12.12.12

When I saw today's date, well, it looked very cool as a post title.  Photo dump follows the rambling.

Let me rave about my new camera.  I'm calling it my Xmas present to myself.  Been looking at them for a while as my little point & shoot just wasn't doing it for me anymore.  I knew what I wanted in a camera and looked for those features.  I needed/wanted (1) wide focal range; (2) viewfinder; (3) fast shutter speed; (4) easy battery; (5) video.  Pretty much in that order of importance.

The viewfinder is the one thing that can't be found on most cameras, other than DSLR.  But I really didn't need everything else a DSLR has, and couldn't justify the high price.  Why was I so hot for a viewfinder?  It's so much easier to take pictures in bright sunlight.  The usual screen just isn't very efficient that way.

I wanted the wide focal range so I can get good closeups and zoomed shots.  Closeups of nature has always been one of my favorite things to do with a camera.  Fast shutter for moving targets.  Easy battery means AAs for me.  Fairly cheap and easily obtained.   I use rechargeables in the camera, but I like that I can carry a set of regular ones for quick backup.   Video was an afterthought as I don't know how much I'll use it.  Not having an outstanding internet connection makes it hard for me to watch videos online, let alone upload them myself.  But it's nice to have it if ever I wish I had it.  I've never had a camcorder before, except for the rinkydink thing in my cell phone.

The Pentax X-5 ticked all my boxes and I'm so pleased with it.  So far, it has done everything I've asked of it, and for half the price of the cheapest DSLR.  The battery life is excellent, too.  That was a thing for which all the reviews gave good marks.  I've had it for about a month now, and I'm still running the batteries that came with it, and you know factory-included batteries are not of the highest quality.  In fact, the battery meter is just now beginning to run down.  I'm very impressed with the quality of the 26x zoom.  It has an anti-shake feature and I've seen very little blurring at maximum zoom even when I knew my hand jiggled when I pressed the shutter button.  It's also very comfortable and light in the hand, and there isn't that long bulky lens that you'd have on DSLR.  Or the need to switch out highly expensive lenses.  The screen display is actually very good, too.  I can see right away whether a shot turned out too blurry.  The only extra thing I bought for it was a bigger memory card, and I found that at a good price at Big Lots (8gb for $8).  Oh and there's a nifty little lens cap strap.  It's designed to be attached to the neck strap but I rarely use that (too bulky and in the way).  I just zip-tied the tiny cap strap to the neck strap's ring.  I like that as I don't always have a pocket to hold it.  For a bit of insurance against clumsiness, I attached the wrist strap from my old camera to the other ring.

I posted a few pix on Facebook, but here's some of my favorites.

Close up detail on a clematis.

Red Admiral on pansy closeup.  Yes, that date is correct...butterflies in Dec.  I love the south!

Song Sparrow in birdbath at maximum zoom.

Mid-range zoom.

Birchen roo.

Something no other camera I've ever had could do well...aquarium.

In case you're wondering, these are assorted African Cichlids in a 45 gal. bowfront tank.  I believe most of the distortion is due to the curved glass.

Oh yeah, and my current crop of babies.  Baroquen x Smith's Lou.  4 weeks in these pix.  There's another broken buck but he's a bubba so I'll be petting him out.

I created the triptychs  to show the pattern from all sides.  Doe #1 is my fav of the 3 but I like the others, too.  That doe is also the 1st time Baroquen has thrown her excellent bold pattern.  I call it "color block".  She usually throws lighter like the others.  And yes, all otters.  The pattern is feathery right now but Baroquen's get always matures with very clean and crisp markings.  These will be just big enough for Spartanburg at the end of January.  That's probably my 1st show next year.

Happy Holidays

Manna Pro

Manna Pro recently gave its Facebook fans a $3 coupon.  I've been using these coupons for over a year.  Not that one, but different ones they put up as old ones expired.  The others were for $2.  Last December through January, I paid a little over $10 (after $2 coupon) per 50lb bag while TSC ran a 6 week long price reduction.  Heck of a deal.  The usual sticker price at my TSC is around $14, and has been for quite a while.  It fluctuated a little higher a few times but that was in response to the hay and grain market at the time.  Drought or other weather disaster caused price hikes in feeds.  When the farms recovered, the price went back down to normal.  Sometimes the price fluctuated a bit lower.

Recently there was some sort of glitch in the supply chain and MP was nowhere to be found in many areas. What little there was in feed stores was way too old.  Breeders were not happy, and I don't blame them.  I guess I was the lucky one, it didn't happen to me.  It helps that I have fewer rabbits now and I'm not going through as much feed, but when I went to my TSC, it was stocked and it was fairly fresh (about a month old).  If the glitch affected my store, I didn't see it.  I didn't need feed until the glitch was fixed.

I wondered why the latest coupon was so generous,  MP had never given a $3 coupon before.  I thought it was to placate the ones who suffered during the glitch and thought that was very nice of them.  Then I went and got feed this week.  The price had jumped exactly $3!  I had never paid that much before.  I don't know why the price hike.  Maybe it was trickle down from the glitch, maybe there was something in the hay/grain market I wasn't aware of.  Maybe both.  I don't know.

During the glitch, many breeders made a fast switch to a different brand.  What are you gonna do, the buns gotta eat.  Some are doing so even though it's available again in protest of the price hike.  Unfortunately, here in TN, the options for quality rabbit feed are limited.  There's Purina (NOT!) and off-brands, that's about it.  If you want something else, you have to drive a LOT farther for it, or rely on someone to help you get it.  I'm not inclined to do either so I'm glad MP is here for me.  The price isn't killing me, and it will probably go back down again.  If not, well, I'm still not switching.

Some breeders began to seek another feed before the glitch because they felt MP wasn't doing it for their herd.  They complained of poor condition, lack of litters, poor milk production, and the general condition of the feed itself.  That's why I switched from Purina to MP so many years ago.  I'll buy TSC's off-brand before I'll go back to Purina!

I don't have any complaints about MP, other than the recent price hike.  I get plenty of live litters and always have on MP.  I've never seen a case where a doe didn't have enough milk for her litter.  Condition of the buns comes and goes but it always does.  As long as they are eating well, it's good.  It's when they don't eat you know there's a problem.  I don't even have to supplement with hay.  That's another topic, but I rarely give the buns hay anymore.  The rabbits' digestive systems are working just fine without it.  Even weanlings do well.  MP is apparently providing all the fiber they need.

Complaints about the condition of MP were about fines and corn.  Fines are caused by over-handling.  Every time the feed is moved, it grinds some pellets into dust.  Feed that is warehoused before going to the retail store is handled several times from mill to store.  I actually over-handle it as well.  It goes from the car to the wagon, unloaded into the barn, and then into the storage bin.  It might get moved around some more before it goes into the bin.  I'm not that strong so I'm not handling the bags gently.  From the bin, I scoop it into a pail, and then it's scooped more as I feed each bun.  That's a lot of rough handling.  I don't gripe about fines because I'm causing at least half of them.  I consider the amount of fines I see to be normal.

The occasional corn kernels in MP are from the cleaning process at the mill.  They use the hard kernels as a food-safe scrubber in the equipment.  Sometimes it ends up in the bags.  No biggy unless there is way too much.  I know someone that happened to, but it was an isolated event, and their feed dealer made it right.  I've only ever seen a few in any bag.  MP does not include corn in the feed itself, although small pieces of cracked corn might end up in a pellet.  If I see yellow, I just pick it out and toss it in the chicken feed.

There's something important I learned not too long ago about condition.  It's about genetics as well as feed.  They have it or they don't.  A certain buck improved the hindquarters on my current young does which was something I was sorely lacking.  Before him, my buns often had thin flesh condition in that area (as well as less than great structure) even though they ate and drank very well.  Judges feel the rump first and if that turns them off, the rest of the animal has no chance.  All the feed or conditioners can't fix that.  But breeders immediately blame the feed when they think their buns are out of condition.  They never consider it could be their breeding stock.  They might be tricked into thinking the bunny suddenly went out of condition, but maybe it was the transition from childhood to adulthood.  That happens, you know.  Some bunnies are just better jrs than srs.  If they go to pot after maturity, that's when you cull them.  You want stock that gets better as they mature, not worse.

Another thing many breeders (especially newish ones) blame feed about is fur condition.  This too is a genetic thing.  Some go through the molt very quickly and are almost always ready for show season.  Others are in some stage of the molt for a good part of the year.  I gave up Siamese Sables many years ago because they were so frustrating in that respect.  There was a very small window when they were in show condition and color, and most never regained their glory after the first adult molt.  I noticed other shaded lines in the region were better off this way.  It wasn't the feed or the climate.  It was the genetics.  I didn't have it.

I'm not saying a feed can't affect the overall condition of a herd, or their ability to reproduce, it certainly can.  However, if many breeders feel the feed works well, maybe it's not the feed.  Maybe it's your stock or some other condition in your barn.

I have litters.  Considering it's fall going into winter, and that I hadn't bred any does since June, I'd say that's really good.  Most of these does are first-timers.  Baroquen's litter of 4 are FAT babies.  They were getting more milk than they needed even though I only allowed them to nurse once a day for 2 weeks.  I was bringing the nestbox into the house at night as I usually do to protect a valuable litter.  I have no complaints about Manna Pro.  Just like gas prices and pretty much everything else, I'll live with price hikes.

I also have no complaints about my local TSC.  They're outstanding, and the fact that the feed is not too old is the result of their intelligent management.  I know not everyone can say that about their local store, but I'm so glad that I can.

Happy Thanksgiving

What's in a name?

As anyone who has researched rabbit colors knows, different breeds have different names for the same color.  No one is sure why this breed is called that, and that one calls it this.  I think it has to do with the mindset of the founding breeders and some of those go back to the country of origin.  It might have been how the color was described in that country and then how it was translated to English.  Or my theory...Americans will always create new words and they just ignored the original translations.

If you look at ARBA's Standard of Perfection (SOP), you can get pretty confused.  Take Flemish Giants, a very old breed.  What most breeds call Chinchilla is called Light Gray in Flemish.  Sandy and Fawn, I'm still not sure just what these are genetically in Flemish.  I assume they're agouti, but not sure how it translates in other breeds.  It gets really confusing when someone doesn't specify the breed they are talking about.  Fawn in Lops (and Flemish) doesn't seem to be the same genetics as Fawn in Netherland Dwarfs.  Maybe it is, but Creme in Lops seems to be the closest to Fawn in dwarfs.

And that's what it comes down to...what the color is genetically.  How sweet it would be if ARBA standardized the color names across the board based on genetics.  There is a finite number of genetic combinations for color so it could certainly be done, but that's probably never going to happen.  Among different breeds, well, it's like trying to communicate with different languages.

I've only raised Netherland Dwarfs so that's the language I speak.  The reason I felt like writing this was a recent discussion about an unrecognised color on a dwarf.  They were trying to decide what to call it.  The owner of the odd color was flaunting her genetic knowledge and making it more complicated than it needed to be, and I don't think she was entirely accurate in her reasoning.  I'm all for keeping it simpler so everyone can understand.

So what was the color?  It was a Sable Point with tan pattern trimmings.  White markings on the nostrils, ears, tail, and belly.  Some people might call it "martenized".  Genetically, this would be a non-extension Sable Marten, but she started the discussion by calling it non-extension Silver Marten.  Big difference there!  Let's pick those colors apart.

It was a Sable Point, no doubt about that.  Sable Pt is non-extension Siamese Sable...shaded.  Sable Marten is tan pattern Siamese Sable...again, shaded.  Silver Marten is not shaded.  It's Otter minus Otter's gold trimmings.  In other words, the gold has been replaced by silver (white).  Referring to this as Silver Marten was completely incorrect.

So what do you call it?  Easy.  Sable Point Marten.  Most everyone can grasp that concept.  This person even suggested a color in Europe which didn't translate to anything an American breeder can relate to.  I forget but it was something gray.  Really?  Maybe if you're colorblind, you'd see gray, but this bunny was brown!  Non-extension Sable Marten might be the correct term but who wants to write/say all that every time.  It's why other non-extension colors like Tort and Orange have nice short names.  Sable Pt Marten...short and easy to understand.

I'm old school, and while I have adapted my thinking to allow for new (to me) genetic knowledge, I still think of many things the way I learned them.  One thing that was hard to grasp was Tort Otter vs. Tort Marten.  I learned from the old time breeders of the time (Glenna Huffman for one, who published several genetics books, and who I knew personally) and a non-extension tan pattern was referred to as Tort Marten.  A Tort with white tan pattern trim.  Several years ago I was corrected that this is actually Tort Otter because of its genetics.  Ok, I've accepted that, and since everyone calls it that, I do too.

I tried to accept that the concept of Tort Marten doesn't exist.  But wait...it does.  A friend showed me a non-extension Silver Marten.  It's not yellow so I guess technically it's not a Tort, but since "torted" is often used to describe a non-extension color, it can be used on this.  What did this Tort Marten look like more than anything else?  Ermine!

Ermine is another term I learned early on.  It's showable as Frosty in some breeds, but it's not recognised in dwarfs.  Ermine is non-extension Chinchilla.  A new term a lot of people seem to like (I guess for how exotic it sounds) is "Ghost Chin".  This is one the British came up with, but I prefer the old American term.  We are in America after all, and if we had stuck to the European color names, everything would be completely different!  And there's the general theme of naming dwarf colors for the animals they most closely resemble.  Otter, marten, chinchilla, sable, lynx, etc.  Sable Point looks like and is the name of a variety of Siamese cat.  Ermine isn't really an exact match for the color on rabbits.  The ermine is a weasel with a winter morph coat of pure white with a black tail tip.  Ermine fur coats were pure white with the black tips included for accents.  The color on rabbits is actually closer to what a silver fox fur coat looks like....white with widely scattered black ticking.  Maybe Silver Fox would be the correct term for the color following that line of thought, but there is a breed called Silver Fox so Ermine it became.  I'd have to look it up but maybe ermines do have an in-between phase where they look like the rabbit color.

BTW, I was an adult when it was still fashionable to wear fur.  I loved my rabbit fur coats and dreamed of affording the pricier furs.  Nothing made me feel warmer.  Silver Fox is a luxurious gorgeous fur!  Imagine how rabbits could be revitalized as a commercial industry if it was ok to wear fur again.

How do you tell the difference between an Ermine and a Tort Marten?  It's in the genetics.  Chin is agouti and dominant.  If neither parent is agouti, it's not Ermine.  Tort Marten is tan pattern which cannot carry agouti.  If the parents are tan pat, it's a Tort Marten.  If the parents are both, it's a bit trickier, but what I saw on this Tort Marten was that it was considerably darker than Ermine.  It was light gray instead of white.

A few years ago, an importer brought in what is called Yellow Chin in Europe, and tried to spread them around.  This was something entirely new to everyone and I was frustrated by the importer's inability to explain it well.  It looks like Ermine but it's not non-extension.  The best I could get from the very poor communication skills of the importer and what little info I could find is that it's a wideband Chinchilla.  Wideband is a completely different gene than non-extension.  It's what makes the Tan (color and breed) black and red, and fills in the white agouti markings on Steel with black or brown.  On Chin, it made the white band wider to the point of the entire coat being predominately white.  Apparently to those that understand its use, Yellow Chin produces perfectly colored Chins and Silver Martens with bright crisp white.  However, I saw much confusion and even the importer kept referring to it as Ermine.  If you use Ermine with Silver Marten, you are going to end up with Tort Otter/Marten!  It's not the same, and when people introduce a new idea like this, they need to explain it well or every newbie is going to think that Ermine that popped up in a litter is useful that way.  Oh and what about its name "Yellow Chin"?  It's as far from yellow as you can get so that makes no sense.

An example where an unrecognised color became accepted with just one name is Blue-eyed White.  Many years ago, BEW breeders agreed that the marked offspring from BEW x any other color should be called just one thing.  Before that, they were called sports, dutch-marked, mis-marked, depending on who you were talking to.  I even know someone who still calls them parti-color.  He puts that on his pedigrees, and the only one I've ever known to call them that.  Those terms actually refer to a specific breed or a separate gene.  BEW breeders (all breeds) all agreed they should be called Vienna-marked (VM) and Vienna-carrier (VC) to separate them from the other genes and breeds.  It became commonly known, and even Evans Pedigree Software included the VM/VC designation in its database.  It made things so much simpler and now everyone who gets into breeding BEW learns it right off the bat.

Another term I learned from Glenna is "ee".  This is the designation for non-extension in the color genetic code.  Rough example: Aa-Bb-Cc-Dd-ee.  I began to do as she did and call some things with this prefix such as ee Himi.  Why not call all the unshowable non-extension colors this way?  Non-extension Otter/Marten would be ee Otter/Marten.  It would be so simple if everyone agreed (like BEW breeders) that this best describes this color code.  The Sable Pt Marten that sparked this blog would be ee Sable Marten.  Simple.

What you call a color is important to understand it within your breed, and that includes the unshowable colors.  Can't we at least keep it simple and somewhat uniform?


tnt

Whipper

I just felt like devoting a post to him.  Whipper is a Smooth Collie, now about 8 years old.  I got him in Michigan just before I moved here.  He was about 4 months at the time, and came from a show breeder.  He is the best dog I've ever had.

Whipper is the guardian of the place.  It's mostly a night shift job because his main nemesis's are raccoons and coyotes.  Since I fenced the backyard, the birds and rabbits are completely protected from either of these predators.  He has a cozy doghouse on the porch with a thick bed in it, but I bring him inside on cold mornings (I'm up stupid early).

What prompted me to write about him is a behavior I occasionally see.  Smooths are rather rare in this country.  In the UK where they originated, they were the working collies where the Roughs became the more common companion dogs in the US.  However, Whipper doesn't have much opportunity to display his heritage as a herding dog here.  Except sometimes.

When he gets riled by something, he tears up and down the yard barking.  What does he get riled about?  Noise in the forest.  Often instigated by the neighbor's dogs (who run loose), but sometimes he starts it.  Any crashing noise in the woods puts him on high alert.  It could be a coon scrabbling in a tree, or coyotes running through the underbrush, or maybe even a bear.  I've never seen a bear but I've seen scat so I know they are there.  I can put him on alert by saying "Coon!".  He's so sensitive to this kind of noise, even chainsaw work sets him off.  Branches or trees crashing down, it's all the same to him.  Something is in the forest.   

When he gets fired up like this, that's when I see what I believe to be his herding instincts.  As he's running up and down the yard, he makes a quick little jog at whatever chickens are in the vicinity.  He lowers his head at the bird, and to someone who doesn't know him, it might look like an attack.  I think he's actually herding them to safety.  "Run to cover!".  He swings away from the bird as soon as it moves out of his way.

Most of the time, he ignores the birds, and I'm not the least bit worried he will hurt them.  They don't fear him and will peck the ground all around him when he's laying in the grass.  There was a time this summer when a rooster was annoying him while he was relaxing in the grass.  The bird kept trying to peck his front feet.  I don't know why the bird was so fascinated by his feet.  Whipper bared his teeth and swung his head at the bird, but that was all it was...a warning.  "Leave me alone, you annoying little chit."  

He's not what I'd call a guard dog in regards to people.  He doesn't bark when someone comes up to the house, although I wish he did.  He might bark at a passing car but not all the time.  We don't get much traffic back here other than the people who live here, so he knows who belongs and who doesn't.  The mail and paper carriers are the only other daily traffic and he doesn't react to them either.  Unlike the neighbor's dogs who are kind of stupid that way.  They chase my car, and the mail and paper carriers...pretty much everybody but their own people.

If there was one thing I don't like about Whipper it's his intense fear of thunderstorms.  I blame it on an incident a couple years after I moved here as he had never exhibited this fear before.  That July, the neighbors were shooting off fireworks.  Whipper wasn't confined to the yard, I hadn't put in the fence yet so he had the run of the place, and he spent a lot of time over there.  I didn't like it, but tying him up wasn't a good option so I didn't.  He actually learned his guardian skills from their dogs (different dogs back then), so it was good in that respect.  Anyways, he disappeared for a day and half.  I don't know where he went.  I looked for him but didn't find him in the area.  When he came back, whoever had him obviously meant to keep him.  They had given him a bath.  I could smell the shampoo.  I was so happy to see him again (couldn't help thinking "Lassie Come Home".), I tried tying him up, but that just doesn't work very well here.  It was shortly after that I invested in the fence.  And ever since, he's terrified by thunder, and gets anxious about gunshots.  I don't allow him to become a "velcro dog" when he gets like this because it just makes me tense (I don't like violent thunderstorms either).  He goes off to his "cave" under the back deck.  I don't know why he feels safe there, he gets wet when he could stay dry in his house on the covered porch.

Whipper is showing his age a little but not so much I think about the day he's gone.  He's getting a little gray about the muzzle and looks a bit stiff after laying down for awhile, but other than that he's pretty spry.  I try not to think about it.

tnt

November

I have babies!  Yay.  It's been awhile since I had anything to talk about in the rabbitry, let alone litters.

Baroquen x Smith's Lou had 4 nicely broken blacks just an hour ago.  I was so pleased to see the entire litter is broken and all have very good pattern.  I was hoping there would be chocolate, but I'll take it.  I'm actually surprised there were no chocolates since she threw it in her last litter without trying.  I was trying this time...Lou is lilac.  Also pleased the litter is live and healthy.  It's been 4 months since I bred any does so I was prepared for failure.  Good girl, Baroquen!  I didn't look to see if they are otters or selfs.  Being broken, it might be a couple days before I can tell.  Would be very helpful if the Smith's bucks carry self.

It took a while to get the rest of the does bred so the next round isn't due for 2 weeks.  I still have one who will not lift.  I had to do a lot of shuffling around to get the others bred.  No one was cooperating, so I moved the does to a different cage everyday until they did.  It's not working on the frigid one so I'll take her for a ride the next time I go to town.

It was such a great year for daylilies.  Mild winter, plenty of rain and sunshine through spring and summer, and now still mild in November.  Best bloom I can remember in a long long time.  What really amazed me is that a couple varieties not known for reblooming did just that.

Like this one.  This is Golden Gate and it has never ever rebloomed.  It's been kicking out flowers for the last month.  It's usual bloom period is early in the season (May-June) and then it's done.  Even had 1st frost yesterday and the buds still opened today.  Oh yeah, didn't get 1st frost until yesterday.

There's a few other blooms as well.  The pink Knock-Out rose has some, and the white coneflower sent up more buds that started to open.  I think the frost stopped them which made for an interesting flower.  The petals look like toothpicks sticking out of the cone.  I tried to get it with the camera when I got the daylily but I think my camera is dying.  It gets harder and harder to get decent pictures.  Seriously considering a new one in the near future.  Other flowers are still coming but that frost should put a stop to that.

Didn't get the snow they went on about out of hurricane Sandy.  It spit some mixed with a fine misty rain that day but that's all it amounted to.  I guess the highest elevations got quite a bit.  How odd that I had snow before Michigan.

I finally sold the 3 odd breed hens at a TSC parking lot animal swap a few weeks ago.  Now I don't have to worry about cross-breeds in hatches next year.  That leaves me with 8 cochins (2 roos, 6 hens), and the Silky hen.  I'll probably bring in more next spring.  I have a line to a breeder who has Mille Fleur cochins (pretty!), and I might try a hatchery order to get the colors I want.

tnt

This & That 8.28.12

In the rabbitry:  The sell-down went well.  After the last of them are delivered, I'll have 7 broken black does and a solid chocolate doe.  That's right...no bucks right now....but I'll be getting 1 or 2 new ones very soon.  In the meantime, I'm cleaning out and rearranging the barn so I'm not in a big hurry to breed does.  Everybody is out in the Summer House so I don't even have to think about running a fan or leaving the door open in the barn.  Part of the plan is to keep the numbers low enough that every bunny will move outside for summers from now on.  Better for them, better for me.

The new program will be strictly brokens.  Most likely chocolate and dilute will be part of it since most of the does carry one or the other.  I have a handle on broken pattern, now I'll concentrate on type and for that, I'll need some seriously nice solid bucks.  Which I am getting.  I won't be going to very many shows while I work on this.

And now a short intermission to show off the current stars of the gardens.

Crape Myrtle and Althea (aka Rose of Sharon).  This is the view from my computer desk and I also see it from the window over the kitchen sink.  The pink thing in the foreground is a dwarf Joe Pye Weed.  The native species grows wild all along the road but it has never transplanted successfully.  So I bought this smaller domesticated version several years ago.  Butterflies love it.  I'm going to dig up some splits to add to the Porch View Garden.

This is the Porch View Garden that I've been revamping all summer.  Everything came from somewhere else in the yard.  You might remember when I posted it in progress in the spring, there were a couple more overgrown miscanthus (the large dark green grass behind the pink althea on the right).  They were removed (not easily!) to make room for more diversity and butterfly flowers.  I still want to transplant some groundcovers, but mostly it's finished for now.  I say for now because perennial gardens are never really finished.

This scene was so tranquil and pretty.  That's the Summer House on the right.  The yellow in the middle is an enormous perennial sunflower but I can't remember just which one it is except that its cultivar name is "Lemon Queen".  I have to move it (I want that box it's in for something else) but have no idea where to put it.  I'll think of something.  Everything else in that box needs to go elsewhere, too.

In chicken news:  Sadly, too many more losses.  Poochy, my favorite mottled roo disappeared.  It was very mysterious.  He was there in the morning at least until noon.  In the late afternoon he was gone.  I found a few mottled feathers over beside the fence where they often root around, but not enough to be evidence of foul play.  In fact, he and the other older roos are molting which could explain the few feathers I found.   I think I may have solved the mystery.

About a week ago, I caught my littlest red hen outside the back gate.  A very dangerous place for a small critter to be (resident fox!).  She was just poking around back there in the undergrowth as though it was perfectly normal.  I realized she could fit through the gap at the bottom of the gate, and must have been doing it for a while.  I used to have a piece of wire there but it had got bent back by the mower.  So I put it back and then she got out again!  So I watched all day to see what she was doing and finally caught her at it.  She was squeezing through the even smaller gap on the hinge side.  So I added wire there as well and that seems to have stopped it.  I now think Poochy followed her out there before I discovered what they were doing.  He was small enough to fit through the first gap.  It never occurred to me at the time he went missing to look back there.  She knew how to get back in quickly but maybe he didn't and was out there all night, and then he was gone.

I also lost the mottled blue cockerel that I was excited about and all 3 of the partridges.  They just up and died of unknown causes.  I was pretty heartbroken by all of these losses.  All that's left of Poochy and Buffy's last hatch is 2 pullets (white and black).

It's been really beautiful for weeks.  Almost too nice, it hasn't rained in over 2 weeks.  A bit too hot in the high afternoon but mornings and late afternoons are just right.

tnt

Bio-diversity

The latest issue of Backyard Poultry has a great article about how you can keep poultry for next to nothing in feed costs.  Homesteaders know this, it's the way our great grandparents kept chickens.  I really recommend this magazine to all backyard flocksters.  I've been taking it for awhile, and learn something new in every issue.  This particular article wasn't really something new for me, it just validated what I've been thinking all along.  It also gave me ideas for how it can be done with limited space and freedom.  As a gardener and nature-watcher, I understand how bio-diversity works.  It's the key to successfully raising chickens on a natural diet.  In this case, natural means for free.

I'm lucky that I have a lot of space and freedom.  So much that I can even support multiple roosters.  They have the room to work out their pecking order and room to avoid each other, and nobody cares if they crow.  A large part of the yard is fenced with 5' chainlink, and one of the reasons I settled on bantam cochins is because they aren't likely to fly over that fence.  As long as they stay inside the fence they're safe (nothing bigger than a rat gets in without Whipper knowing) and they have nearly unlimited natural food.  They don't need much from me.  I've set up roosts under the carport behind the rabbitry and that's where they spend the night, and they dash there when it rains.  There's several bowls of water around the yard, for the birds as well as dog and cat.  I do give them some daily feed.  This is either laying pellets or cheap mixed birdseed with cracked corn.  This is mostly as a treat to keep them tame and friendly.  They get more during winter when insects aren't available, but here in the south, there's always something green and growing, and many ground-dwelling organisms are active all winter.  My very 1st chicken was an obnoxious rooster who annoyed me so much, I quit feeding him at all in hope he'd just go away.  He thrived in beautiful condition through all seasons and was as ornery as ever.  I had to give him away to get rid of him.

So what's happening in my yard that makes it so perfect for chickens?  I'm a perennial gardener and have extensive gardens all over the place.  I've been landscaping since the day I moved here.  Literally.  I brought a lot of perennials from my MI garden, and they went in the ground almost immediately.  Natural habitat has grown up all along the fence, and I don't care that it's untrimmed and messy.  You can barely see the fence except at the gates and I like that.  The lawn is not manicured in any way other than mowing it, and it's made up of a lot of different native plants.  The gardens provide protective cover and shade for the birds.  I don't use any chemicals or pesticides other than Round-Up to keep garden edges neat and eliminate the need to trim hard to mow areas.  The diversity of plant life encourages a multitude of animal life...insects, worms, etc.  I dump rabbit manure directly on gardens which invites more life.  There's a lot going on in my yard.  It's highly bio-active, and chickens fit right in.

So how can a flockster (love that word, I found it in BYP) with less space and freedom provide more natural "free" food for their birds?  There's the obvious ways that can be found on most homesteading sites.  But if you're not a flower gardener or nature-watcher like me, you might not think about bio-diversity.  You should.

Someone in a limited situation might choose the chicken tractor method.  A portable coop that gives the birds fresh pasture on a regular basis.  This is a great option, but you have to think about the pasture underfoot.  Mowed lawn is not going to provide much more than entertainment for the chickens.  New grass, maybe a few bugs or worms but they will clean it out in no time, and if you leave them there long enough, you end up with a barren patch of ground that doesn't provide anything.  Instead, think about how you can allow some overgrown areas.  Let a patch the size of your coop go unmowed for a while.  It needs time to develop a mini habitat, including letting plants go to seed.  You could even seed the areas with self-sustaining forage such as grain or legume plants.  I suggest at least 3 areas per coop.  This works like a 3-stage compost bin.  There's the "new" part, the "cooking" part, and the "done" part.  When the birds have created a new part (depleted it), move them to the done part and let the others cook.  In fact, these areas could also be used for composting.  Throw all the things you would toss on the compost pile (including rabbit manure) in these areas instead.  Decaying vegetation provides a lot of animal life for the pecking, and the birds work the compost pile for you.

If you have a vegetable garden, it could be part of the layout.  Let some areas around the garden grow up, and do double duty as compost piles.  You could even fence each area so you can just put your birds in a done part.  You'd want to include shelter as part of a permanent layout.  And of course, the garden itself can provide excellent foraging.  You could build narrow runs that fit between rows and tractor them along.  The birds will do the weeding.  Toss the weeds they couldn't reach in the cooking parts.  After the harvest, leave the garden debris right there and let the chickens have at it.  Add finished compost from the working areas.  They'll turn all that into rich soil for next year's garden, as well as adding their manure to the mix. You might not even need to till it...it's all done and ready to go in the spring.  Free food for the birds, and other than moving the coop around, it's free labor for you.

Bio-diversity.  Think about it.  Chickens that are pastured to save feed costs need it.

tnt

7.24.12

I'll start off with rabbits.  I know, haven't talked about them much lately.  Not a lot was happening there and the chickens have been more entertaining.

I got a surprise in the nestbox.  I had bred the new Smith's himi buck to broken Baroquen.  I knew it was a risk because she carries himi.  I don't recommend broken x himi, but I'm prepared to deal with the broken himis that come out of it.  Baroquen herself was out of himi x broken.  I do it for type and at that time and this time, a himi buck had needful type parts.


So there are 2 kits, almost 3 weeks old.  A nicely broken black and what I thought was a siamese sable.  Didn't really expect that, but shaded from any of my lines doesn't surprise me.  As the kits grew, the sable wasn't looking right.  I realized it's a chocolate!  Now that is just plain strange.  Not strange from Baroquen, I knew she probably carried it, but how did the himi get the chocolate gene?  That's very rare in himis since they are usually herded with shadeds and shaded breeders avoid the chocolate gene (if they're wise).  Can't wait to tell the Smiths what lurks in that line.


One of my pet peeves is when clueless breeders label a brownish himi as chocolate when it's obviously a faded black himi.  Now I have an opportunity to actually work with chocolate himis.  Do I want to?  I don't know.  I have a few young does in the wings that will not be compatible with this.  I could cut the herd even harder to eliminate those other colors and just work the himis straight.  And maybe bring back the broken chocolates.  My foundation broken herd included chocolate.  I'll be thinking about this.  BTW, the little choc kit is looking promising.  That might have a lot of say.


In the weanlings, I ended up with way too many himi bucks.  Some of those are promising so we'll see.  There's only 1 himi doe in all those litters and she's looking broody, and maybe a black carrying himi.  Haven't sexed that one for sure yet.  One of the nicest bucks has me a bit puzzled.  One of his front feet is extremely light.  I've never seen that before.  His color isn't impressive to begin with but he's young and it's hot so I'm not worrying about that right now.  But one nearly white foot worries me.  I hope it's just a weird heat related molt thing.  And no, this one is not out of broken so that's not it.


It's interesting that most of the other himis are displaying pretty good color in this heat.  2 others the same age as that one have strong black points.  All the weanlings are still in the barn where it's much hotter.  Bruin (out in the Summer House) has suddenly begun to develop dark color.  He never had it before, his color was pretty lousy, and I assumed as good as it would ever be.  He's over 1 year old and just coming out of a hard molt.  It is cooler out there, but not that much cooler.  There's more to himi color than temperature.

Observations of chicken behavior: The Group Preen.

Every morning, they gather in the Porch View garden and spend a lot of time preening together.  As others join the gather, they immediately begin to preen as well.  I've also seen this later in the day and it might be in response to me.  If I sit down near them, one might begin to preen, and when one preens, the rest follow suit.  I think this is a sign of relaxed and content birds.  The morning preen happens to be when I'm sitting on the porch with my coffee.  They know I'm there and that pretty soon I'll head out to do the feeding chores.  While they wait on me, they might as well preen.  It's calming for me to watch it, too.

This is my view from the porch.

Of the 9 hatchlings, I have 4 keepers.  Maybe less.  1 blue roo (cool) and 3 hens.  The hens are white, black and mottled black.  I don't know if I'll keep the black and white, but I've really been wanting a mottled hen so she's not going anywhere.

They are getting pretty good at catching Japanese beetles on the fly.  It's hilarious when one catches a bug and then has to run to hang onto its prize.  The others are ready to snatch it if it's fumbled.  I'm trying to teach them to hunt slugs.  Whenever I come across one in a garden, I toss it in front of whatever bird is closest.  I wondered if the slime would turn them off (I know ducks eat slugs), but they've learned it's a heckova good snack (slugs get huge down here!) and gobble it right up.  Sometimes they have to dice the slug into smaller pieces before they can swallow it which is kinda gross.

tnt

More New

The same breeder who gave me Silky sold me a pair of young Barred Cochins.  Actually it was a trade.  These pix are dreadful.  They wouldn't stand still for a second.  Most of the shots were way worse.  This barred pattern is trippy with a motion blur!  I'll try to get better ones after they've settled down.

The pullet.  She seems really sweet and friendly.

The cockeral with Silky.  I wonder if she knows them.  She seemed very interested, more so than to my birds.  Maybe she'll bond with them.  His type is a lot like the buff roo that died out in the yard last month...bigger and leggier.  I was told he's pretty sweet too, except when it comes to his hen.

That's Poochy on the other side of the fence.  There was much posturing and strutting on both sides of the fence.  This will probably be a problem when I let these new birds out to free range, and the barred's larger size and seemingly extra testosterone worries me.

Yummm!  Corn on the cob!  The sweet lady who lives up the road from me brings me stuff.  These days it's sweet corn from the farmer's market.  It's more than I can eat so I give some to the birds.  Shhh, don't tell her.

It's an odd situation.  She sneaks up the drive and leaves it on my car hood.  She always manages to do this when I'm not looking or I'd thank her and let her know I can't eat all she brings me.  But I never catch her!  For a 75 year old woman, she moves pretty fast!  Whipper doesn't usually bark at people who come to the house so he doesn't alert me.  I look out and it has magically appeared on my car.  She often leaves magazines like Reader's Digest because a glitch in the subscription department sends her 2 copies.  I do like those.

Chickens are apparently related to vultures.  Wait, what?  Back up to a few days ago.  Until now, the white Japanese has been the underdog and outsider.  He wasn't allowed to play in any chicken games.  Suddenly something changed and he went after the alpha bird spot.  He and Poochy got into it real bad, and Poochy was not holding his own.  He came away covered in blood, which in the above pic has faded to yellow stains on his neck.  I put Pooch in the pen to calm down and recover a bit in peace, and kicked the Jap out of the yard that evening.  I wasn't having that, and I don't want him covering my hens anyways.  I actually took him "up north" (back of the property by the woods), but he came back down the next day.  He's currently living in the front yard.  As long as he stays there, I'm ok with that.  I set out a bowl of water for him, but he gets nothing else from me.  Didn't take him long to discover the bird feeders in the front garden provide quite a bit.

The vulture reference?  The cat left the remains of a rat in front of the porch yesterday morning.  Gee thanks, Abby.  I scooped it up and tossed it out into the front yard (the part where I don't go much).  Sometimes she finds it and finishes it off.  The Jap found it first.  I looked out later and there he was picking at it.  He spent quite a bit of time on it.  Yeah, he was eating carrion!  I saw him return to it throughout the day.  Who knew?

It cooled off nicely for several days and rained a lot all that time.  Now we're heading into another hot spell but so far not looking to be hot as it was.  The rain sure did kick up the humidity!

tnt

Something new

When one of the buyers came to pick up her rabbits, she brought me something else.  She had read here on the blog that I lost my little Silky pullet.  So she brought me one!  Thanks, Clarissa!

I never got a good pic of the other one but she wasn't anything like this!  This looks and feels like thick fur!  I had no idea they could be so soft.  This is another example of the difference between hatchery quality and breeder quality, like my cochins.   I'm not sure how to integrate her into the free rangers.  I was told Silkies are prone to predators, especially hawks, because they can't see past their topknot unless you trim it.  I can hardly see her eyes.  That pouf is half her charm so I kinda hate to cut it off.  She may just live in the Summer House permanently.  As I was trying to get a good shot, I realized a Silky might have been the inspiration for Sesame Street's Big Bird.  You see it, too, right?

I put the partridge trio in with her the first night.  I was hoping she would bond with them so she could go out.  Didn't see any sign that she would.  I imagine the cochins don't know what to think about this odd lookin critter.  My other silky seemed to be an outsider as well.  The next day, I found a teeny tiny egg, the smallest I've seen from any of my birds, in the nestbox.  It might have been one of the cochins, but I don't know for sure.  I was told Silky (yeah, that's probably her name) is about 5 months old, which is about what my hens are, and first eggs usually aren't full sized.

This is what greets me when I walk out on the porch in the evening.  Even though I was ready with camera in hand, I still couldn't get all of them in one shot.  They mob me that fast!  You see, they usually get their bird seed in the evening and they come running.  I can barely walk out to the pen where I keep it without stepping on them.  I feel like Richard Dreyfess in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" when he was being escorted by the little aliens into the space ship.  Yeah, I know, weird thing to think of, but that's the picture in my head when I look down at all these little beings milling around my feet.

The birchens weren't in that shot because they were right at my feet already.  That roo is going to be so beautiful!

Hardy Hibiscus in all it's glory.  Those flowers are about 8" across.  This is seen from the window by the computer desk.  Nice view, huh?

tnt

The Plan

I know some of my followers were wondering what the heck was going on after I posted the barn reduction sale.  Several friends contacted me worried I was selling out.  I'm not selling out.

I've been working towards a much smaller herd for some time.  I simply don't want to manage a large number of rabbits anymore.  Most of the sale list was older stock I was done with and they were going up for sale anyways.  I'm not breeding for the rest of the summer so I don't need sr does right now.  I have several jrs that will take over when I'm ready to breed again, and I kept a few young proven srs as back up.  After I made up my mind to sell most of the Brush Clean System, the time was right to make it one big sale.  Rabbits were priced to move as quickly as possible so I could get to the next phase of the plan.


I've been so lucky that I haven't lost any to the horrible heat we've had, and I hate that they suffer so in the barn.  A strictly maintained smaller herd means I need fewer cages, and fewer cages means I won't be tempted to keep anything that won't further my goals.  This past year, I haven't used most of those cages at all.  I left all except the working does outside in the Summer House all winter.  That worked out well.  I kept 2 sets of full water bottles...1 in the barn where it's heated.  If the bottles froze, I just swapped them out and brought the frozen ones inside to thaw.  I can handle that, and the bunnies can handle occasional freezing weather.


The new plan will have 10 brood holes in the barn.  That will be the maximum I will have working at any one time.  Probably less.  I kept a 6-hole brood unit and have another to put back together.  That was the last one I built (I like its configuration better), and it used to sit in the middle of the floor.  Then I didn't need it so I took it apart.  When I put it back together, I'll tweak the design some more.  These 2 units will go on the right side of the barn as shown on the Barn page.  I'll use funds from the sale to build some more Summer House cages.  Haven't made up my mind about that yet, but maybe another 10-12 holes.  I need enough to move everybody out for the summer, and I'll be culling very hard to keep that manageable.  Only the best will stay.


So what will I do with the rest of the barn?  Workshop!  My "workshop" is a back bedroom.  Not ideal at all.  It's carpeted for one thing.  I keep all my tools and hardware there, and mostly do stuff there.  If I need to cut lumber I drag the tools out to the porch, but little things get cut or drilled inside and debris ends up in the rug.  I want an organized workshop where I can make a mess, and more storage.


BTW, even if someday I do get out, I will still have rabbits.  I'm a gardener and every gardener should have some rabbits.  I'd breed enough to maintain a small population.  Besides, I can't give up my beloved dwarfs completely.  I'll have some until my situation says I can't.


tnt

Coming Out Day

The rest of the birds were turned out today.  I just opened the pen gate and let them come out on their own. In the past, I selectively put them out.  I always clip wings before I turn them out, and I did that last night after they went to roost.  I don't think they will fly over the 5' fence, but better safe than sorry.

Integration went well.  There's was no aggression from the others that were already out.  Here, one of the Rhodies and a red greeted them as they trickled out.

These are partridges and birchens.  Or silver penciled.  I'm still not sure which.

I scattered some mixed bird seed/cracked corn to get them excited about foraging in the grass.  They love their bird seed!  In this shot, mottled roo, birchen hen and roo, partridge hen and roo, red hen, buff hen and a Rhodie hen.

Happy chickens.  Happy chicken keeper.  They should go through much less feed now.

It will be interesting to see which birds go roost in the pen tonight, and which go to the outside roosts.  I'm hoping they will split up but I'm sure the dynamics will change.

I was amused by a couple of the original free rangers chasing after Japanese beetles that are starting to emerge.  The guineas were masters at catching the beetles out of the air, but they aren't here anymore to teach the chickens. I'm pleased they figured out on their own that these big fat beetles are fairly easy to catch and make a good meal.  It's funny to watch a squat fluffy cochin waddling as fast as he can after the bugs.

Whew.  It was 101 again yesterday.  They're saying 100+ again for today, and it was 85 by 9am.  I had the chores done by then, and retreated into the house.  Sure hope this weather pattern breaks soon.

tnt

101

That was the high yesterday according to the remote digital thermometer on the porch (the readout part is in the house) which is in the shade.  It's the one I look at for the most accurate temperature.  That's the record for me since I've been here (8 years).  I don't believe I've had 100 before now.  Yesterday was supposed to be the peak of this heat wave.  If it gets no hotter than that we're good here.

I don't know what it was in the barn.  I didn't want to know as there was nothing else I could do for them.  But the gals handled it with just the fan.  There's only 8 does in the barn, and only 4 have litters 4-5 weeks old.  No losses.  I think it really helps that the cherry tree and crape myrtle on the west side are mature and providing a lot of shade on the wall and roof.  The does are all on that wall.  The rest are outside in the Summer House and I wasn't worried about them.  I've said it before, it's also the breed.  Dwarfs are so small and hardy, they can take a lot of heat as long as they have good ventilation.

I thought of some tips to help cope with heat in an enclosed rabbit barn if AC isn't an option.  You know several already.  Frozen water bottles or tiles, misters, and of course ventilation and fans.  I can't do frozen bottles.  Just don't have the freezer space.  I could maybe do cold tiles.  A mister isn't an option due to the wooden floor in the barn.  Fans is the best I can do.

1. If at all possible, reduce the herd going into summer.  Less body heat, and less waste that generates heat.

2. If you reduce the herd, you should have empty holes.  Hot air rises you know.  Move as many as possible to the lowest tiers.  I also suggest putting the most valuable players in the very bottom tiers.  You know, the ones you couldn't bear to lose.  Also put as many as possible on the coolest walls.  North and east or the shaded walls.

3.  Clean more often to control the radiated heat from the pans.

4. An outside option for a good part of the herd if you can.  A shade structure like a porch or carport is about as cool as you can get outside on a scorching day.  It provides free air flow without the need for fans.  Even a cheap portable canopy will do.  Just make sure it's big enough to shade the cages all day.  Attach shade cloth to the sides that allow the sun to shine on any cages.

5. Plant shading plants on the south and west facing walls.  I love my cherry tree.  It grew fast.  Other fast growing plants are crape myrtles, bamboo, hybrid willows, and vines.  Native wisteria or grape vine grows very fast and would cover a tall trellis structure in front of the wall in no time.  While you wait for it to take off, you can grow annual vines like morning glory or hyacinth bean.  If using wisteria or grapes, make sure the trellis is very sturdy.  These are hefty vines when mature.  Another good shade vine is called Silver Lace Vine.  It's a very robust perennial that grows very thick quickly.  It's covered in tiny white flowers like a bridal veil for a long bloom period in late summer.  It also needs a sturdy structure.  If attaching the trellis directly to the barn wall, add shims or brackets to hold it away from the wall.  The cooling comes from the air space between the plant and wall, and the more air space the better.  Of course, planting now won't help much this year, but doing it now will help next year, so make those plans.  Be sure and keep those new plants well watered through the heat and lack of rain.


The chicks are doing good.  I close off the back bedrooms when I'm running AC and it's gets pretty toasty back there.  They don't need the heat lamp unless it goes below 60 outside at night, and I don't think that will happen before they're big enough to handle it.  I'll move them out to the barn in another week or so when they are acclimated to lower night time temps.


I do believe that one is a mottled blue!  Cool!  Maybe what they call splash.  I don't know what the difference would be, maybe just the name of the color.  The 2 light ones are looking like they will be white.  I hope they are actually mottled buff because that would be pretty, but the wing feathers starting to come in are white so we'll see.


Sadly, I lost the partridge silky girl out in the pen last week.  I don't know what happened.  When I went out there in the morning she was dead.  Bummer.  I really liked her.  She was one of the reasons I hadn't turned the rest of the birds out to free range yet.  I think I'll try now.  They need to learn to forage and there isn't anything to forage on in the pen.  My plan is to separately pen up breeding groups next year.  Got a couple ideas for that which I'll work on before next spring.


Keep cool as best you can.


tnt 

Chicks

Again!  All of the buff's 9 eggs hatched today!

There were 3 blacks when I went out this morning.  By late afternoon, all had hatched.  All day, I was thinking about what to do.  Should I leave them with her to see if it works out this time?  Or should I "rescue" them?  These are the first positively purebred cochins.  I couldn't be sure with the earlier hatchlings.

These 3 are the reason I ultimately decided to save them.  They're not black!  I'm not sure what color they are, but they're definitely keepers.  The darkest one looks like it could be blue.  That would be very cool, although I don't really see blue coming from this pair.  The lightest one (top right) might be buff.  Can't wait to see what they turn out to be.  The others are 4 blacks and 2 mottled blacks.  I really didn't plan to raise any more chicks this year, but here I go again.

The other reason I decided to save this hatch is "type".  I like the type on the mottled roos and the buff hen.  They came from a breeder, not TSC or hatchery orders.  They are small, compact, and very fluffy.  The roos have lovely flowing tail feathers...like a Vegas showgirl's costume.  With the exception of the partridge trio, the rest have racier leggier type.

Speaking of the mottleds.  Here they are with the brahma hen cleaning up under the bird feeder.  No sunflowers sprouting in this garden!  The one in front is the baby daddy Poochy.  I can tell him from the other because he has more white.  It's the reason I left him with the buff to breed...more mottling.  He was just turned out this week.  I had to put those stones around the freshly transplanted daylilies as they were doing a number on them with their scratching.

Now I have to run to town tomorrow and get chick starter.  All I have is adult layer pellets.  I mashed some up for the chicks but they're going to need the starter feed.

tnt

6.11.12

All the litters from Smith's HD (himi) came in.  Final total in 5 litters - 11 kits.  5 himis, 5 blacks, and a siamese sable. Got 3 does bred and might breed another, but there won't be much more than rebreeds (for failures) for at least the summer.

I was worried about the poor color of the Stoneybrook's himi buck that was here on loan last year causing problems.  His offspring all had poor color.  Pale and blotchy.  Got a couple from Bruin who is that one's son and also has poor color.  These 2nd generation babies' color came up quick and dark!  I'm pleased.  The older one is a broody doe, but the next litter gave me a very promising little buck who is about 6 weeks old now.  Breeding himi to well-colored himi works.  Both are out of Chevette who only had 1 live in each of those 2 litters.  She's on HD's litter of 3 himis now.

I really want to turn the rest of the birds out to free range soon, but a couple are still pretty small and valuable to me.  One is the partridge silky that I don't want to lose.  As a friend put it, she's a future brooding machine, and she's just so darn cute!  The others are the cochin birchen/silver penciled roo and pullet, and the partridge roo.  Yeah, I think I got that partridge roo I wanted so much.  I can't tell if the roo is a birchen or a silver pencil.  His back plumage was very slow to come out and just now covering his back.  I compared my pullets to photos I found online and they do look like birchen so since the roo came from the same batch, maybe that means that's what he is.  I was trying to find pix that would show me the difference but they all look the same to me.  I'm calling them birchens.

I might set the silky up in a tractor so I can turn the others out sooner.  I wanted to just open the gate on the pen and let them come and go as they please during the day.  I've been working on converting an old 4' dog crate into a sort of chick tractor.  This would just be for young birds.  I'll take pix when I get it finished.  It will give them full access to scratching ground, and I'm including a way to confine them in one end of the crate for moving the rig around.  I'll be able to pick it up without them falling out.

The brahma who went broody under daylilies abandoned her eggs a few days ago.  I noticed Whipper nosing around her nest which I hadn't seen him do before.  Went over to see what he was about, and found one of her eggs had exploded.  Yuck!  I held my breath and disposed of it.  Watched the hen to see if she was going to the nest and she didn't all that day.  So I disposed of the rest of the eggs before they blew up, too.  The buff cochin hen is brooding in a nestbox and I estimate hers to hatch in about a week and half.  At least I'll know these are purebred cochins.

I came up with an idea for keeping track of what daylilies are where.  We had our Rendevous at the Smith's this weekend, and their daylilies are even more beautiful than mine this year and that's saying a lot.  I don't know why they are so happy this year, maybe it's the plentiful rain and finally recovering from the drought 2 years ago.  Water, especially rain, is the best fertilizer for daylilies.

The Smith's are more organized collectors and keep their daylilies in ordered and tagged beds.  Mine are part of the gardens and scattered all over.  My daylilies are part of the skeleton of my gardens.  The big bones are the shrubs and large ornamental grasses.  Daylilies are the small bones.  Everything else is specimens for diversity and filler plants.  I try tagging them, but the tags always disappear over time.

So I'm taking pix of the gardens while they are blooming.  Then I'll label them in my graphics software and file in a special folder along with pix of individual flowers.  I'm also drawing rough "maps" of each garden so I can label their locations.  These rough maps will be recreated in my new landscaping 'ware to make more detailed maps.  This way I won't have to wait until they bloom (or try to remember) to know what/where they are if I want to split one right now.  I keep the daylily catalogs that I've ordered from as reference as well.

Oh almost forgot.  I did bring home a new daylily from the Smith's this weekend.  I wasn't planning to, I have plenty of daylily transplanting of my own to do.  As I was walking around the beds and chatting with Gary, I said I didn't need anything that looked like something I already had even if it wasn't exactly the same.  And it just jumped out at me.  So he real quick dug up a plantlet off it.  It's called "Moonlight Sail" and unlike anything I have.  It's big and heavy, purple with yellow ruffles, very exotic.  The small split has some buds so I'll get a shot when it blooms.  In the meantime, here's a link to a photo.     I haven't placed it yet, it's biding time in a pot.

It's gray and drizzly today so I can spend some time on the pix I took today.

tnt