My intervention is taking the nestboxes in the house at night. If I don't really care about the one she had, I just leave it to her devices. Anyways, the kit has a big round head, good size (not too big) and definitely showable pattern. Looking forward to how it develops.

Dreamspinner x BL4 had hers yesterday. This is her 2nd attempt (1st time fail). A black and another lovely broken black. I wasn't sure if Spinner was a BUD or not. She looks a little broody, but isn't all that big. That's typical for my BUDs. She also had a peanut (of course it was nicely broken) which proves her as a true dwarf. Cool. I like her type (big head!), although her pattern is borderline over 50%. I showed her a few times and she earned a leg. I really look forward to her litters. I might not have allowed the solid black, but her type and heritage (import otters) and BL's type (also out of otters) make it worth growing. She's taking very good care of her babies.

I'm still waiting on Chevette, also 2nd timer and due yesterday. Also bred to BL. Yeah, I've bred him to EVERYTHING! I'll keep him busy for as long as he's here. I expect all blacks from the himis, but that's ok. That worked out very well in the past. There's a remote chance BL carries dilute and it would be wonderful if Chevette who IS blue, throws it.

Got a few more litters due in Aug, and several does will be coming of age then.

These litters disprove the theory that bucks go sterile when it gets over 85. It's been 90+ in the shade for most of this summer. To my knowledge, I've never had a case of buck heat sterility. BL came from a barn cooler than mine. The Smiths are higher in the mountains and the NC side of the mts is shaded more from the afternoon sun. Their property is more shaded by trees as well. Normally, I'd keep a borrowed buck in the shed, but I didn't think he'd fare well in the heat in there. So he's been in the Summer House and apparently that's enough to keep him virile.

Elsewhere, all is well. Chickens are growing, keets are free-ranging, and dogs are hiding from the heat all day long. I don't like it, but their "cave" is under the back deck. I had it loosely fenced off under there, but they've gotten through. I have a plan to fix that when I get the deck redone. It's badly in need of redoing. I'll incorporate a cave into the new design so they aren't laying in the dirt under there. No point in giving them a bath. Whipper is molting and his white parts aren't white. Tanner is still surprisingly white. If he molted, I missed noticing it. Maybe because his hair is shorter.

Wicked hot and humid still. Overnight and morning rain (like today) makes for very muggy mornings. It's a bugger for sure. I don't like to leave the shed door open when it's rainy. The wood floor gets wet if it's the least breezy. Most of the wind comes from that direction. But I really need to leave the door open when it's this hot. Thought about an awning of some sort, but doubt it would survive the big winds I get back here. One good thing about the heat. Don't have to worry about kitsickles. It's plenty warm enough for litters to survive.

Hang in there. One more month of the worst of summer.

tnt

It are hot!

It's rough. 95 today and the barn was hotter than that. I've only got 7 brood does in there, and they're all on the one wall. The fan is dedicated to them. That wall is shaded by the garden trees outside which I hope helps keep that wall a tiny bit cooler. They're handling it. Everybody else is in the Summer House and it's not too bad out there.

The litter of torts is about 2 weeks old. They came out of the box as soon as their eyes opened and seemed to have no desire to spend any more time in it. I don't blame them. I took it away yesterday and gave them a resting board. They like that. I think mom appreciates the box being gone. More room and air flow for her, too.

Almost lost one of the Blue OE roos. He slipped out before I could clip his wing. The adult guineas startled him to fly over the fence along the field. And there he paced back and forth along the fence. It's overgrown with brambles and I couldn't get to him. Even if I could get over there to try and herd him out, it wouldn't have done any good. He would have just ran back and forth along the fence deep in the brambles. He had to back away from the fence in order to fly back over it, and he didn't have that much sense. He was there for 3 days. I thought he was going to die there without water. Then he was gone but I didn't see the body. He showed up in the front yard. He finally decided to follow the fence out. Whew. I was able to herd him back into the fence then cornered him so I could clip the wing. Hopefully that will keep him from going over the fence for a while.

Went to the Taylorsville night show last weekend. That show is always pretty fun. Even though it was hot. It was actually better than last year. You could find a breeze and the humidity wasn't as bad. That's my last show until at least Sept.

Keep cool!

tnt

Chicks, man (again).

I sat down to commune with the chickens yesterday. Haven't done that in a while. Raising these little birds from unidentified chicks has been an adventure. Their IDs have changed as they grew and I still don't know if I have all of them correct. I tried to capture the ones that have new IDs, but chickens aren't always cooperative so some of these shots aren't the greatest.

The latest discovery is that some of the ones I thought were Cochins are not. They're Belgian d'Uccles. I've been wondering why some were feathered differently. The Cochins are round, soft and fluffy. It's referred to as "soft-feathered". The others are sleeker with longer stiff upright tails and hard feathers. This includes the 2 oldest Black Mottleds and the 3 gold/black (shown below) that I haven't identified the color for sure yet. Yesterday, I realized that the scruffiness on the heads of these was the d'Uccle "beard".



This shot shows one of the Buff Cochins with the 3 newly identified Belgian d'Uccles. These 3 have changed from Gold-Laced to Mottled Buff Columbian (when they were Cochins), and now I believe they're Mille Fleur since that's what this color is called in d'Uccles. The Feather Site says the breed is affectionately referred to as Millies because of this common coloration. I think that's what I'll call them.



This is a Buff Cochin and older Mottled Black d'Uccle to show the difference in body style and feathering. The next photo is a close-up of the Mottled to show the "muff" on the face.


I've been calling these 2 blacks "Owly". Yeah, both of them. The markings on their heads reminds me of an owl and has since they were new chicks.


This Cochin is till up for debate on color. I thought it was a Silver-Laced but now it's looking like Columbian. Actually still up for debate on breed as well since it came from the same source as the others. It's looking more hard-feathered so I'll have to wait a few more weeks to be sure I guess.


I was trying to catch the 2 little Mottled Cochins (positive ID) but Spiffy decided to join the shot and sent them scurrying. These are the cutest little things! They are the youngest of all, and I have to watch where I'm going. They dart around and between my feet like little puppies. Their black feathers are displaying the green iridescence like Spiffy's tail. The Mottled d'Uccles don't have this iridescence, they're flat black.

I mentioned in an early post that Spiffy likes to sit on my arm and surprised me when he flew up on his own. I've now trained him to do it on command. Sorta. It's still depending on his mood. I hold my arm out, call his name, and wiggle my fingers. He eagerly flies up and then crows proudly.


This seed bell was a big hit! I found them for $1.50 each at a discount store and bought several. Rigged a way to hang it yesterday. I'll pick up some more the next time I hit that store if they still have them in stock.

In this shot: Self Blue Old English Games, Rhode Island Reds, Black Mottled d'Uccles, and Spiffy the Spangled OEG. The light colored head to the far left behind the Blue is the one that's still unidentified. I'm going with Easter Egger until proven otherwise. She's a mottled light buff color.

So all in all, I got the pretty and varied flock of bantams I wanted. How or if I raise them for specific breeds remains to be seen. For now, I'm just enjoying them.

tnt