Well, I'm unable to update the website right now so I might as well blog. My web host is in the middle of heavy server work so I can't get in there. Not that there is a lot to update, but there are a couple minor things.
In bunny news:
Kachina finally gave me a live litter again. She was bred to Jacob (the new Jacob's sable pt). She has 2 torts. There was also a peanut. I thought (hoped) that the lighter one might be sable pt or even blue tort but at 5 days old, it's obvious it's just a lighter black tort. It was pink at birth. There's a fair chance Kachina carries dilute and a remote chance Jacob does. Then again, it's just as well if Jacob doesn't carry as that really wouldn't be very good for the sable pts. In any case, I'm not disappointed with the litter.
Chevelle has 3 with Jacob. 3 siamese sables. That is disappointing. I really wanted sable pt from that. I don't want any sia sables, but hopefully one will be something I can work with since they do carry for sable pt. Trying to decide if I want to repeat the pairing. I don't usually unless I think the genetic dice will roll differently. That could happen here. I don't really have anyone else to breed to Chevelle right now which means it might be a good time to move her out. I'll see how I feel about it after I see how this litter develops. She's such a good doe, one of my most trustworthy, and I usually get a keeper from her. I want to make sure I'm absolutely done with her before I sell her.
Dreamspinner's 3 broken blacks have their eyes open. Big heads on 2 of them. Hope the type got there, too. If you remember, I didn't keep any from her 1st litter with Smith's BL4 because the type went to the solid black instead of the broken. Keeping my fingers crossed. A doe would be real nice, too.
All open does have been bred except one. I'll get to her as soon as it warms up again. We're in the midst of a cold snap. I moved all the bucks outside last week and it went down to 23 this morning so I'm sure I'll be dealing with frozen water. Sure hope this is the last blast of winter.
In chicken news:
I picked up some new Cochin chicks from a friend at the show this past weekend. She had ordered from a hatchery and had way more than she needed. It was a great opportunity for me to get more Cochins. There's 2 partridge and 9 variously marked buffy ones. 2 people at the show said they were all solid buffs and the markings would grow out. Oh well. Was hoping maybe they were something new and different. I'm excited about the partridges. I think this is one of the most beautiful chicken colors...the classic rainbow rooster seen in all sorts of chicken art.
I decided to trash all the eggs in the incubator and what was in the nestboxes. I couldn't keep the incubator's temp stabilized and worried it had killed the eggs. If they were ever fertile. I candled just before trashing and saw no evidence of an embryo in any of them. BTW, it's a lot easier to candle chicken eggs than guineas. Guinea eggs have thick shells! I had left eggs in the nestboxes to see if anyone went broody, but no one did, although new eggs appeared daily. Since the eggs had been out there in wildly fluctuating temps, I decided they were trash too. They would have just frozen today anyways. I'll start collecting and try again.
In other news:
Weather has been pretty wild around here for the last week. There were dangerous storms 2 nights in a row, and they were both setting up like the tornadoes last April. I'm kinda gun-shy now and seeing that on tv makes for tension. The storms did a lot of damage in some areas, but luckily fell apart before they got here. I only got a little lightening, rain, and the power didn't even blink. Wasn't even that much wind which is really unusual for here.
Then there were the extremes! It was in the 70s for several days before the storms. Then the cold came in yesterday and it pulled out everything in the bag. There was lightening before dawn, then the temps went down by mid-morning, then a bit of rain and tiny floaty snowflakes. Then a good hail shower that stayed on the ground like snow. Then some snow that didn't stick. Then clear by late afternoon when the temps really dumped. This morning the sun was hitting the heavy frost on the ground just right and it looked like someone spilled multicolored glitter all over. Pretty.
13 days until Spring!
tnt
