Spring Creek Gems

1.27.12

2012-01-27T09:01:00.000-05:00

Update. All of Baroquen's are broken! The other tort showed its markings yesterday. It's like 80% so it took this long for the white parts to fully appear (to my old eyes). I think the other 2 will be showable brokens, but they are borderline for 50%. Still surprising to get such heavy patterns from spot x blanket.

I read something online the other day. Don't remember where (probably Facebook) or who, but it might have been a Mini Rex breeder. (I wouldn't make a very good reporter, would I?) What I did get from this was some more insight into the broken gene. I believe experienced breeders of breeds that have good broken pattern well established are the best source for knowledge about the broken gene. Mini Rex is one of these. Here is an excellent article about brokens.

This was timely because of the heavy patterns in the Baroquen x Sugardaddy litter. Her last litter was with a solid black and she threw barely 10% even though she has plenty of color. So I expected some spots in her litter with Daddy. Instead I got his heavy pattern. Not really complaining here. Just trying to understand it.

This person said that broken x broken will produce charlies AND booted. Booted isn't something we see in dwarfs, at least not yet. From what I've seen, it's common in Mini Rex. Booted has very little white, often limited to the feet. What I would call 90%. I had never seen it in my double broken litters when a spot was one of the mates. Until now. I think Sugardaddy is responsible. I might have to adjust my breeding strategy to prevent establishing a booted pattern.

But there's another mystery in my broken herd. The torts. I have got spot torts in the past, but this latest foray into actively breeding for tort has not produced a single spot. Every broken tort has been heavy blankets, usually too much color. I've noticed in the past that certain solid colors didn't give enough pattern. I've also had solids (usually black) that pulled excellent pattern consistently. I just assumed it was about that particular rabbit. But it's not just particular torts, it's all the unrelated lines that carry for it. Maybe there's something else going on here. I'm trying to get litters from the Jacob's sable pt with broken black does (does aren't cooperating) to see if it is the tort, as in non-extension SELF, as opposed to non-extension shaded.

I'm off to my first show of the year tomorrow. The Triple Crown in Spartanburg, SC. The next show after that is Dalton, GA in March. Weather is holding out for the weekend. A little cooler, but decent temperatures and no snow predicted.

52 days until Spring
tnt

And another litter.

2012-01-25T10:28:00.000-05:00

Yay. Things are looking up. Not only am I getting some live kits, I'm getting color.

Baroquen x Sugardaddy dropped 3 yesterday. I thought it was 2 torts and a broken black. Today, one of the torts is broken. It's funny how the heavily marked torts don't show any white right away. Oh yeah, and I knew they were torts at birth, no mistaking it. Don't know what I was thinking when I thought Daddy's other litter was torts. Just had it in my mind that's what would happen, I guess.

So far, Daddy throws his heavier pattern. I expected some charlie-marks since Baroquen is a spot pattern, but even with her, he threw plenty of color. He's one of those very useful bucks for me. I've had some like this in the past. He's carrying goodies and it just takes a good match to get them in his litter. Broken that throws good pattern, and carries dilute and non-extension, yeah, very handy in one brood buck. Now to get blue out of him. I gave him Chevette in a fit of desperation. She IS blue and a proven good doe. I'll take solid blue at this point, but broken blue would be better. Don't really expect blue tort from Chevette.

All 3 kits are very small. That's been a problem for me with Baroquen's line. They're often too big for my taste. Daddy looks like a good match in that respect, too.

There is one thing bugging me. Why did I not get tort when I bred Daddy to the sable pt doe, but did when I bred him to the broken black who carries himi? Methinks I don't know all there is to know about how these genes work together. At least there were no himis.

Kachina failed. Found hers dead cold this morning. She was bred to Jacob the sable pt, and all 3 were torts. Looks like 2 were alive at birth. What is it with these does that get it right the very first time and can't seem to pull it off again? Got another doe like that. Of course, it doesn't help that a cold snap comes through on the nights litters are due. And this goes back to the previous question. Kachina is Daddy's daughter. Why no sable pts in this litter?

So 3 litters in the box, and 1 on the ground. 2012 is off to a pretty good start. Already looking more successful than all of last year.

54 days until Spring
tnt

Lucky Litters - Part III

2012-01-18T13:02:00.001-05:00

Well, that was unexpected. I had said Z. Lita x Sugardaddy was 2 torts. I saw the tort shading on the newborns' skin and just assumed that's what they were. Now they are Sable Points. Then I remembered they sometimes display that same tort shading on the lower body and head. Boy, I'm batting nearly 0 for color guesses lately. But hey, the sable point project is on the fast track.

I didn't think Sugardaddy carried shaded which is why I expected torts. Shaded has to hook up with another "c" gene to be expressed so I reviewed his pedigree to see where it might have come from. There it is...his ggdam is a himi.

That will probably be a problem. I also bred Daddy to Baroquen who carries himi for sure, and one of the reasons I used him with her is because I thought he was clean. Oh, I sure hope there's something besides himis in that litter. I knew breeding himi x broken might come back to bite me, but was hoping careful planning would avoid it.

Got a few does due this week and next. One pulled some fur today, but I'm not optimistic. I found some bloody matter under her cage when I cleaned the other day. I think she aborted something. Grrr, this is one of the nice broken does who has yet to give me a live litter.

Got a couple does bred this week, and still have a few more that need it.

Weather has been pretty good. It got up to 64 yesterday. Another cold snap today and tonight but I think it's warming up again for the rest of the week. I sure do like the heating bills this winter. So far, they've been half what they were last year. I like it.

61 days until Spring
tnt

Lucky Litter - Part II

2012-01-15T11:42:00.001-05:00

Very good! I have 2 new litters! I can't remember the last time I had more than one live litter at a time.

Zimmerman's Suzie x Jacob's is the one I talked about before who kindled 1.12. 3 sable pts. Yay. I was worried about how she'd react to my taking them away that night, but she is doing fine. She was shy about getting in the box that next morning so I finished chores and came back about an hour later to see if she had fed them, and she had. So all is well there.

Zimmerman's Lita x Sugardaddy dropped hers yesterday 1.14. It's been so cold at night, I figured it would be a bust, but it was another lucky litter born in the afternoon. If she had kindled at night, they'd have been kitsickles for sure because she kicked most of the nesting material out of the box and only put a little fur in there. At least she put the kits in the box. There's 2 torts. She hopped right in the box when I took it out this morning and spent quite a bit of time with the kits.

I didn't know how these does would do for me. They're older than I like, and not of my breeding, and I have no idea how long they'd been idle. I'm a bit surprised and very pleased that they both did great right away. Now if my own does would just get their acts together.

Chevelle's are doing great, too. They are both bucks, and the smoke pearl is looking like he'll be suitable as a dilute brood buck. Time will tell if I'll want to show him because I think he got his daddy's wide crown and muley ears. The sable pt is a promising little show bunny.

64 days until Spring
tnt

Lucky Litter

2012-01-13T06:28:00.000-05:00

One of the new Sable Pt does was due on the 13th. The other the 14th. I didn't realize it was Friday the 13th until someone mentioned it. Now, I've never considered Friday 13th a bad day for me. I've never had an unlucky Friday 13, so I kind of think of it as a lucky day. Of course, it's probably just another day. I'm not a lucky person and I don't think there are lucky days for me.

I thought it would be cool if I could name a litter for Friday the 13th. You know...lucky type names. Plus, another cold snap was coming so it would be lucky if the litter was alive if born at night. Well, this litter did turn out to be lucky. I hope.

I caught her pulling fur yesterday morning when I went out for chores. I gave her a box and she immediately began bundling hay. I should have paid more attention. She's a proven and experienced doe and pulling fur probably was her routine just before kindling. But I don't know her and just wasn't thinking. I didn't look in on her again until late afternoon when I went out to shut up the barn and turn on the heater. It was 50 most of the day so I had some windows open.

Oh my. There were kits all over the wire. She built a beautiful fur nest so I don't know why she didn't put them in it. 3 were alive but very cold and close to death. I whisked them into the house and popped the heat wrap in the microwave. It took over an hour (had to heat the wrap a 2nd time) to get the kits warm and active. By this time, it was too late to take them back out to her to see if she wanted to tend to them. No way I was leaving the box out all night. I put the box on a heating pad to warm it up. As of now, they are all fine, but it's too early to take them out there. My worry is not knowing how this doe will accept my routine of taking the box out in the morning and taking it away the rest of the time. Especially since she hasn't seen the kits since I picked them off the wire. Here's hoping she will accept them. I don't have a doe to foster. If this litter survives, I think it's definitely earned the lucky names. Oh yeah and it's just plain lucky I have a litter at all!

Here's also hoping the other SP doe kindles during the day, too. This cold snap is going to last for a good week. Oh BTW, the kits are probably Sable Pts (I hope). She was bred to the new Jacob's SP buck. The other doe is bred to Sugardaddy (broken black) so I don't know what I'll get there. He carries for tort so good chance for that. More on these stories as they develop.

In chicken news. I had to kick the d'Uccle roo out of the pen. For some reason, everybody started beating him up a few days ago, even the hens. I don't know what happened to the pecking order all of a sudden, but apparently he was severely demoted. He looked really rough around the head and tail feathers, and his comb was caked with I don't know what. They wouldn't let him near any food. So out he went to join the other 2 free rangers where he seems to be doing ok.

The buff Cochin roo is probably going out, too. I decided he's a mixed breed. He's bigger than the other Cochins and not cochin-shaped. He's tall, leggy, long necked. I probably don't want his genes in any hatches I might get. Although, I do like him. He's a handsome bird and not aggressive. The d'Uccle was a little aggressive with me. I've had to smack him a few times. Maybe that's what set the others off? That would be interesting to know. The Rhode Island Red roo has been smacked, too, but it's my plan to isolate him with the 2 RIR hens for RIR chicks so he's staying in for now. That leaves the 2 fluffy mottled black Cochin roos for the rest of the hens. Which means more mixed breeds since there's only 1 Cochin hen, but oh well. I'm not raising show chickens.

So far this winter has been the way I like it. Except for the little cold snaps, it's mostly been mild with rain instead of snow. I've even been able to open a window in the house during the day. It's about 24 this morning and there's snow on the ground, but not a lot. It rained quite a bit before it turned to snow so I'm sure the roads are treacherous this morning. I don't have to go anywhere so it doesn't bother me. It's supposed to get back to normal after this cold front goes by. I like it this way.

tnt

The game of genetic dice.

2012-01-06T09:08:00.000-05:00

I've always known that color breeding is a crap shoot. By that I mean you put 2 rabbits together with expectations for what you'll get from them, and then the genetic dice roll out something else. Brokens are like that. Each litter from the same pair can toss different results. Chevelle's litter is one of those off-the-wall, totally unexpected crap shoots.

Let me start with the known genetics of the parents, and a timeline of how this litter progressed. Unfortunately, I was lazy and didn't document this litter with photos. I really should have as it would have been a valuable addition to the Color Articles. I'll just be describing it as best I can.

Chevelle is Black Himi, proven to carry non-extension (ee). She got her ee gene from her Himi sire who was out of a Sable Pt. I proved her for ee by breeding her to Tort...she threw Tort.

Dirty Little Secret aka BJ is a Sable Pt and Chevelle's son. His sire was Sable Pt. I tried this mother x son pairing for 1) Sable Pts, and 2) more improvement in type. BJ is an improvement on his sire, and I credit Chevelle for that. I hoped she could improve on the son even more.

I expected Himi, Sable Pt, and maybe Siamese Sable. Keep in mind I haven't had shadeds for a while. I'm a bit out of practice in identifying shaded kits.

Day 1 (birth). It looked like 1 Himi and 2 Sable Pts. Cool, that's what I wanted to see. The Himi was pink, the other 2 darker. When I found this litter, it was very cold, so I expected what happened next.

(This photo is not this litter, but it's a very close representation of how it looked at first.)

Day 3. The Himi became very colorful and the other 2 got darker. Sable Pts are also prone to the "cold himi" effect, especially if they carry Himi. One of the SPs was darker than the other.

Day 5. I'm examining the eyelids trying to decide if the 2 lighter kits are SP or Himi. You can usually tell by the eyelids. Himis will be colorless, anything else will have dark eyelids. I thought I was correct in assuming they were SP, although I still wasn't sure about the lightest one. By now, the darkest kit was a confirmed Siamese Sable.

Day 7. Ok, I think I've got it. 2 Sable Pts and a Siamese Sable. One of the SPs was still quite a bit darker than the other, but I just chalked that up to the wide variations that can happen in shaded litters.

Day 12 (or so). Eyes begin to open and the kits are getting furrier. The Sia Sable is very dark, and the darker SP is looking more like a light Sia Sable. This is puzzling me as it did not look like a sable earlier.

Day 15. The Sia Sable dies. I don't know what happened, but it never seemed as robust as the other 2. I consider myself very lucky that the kit I didn't care about is the one I lost. Although, I attempted early sexing and the sable may have been the only doe so that loss is kind of a drag.

Day 21 (3 weeks old, yesterday). They are now at the fuzzy cute stage. I hadn't really pulled the kits out of the box much before now. I touched them, handled them a little, wondered at the odd darkness of the one kit, but didn't bring them out into better light. The dark one puzzled me because a Sable Pt from Himi x fairly clean SP should have been lighter like the other one. I began to wonder if it was really another Sia Sable, just lighter than the other. That also didn't make much sense when the other sable was so much darker.

I pulled the kits out yesterday and gave them their first posing lesson. I realized the darker kit was awfully blue looking. I took it to better light to examine the eyes. Yep, sure looks gray. I did the same with the other kit and its eyes are definitely brown. Well for crying out loud, that's a Siamese Smoke Pearl!

I did not see that coming. How did this happen? I think I know now. Chevelle's parents had thrown dilute before in Blue Himis. I can't remember for sure, but it might have been the litter Chevelle came from. There was no sign of dilute in their pedigrees, (although that doesn't prove anything), and I was surprised to see it from them. I filed the info away in my brain in case Chevelle ever threw dilute. Until this litter, she hadn't. I had no reason to believe BJ carried dilute, no sign in his lines either. I realized Chevelle must have given it to BJ and then they both gave it to this kit. Mystery solved, but what a long shot that was!

Oh, but wait. Here's where that crap shoot I mentioned comes in. I just weaned Chevette's litter out last week. Also sired by BJ. Chevette IS dilute...Blue Himi. The litter is 4 Black Himis. I actually have to look at them more closely to be sure as their color is still developing, but a quick glance after discovering the SSP yesterday showed me they all had black nose spots. If BJ carries dilute, why didn't it appear in a litter of 4 out of a dilute mate? And why were there no shadeds? Crap shoot!!!

As of yesterday, the Sable Pt kit is a buck. That's ok but I could sure use a doe. I haven't confirmed the Smoke yet, but I'm leaning toward buck as well. I can use a dilute buck, but it's the larger of the 2 and looking like it might be a false dwarf. Not ok for a buck of any color. There was also a peanut in this litter which should up the odds for true dwarf siblings. BJ is a beefy bunny and he was a big baby so I hope that's what I've got here.

Speaking of that. I'm starving for does! I did a rough tally in my head and I can only count 3 confirmed does since spring! And one of those was a fader. I only have 2 young does right now, and one just turned sr. Counting from the most recent 5-6 live litters that I do remember, that's out of 15 (give or take) viable kits. It was also a dismal year for live litters which didn't help the buck/doe ratio. But come on!!!

73 days until Spring
tnt

Happy Holidays

2011-12-26T04:58:00.002-05:00

Things have been going better in the rabbitry. Chevelle's litter is 2 sable pts and a siamese sable. Cool! Their eyes are just starting to open. Hope there's something I can work with.

Got almost all the does bred. Finally! How frustrating it's been. I resorted to shuffling the does around, putting them between 2 bucks. Had empty holes between bucks and if the does wouldn't lift that day, I switched them back and forth in the empties which finally worked. I'm calling this method "buck overload". Flood the does' senses with buckness.

The one broken doe that would not breed, turns out she was pregnant! Ohhh...ok. She dumped a dead kit on the wire after the latest attempt with the buck. Just the one and I'm sure it would have been DOA in any case. Just goes to show you, it can happen when you think it didn't. I was sure she never lifted for him. Since I'm not sure when she was bred, I can't say if it was born on time or if she was retaining it and the buck jiggled it out of her. I tried rebreeding her a couple days later, and she was VERY eager. They had much fun together that day! Now if she'd just have a live litter. She's one of my nicest broken does.

The only does still open are the new himi I talked about last time and Chevette. Her 4 himis are almost 6 wks, and normally I would have waited until this week to wean them out. When I pulled her out to breed, I realized how skinny she is. It's awful, poor darling. Someone was digging out feed so I wasn't topping off the J-feeder like I normally would. Chevette had never been a digger so it had to be the kits. As a result, she wasn't getting enough to eat. I pulled the litter out last week, and she's on hiatus until she regains weight. Now that she's alone, she's eating GOOD!

Oh and the black Smith's buck who was such a wimp finally got his groove back on. He's happily and aggressively breeding anything I toss at him. About time! I wonder what his deal was all year.

I have a very promising broken black buck from that Smith's sire. Out of Baroquen. There were only 2 brokens in that litter, just barely 10% (IMO). I kept the doe, but the buck had bad teeth and I dumped him outside in the Summer House with some other weanlings until I decided what to do about him. The teeth looked like they were going full-on malocclusion and I figured I'd be dealing with him terminally. Darned if they didn't correct on their own, and he's looking really good at almost 4 mos. Glad I didn't throw him away just yet. I moved him back into the shed so I can work with him. Since I figured he was history, I hadn't been handling him much, and he's a wild man! He's starting to calm down and behave on the table.

Here's hoping for a better new year in the barn.

tnt

Surprise Package

2011-12-15T09:52:00.011-05:00

Some of my friends know a little about this. Here's the whole story.

It started just before Convention. Talked to my friend Brenda just before she headed to Convention. She asked if I needed anything, and I said maybe a Sable Point doe. I gave her the criteria for the doe, and told her to get Gary Smith's opinion if she found something. Talked to her while she was there (I knew right away that Blue Torts passed), and she just said Gary was working on it. I didn't know what that meant as I figured he was much too busy to put much effort into it. So anyways, nothing came of it and I didn't think about it anymore.

The Smiths called me this past Sunday afternoon. They were on their way home from somewhere up north. PA or thereabouts I think. They had gone to pick up some new chickens, visited some relatives, and apparently picked up something for me. I was to meet them in Erwin (about 30 mins from here) as they were coming down that freeway. All I knew was that I needed a cage.

I had about 3 hours to kill, so I posted that on Facebook. Brenda slipped up and gave it away that it was a rabbit. Whew! I was actually worried they were bringing me a chicken as I had mentioned I needed some Cochin hens when he had some to spare. I really can't integrate another bird into the flock right now. It's a mixed flock of hens and roosters and for now everybody gets along. I'm sure a new bird would disrupt the order, so I really don't want more until I can set up for it. I digress, but that's to give an idea of what was going through my head while I waited to meet them.

After hello hugs all around, they pulled out a 4-hole carrier.

OMG! It was full of Sable Points! 1 buck, 2 does, and a himi doe. The buck is the dark one in the lower left. BTW, I was still so rattled by the time I got them home for this photo, it didn't occur to me to open the top. I think I was worried they would try to get out while I was lining up the shot, but none moved a muscle later.

So the rest of the story came out. The Smiths knew the Zimmermans for many years and had bought lots of rabbits from them. The Zimmermans raised Sable Pts for longer than that. They were selling out due to Mr. Zimmerman's health, and had already sold what they brought to Convention. The Smiths talked them into waiting to sell any more until they could pick through them. They had already planned the trip north. Their trip was delayed a week and Mrs. Zimmerman needed them to pin it down as she had a lot of other buyers in line. The Smiths said please please wait, we are coming. The Smiths don't do Sable Point, never have since I've known them. This was all for ME! They are the best people, the best friends anyone could have!

I don't know what the deal was, but I was assured it wasn't a fortune. Gary (who is apparently good at this according to Susan) guilted them into a real sweet deal. They wouldn't take any money from me. Hell, they wouldn't even let me buy them dinner! We met at a restaurant. Oh and I had only brought one of my small single carriers assuming it was one rabbit. It was actually still in the car as I had just used it a couple days earlier to deliver a pet. So I have the Smith's carrier for now.

So more about the rabbits. They are all older, but well-proven. The buck is about 4 years. The does are between 1.5 and 2.5. The buck is Jacob's "ear#" (Mark Jacob) with pure Covert's on the dam's side. He's pretty dark and smutty but very good type. I can work around the smut. I'm just calling him Jacob since he's my only Jacob's rabbit. The does are Zimmerman's with a smattering of Covert's, Bun'nays, Blaine's, Jacob's (to name drop) and imports in the 3rd. One of the SPs is a brood doe but my taste in a brood doe as in not too big ugly. The other is a beautiful clean show doe. That's her in the upper left. The himi, also nice brood, was thrown in the deal at the last minute and she's out of the same Zimmerman lines.

I gave them a couple days to settle in and then tried breeding the does. I know that does will often breed after a major change and long car ride, and they did. So the 2 SPs are bred. MY does won't breed, but at least these would!

The himi might be a problem. Before I put her in her cage, I put her (as all of them) on the table for another look, and flipped her over for a quick exam. I noticed her hocks were a little sore. Not oozing, but bare and rough. The next day I noticed she was acting funny. It was like she had never been on a wire floor before. She seemed to have trouble unhooking her claws from the wire or something, and when she stopped moving, she held a hind foot up. So I took her out for another look and all 4 feet are sore. Poor baby! Don't know what happened to her, but she might just be one of those rabbits who don't have enough fur on her feet. Or maybe she's a picker. I gave her a resting board which she really seems to appreciate. So it might be a while before I can try breeding her. Don't want to wait too long, she's the oldest of the 3 does. Maybe I'll try some Pen G. Never tried it on sore hocks before. Haven't had many and it's usually solved with a resting board.

In other news, I think I have a couple Sable Pts in the nestbox! Chevelle (himi) x Dirty Little Secret (sable pt) had 4 (1 peanut) this morning. They were pretty cold, she didn't put them where she put her fur, but alive. They are in the heat wrap right now. Seem to have revived OK. It's possible the 2 dark ones are cold himis, but I just had a litter of those from Chevette, and these are darker and more uniform than that. And I know Chevelle carries, where I don't think Chevette does. I'm probably wishful hoping and it's been a while since I saw SP in the box so I might be seeing things that aren't there. I was kinda hoping Chevelle fumbled so I could breed her to the new buck right away, but if they are Sable Pts, I'll take it. She'll definitely get Jacob next time, so anyone waiting for her to go up for sale, you'll have to wait longer.

I got out of all shadeds a couple years ago to concentrate on the brokens. Long story that I might have told here in the blog. That included my Sable Pt lines, and I've kinda regretted that ever since. I had them for a long time, and tried for them longer than that. I missed them. They're ba-ack!

tnt

National shows

2011-12-06T05:30:00.004-05:00

ARBA Convention has come and gone. Everyone is now planning for their breed's Nationals in the spring. If they're lucky, they have litters in the box that will hopefully produce awesome jrs for it.

National conventions are rather elitist. Don't get me wrong. I'm not disparaging anyone who attends. I'm saying it's elitist in that it's not an "every man's" event. These big annual shows are the Super Bowl of the rabbit world. Some can be there in person, the rest have to watch from afar, and it's by the very nature of the event that this is so. Only an elite group can do it.

First, there's distance. The big national shows are held in different parts of the country each year, and the lucky ones are the ones who live nearby. The rest have to go to great lengths to get there. It could involve plane flights, or a great deal of miles and time in driving.

I have never been to Nationals or Convention, and I probably never will. The main reason is simple...I can't be away for that long. The rules for these shows prevent me from even considering entering rabbits unless it's very close to me, and I doubt that will ever happen. Unless it's in my region, I can't even visit it for a day.

There's the time. Dwarf Nationals runs for 3 days (check-in to check-out), not including travel time. Figure at least 4-5 days. ARBA convention is even longer. Like I said, I can't be away for that long. The best I can do is an over-nighter.

There's the rules. Entered/cooped rabbits have to stay for the duration, and even sale rabbits have to be cooped unless you can get around that by keeping them in your hotel room or vehicle. In my opinion, this is the most unfair rule. If my rabbits are done, as in they didn't go any further than variety or group (likely scenario), why can't I leave? If I could leave when I'm done like a local show, maybe I could figure out a way to swing it. But no. No rabbits are allowed to leave until check-out the morning after the last events of the show which is just the awards ceremonies and banquet. The rabbits were all judged the day before that so they don't need to be there any longer, but they can't leave until the designated check-out. I've never seen that, but I'm sure there's a lot of waiting in line and mix-ups and everything. I hear that this show or that one was pretty good for check-out, but that has to be relative. There's no way it goes very fast. I imagine how much easier and faster it would be if exhibitors could leave in their own time. The check-out people would have more time to avoid mistakes and deal with problems. So until that rule changes, I doubt I'll ever enter a national show. Unless it's so close, I can run back and forth from home as needed. Which isn't likely.

Then there's the expense. It's very expensive to attend a national show. The entry fees are at least 4 times higher than local shows, and local shows don't make you "enter" sale rabbits that you wouldn't enter any other time. There's the hotel, the gas, or the plane ticket which costs even more if it includes the animals. Breeders inflate sale prices to help cover these costs, so you will pay a lot more for a rabbit than you might normally. Again, it's an elite group that can afford all this. I'm certainly not one of those. Maybe I could if I could avoid some of the other costs, like an unnecessarily long hotel stay, which goes back to the rule that keeps my rabbits there longer than necessary.

I suppose I could enter and send a few with a trusted friend (many breeders do that), but I just can't justify it if I can't be there with my bunnies. I'll say it again. I'm not putting anyone down who lives and breathes for the big shows every year. I'm just telling you why you probably won't ever see me there.

tnt

December

2011-12-05T05:27:00.022-05:00

I've been feeling the urge to be creative so I decked the halls. I also created a new logo and theme for the main pages. The piece above was the inspiration for the holiday theme. I created this a few years ago as a forum siggy. I love it, and don't think I can top it so I just keep using it. A light bulb went off above my head and the idea to decorate the homepage for the holidays was born. I'll save this page for each December. I'll return to the regularly scheduled homepage after the new year.

Hmmm. For some reason, the piece above isn't displaying right. Blogger limitation? You can see the true display on the site.

Not much happening in the rabbitry. Several does failed in the last few weeks. I have 1 measly litter of 4 himis out of Chevette, now going on 3 weeks. It's too early to tell if there's any keepers. I don't see anything as promising as Chevette was at this age, so not terribly optimistic about this litter. It was also supposed to give some color, but that didn't happen.

So I have several open does and no one will breed! Grrr. The Smith's buck who wouldn't actually wants to now, but now the does don't wanna. Same for the other 2 bucks I'm using (or trying to).

I've been trying to repeat Dreamspinner x Smith's BL4 that gave the 2 jr bucks I really like, but that's been a bust. She missed the 2nd time and dumped a DOA litter this week. 2 were peanuts and 1 of those was the only broken. It also took forever to get her bred because of unstudly BL4.

So feeling kinda discouraged right now, and I'm not sure what to do about it. The plan to get more color in the barn isn't working out very well either. The most colorful litters were the failures. I'll keep trying to get these stubborn does bred, but I find myself not all that fired up about it or shows or anything. I've already cut shows to the closest ones, and even then, I opted out of going to the last one. At this time, Spartanburg is the only concrete date (I'm obligated), but I know I won't be excited about that either. I only have a few jr bucks who will be sr by then. No, I'm not getting out, but I'm not really in right now.

It's been really mild so far this winter, and I hope it's finally going to be the winter I moved down here for...like the 1st 2 years I was here. I'm trying something different this year since it's been so mild. I'm leaving some bucks outside in the Summer House. There's 4 out there now, and I might move the other jr bucks out as well. I can easily keep up with frozen water bottles this way. I'm keeping extras for them in a pail in the barn, and when theirs are frozen, I can just switch them out. We'll see how this goes. It might get tiresome. One reason is that I have the 2 himi bucks out there who don't have great color. I know it's mostly due to their sire, but they are coming back from the summer heat. Keeping them cold might help, and maybe they'll be presentable by Spartanburg. And I have to go out there everyday for the chickens anyways.

The birds are doing fine. So far, I don't think the waterer has frozen, or at least not solid. It's been open by the time I get out there. So that might be ok. I haven't figured out a better way to give them water if it turns out it will freeze too much.

2 of the free range roos went gone. I assume the resident fox got them or maybe a hawk. That leaves Spiffy and REW Roo the Japanese. REW stays in the backyard fence (probably why he's still around) but Spiffy comes and goes as he pleases. That's why the others disappeared...they stayed outside the fence.

Tanner is gone. I couldn't take it anymore. He was just too destructive. The last straw was when he ripped the lattice skirting off the shed. I don't understand why he did these things. He couldn't be bored, he had Whipper who likes to play, lots of room to run, toys of his own, lots of interesting things going on, and plenty of attention from me. He didn't want his toys, just my stuff, and I couldn't break him of it. I'm also positive he was responsible for many of the bird and bunny deaths earlier this year, and I knew they'd never be safe. I tried to get through what I hoped was just his puppy phase, but at over a year and a half old and neutered, saw no sign he'd outgrow it. Whipper was never like this. I literally couldn't take my eyes off him for a minute, and I couldn't take being so pissed all the time any longer. I found him a nice new home, and have been so relieved and serene since he left. I can actually enjoy my porch again. It was a chaos of blocked-off spaces in a futile attempt to keep him out of things, but now it's nice and neat again. I even planted some pansies in a porch pot. I usually have several pots of flowers on the porch which makes it that much more enjoyable, but I couldn't do that with him here. Many things out in the yard had to be blocked, too. Yes, a huge sigh of relief when he left.

Well, this blog is kinda depressing, isn't it? Sorry bout that, but sometimes it feels good to get it out.

Happy Holidays

New Varieties

2011-11-07T07:45:00.009-05:00

Blue Tort's recent acceptance as a showable variety has me remembering when Brokens were in the process. I watched as the COD holder nailed it in the 1st 2 presentations. I was lucky to have a good friend who had some in his barn. He sent me some starter stock after that 2nd successful presentation. It wasn't all that great for type, but I had the broken gene and I bred it aggressively. I had broken entries ready to go when they passed the final presentation the next year and became officially showable the following Feb. I was one of the 1st to put them on the table in the south. I was also one of the 1st in this region to earn AOV group legs on the Brokens over Himis.

I have always bred for pattern. You have to if you're serious about Brokens. I cull anything with less than my personal standard for pattern. Of course, my standard is within the official standard, but I go beyond that. I learned that 10% (or less) Brokens are just going to give more of the same. I want more pattern consistently.

What is my standard? This is for spot patterns.

1. They must have full bold head markings. Both ears fully colored (white spots on the ears is a fault). Full butterfly. I don't keep half butterflies (fault) and definitely not if it's missing completely (DQ). Bold spots around the eyes. I won't keep any that have all the required head marks if the marks are too light, like a tiny spot on each side of the nose and eye spots reduced to eye liner. If the body color is as light, I consider them 8% and not good enough. I learned early on I will get more of the same and often less from 8%ers, and culling has pretty much removed that issue. Now they either have breedable markings or they don't. Period.

2. They must have enough color on the body. On the back, usually a stripe or series of spots. The bolder this spinal stripe is, the better. Spots on each side. I prefer more than 1 spot on each side, but I'll consider keeping less if the type is worthy, or if the side and spinal spots are bold. Especially if it came from better marked parents.

3. They must be recognized color. That's required in the SOP. I've only seen 1 judge DQ a Broken for unrecognized color, and I've seen quite a few get placed. It can be hard to tell on a 10% Broken if you don't understand how color is changed on a Broken.

Spot patterns are very unpredictable. They don't produce consistent pattern. Blanket patterns are much easier that way. I have a pretty good line of blankets that I can count on for showable pattern, but the blankets have their issues, too. The pattern can be feathered and messy, and some judges call it scattered white. It's not, but that's what the judges see, and since it's the judge's call, can't do much about that. Except to try and breed for cleaner pattern. Another issue blankets can have is too much color - over 50%. I don't worry about these too much, and will keep them for breeding. I usually get less color on their offspring.

Because I focused so hard on pattern, type fell by the wayside. Now that I have the pattern somewhat stablized, I'm trying to catch up on type. I know the rule...type before color...but with some varieties you have to work on both at the same time. Bringing in new type can actually set you back in color.

So after a few starts and fails trying to bring in type via varieties I didn't normally raise, I was set back. I don't have or want otters, but that's where the type is. The broken otters I brought in to help didn't help much. My brief attempt at broken agouti didn't work out either. The stock I bought (chestnuts) was carrying undesirable color genes. I got junk color in litters, and not enough improvement in type to make it worth the trouble. OK, it was half my fault. My brokens also carry a lot of stuff and it meshed badly with the agouti gene. Up until then, my brokens were all selfs with the shaded gene here and there. Not good with agouti.

So back to the drawing board. I wasn't getting any dilutes any more. I had moved out older broken blues and then I had none. Most of the brokens carried it but it didn't show up in litters. I was pretty tired of nothing but black. I rarely keep or show solid blacks. They're a side affect of my broken program. Blacks have to be really good to compete these days, and since my broken type is still a work in progress, I knew I didn't want the solid blacks from those litters. I wanted other colors in both broken and solid.

Last year, I brought in a couple Torts. This worked out pretty well. One of the things many of my Brokens and Himis carry is non-extension, so I immediately had Torts popping up all over. However, I haven't kept a broken tort. Got a couple but they either died or were unacceptable for type and/or pattern. I did keep several broken blacks positive for non-extension (a parent was tort).

Now I have a broken blue doe and with her have proven a broken buck to carry dilute. This buck also carries non-extension. That means Blue Torts in the near future, and I'm very glad they are now recognized. As I mentioned in the last entry, I'm not all fired up for Blue Torts. I don't care if I'm not one of the 1st to show them so I haven't gone out of my way to get any. To tell the truth, I'm not really all that crazy about Tort, black or blue. But they make pretty Brokens and that's my goal.

So here I am. A greatly reduced herd in yet another color direction. See you at the tables when I have something to put up.

tnt

11.6.11

2011-11-06T08:36:00.019-05:00

The fall colors peaked here in the last couple weeks. They're starting to fade now as leaves fall off. My computer desk is next to a living room window, and I have a great view of the front Bird Garden. Right now a crape myrtle and nandina are strutting their stuff. The myrtles give a lovely varigated show. The colors on one shrub range from bronze to gold with hints of red. The nandina is covered in bright red berries and dark green leaves all winter. I heard a local refer to it as Christmas decorations, and that's just what it looks like. The grasses took a beating from some heavy rains, but most are still upright. They add gold and buff to the palette. And freezing mornings have highlighted it all with heavy frost.

In Bunny News:

Not much. Himi doe had 4. Died cold. She's usually one I can count on, but she didn't build a good nest, and only put 1 kit in the box. The rest on the wire. Oh well.

The new broken blue BUD x Sugardaddy had 4 DOA on the wire. Happily, some were blue and all were nicely marked brokens. Unhappily, (besides being DOA), there were 2 hippos and 1 even odder that looked like a hippo peanut, but that wouldn't be possible so I guess it was just smaller than the others. Only 1 was normal and it was probably BU. That's not good. I'll try this again in hopes it was just a bad roll of the dice. This doe came to me at about 8 mos old and as far as I know she hadn't been bred before. I thought she was a miss, but turns out her instincts didn't kicked in. No nest building or anything.

It's good to confirm Sugardaddy carries dilute. Since he also carries for tort, there could be blue torts in my future sooner.

Sugardaddy wasn't my 1st choice for that doe. The borrowed black buck still won't breed. Grrrr. I repeated the pairing that produced 2 keepers, but she missed. I know he got her, but apparently not well enough for her to take. After many frustrating attempts, he finally got her again this week. Oh and many times, when he IS up for it, she isn't. #$&*!!!

So litters haven't happened a lot lately. I have a couple due next week.

Not many weanlings, either. I just weaned out a batch of 5. Broken buck and doe from one litter, and 3 himi-carrying blacks from the other. The broken doe is my only keeper. The blacks are all bucks, and I have another black jr buck I like more.

Kachina's litter is so cute now at going on 4 wks. Broken (80%) Black buck and solid black doe. I'll see how they develop but I'm calling them keepers for now since they look promising and carry non-extension. Oh and what a sweety she has become since becoming a mom! This little doe was a spaz! She raced around the cage when I tried to touch her, and catching her was even harder. Now she begs for attention and likes being petted. I'll rebreed her with the others this week. Maybe I'll have better luck getting a round of does bred since I'm not planning on the unstudly black for any of them this time.

In Show News:

Convention has come and gone, and the excitement has died down. Congrats to all the winners and high placers. I've enjoyed all the pix people who attended have posted. I didn't have anything new brought in. I shopped a little but didn't really know what I wanted. Didn't see anything I was willing to pre-buy based on a photo.

Blue Torts finally passed and will be officially showable in Feb. I'm so happy for Donelle Bomben as I know she put a lot of blood, sweat, tears and years into getting them passed. Now she can relax and enjoy their new status. I'll get them eventually, but I'm not in a big crank to have them. It's just good to know they aren't automatically culls when they show up in the nestbox. I've got them before but never kept any.

There's a show in Taylorsville this weekend, but I think I'm sitting this one out. I usually do T-ville since it's one of the closer shows and I just like it. I looked at what I had for entries yesterday, and decided no one was worth the trip or fees right now. My young srs are out of coat. Even my favorite jr buck is looking rough. I don't have anything to sell or deliver or pick up...another reason to go to a show. Soooo....

In Bird News:

Nothing new really. The birds seem to be handling the cold mornings OK. I feed them poultry pellets and cheap cracked corn mixed bird seed. They also get the seed bells, and I think I'll give them suet cakes when it's cold more often than warm. I can sometimes find those at Big Lots for cheap. My wild birds don't really eat the suet. A few will visit it but more often than not, the cake hangs there all winter. The chickens might as well enjoy it. I'm sure they will.

One thing I'm worried about is water. I'm using a gravity waterer. This is much better than an open bowl. The water isn't fouled as much. I had to rinse out bowls twice a day. Pain in the arse! Why do chickens have to stick their feet in EVERYTHING? So anyways, I'm not sure how the plastic waterer will stand up to freezing, or even if it will still work as it's supposed to. We'll see.

At least the days have been real nice. It's been sunny and mild after the cold starts. I'm really hoping for a mild winter this year. I say that every year because I expect (want) it here in the south.

Happy Daylight Savings Time.

tnt

I'm a bird watcher (sing it)

2011-10-18T08:29:00.021-04:00

Look it up. It's an old song from the 50s or 60s. But I really am a bird watcher. It's always been about wild birds but now I have the poultry for another way to watch birds.

I call these guys the 3 Amigos. They're 3 of the free-range roosters, Blue, Spiffy, and Owly . They spend most of the time in the front yard, and stick close together. They have learned the bird feeders in the front Bird Garden are a good place to hang out. The wild birds drop a lot of sunflower seed.

The other free-ranger is the white Japanese but he prefers his own company and has never left the backyard fence. I don't know if he can't or just doesn't care to. Seems like he could, he's not a heavy bird and has what looks like strong wings.

A hawk has had its eyes on the 3 Amigos. Maybe more than one hawk. It's hard to tell because it's difficult to ID hawks unless they are perched in plain sight. I believe I saw one that was bigger than the other. I had just read somewhere that Game chickens are very self-sufficient and wise to predators. I've seen this is true. I heard a ruckus, including the guineas, and looked up in time to see a hawk make a dive at the birds as they all scattered to cover. Owly surprises me how fast he can move. He's not the most graceful chicken with his big feathered feet.

These 3 now roost on the front deck at night. Lately, they're kinda noisy. I can't see what they're doing without opening the door, but it sounds like they are fluffing their wings while trying keep snuggled together, and in the process they thump and rattle the siding. There's also a lot of dark crowing. By that I mean crowing in the dark. Roosters aren't supposed to do that, right? Well, they do. A lot. I also read that Games are noisier that way. They crow all the time. Spiffy crows at me whenever he's near or hears my voice.

Speaking of crowing. I can recognize some of the roos' voices. The OEs and the d'Uccle have the same voice and I can't tell them apart. It's a clear high pitched crow. The Buff Cochin and RIR have deep rough voices, and they don't crow often. I don't know that I've ever heard the Jap's crow.

There's been a little bit of cock fighting going on. Blue and Owly have been getting into it under the feeders. The guineas are often the bouncers that break it up. Spiffy stands by as referee, or maybe to challenge the winner?

Another thing these roos do is to peck the grass around my feet. Don't know why they do this but it seems to be some sort of communication with me. I've also seen this when garden bunnies, usually bucks, dig near my feet. Showing off?

In bunny news, I have 1 new litter. Not exactly exciting, but good enough. Kachina x Dot.com has 2. She's a 1st timer and has already proved herself a great brood doe. She only had the 2, 80% broken and solid black. I thought Dot carried for tort, but maybe not. Too bad the broken has so much color. I sure didn't expect that from Dot. I won't keep the black from this match, but I'll see how the broken turns out. Hope it's a doe.

Not much else. The weather has been wonderful. If only it would stay this way. Sunny 70s/80s during the day, and 50s at night. Yeah, this is my perfect climate. Is there a place that's like that all year round? I want to live there!

tnt

Mowing Day

2011-09-26T15:28:00.006-04:00

The birds love when I cut the grass. They get a big pile of clippings. In between mows, I go out with shears and cut some for them. It was a good opportunity for a photo shoot.

Such a colorful flock. Just what I wanted.

Big Red is the Rhode Island Red. I didn't capture the full beauty of his feathers, and the bright red head gear makes him even more striking. I think he might be the boss of everybody right now. While I was taking these photos, the buff Cochin roo grabbed and attempted to mount one of the RIR hens (I think that's what he was doing) and Big Red dashed over to defend his lady.

This is the Light Brahma hen with the Buff-Laced Sebright (Lacey) and Blue Old English (Madame Blue) hens. A name for the Brahma hasn't come to me so I just call her Biddy.

The 2 Black Mottled Cochin roos. Loosely named Poochie because they remind me of fluffy puppies.

Buff Cochin and d'Uccle roos. The buff and his buff mate (in the top pix) are Fluffy and Buffy. The d'Uccle is Millie for lack of a better name.

Besides greens and the seed bell, I also bought a canister of dried meal worms. It was kind of expensive but it's lasting quite a while as I give it out as a treat every few days. They get so excited when I pull out the canister. I toss the worms out one at a time to make sure everybody gets some. It's fun to make them dash around to catch them before someone else does. They also hang close when I'm feeding the buns. They snap up any dropped pellets and I throw the older pellets in the feed dishes out for them, too. They also love when I push out the chutes every few days. They scratch through the manure looking for pellets and bugs.

I've found a few more eggs since that first one. One every 3-4 days or so. Same size and color so I assume the same hen is laying.

9.14.11

2011-09-14T06:47:00.004-04:00

Awww. My first egg!

I don't know who laid it. It was so small, it would take 3 to make a decent frittata sandwich. The oldest hens are the Blue Old English and Buff Laced Sebright, and they're also the smallest so I'm guessing one of them.

Oh yeah, I finally identified that buff laced hen. I noticed yesterday that she does a have a rose comb so most likely definitely Sebright.

Maybe you're asking what a frittata sandwich is? It's my invention sorta. I like fried egg sandwiches and omelets. A frittata is the lazy man's omelet. The first time I had one was in a restaurant. How easy is this! Chop and brown your favorite omelet ingredients and then pour lightly scrambled eggs over them. Cook until egg is firm, flip, sprinkle grated cheese on top, and cook for a few more minutes to melt the cheese. No fumbling for a perfect omelet fold (mine rarely fold perfectly). My favorite ingredients are sausage and onions with sharp cheddar cheese, and it makes a great sandwich. BTW, a fried egg sandwich is the ONLY time I put ketchup on eggs, or any sandwich for that matter.

Haven't found any more eggs since that one. I haven't set up nestboxes yet. Still thinking about how to do it. In the meantime, I don't expect fertile eggs in any quantity until spring. I'll collect them for hatching then.

If I needed any proof chickens are bird-brains, I got it last week. There are 4 free-range roosters. Spiffy, blue OE, mottled black d'Uccle, and white Japanese. All but the Jap are going over the fence as they please. The blue returns at night to roost with the Jap under the carport outside the Summer House. Spiffy roosts with the d'Uccle but comes back in the fence during the day sometimes. The d'Uccle does not want to be there. I got him back in shortly after he got out, and he immediately went back over. So their domain is the front yard.

Spiffy and the d'Uccle began roosting on the bird bath in the front garden. I don't know why that was a good place. There's a deck out front that would be a higher more comfortable roost. They've been on the deck, but for some reason didn't "think" of it for a night roost.

Then Hurricane Lee's rains came, and the bird bath filled. They realized they could get a drink there, so that was cool. I had no idea where the d'Uccle was getting his water, but he didn't seem inclined to come in the fence where there's water bowls all over the yard. My best guess was that he was drinking dew in the morning. I figured they would find somewhere else to roost when the bird bath filled. Not. Stupid birds spent that night with their butts in 2" of water and under non-stop rain.

So I set the bird bath on the ground next to the pedestal, and put a bowling ball (garden art) on the pedestal to keep them off it. There was still room for one of them on the pedestal, but they couldn't grip the ball. I was trying to force them to look somewhere else, like the deck, for a roost. Nope. They spent that night in the bath on the ground, again in the rain. [rolls eyes] The next day, I moved the bird bath over near the deck in hopes they'd notice it and the higher deck. Nooo. They hunkered down under the pedestal with their heads in the daylilies. [shakes head] So after they settled in there, I went out and PUT them on the deck. That's the easiest way to catch chickens...they go into a stupor at dusk. The next evening, they ran around in a worried way for a while and finally FINALLY went to the deck. Jeez! Bird brains. I think all is well now. They're going there every night. I'll put the bird bath back pretty soon, and since they insist on staying out there, I put a small bowl of water out front as well.

The guinea question was answered. The last 2 keets went gone and now there's just the 2 adult males. So that's it, I'm not buying any more.

Haven't talked about the rabbits in a while. There's 2 due tomorrow, and I got a couple bred the other day. Lost 2 of Chevelle's, leaving 3 blacks. Looks like 2 bucks and a doe. I'll probably keep the doe. Dreamspinner's black and broken black are both bucks and the most promising of the bunch. I'm concerned the black might go too big, but right now, I like him a lot. I don't feel that way about solid blacks very often. He's also clean so far. No white spots or hairs. His sire has a few white hairs on his back but that's not a big deal. I can live with that on a black.

Dreamcatcher's adorable little broken is a doe and almost 7 weeks. Sadly I'm struggling with her teeth. I don't know what happened. They were good, but then went bad. That's not good. Bad at first might correct on their own, but usually not the other way around. She spends a lot of time working the water bottle so might have wrecked them on the metal spout. I'm giving her one clip and file to get right. I almost lost her to what I thought was fading last week. The brood holes have J-feeders at cage floor height so the babies can easily reach it. There began to be a lot of feed under Dreamcatcher's cage. She's never been a feed digger before. Turns out it was the kit, and she was starving herself! When I saw her fading, I moved her to a carrier. The cup is raised so she can't dig so easily. She immediately began to gain weight and seems fine now. Except for the teeth. It's going to kill me if I have to cull her. Not only is she really promising, but she's the sweetest friendliest little thing. I always get kisses. She has a small carrier water bottle so if that was the cause, the smaller spout might help.

One of my problems right now is the borrowed buck. He's not very studly. He will only mount one day in a row. The 2nd day - 2nd doe, it's like he doesn't have a clue. That's making it hard to get a round of does bred in the same time frame. I usually leave a pair together overnight, but for him, it works better if I take the doe back in the evening. Then he's interested again when I bring him another the next day. But not always, and for some reason, he doesn't have a lot of enthusiasm lately. The does were eager and mounting him, but he just wasn't rising to the occasion. I could use the other bucks, but really want these does bred to him.

It's been so nice out! 80s with lows in 50s and 60s, and clear deep blue skies. Just perfect! The AC is off for good and the windows are all open during the day. Just perfect!

tnt

What about the Guineas?

2011-08-31T04:45:00.003-04:00

Has the guinea project run its course? This is one of those decisions I mentioned last time.

I've been trying to decide whether to go out of my way to preserve the ones left. There's only 4. The 2 adult males and 2 half grown keets. Out of the 10 color keets I bought in the spring, there's only a royal purple hen and a blue. I'm not sure what sex the blue is. Until recently, there were 2 blues and one was a hen for sure. Then one of those disappeared, and the other hasn't made any noise to ID it. I'm trying to decide whether to start penning them up at night to maintain a breeding pair. The blue will have to ID itself as male for that to be worth the trouble.

Or do I just let the population die out. I've lost so many this year. I'm assuming the fox is still around and responsible for many of the losses. The 2 adult males are...well...not that nice to have around. They're really mean to the little chickens! I released 8 excess roosters to free range and all but 4 of those went gone. I've seen them grab the chickens by tail or wing and race around while the poor little bird tries to escape their grasp. Everyone gathers around when I'm out tending to the rabbits and chickens in the Summer House in case I toss some corn out to them, and they beat the bantams up. I'm sure that's what happened to the one I found dead out there. I quit tossing feed out to them so they don't crowd around so much. They don't really need it right now anyways.

There's pros and cons to having guineas.

Pros:

1. Insect control. I've seen very few ticks since I've had them. It's hilarious to watch them go after the Japanese beetles. They're very good at it, and there's much less damage in the gardens.

2. Income. There's a market for guineas and I'd have no trouble selling them. Especially if I had a variety of colors. Guineas don't cost much to raise, they take care of themselves very well.

3. Watch dog birds. They have very sharp eyes and ears and not much gets by them.

4. Snake control. I haven't seen any snakes in the yard since I've had guineas. I haven't actually seen the birds go after a snake, but there was always a large black Rat snake in residence before guineas.

5. Comedy relief. Guineas are funny looking birds and do amusing things.

Cons:

1. Loud. Really loud. That watch dog thing? Not necessarily. Often they go off for no reason that I can see, and they go on and on and on. They don't go off when they should.

2. Difficult to maintain a working population. They do best free range (that no-cost factor), but it's impossible to keep the population replenished unless penned. I got no eggs to hatch this year because I could never find the hen's nest. She set at least 3 clutches before she went missing during the last one.

3. Annoying. They do annoying things. Like come up on the porch and leave unpleasant packages all over. The poke weed berries are ripening and that means big gobs of purple yuck. Like going up on the roof of the house. I wonder if they are damaging it. They're pretty hefty birds to be constantly bouncing around up there. Like attacking the little chickens.

4. Smelly. Don't notice it much on the free range birds unless you're close to them, but you do if they're penned. They smell way worse than chickens.

5. Dig holes. They make wallows all over the yard for their dust bathing. I don't really mind that, I'm not a "lawn care" person, but you do have to watch your step or where the lawn mower tires go.

5 for 5. So how do the pros and cons balance?

Insect control is the main reason they are here, but maybe I have a handle on the tick problem? I treat the dogs with flea/tick drops, and they don't go out of the fence where they'd come in contact with other dogs and the overgrown areas where ticks hang out. The free-ranging chickens have learned Japanese beetles are tasty, although they aren't as efficient as the guineas at it. They aren't quite as fast. The confined chickens go after any insect that enters the pen. Since chickens are much more pleasant to have around, maybe they can take over that job?

Maintaining a population of guineas has become harder. At first I'd just lose a few here and there, but I got plenty of eggs to hatch. This year, it's pretty much every one that leaves the fence, and eventually, they all leave the fence, and no eggs. It doesn't make sense to buy new keets every year as they continue to disappear. It only works if I get hatching eggs, and that requires confining them. I'm not set up for it, and I'm not sure how or where to do it. I'm set up for the chickens, and have an idea for individual breeding pens. The small bantams will be easier to maintain in that respect.

The noise pollution. When they are content or begging, they make pleasant little whistling sounds. When they go off near me, I want to throw something at them. Bantam roosters can be pretty loud, but it's not a sustained loud. They can only crow once at a time, and the hens don't make that much noise. The guineas (both sexes) can go on for a long long time without taking a breath.

I guess I am leaning towards giving up on guineas. It's really hard to let the last blue and purple go as they wish since it took so long to get my hands on colors. But maybe it's time. I know I don't want to buy anymore to replace them.

tnt

Summer's End

2011-08-28T06:23:00.008-04:00

NICE days! I'm not sure if Hurricane Irene is responsible or what, but I'm so glad for the coolth. Although, it's only supposed to last for a few days and then heat up again. Hopefully not as bad as it's been. The only thing missing is some rain. I was hoping Irene would bring some, but not. It was a huge storm stretching all the way to here as it went up the coast, but all we got was the dry outer clouds. We can use some rain.

The media is having a field day, and the Weather Channel is happier than flies on cow pies to have something to go on and on about. I'm glad the hurricane turned out to be less dangerous than expected, but it's funny to watch the media milk it.

I'm addicted to AC now. I'm good until 85 degrees, and then I'm too uncomfortable. We've hardly seen below 85 all summer. The heat ran me inside well before noon, so the yard and gardens got minimal attention. It was too hot to stay outside for long or to do anything much. Saturday, I was able to open up the house and turn off the AC for the first time in I don't know how long. There was a lovely breeze to sweep out the stale air. I spent a good part of the day outside, playing catch up in the yard. I didn't have to turn on the fan for the buns.

It really improved my mood. I love outside. Right now, it's the season of the saw flies. You know, those things that sound like a buzz saw. They're annual cicadas, BTW. Dog Day Harvest Flies to be exact. Their name says it. They buzz during the dog days of summer and the harvest. And the birds...there's always bird song. My point is that I love hearing the outside and I can't if the house is closed up for AC. I like the outside inside.

In my less than content state of mind while avoiding the outside, I'd been attempting to make some decisions. Not the best thing to do when in an unhappy mood. More about some of that later.

I haven't attempted to release the rest of the chickens for daily free-range yet. There's a few problems in the yard and I don't want to risk the few hens I have. One being the roosters out there. I don't want to give them access to the pen again since they won't be part of any breeding program. Training the birds to return to their current roost at night means those other birds will get in, too. Then there's the guineas. They've become very territorial about the chickens and since they are so much bigger, they hurt them. It might be why some went missing. I also don't want the guineas in that pen and keeping them out will be just as hard.

It might be hard to keep some of them inside the fence. I clipped the roos' wings when I turned them out, but a few still managed to get over the fence. Spiffy is one who comes and goes as he pleases. He's such a light-weight bird, he learned to fly without full wing feathers. I'm afraid he would teach the light-bodied hens how it's done. I'm sure he taught the other roos that got out.

Another problem is Abby the cat. She stalks the birds out there and might be responsible for a few of the deaths. The guineas are big enough to stay out of her reach, but the little chickens are more vulnerable. I've begun feeding her a little more so her predator instinct isn't so driven by hunger. I still want her to hunt rodents.

I'm seeing the first signs of fall around here. Leaves are turning and thinning out. We also need some rain for a full fall color show.

tnt

Earthquake?

2011-08-24T13:57:00.006-04:00

No, didn't feel it here, and I was bummed I didn't. There was an earthquake here a few years ago, and I definitely felt it. Just a little rattle and I wasn't sure if I imagined it. I actually tested the item that rattled to see if I bumped it. Earthquakes in TN? Turns out it was real and centered in NC just the other side of the mountains.

I have felt 3 other earthquakes in my life, and there was another that I didn't feel because of where I was at the time. All of them in Michigan while in the same house. Earthquakes in MI? Yep.

A little setup. It was sometime in the early 80s and I was living in a single-wide in a park. My place was at the back of a cul-de-sac with a wetland area behind it. The edge of the lot dropped off into this wetland depression. I began to think of that place is being on a "nerve line", maybe partially related to the lay of the land.

The 1st one, a friend was with me. I was doing something in the hallway and she was in the living room. I felt the shake which felt very strange, and came out to see if she felt it. She did and said my dog went on alert at the same time. I said, "Wouldn't that be weird if that was an earthquake?". A few minutes later they announced it on the radio. Wow.

I can't remember the time frame, maybe a few years later, but a friend was also with me for the 2nd. We were standing on either side of the kitchen bar talking. There was a large aquarium on the living room wall to his side. The water began to slosh around. We both looked at it in surprise. Again, the radio confirmed an earthquake.

I was at work in the factory for another shortly after that one. It would have been impossible to feel a tremor there. It was reported that it shook the stands at Tiger Stadium (Detroit) during a ball game. I have no doubt I would have felt it had I been home.

I was alone for the 3rd and that one was the eeriest. I was literally shaken awake at about 2 am. The bed shook that hard. I jumped up and the hairs on my arms stood straight up. I looked out windows to see if maybe there were kids messing around or something. I couldn't go back to sleep and turned on the TV to see if there was anything. There wasn't. I couldn't stand it and called the local police station to see if they had reports of an earthquake. They didn't and said it would have come over the ticker tape. I'm not sure if they thought I was a nutjob calling like that. I asked at work the next day if anyone had heard anything about an earthquake. Everyone teased me for dreaming things. A couple days later, there it was in the paper! It was centered in Ohio and I felt it all the way up in mid-MI. I knew I wasn't crazy!

Of course, if you live in an area in danger from a strong quake, it's reason to panic. I understand there was quite a bit of property damage in the vicinity of the VA quake because of its strength. But if you're in an area not known for it, a small tremor is kind of exciting and fun. So yeah, a little bummed I missed it this time.

I discovered a cool site shortly after the TN quake. Recent Earthquakes in Central US. You'd be surprised where and how many earthquakes are happening all the time. They're actually pretty common in TN.

tnt

How to buy a Netherland Dwarf.

2011-08-16T06:32:00.006-04:00

I've seen a few discussions lately about disappointment in purchased stock. Heck, I've had my own disappointments. Sometimes, it's a risk you take. But there are things you can do to minimize the risks. Convention is coming up and sale lists are going up, and a lot of people are shopping. So I thought I'd blog about what I've learned from experience and others' experiences.

Everyone should know this, but I'll start with the basics. Thoroughly examine the rabbit for health and soundness. Check teeth, genitals, eyes, nose, legs, toes, nails, spine, tail. Check for color DQs such as white spots, or incorrect nail or eye color. Also make sure the ear number (if it has one) matches the pedigree.

What if you're buying the rabbit sight unseen? This is not the wisest thing to do. Unfortunately, it might be the only way to bring in fresh bloodlines from outside your region or from breeders you admire. You have to trust the breeder to be honest with you, and you have to know the questions to ask. If the breeder is vague or evasive about answering your questions, consider looking elsewhere.

Here are some questions to ask.

Start with the health and soundness questions. It's possible for a breeder to forget to examine their rabbits regularly, and something could get past them. I don't think there is a breeder who has not been surprised by a DQ on the judging table. Asking will make them think about it.

Since this is about Dwarfs, let's talk about weight and ear length, 2 very important features. If you're buying a brood doe, weight and ear length are not as important, although, the longer and thinner the ears, the more you will struggle with it later. If you're buying a buck you want to show, it is. Even though the standard says 2-1/2" ears are allowed, no Dwarf looks good with ears over 2" unless he is also overweight. Ask for an ear measurement and current weight. The limit is 2-1/2 lbs, but if it weighs that much at 5-6 months, it will likely go overweight when fully mature.

My personal experience with overweight bucks wasn't good. That's pretty much what I got from them. When someone says this hefty bunny with ears over 2" will make a good brood buck, that raises red flags for me. The selling point that it has big bone is only slightly a consideration. While a massive buck can bring in heavier bone, he can also bring in weight issues that will hold you back.

It's a risk buying young jrs. Ears grow until about 3 months so that's the youngest you should buy a dwarf. Different lines develop differently and what looks good at 10 weeks might look awful at 6 months. It goes the other way, too. Some lines are horrendous at 3 months and come into themselves by 5 months. Ask the breeder what to expect from their lines.

Now let's talk about buying bucks and does for breeding stock.

As I said, it's a risk buying young jrs, and especially young bucks. It can be a year before they are fully developed. It's better to buy bucks 4 months or older. You should see their potential by then. If you need a breeding buck right now, of course, look for one that is already old enough to breed. That's usually 6 months. Older bucks are usually not a risk, they can produce much longer than does. Although, after 4 years, he might not be as studly as he used to be.

Now let's talk about does. Does can make or break your breeding program. If you can't get a litter, you aren't going anywhere. There are a lot of questions you should ask about sr does, and even jrs.

- How old is she? Be leery of anything over 2-1/2 years, unless you know and trust the breeder, and maybe even know the full history of that doe. While there are dwarf does producing past 3 years, it's the exception rather than the rule.

- Proven? Is she really? Some people call a doe proven if she had a litter, dead or alive. In my opinion, and reputable breeders agree, she's not proven until she raises a litter to weaning.

- How many litters, and what were the results? Dead, alive, weaned? A new breeder might also want to know about any Max Factors or hippos. Knowledgeable breeders aren't concerned about this, but it can be startling to someone who wasn't expecting such a thing.

- When was her last litter? This is an important question, especially if considering an older doe. The longer it's been since her last litter, the harder it will be to get her producing again.

- Has a show doe been bred before she's a year old? Most breeders retire a doe from showing by 8 months. If you wait any longer, you risk failure. One of the things to understand is how a doe distributes fat. If she's kept on show condition rations, she will begin to accumulate fat around the reproductive organs as she approaches her 1st birthday. This will affect conception and kindling. This is why you rarely see a doe with very many legs, unless she earned them all quickly. If she's still going out to the tables after 1 year without ever being bred, she's a risk. Unless you just want a show doe.

- Temperament and skills? Is she calm? Overprotective? Is she good about building a nice nest and putting the babies in it?

- If it's a jr doe, ask about the line's reproductive skills. Was her mother a good brood doe? This is a trait that can be inherited, and poor skills and instincts can be inherited as well.

Some other things to consider when buying unseen.

Price. Remember...high price does not guarantee high quality, or success in your breeding program. Some breeders base their prices on their show results and reputation. Sometimes it's valid, sometimes not. A buck with an impressive pedigree and show career can command a high price, but that doesn't always mean he's worth it. That can only be proven in his offspring. He could be a complete bust in your herd. A doe's price should reflect her success (or lack thereof) as a brood doe, and her age is a factor, too. A young proven doe is worth more than one that is getting up there in age.

I avoid breeders that don't state sale prices. They might say "inquire" or nothing at all. I wonder why that is. Is the price so outrageous, the breeder is embarrassed or afraid to state it openly? Is the price going to depend on who asks? Actually, that's my 1st thought. I want to see a set price for all. If it's not in my budget, I won't bother the breeder. For myself, I don't want a bunch of emails asking a question that can be answered before the buyer contacts me.

Buying a photo is risky. A good handler can make a rabbit look better than it is and minimize its faults. Usually, you'll only see one view (the profile) which doesn't give you the whole picture. You certainly can't tell how big it is, or how long the ears are. Research what a proper dwarf pose is supposed to look like, and how to spot faults in a photo. Ask questions about the things that concern you.

One last thought. Climate and environment. I've talked about this before and it bears repeating. Some rabbitries use air-conditioning, and sometimes to extremes. It's one thing to cool a barn so the rabbits are safe and comfortable. It's another to keep the barn abnormally cool at all times. Some breeders even state their rabbits are raised in a controlled climate and may not fair well otherwise. If your rabbits are kept in a more natural environment that fluctuates with the seasons and temperatures, a bunny raised in a constantly cool climate might not be a good choice.

Happy shopping.

tnt

Aah, August

2011-08-05T05:09:00.012-04:00

Here in the south, I no longer dread the end of summer. The last few years, it's been so hot, it's a relief to get past it. September brings more perfect weather that will last almost to the end of the year.

Nestbox News:

I got a surprising litter from Chevelle this week. Sire is the borrowed black, Smith's BL4. I expected black selfs with a slight chance for dilute. She had 6 (1 was peanut), her biggest litter yet. 3 blacks and 3 not-black (the peanut was one of these). I can't call it yet. Kind of odd color on all of them. The blacks aren't deeply black, and the not-blacks really look like chocolate. I don't see that coming from the himi. A better guess is siamese sable but they're pretty dark for coming out of a himi. So I'm waiting for more clues. I'm documenting the color development with the camera and will post that later.

There was a recent forum discussion about self chin, and thanks to a knowledgeable member, I now understand what the heck that is. I fear this litter may be that. BL4 has mostly otters in his pedigree, but there is a silver marten back there. As a rule, a self out of himi x self is about as close to "pure" self as you can get. Meaning it doesn't carry shaded unless the self parent does. If it does, you're likely to get shaded. In the past, I used "clean" blacks with the himis with good results. This silver marten ancestor could throw a glitch in that. From the self chin discussion, I learned that it's not a "pure" self, and it's affected by the "chd/chl" gene from silver marten or shaded. It can cause off-color fur or eyes. Turns out all self blacks are not created equal, and not necessarily the all-purpose color I thought them to be.

So what do I do with this litter? I'm not working with shadeds and really don't want them. If the blacks are self chins, I shouldn't keep them either. Chocolate doesn't fit in the program anymore and they could also be self chins, so I kind of hope they are sables. At least I know what to do with shadeds. Darn. All I wanted was to bring BL's type to the himis. I suppose I can keep the best of the litter for that purpose, and breed back to himi. Only keeping himis from that next generation will remove the chd/chl gene.

In the other litters. Dreamcatcher's broken baby (x BL4) is so special! I love it, and it gets a lot of attention. Still haven't sexed for sure yet, but I'm leaning towards buck which is what I want. It's a drag that my eyes are getting old and I have a hard time focusing on a small kit's parts. Here's a couple photos I took last week.

In the one on the right, I'm holding the ears against the crown fur. This is a pretty good gauge for ear length at this age. If the ears are the same length as the fur, they will be good. I also wanted to show off the width on its round little head! Hindquarters are promising to be full and straight. Time will tell if there's improvement in shoulders and body length. Yeah, I'm pretty excited about this one. I was going to sell Dreamcatcher after this, but I think I'll repeat this one more time.

Dreamspinner's black and broken black are just opening their eyes. The broken is going to have a messy pattern. Very feathered on the head. That's too bad, but I hope type will make up for it.

Bird News:

All the chickens got their wings clipped the other day. I'm going to be turning some out to free-range and don't want them going over the fence. There's 3 roos who have been out for a while, and I'm thinking about kicking most of the roos out. I'm leaning towards just keeping the Cochins, the Rhode Island Red, and maybe a d'Uccle for breeding roos. I might have to import some Cochin hens. There's only the 1 buff hen. I'll include the Brahma hen in that group.

Spiffy will probably be one of the ones that gets kicked out. He's getting too cocky. The little dink won't fly up to my arm anymore, and he comes at me sometimes. I think I don't want to breed the Old English, although I'll keep the blue hen for her color.

I also managed to catch 3 of the guinea keets to clip theirs. The little trout fishing net I got this week really helped with that! Still have to catch the other 2. There's at least 2, maybe 3 hens. That's good, and one of the blues is a hen for sure.

Gorgeous pink sky this morning! It made the pinks of the crape myrtles and altheas intense, and a slight haze made it look ethereal. Uh oh. Red in the morning. Guess I better check the weather to see what's coming at us.

tnt

Very pleased.

2011-07-25T09:08:00.003-04:00

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!

2011-07-11T17:31:00.003-04:00

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).

2011-07-01T05:18:00.011-04:00

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

A fine litter

2011-06-27T09:56:00.005-04:00

Baroquen x Whiskey Mac has 4 beautiful babies. 3 torts (one is broken) and a broken black. Cool. Proves her as another non-extension carrier. I am definitely set for tort. When I first pulled them out I thought they were all solids which would have been a drag. Pattern is so heavy there's very little white on the topside. Not what I expected from her, but I'll take it. This is Baroquen's 2nd attempt so she's doing a fine job. Didn't pull much fur but it's so warm, it wasn't necessary. Do does know that sometimes? I added a little from the bag of fur to soften the nest under them.

Still waiting on Flashdance. She's nested but hasn't pulled fur yet. If she's successful, I'll update this blog entry.

In other news:

I made a big mistake and tried to release the guinea keets. They should have been big enough and I think they were. But they couldn't defend themselves against the forces in the yard. That being Tanner and maybe Abby the cat.

It's a longer story and I won't go into it here, but Tanner was kicked out of the house to spend all his time outside with Whipper. I've been so frustrated. He is so damn smart and eager to please, but he can be sooo bad! Anything left out where he can get to it is forfeit. And he knows he's bad. I don't even have to say anything. If there's something out of place and chewed, he slinks off with a guilty look as soon as I see it. I've tried to fix it so he can't get to things and he still manages to do it. The problem is that he only does it at night when I can't catch him. They both hole up during the heat of the day, and become active at night. That's always been Whipper's thing, it's his night job.

Back to the guineas. I needed to move them out of the Summer House. With all the chickens in there, it was getting too crowded and smelly. Guineas can smell really bad, way worse than chickens. So out they went. I also released the white Japanese roo to see how he does free-range. What a disaster!

The first thing I saw when I looked out the window at sunup was a rabbit that had been culled to yard bunny and a blue keet dead in the grass. Dammit. Some of the keets were hanging around the poultry pen. Just 5. 2 blues and 3 purples. I found the feathers from the other purple but no sign of the other 2 blues. The other yard bunny was hopping around in the front yard safely out of the fence. I saw white feathers and assumed the Jap roo was history as well. Then I heard him. He was hiding deep in a garden. He came out and followed me when I went out to feed in the Summer House. He looked rough. Most of his tail feathers are gone and he was dirty and wet. I herded all of them back into the Summer House.

I have to blame Tanner. Abby might have killed and eaten one of the keets, but she doesn't usually bother anything that big, and I doubt she would have eaten more than one. I should have known how risky this was. I've corrected Tanner when he went after the adult guineas and I thought he understood. Wrong.

So now what do I do? I'm so tired of being mad at him. I had to rehome a Sheltie that was too prey driven, but I'm not willing to give up on Tanner. He just has too much going for him. He so smart, he learns commands in 2 or 3 tries. When he's good, he's very good. He responds so well, and I love that. My only option is to confine him when I can't watch him. That was a problem. I couldn't tie him up and didn't want to anyways. There's no good place to tether him. A dog run was an option but expensive and again, no good place to put it.

I looked around online and found a small dog run that might fit on the porch. Kinda pricey but I kept it in mind. Then I looked at crates. Lo and behold, saw one pictured with a Great Dane standing in it. That might work. I didn't want a normal house-breaking size crate. He has to spend the whole night and anytime I'm gone in it. I wanted him to have plenty of room to stand and stretch. It would fit on the porch and in the house during winter. I figured out the size I needed and priced some online. Found it at TSC (their biggest crate) and for less than $100. Beat the heck out of everybody else for price. I had just got a 10% off coupon for TSC, too. Called them as soon as they opened and they had just one. Mine!

He spent his first night in it last night and so far so good. He didn't fuss. Except he's not used to having to control himself at night and there was a mess to clean up. No biggy, just hosed the tray out. I think (hope) he'll eventually get it. He has to by winter when I bring the crate inside. I was going to get another dog house for him, but this way I won't have to. It has the housebreaking divider that I can use if necessary. I gave him a water pail, but now I'll save that for when he has to spend a longer time in it. Not drinking water should help him control his bladder at night. He's fed early in the day so there shouldn't be that much effort to control his bowels at night. Just gotta keep him from eating anything late in the day. Like birds.

Oh and another little trick he came up with. I can't imagine why it would even occur to him to do this! A few nights ago, after I went to bed, I heard an odd noise but just assumed it was Whipper and Tanner romping on the porch. My bedroom wall is right there. Then I heard water running. WTH? The last time I heard that, a pipe had broken under the house. Crap. Took the flashlight out to see what I could see. He had been chewing on the outside faucet's handle. That was the noise I heard. It's covered with hard plastic, and it only takes a slight turn to open the tap full blast. Water was running out the hose. My quick fix for that was to attach some scrap cage wire over the handle with "spikes" sticking out. Now I have to be careful I don't get stabbed when I turn on the water.

Jeez!

tnt

Heat, AC, and Rabbits

2011-06-22T07:37:00.013-04:00

A dear friend just lost a devastating number of valuable rabbits to heat stroke in an air-conditioned barn. I won't give details. That's hers to tell to the ones she chooses to know it. I will say it wasn't due to loss of electricity. I'm writing to bring awareness of the risks to others who have or are considering air-conditioning.

I know some who rely on AC in their rabbit barns also have back-ups for it. Generator for power outage, or some sort of system in place to get notification of a power outage if not at home when it happens. But these only help if AC failure was due to loss of electricity. There can be other causes, and if there is no one on site to act quickly, it will be a disaster.

The main thing to remember about AC is the basic requirement for it to be efficient. That being a tightly sealed and insulated space to keep cool air in and hot air out. This is why AC failure will become so devastating. There is no air exchange and the space will heat up very quickly. Imagine being in a sealed box when it's 80 degrees or more outside. The inside of the box will be much hotter than the outside air. If the box is exposed to the sun...well, you get the picture.

Is AC in the rabbitry necessary or even advised? It depends. A hot climate may make it necessary. The breed may require it. I have the smallest breed and they have normal fur. Dwarfs can take the heat better than larger or wooled breeds. A long-eared breed can take it better than short furry ears. Rabbits vent some heat through the blood vessels in their ears. If there is no other option to keep your rabbits from over-heating, you may need AC.

BUT. A whole bunch of buts here. Have a back-up system for power outages. If you don't have that, you should only rely on AC if there is someone at home most of the time. Have a plan to deal with AC failure quickly. If you can't do any of those things, you might want to think of something else.

As I said, my little rabbits handle heat pretty well. Of course they wouldn't in a sealed space, but they get by without AC. I tried it the first summer I had the shed. Hated it. My barn isn't insulated, and the window size would only accept the smallest of AC units. The barn was fully exposed to the sun all day long. At the time, I had stackers and pans, and the smell was awful. There just wasn't enough moving air. And that little unit barely kept the barn the same temperature as the outside, let alone cooler. About all it did was lower the humidity. Not to mention the electric bill. Hated it. It didn't last long.

Here are some things I did to keep the bunnies safe. My shed was ordered with southern summer in mind. There's a window on 3 sides. I keep the door open during the day and there is air flow from all sides. It has light colored siding and roofing to reflect solar heat. I planted the west side with a garden that included shade trees. Those trees are mature now and I can really see the difference. I wanted to plant the south (door) side but haven't figured out the best way to do it without it being in my way. I hung shade cloth in that opening, as well as blinds on the sunny side windows. When I had stackers and pans, I cleaned more often. Manure and urine generate a lot of heat, and that heat is directly under the rabbits. And of course, fans. The barn is wired for electricity so I can run fans or heaters. I use oscillating fans. This seems to work better than a fixed position fan to keep the air moving around all the cages.

I added the carport Summer House which doesn't even need a fan to keep the bunnies comfortable. Heck, I'm very comfortable out there. It's like being under a shady tree. I realize this isn't something everyone can do, but any open-air pavilion-style structure will work nicely, like a tent canopy or even a covered porch. The winds I get here required a sturdier structure than a temporary canopy, so I went with the metal carport. It was cost-efficient as well. At the time the 12 x 20 carport was installed for less than $700. They're probably a little more now, but still cheap enough to make them worth looking into. I know of rabbitries in climates hotter than mine using this type of open air setup and it works very well.

Moving as many rabbits as possible to the Summer House meant less body heat in the shed. I only keep working does in there during the summer. There are plenty of empty holes so I can arrange them in lower tiers where the air is cooler.

That brings up a related subject. If every inch of the barn is packed with cages, and every hole is occupied, you have no options. You can't arrange the rabbits so they can benefit from wherever the coolest air is. The closest I came to losing one to heat stroke was when I was in that situation. She was in the top of 4 tiers, and the stack was tightly fitted in the corner farthest from the door. The air stagnated and heated up there. I caught it just in time to save her. I didn't have very many empty holes at the time, and the best I could do was vacate the top holes in as many vulnerable stacks as possible. So it's wise to keep your options open going into summer, and I'm afraid that means keeping fewer rabbits.

I want to talk about another aspect of raising rabbits in AC, and it's one I wonder if some breeders consider. Where they go when they leave your possession. I've seen more than one seller state that their rabbits are raised in AC and won't fare well in heat. Anyone who doesn't have climate control is taking a big risk buying from that breeder. Those same breeders avoid shows that don't have air-conditioned facilities. Their rabbits couldn't take it if the building heated up enough to make humans uncomfortable. My bunnies acclimate to the heat as do their offspring. I see they're hot and uncomfortable (so am I), but they handle it with what I'm able to do for them. We can do summer shows.

If you are considering AC in the barn, look at all the pros and cons. If the cons outweigh the benefit, look into other options. There are more ways to cool a barn without AC, even more than I've done for my rabbitry. It isn't necessary to keep a barn at "room temperature" at all times. It's ok if they are hot sometimes. You actually make it harder for them to get through heat if they never experience change. The main thing is that your bunnies be safe at all times, even when you aren't there. If AC can't guarantee that, think of another way.

tnt

6.12.11

2011-06-12T05:50:00.007-04:00

Yesterday was our Southeastern Dwarf Fanciers Rendezvous & club meeting. As always, a really nice day of education, socializing, and good food. Weather was great, not too hot, and under the Smiths' trees it was just right. Lucked out that an afternoon downpour didn't happen until we were packed up and leaving.

Just in case, I brought a carrier. I came home with a new buck for the brokens. Remember (those of you who attended) the black in "You Be The Judge"? Yep, he's visiting Spring Creek for a while. Boy's got a bod! Thank you, Gary! I was willing to buy him, but Gary didn't want to sell him. He's never been shown because he's never in coat at the right time, but Gary feels he's the best black he's ever had. He's out of a multi-legged otter pedigree.

A new buck changes everything. I wasn't going to breed for a couple months, but now I'll be taking the broken does on the sale page off the market. He'll get himi does as well so I can restart the himi/self program. Stay tuned.

I took the camera with me when I went out to the barns so I could catch this.

That's a lot of chickens! Ok, not all chickens, and not even all of them. Some had already got their fill and left the feeding station. There's 9 guinea keets in there. Yeah, they're already as big as the older bantams. Can you spot them? Hint: 5 are the same color as the Blue OEs, and 4 are brown.

One of the Mottled Cochins hopped up for a close-up. Not sure yet, but I think one is a roo. There's still 3 Cochin chicks in the transition cage. 1 Silver-Laced and 2 Mottled. For some reason, they've been slower to grow so it will be a while before they can join the flock.

Spiffy again. Every now and then, I pick him up and set him on my arm which he seems to enjoy. How lucky I had the camera! He totally surprised me by flying up on his own! I wasn't even looking at him. Now I'm trying to train him to do it on command. I can tell he likes this high and mighty view of the flock, he crows when he's up here.

In other observations. I now believe the 3 Cochins that I thought might be Gold-Laced at first are Mottled Buff Columbians. Very pretty! One of the solid buffs has earned the name Pants. It's shaped differently with longer legs and incredibly fluffy "pantaloons" covering the entire length of the legs. I wasn't able to get a good shot of these birds, but I will try.

Another observation. It seems that like likes like. Even though they're the same age and were brooded together, the different breeds and colors tend to segregate. The 2 oldest Mottled Cochins are a pair, the 2 older reds (Rhode Island Reds?) are a pair, the 2 sets of buff-colored Cochins stick with their look-a-likes, the 3 Blue OEs are a trio. Then the singletons (1 buff unknown breed hen, 1 younger red, the white Japanese roo) just go their own way. Oh yeah, and then there's Spiffy. He's bonded to me, and I think because he's the only one crowing, he's the overlord.

I've talked before about how wild guineas are out of the egg compared to the calmness of chicks. The latest issue of Backyard Poultry had a couple good articles on guineas. I could have written one of them, the author talked about the things I've learned about them. One of the articles gave a tip for calmer guinea hatchlings. Time incubation so guineas and chicks hatch at the same time. It's a good week longer for guineas. Then brood them together. Apparently this makes for less insane keets. I'll remember that if ever I have both to hatch at the same time. I might even see if a broody hen (if I ever get one of those) can raise calmer keets.

As I said, it rained hard in NC, but here, I came home to just a 1/4" or so in the rain gauge. We can use a lot more. It hasn't rained since the tornadoes last month and it's been so hot.

tnt

Website vs Facebook

2011-06-09T07:29:00.009-04:00

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Facebook is not an effective substitute for a website. In fact, it's a downright lousy substitute for a website. It's so sad that breeders spend more time on Facebook at the expense of their websites. I might want to see what's for sale, but the site appears to be dead because it's been so long since it was updated. Sale lists are posted to FB instead, but if I'm not a "friend", I won't see it.

FB is not static. Anything that was posted 2 days ago is off my feed page...forgotten. On a busy FB day, I might not see it because it went off the page so fast.

Websites are static...they stay put. They get added to my bookmarks and I can easily visit the site at any time to see what's new. The first thing I do is go to a FB info page to find their website. Guess what? When I go there, it's usually dead. This might affect my decision on whether or not to accept a friend request. I won't have current info available anytime I want it, so what's the point?

Most FB photo albums are so disorganized. Thanks to mobile uploads from phones, things go up willynilly, and the FBer doesn't bother going back to organize it. You can do that, you know! It also annoys me when FBers don't caption photos so I know what the hell I'm looking at.

Points in your favor: I especially enjoy captions that tell the story of what is happening in that string of related photos. Points against: 5 photos of 1 rabbit in the same pose. What does this shot show that that one doesn't? Just pick one good shot for each view. That's all we need. If it's not telling a story, it's just wasting time.

Websites organize photos and info for easy and quick navigation. Or at least they do if the site owner has any sense.

What a FBer can do is coordinate website updates with Facebook. Just post that the site was updated and the link to it, and you'll get a lot of visitors, even some new ones who didn't know your site existed.

Warning. Here comes a new FB rant.

What is the deal with all the "repost this if you agree" things? Didn't have anything else to post that day so you thought you'd fill up friends' feed pages with pointless stuff that you picked up from someone else? And since the FB sheep will follow, my feed is cluttered over and over again with the same useless thing. If you don't have anything real to say, why say anything? What, you say? This raises awareness. You know what, most of us are already aware of these things. The thing that really irks me about this kind of posting is that the only entity that benefits from the constant reposting is Facebook itself.

What kind of status posting do I enjoy? Interesting. Amusing. Informative. Useful. Social. And website updates! You will have my attention and respect. Post junk and you lose it.

Oh yeah, and let's talk about "friends" for a minute. I'm selective about who I accept as friends. I will visit your profile to find out a few things about you first. You have to be a rabbit breeder, and it helps if I know your name in the rabbit world. Your state or country is a good thing to include. I will look at your wall to see what you do on FB. If I see mostly junk, you probably won't be accepted. I will look for your website to see how that rates. Lastly, I note how many friends you have and who we have in common. 2,983 friends (mostly having nothing to do with rabbits) is a very good reason to be wary of accepting the request. To me, that means you don't have enough sense to discriminate. Someone in this large collection of friends may damage my account or computer. This is how hackers and virus-runners do their thing. They also do it when you repost links and stuff, and your sheep friends repost, and so on and so on. Eventually it finds its way to a vulnerable computer.

Facebook has its uses, but it has to be used effectively and wisely. Otherwise, it's just junk. An up-to-date website is still the best way to get your name out there. Everyone, friend or not, will have access to it.

tnt

Procrastinating....

2011-06-04T09:22:00.009-04:00

...can come back and bite ya.

I had to run errands yesterday. So I just fed the animals and watered as needed from jugs that I keep filled. I'll do a full watering when I get back, I said to self.

The road commission has been cleaning up the storm debris at the end of the road. All the downed trees, etc. They had a big rig and hauled the wood away in a dump truck. They were at it for several days. The road is so narrow, we had to wait until the rig could maneuver and give us room to get by. I'm surprised they got to it this soon since this dead-end road isn't really a priority. I guess they were caught up with the more important damage.

When I came back yesterday afternoon, there was a fast stream of water running down the road. Oh no. Was the creek diverted by their digging? Or was it the water main? Then I saw the water utility pickup at the beginning of the stream. Yep...water main. The road commish broke it while digging out the stumps. They were nowhere around, but had left the backhoe. The utility guy wasn't happy because they hadn't called it in. I wasn't happy...that's my water. All I could think was how long will this take and do I have enough water in jugs to wait it out? Not really. The full watering would have included refilling all the jugs, and there were only 2 full ones and a couple mostly empty. The rest were empty. I did have a couple in the house so I could wash hands, brush teeth, and make a pot of coffee.

I keep quite a few gallon jugs in both the shed and Summer House, and the ones in the house. I can fill water bottles that empty faster and still have plenty left for emergency (or procrastinating). Also a large 5 gallon jug on the porch so I can fill the bowls scattered around the yard for the dogs and guineas. I usually drag the hose out every couple days to top off everything. But this day, I had let it go too long. The utility company is good! They had it fixed in within 4 hours. Yay!

Moral of the story: Don't put it off, and always keep enough emergency water to get through a few days.

Oh yeah, and the road is much better, too. It's narrow to begin with and all the debris made it even narrower. Sure did make it brighter! The woods came right up to the road. Now the 1/4 mile or so at the end is open to the sky. Still looks strange to me when I go through there. I was used to it being so shady.

tnt

Taylorsville

2011-05-29T09:00:00.008-04:00

That was yesterday. I don't really have much to post for results. I only showed 3 and they were very young. The 2 Tort sisters are about 11 weeks I think and they showed relatively well, placing 1 and 2 of 3. I had to scratch Dreamgirl. She came up with a poopy butt the day before and had lost weight over the pin bones. Decided it best to leave her home. Many thanks to the secretary for not charging me for the scratch. My main reasons for doing the show were to deliver some rabbits, and sell a few. I sold a couple and made the deliveries. Jackson was returned to his owner, and Camaro and Anaba are on their way to Michigan. [wave byebye] That emptied 3 holes.

We arrived at the fairgrounds to find a situation. I got there at my usual fairly early time, but the building hadn't been opened as it usually was. I saw a couple cars go around to the back, but didn't think anything about it since many park in back. Friends pulled in shortly after I did and we waited to see if anyone was opening the building. No one did. Then some people that we didn't recognize arrived. We asked if they had keys and they looked at us kind of oddly. They said something about holding a "celebration" in there. We said we were there for the rabbit show. That's when we learned it was being held in the barn behind the main building. Ooookay.

Sure enough there was everybody else. It didn't look good. The barn is...well...a barn with stalls and walls separating areas. It could get crowded. Did the best we could to find some floor space. Then we learned what had happened. At first, we were told the building had been double-booked, and the club didn't find out until Friday when they came to set up. Which was odd since the club books every year at the same time and it had been booked for a year. Then we learned the other booking was actually for Sunday, but the people complained about the odor left over from last year's Sat. show and booked the building for Sat too, even though they weren't using it then. The building stayed locked up all day.

It actually turned out better than we thought it would. While still a bit crowded, we managed to figure it out. Kudos to the club for maintaining order and organization on such short notice. A hot day was forcasted, but the barn stayed fairly cool, probably cooler than the building would have been. It did begin to heat up a bit toward the end of the afternoon, but most of us were leaving by then.

One of the main drawbacks, besides having to weave around stalls and walls to get anywhere, was the poor lighting. There were just regular bulbs in ceiling fixtures. Our dwarf judges couldn't examine color very well, so they didn't. For some reason, there were no scales so there were no DQs for weight, either. There were quite a few questionable jrs (in my opinion). So you could say this was a pretty relaxed show, which is kind of nice sometimes.

Here's a few new pix of some birds.

These are either Partridge Wyandottes or Rhode Island Reds. These are the older two, there's another younger one. Still haven't sexed yet. There's not much comb to give a clue.

Spiffy the Spangled Old English. Isn't he handsome! Looking forward to his full rooster tail.

Spiffy and Blue vying for face time (I guess). All the roos are getting along so far. Time will tell if that will continue. The 2 buff Cochins in the cage.

The lone guinea hatchling in the incubator didn't make it, and none of the other eggs hatched. Oh well.

Show season is pretty much over for me. I have no other shows on my calendar until fall. Unless I change my mind about the Dickson show in July. It's so far, probably not. The only other thing I have in the near future is the Southeastern Dwarf Fanciers Rendevous in 2 weeks. There's no show, it's a social day and club meeting.

Keep cool, summer is heating up in the south.

tnt

5.26.11

2011-05-26T08:33:00.002-04:00

[shrug] Sometimes, I can't think of a good title for a post that will probably go on about different things

In Rabbit News:

I've sold a few rabbits and still have a few more available. This weekend is Taylorsville, and this is probably my last show for a while, maybe until fall. That means the sr does still available will probably be taken off the market and put back to work for the time being if they don't sell this weekend.

Not really a big problem. Dreamcatcher is a good doe to have handy for fosters, and I have got keepers from her. Cirocco is young, and she proved herself a great brood doe her very 1st time. The main problem (for me and the reason she is for sale) is that she's an otter. I got lucky with this litter, they're both broken self does. Being an otter limits what I can breed her to. No tort or anything that carries it. Himi isn't a good choice, either. I'm left with broken black bucks which is not the worst thing, but I would prefer a solid. If it comes down to it, that's probably what I'll do. The other thing I like about her is her clean stripy pattern which she threw on her offspring. She also has a jovial personality. Gets it from her sire I guess as he threw clowns in other litters.

Clowns. Don't you love them? They are the ones that seem happy-go-lucky and often have funny little quirks. The other day I caught Stylesetter (also for sale) doing something I don't think I've seen a rabbit do before. He was laying on his side leisurely washing his paws and face. This is something rabbits usually do standing up. He looked like a lazy cat.

Another quirky bunny is the broken chestnut doe Finale who is also for sale. I'm not working with broken agouti anymore and her name is for the end of that. I really should take the camera when I go out there. She was laying in a odd position for a dwarf. Stretched out like a English Lop. Her hind end was rounded up the way that breed is posed, her chest and head flat on the floor. I've since caught her in this position more than once so apparently it's comfortable for her.

I may have dug myself a himi hole. I sold both of my sr bucks and the borrowed buck is going back to his owner this weekend. I have a couple cute bucks in his litters, but they are just babies. That means my 2 remaining sr himi does won't have mates unless I use the tort or a broken. Which I'll do if I have to. Chevette is bred to the loaner but she's a 1st timer. If she fails, I'll have to go outside the box. I may hit a friend up for something I can use until the baby boys grow up.

So why did I sell the sr bucks? My policy is to only keep rabbits I'm going to use for breeding. Even show bucks must go when they no longer fit in the program. That was the case with these bucks. I was done with them.

I have to go through the loaner buck's litters today. Incredibly lucky that each litter has 1 cute buck and the rest does. I'll keep both bucks for now, and a doe from each litter. The rest will be for sale after the loaner's owner takes his pick.

In Guinea News:

It looks like maybe I was wrong about the hen's nest. She is still disappearing in the same area so she must still have eggs out there. Even if I could find it, getting to it would be tricky. It's in an over-grown area that I'm not inclined to go crawling through without protective gear. I could run into poison ivy or nasties like black widows or yellow jackets. Yeah, don't really wanna go in there.

One keet hatched in the incubator. If you remember, the 10 eggs were possibly compromised by the 3-night power outage. 2 others pipped but died in the egg. No sign of action from the rest. So I have this poor lonesome little birdy still in the incubator after 3 days. Didn't make sense to set up a brooder bin for one tiny keet, so I was waiting to see if any more hatched. I noticed it pecking at the design on the paper towels that line the incubator so I began putting food there. It is eating and I assume it's drinking the water in the humidity channels. I'll give it a couple more days and then move it into something else. The weather has been so warm, it should be fine without a heat lamp.

In Chicken News:

I lost the red Cochin. It's just gone. No evidence anywhere, not even a feather. My best guess is a snake got it. That hurt, it was one of my favorites. Then the barred and one of the younger mottled Cochins died. Bummer. The last 2 were still in a brooder in the bunny shed. They weren't big enough to join the rest in a transition cage. I only have 2 buff Cochins in the cage at this time, and the new guinea keets are in another. Oh yeah, one of the blue keets died as well.

Spiffy has gotten ever more friendly. He will sit on my hand for a quite awhile and seems to beg for me to pick him up. He likes to stand on my shoes when I'm sitting down in there. I do that a lot...just sit and watch them. He will fly up to perch on the back of my chair. He's becoming more beautiful, too. The black feathers in his tail are iridescent green, and the ones in his wings are purple. His neck feathers are bright reddish tan, and then he's shades of brown all over with white spangling. He's definitely my favorite. Yeah, gotta take the camera.

tnt

Nest News

2011-05-20T05:23:00.003-04:00

In the Nestbox:

Out of 4 does due this week, I got 2 babies in 1 live litter. There was a big pile of DOAs! Jeez! Baroquen (1st timer) and Flashdance had 4 each. Baroquen built a lovely nest of fur...on the wire. Some of hers were born alive, but the cold night did them in.

I'm still waiting on Nyx but she's also a doe I don't trust. As of last night, she had put fur in the box, but all the nest material had been kicked out. She always does that which is why her kits haven't lived past a few days unless I foster them. She was being real witchy about my checking the nest. Luckily it's much warmer this morning, so maybe she'll have something for me when I go out there. I do have a promising fostered broken from her last litter and there will be a decision to make on whether to waste any more time on her.

So who got it right? Good ole reliable Honeycomb x Dot.com has 2 broken blacks. Not enough color but the kits are nicely sized and shaped so I'll let her raise them for the non-extension they are carrying, and I need her to take Nyx's if she has them.

In Guinea news:

It looks like the hen's nest was compromised. A predator must have found it before I could. That's what you get, my dear, for nesting "in the wild". I was all set to watch her closely (or try to) yesterday to find it, and then realized she wasn't going to go there. She hung out with the males all day, and didn't even leave the fence. She should lay again soon, and the game of hide & seek will start again. The eggs in the incubator are estimated to hatch within a week.

I thought I could keep guinea hens confined to the Summer House to force them to lay in a safe place, but now know that won't work. They're just too big to share the space with the bantams. I'm working out an idea for another penned space just for guineas.

In Bantam news:

I sold 6 excess birds at the rabbit show last weekend. That helped. There was just too many of them! I feed them morning and evening and they mob me until I do. After feeding them and then the rabbits out there, I take a moment to bird-watch. After they fill their crops, they go to the freshened water bowls. Then they relax so I can observe them putzing around. I bring in some weeds for them to pick through, and that's always fun for them and me.

Speaking of water. I think I have to invest in a chicken waterer. It's a hassle keeping them in clean water. They perch on the bowl rim and the dirt on their feet fouls the water too fast.

Spiffy, the spangled OE, has become my pet. I can touch him when he walks by my feet. He lets me pick him up and set him on my knee for petting. He has even flown up on my knee! I can't wait to see what he looks like when mature. He has so many interesting things going on in his feathers. Iridescent black peeks out from under white, brown and tan on his tail and wings. He is going to be gorgeous.

I had been hearing an odd noise coming from the birds, but couldn't see who was doing it. I finally caught Spiffy trying to crow! That was so funny, it's not a proper crow at all. More like something stuck in his throat, but he was all puffed up like he was somebody. He's only about 7-8 weeks old, and I didn't know they would crow that soon.

I still haven't sexed the Cochins, even the oldest 2. There isn't enough difference in their combs to give me a clue. I'll have to study some pix online to see if there's something I should be looking for. Same for the 3 partridge possible Wyandottes. They will have small rose combs so it will be hard to tell on them, too.

It got so cool (50s) for a few days, I had to turn the furnace on. It wasn't even warm enough during the day to warm the house. Also didn't see the sun for days! It was dark, dreary, and drizzly. The sun finally came out for a bit yesterday and it got to 70. Forecast calls for even warmer from here out, and hopefully more sun.

tnt

Updates 5.11.11

2011-05-11T07:04:00.008-04:00

The website has been updated and the Barn page includes new pix of the Summer House / Poultry Palace.

There's also pix of a few new jr does. The "Dream" sisters are a continuation of the dream theme that started with Dreamboat Annie (now living elsewhere). Broken Dream is kind of unimaginative until you understand why. She lost a back toe when she was a baby. I don't know what happened but it was ripped off somehow and there's only a nub. So that dream of a show doe was broken. But she'll make a very nice brood doe. The sisters are almost identical with slight variations in pattern.

Here are pix of the newest chicks.

These Cochins are from the breeder at the swap last weekend. Red, Buff, and Mottled Black (3 of these). Red is my favorite (yep, that's its name). I don't know if the head will stay like that, probably not, but that would be cool. They are considerably fluffier than the TSC Cochins, and the Mottleds are more white than the older TSC Mottleds. The breeder's adult Mottleds were more white than black. Very pretty!

The next batch is the last shipment of TSC Cochins. I quit! I promise, no more new chicks.

I think Silver Laced, Gold Laced (3), and Barred.

I probably won't name all the birds, but some have acquired a handle. The Spangled Old English cockerel is Spiffy because, well, he's so spiffy-lookin. He's also one of the tamest, although he gets rough on some of the others. Oddly, he and the white Japanese cockerel seem to be buds.

Then I discovered the black OE pullet has 5 toes on one foot. One of the front toes is split like a Y with claws and everything. I call her High Five, but don't know if I'll keep her. She's really bossy with everyone, and I can't have her picking on the younger Cochins.

The new guinea keets.

Royal Purple (4) & Coral Blue (6).

Cochin chick and guinea keet for comparison. I'm not sure on age, but I believe the keet is 3-4 days and the chick is 5-7. Trust me when I say guineas hatch smaller than bantams. Amazing when you know how big the adults will be.

Guinea egg & Grade A Large egg from the store.

The guinea hen is setting somewhere. I know the general area but haven't found the nest yet. I know this because she goes missing for most of the day and just comes out a few times to forage. I've been trying to watch where she goes, but keep getting distracted while she meanders around with the males for too long. When I remember to notice, she's already gone to the nest. Guineas are very hard to see when they are on the nest so I have to see where she goes.

Yesterday, I was stunned to see 2 young deer walk into the yard in the middle of the day! I have never ever seen deer here! Somehow they snuck past the neighbor's dogs, and mine didn't notice either. The guineas alerted me to look out the window. I wish I could have got a photo, but it didn't take through the window. They were right up here by the car which is in front of the gate! That's when my dogs noticed them. They didn't know what to think. I could tell because their barks were less confident.

A thunderstorm just blew by, but it was gentle here. It moved out very quickly and didn't rain a lot. Of course, I checked the weather map to see what it looked like. Yeah, still pretty gun-shy. This is the 1st storm since the twisters. Weather has been perfect otherwise. Clear, sunny, and warm.

tnt

Getting back to normal.

2011-05-06T05:36:00.016-04:00

The cleanup continues and things have calmed down a bit around here. There is still much to do, but it's amazing what they've accomplished. Power has been restored to almost everywhere that can get service. They got it done so fast with a lot of help from outside utility companies. The good weather we've had since then helped a lot, too. Phone lines are still out, but that's not as important in this age of wireless communication.

The mail was finally able to get back here yesterday. I had to go to the post office a few days ago to send some things out, and the postmaster explained that the restrictions on who belongs in the areas included the mail carriers. I could have signed a form to hold my mail to pick up myself, but I didn't have anything important coming (that I know of) so I could wait it out.

I found another odd bit of damage the other day. There's 5' chainlink around the backyard, and wild honeysuckle is growing thickly on the back corner. So thick, I didn't notice until I was close that the fence is copping a 25-30 degree lean outward for about 20' from the corner. The honeysuckle must have caught the blast like a wall. Again amazed at the persnickety nature of tornadoes, and that my house and outbuildings were spared! That corner is only about 50 feet from the Summer House carport and rabbit shed! There's some loose stuff under the carport and most of it wasn't even moved!

What else?

I've been working in the Summer House setting up for the chickens. All the chicks are still in transition cages, and the oldest batch is in a sort of pen so I can control them until I'm ready to turn them loose in there. I'm also doing a bit of culling now that I know what I have in the chicks. Tomorrow, I'm going to a Small Animal Swap in Kingsport (about an hour away) and hope to sell the culls. That's the other reason they are still caged...to make it easier to load them up in the morning.

As of now, it looks like I have:

3 Dark Cornish - not sure on sex, but they still have no combs to speak of so I'm saying pullets. Culling.

2 Black Old English - cockerel and pullet. Culling.

4 Self Blue OE - Looks like 3 cockerels and 1 pullet, but I'm not sure on one of the smaller ones. That's a drag. Would have liked to keep all that pretty color. I should only keep 1 roo for that color, so I'm culling at least 1, maybe 2 if I decide there is in fact 3 roos.

1 Spangled OE roo and 1 Black Breasted Red OE pullet. Trying to decide whether to cull the BBR since she doesn't really fit in my "pretty bird" plan. Hens of that variety are dull. Although she does seem like a rather sweet bird which could go in her favor.

1 White Japanese roo. Keeping to see how Japanese handle my winters.

3 Partridge Wynadottes. These were question marks because they didn't develop like any of the others. Much slower feather and comb development. I realized the round body and small curled tail was similar to the Cochins, and the lack of comb means the Wyandotte's rose comb. I knew I really liked these chicks for a reason! That was a breed I was interested in.

2 Buff Amercaunas - cockerel and pullet.

13 Cochins. Lots of variety here! I couldn't resist when I went to TSC last week for feed, and the latest bantam shipment was ALL cochins! So I brought home 6 more.
* edited to add 5 more bought at the sale.

5 Mottled Black
3 (possible) Gold Laced
1 (possible) Silver Laced
2 Buff
1 Barred
1 Red

Yes, it's been a lot of fun learning how to ID these chicks.

I'm also taking bunny culls to the swap. I was going to take them to the next rabbit show (the birds, too) but hopefully this swap will eliminate the need for that.

Nothing much happening in the rabbitry right now. Don't have any litters due until around the 18th. Playing with the current litters a lot to start picking my keepers. Looks like there's a lot of does! Honeycomb's 2 torts are does and ready to be weaned out. Probably keeping both of them. One is a show bunny, and the other looks like BUD but should be showable for a while. Honeycomb is also due on the 18th (Dot.com) and I'll probably sell her after that litter since I have several daughters to replace her. The rest are about 4 weeks and we're working on posing.

Oh and I'm pretty excited. I saw an ad for "color" guineas, and got my name on a wait list for hatchlings. Just got word today, they are hatching and it looks like colors I wanted will be available. Cool! Blue (or some variation of blue or lavender), royal purple (I think this is a dark brownish) for sure, and I hope for buff.

Speaking of guineas. I have the 10 eggs I salvaged from the fox-killed hen's nest in the incubator. I was worried the power outage for 3 nights would kill them. The 3rd night, it got pretty cool in the house and incubator. I was told to continue incubating and hope for the best, so that's what I'm doing. I'll sell most of those (if any hatch) to turn my flock over to colors. I'll definitely clip wings to try to keep them in the fence.

tnt

The aftermath.

2011-05-01T08:35:00.006-04:00

It's been a rough week! My heart goes out to all the victims of the recent chain of tornadoes. There were 2 twisters here the night of Wed. 4/27, one right after the other. The 1st one smacked a community just SW of here. The 2nd less than a half hour later hit my area.

We were so lucky back here! The house at the end of the road is gone. That's less than 1/2 mile away! The destruction actually began about 1/4 mile down the road and blocked the road with downed trees. The forest comes right up to the narrow road all the way up. I heard and felt the blast when it went by, and I dreaded daylight showing me the damage. Was so surprised there was none. At least not to anything that mattered.

The power went out a good hour before it hit so we didn't know what was happening. Early the following morning, patrolmen came back here on motorcycles to see if we were ok. They had to come in through the fields behind me. Said the road was completely blocked (it's a dead end) and asked if we needed anything. Said there wasn't a power pole standing down there so it could be a while before we had power. Other than electric, I had what I needed. I have public water and there was plenty of food for me and the animals. My neighbors were self-sufficient as well.

I'm thanking the forest for sparing us back here. The path was over open ground and just swiped the forest edge when it went by. They worked fast and had the road open for us by late afternoon. I went out the next day to get some things and see what it looked like. I have never been this close to so much destruction! After the smashed house on the end, it just got worse. Red Cross came back here several times to see if we needed anything and to inform us where we could go for help if we needed it. My road is even narrower right now as there isn't much room for the downed wood.

My friend's sturdy brick house is destroyed. He's about a mile away as the crow flies. I finally hooked up with him later that day and was so relieved he's ok. He was definitely shell-shocked. He said they were in the basement at the 1st warning, and came up when they thought it was clear. That's when the 2nd twister hit, so it's amazing they weren't hurt. Buildings all around him were smashed as well. I heard at least one of the reported deaths was in his area.

On the way home, the people who lived in the place at the end of my road were there so I stopped to talk and see if they needed anything. They were thrown out of their beds over 300 yards and amazingly, only suffered bruises. Debris from their house went a lot farther. Oddly, a little single-wide and small barn just behind them on the property were still standing, although they had a lot of damage. The next place down is another single-wide and it was barely touched. In fact, debris from the house caused the most damage in broken windows. An old single-wide had been abandoned at the back of that property and it was rolled over against the woods behind it.

Tornadoes are strange that way. It wasn't until coming home that I noticed the tin roof on the little pump house is gone. It's a lot lower than the house and other outbuildings and somewhat sheltered by trees. I would have thought if anything the tall old shed near the house would have lost its tin roof but it didn't. It already had some wind damage from the "normal" high winds I get back here, but nothing much from this storm. We thought we were fairly safe close to the mountains. Tornadoes are very rare here. Goes to show, no one is ever completely safe from nature's wrath.

I went to a FEMA meeting in the other community yesterday. They were very well organized with command centers set up in both areas. They had tons of donations and told everyone to take what they need. The destruction was just as bad there, and I think more people died. Senators and other officials are on hand, and I heard that one of the helicopters that flew over the area several times might be President Obama. He was supposed to have been in GA/AL for the disasters earlier this week down there, and might have flown over here as well.

Patrol cars are stationed at the in-roads to the areas to control lookyloos and looters. Yeah, there was already that going on. Sometimes, I really don't like the human race.

The little Netbook got a lot of use. I had internet. I had to conserve the charge, but I was able to check in. One of the things I went out for that 1st day was a special device so I could charge it off the car.

We got power back here Saturday afternoon. I really didn't expect it so soon. Was told that since there was no line damage back here, they started here. I guess it's practical to take care of the easiest issues first and work out to the worst. Was without for 3 nights and part of the day. I did a lot of reading by booklight! The power went off for a bit later that evening. I assume so they could work on connecting lines.

In fact, it just went out again while writing this! Thank you, Blogger, for saving it! I expect this will go on for a while so I better shut down the puter for now.

tnt

Updates 4.24.11

2011-04-24T08:02:00.004-04:00

First, I'd like to thank the friends who helped ID the chicks. Garrett at Dwarfs R Us who raises show bantams, and April at OlivYew Farm who is as new to chickens as myself. Alan at Ardenada Acres also confirmed the white is a leggy Japanese. The previous post has been edited with this new info.

I will probably adjust the flock over time to concentrate on a few breeds, and it might not be these. My not-so-great experience with Cogburn has me a bit leery of roosters in some of these breeds. Notably the Sebrights and Old English. While they are beautiful birds, Old English Games were originally raised for cock fighting. However, the (possible) Spangled OE roo and BBR OE hen are the calmest of all the chicks. Sebrights are persnickety, and the buff pair is pretty flighty. It could just be that Cogburn never had any other chickens to take his attention away from me. So I'll see how this goes.

I don't know yet what those might be. Cochins probably for sure. I like Wyandottes for their round cochin-shape but with clean legs. Japanese maybe (love the tails), but their big combs might not be able to handle the occasional deep freezes in winter. They won't have much in the way of winter housing so they have to be able to handle it. I'll see how the white Jap roo does.

Moved the 2nd batch into the transition cage, and the 1st batch into a bigger cage. Now I see another thing that needs changing. I just used a good sized screen bottom feeder in the bigger cage. It was already attached when I used this cage for guineas. But it's big enough for the chicks to stand in, and what do they do...scratch. Guineas don't do that. So a lot of feed is kicked all over, including outside the cage where they can't reach it. I have extra J-feeders w/tops so I'm going attach those instead. I can mount them from the outside so filling is easier. Job de jour. 3rd batch in their bin was moved into the shed to acclimate to outside temps.

In the rabbitry:

I moved 10 buns, plus 4 weanlings out to the Summer House yesterday, which pretty much filled the holes out there. I kept the show string, and of course, the working does in the shed. It's easier to load up for a show in there where there's lights. I need a flashlight to load up outside.

In the nestbox:

Honeycomb x Sugardaddy's 2 torts look very promising. Looks like 2 does at 5 weeks.

All the others have opened their eyes. I'm pretty sure all the himi litters are in fact himis. There's still one I'm not sure if REW or himi, but I think I saw a faint smudge of color on the tail. Color development is slow on all of them. They might be blue which is possible from both dams and the sire. That would explain the lack of color at this point. There's one that has much more so I'm sure it's black.

The brokens from Nyx x Sugardaddy and Cirocco x Ford's Roc, I love the patterns and they might have that bigger head I need. Roc's might be too big for my taste. He's right on at 2.08, but he looks bigger. I hope there's does if they turn out to be bigger than I'd want in a buck. Big bucks just don't mesh with my doe lines very well.

Cutting back on the herd also drastically cut the show string. I can barely fill a carrier with entries. Does are working, and several bucks aren't being shown for one reason or another. Fewer srs (and hard litter culling) means fewer jrs. I feel bad I can't support show clubs with more entries, but I just don't have them. The lack of entries means I'm only doing select shows these days, and distance is a big factor.

Lenoir City is coming up in May, and I'll probably only have 4. That includes debuting one of the broken jr does from Dreamcatcher x Whiskey Mac (no names yet). The other one ripped a back toe off (oweee!) when she was younger so she's out.

I'm debating whether to enter Dreamspinner. She's a BUD but a real good lookin one, and still under sr weight limit at 6 months. She did pretty well as a jr, and even earned a leg. Her pattern is a bit heavy and could be DQ'd for that, although it didn't happen (that I remember) the few times she was shown.

This is Chevette's last show. She's now over 6 months and I'll breed her after this. Stoney Brook's Jackson is still here on loan, and he'll get her in the next round.

Poor Jackson is blowing his coat and looking very scruffy. He's a little off-feed, too. He's getting more hay to help him through the molt. It hasn't been that hot, but he was bred in a cooler climate (Ohio), and then kept in a climate-controlled barn in VA. Rabbits from other breeders tend to molt sooner than the rest of my herd. At least for the 1st year they are here.

Happy Easter

tnt

Chix Pix

2011-04-22T05:44:00.014-04:00

Finally got around to getting some new pix of the chicks. This is also to show some friends who might be able to help ID them.

* Edited 4.24.11 with what I now believe thanks to friends' help, and a little more research.

1st batch - approximately 4-1/2 weeks old.

This chick is more gray than it shows here. Actually rather dull. Also smaller than the rest of its agemates, and it's a hen. So much smaller, it's with the 2nd batch.
* Black Breasted Red Old English (OE)

These are the biggest ones, there's 3 like this. Distinctive thick legs and big feet. Very little comb showing, so probably hens. Some variation in color. The one behind has more gold spangling on the wings. Very stocky sturdy looking birds.
* Dark Cornish

These 2 are roosters, and smaller than the 2 above. The white is already showing cockiness.
* Spangled OE, White Japanese

This is the brown from above. My favorite in this batch, I think he's going to be very pretty. He's also calmer than the white.
* Spangled OE

2nd batch - approximately 3-1/2 weeks old.

There's 3 like this. Research says Partridge, maybe? That would be cool. That's probably my favorite color - the classic rainbow rooster.
* Partridge Wyandotte

There's 2 this light buffy color. A little faint barring on the wings. Looks like hen & roo.
* Buff Amercauna

4 like this.
* Self Blue OE

Black something. There's 2, and looks like hen & roo. This is the roo.
* Black OE

3rd batch - approximately 2-1/2 weeks old.

This is the only one I've been able to ID for sure. There's 2 and might be hen & roo.
* Black Mottled Cochin

If comb size is an indicator, I think there's more hens than roosters.

This is the transition cage out in the Summer House currently holding the 1st batch. They should be big enough to turn loose in the pen in another week or so. Then the next batch will go in the cage. That's a modified bird feeder serving as chick feeder. I move the cage daily so they have cleaner ground under them. Less feed goes to waste because they can get it off the ground, and they can indulge their need to scratch. There's chickweed and grass growing along the back fence and they found that very interesting.

I used this last year for guinea keets, and have another slightly bigger one that I'll set up for them when the time comes. Guinea eggs are in the incubator. Estimated hatch in about a month.

I'll get new pix of the inside of Summer House soon. Still finishing the remodel in there. There's 12 holes for rabbits, and I'm moving buns out there today. The rest of the space will be for the birds.

tnt

Well heck

2011-04-17T09:18:00.004-04:00

Lost another guinea to the marauding fox yesterday. I assume it was the fox. Didn't see it but heard the uproar just before sunup. Stupid birds don't have enough sense to stay inside the fence until full daylight.

This time it was a hen. Down to just the 1 hen and 2 males now. Since I have no idea which of the hens was laying in the garden nest, I confiscated the 10 eggs that were there and will begin incubating them. I'll watch the nest in case more appear.

I plan to attempt to keep the chickens' wings clipped in hopes that will keep them in the fence. Hoping they will be as efficient as the guineas for controlling pests like ticks. That's the reason for having guineas. If they weren't so useful, they'd be too loud and annoying.

Shaping up to be a beautiful day!

tnt

Thoughts on Himis

2011-04-16T05:54:00.007-04:00

Recently, there was a discussion of himis on a forum. Actually pointed whites since this was an all-breed forum, and that's what other breeds call himis. A breeder got some very colorful kits out of a pair of PWs and didn't know what to think. Turns out I was right and they are smutty PWs, or "cold himis" as we call them in dwarfs.

I should probably start at the beginning for anyone reading this not up on the mechanics of breeding himis. From the start, I was told himis are temperature-sensitive. The himi gene forces the color to the extremities (the points) which are most susceptible to cold. When himi kits are chilled in the 1st days of life, they can display a lot of body color (smut) that makes the breeder think they have anything but white. They can look like Sable Pt, Sia Sable, or Smoke Pearl. I remember how excited I was the 1st time I saw one. I had been trying for Sable Pt and was sure I finally had one. Not. The excess color eventually recedes to the points and makes for very nicely colored himis.

This is a litter of himis. An uninformed breeder might think they had Sable Pt or Smoke Pearl. This is out of 2 himis so they can't be anything but himis.

The last year or two, I gave up shadeds and only breed the himis to himi or black. Well ok, sometimes to broken but that's a whole nother thing. My point is that I learned new things about himis and the kit smut. I now believe it is more about genetics than temperature, although temperature is still a factor. I have some new thoughts based on what I know about my himis, and observations of PW breeds.

Some of the smuttiest litters were born when it was warm. My himi does are notorious for pulling a lot of fur and making good nests. Many were good-sized litters of 3 or more so the kits kept each other warm. These "cold himis" did not get cold.

I think the tendency for smut is genetic. I've seen it more from some lines than others. Messenger is a himi who throws smutty kits. He's out of a Sable Pt, and his color is not that great. Not what you usually see when cold himis grow up. I wondered if the smut actually came from the Sable Pt. It's pretty common on SP and is inherited, and the smut on himi kits looks a lot like on SP kits. Makes sense to me.

The recent discussion was joined by someone who emphatically insisted that the PW smut is completely controlled by temperature, and that genetics play no part. Since this person used Himalayans and Californians as examples of proof, I realized the myth was probably propagated by breeders of these breeds. It may not apply to other breeds in quite the same way.

Himalayans and Californians are PW breeds and that's the only variety they come in. They're old breeds and have been bred for the best point color over hundreds of generations. They vex show breeders by displaying smut on other parts of the body when mature. One myth says that if you shave 2 Californians on the back and put one in a cold place and the other in warmth, the cold one will grow dark fur where it was shaved. They even say that does get smut where they've pulled fur. Something I've never seen on my himis or heard of on any others, even up north. Some older himis might get a little smut around the eyes or bleeding out from the nose spot up to the eyes, but not on any other part of the body that's white.

To me, this just proves genetics plays a part. Temperature-sensitivity has been strongly bred into these PW breeds simply because only the PW gene which is sensitive is present. In other breeds, PWs are bred to other varieties which would dilute this sensitivity, and the smut doesn't always come from being chilled.

I also learned how temperature can affect mature himis. It's said it's hard to raise good PWs in a warm climate. I've proven that's not necessarily true. By eliminating the shaded factor, my himis are now "pure himi". Their color is true black or blue and doesn't fade to brown in summer heat. The only fading I saw in an extremely hot summer was that the nose spot receded to just the top of the nose. My himis had white lips. I assume due to their panting hot breath. Once the weather cooled, the color went back into the entire muzzle. However, since the PW breeds are so temperature-sensitive, they would be affected much more.

In the nestbox:

Flashdance x Stoney Brook's Jackson finally kindled. She was 2 days late. She only had the one and it was a large DOA hippo. This is only the 3rd hippo I've seen (that I noticed). As usual, it came from a new rabbit (Jackson).

In the himi x himi litters, most of the kits are himis, but there's a couple I don't see any color yet. These litters are nice and toasty. It's not that cold, the does pulled piles of fur, made a good nest, and had good sized litters. The color will be slow to develop.

Cirocco x Ford's Roc, Nyx x Sugardaddy (fostered), and Dreamcatcher x Roc, their brokens are looking good. As expected, Nyx let her solid black die. She's a good looking doe so I'm glad I finally got something out of her. Her days here are probably numbered since it's such trouble getting anything from her. I'll try her one more time.

But there's a problem with rebreeding Flashdance and Nyx right now. Neither can be trusted to raise their litters, and I have no reliable does open. I'll have to think about about this. I could breed Honeycomb since her litter is about 4 wks. I'm going to put Lady Blaque up for sale real soon when her litter is weaned out, so I don't want to breed her again. All the other litters are too young to rebreed the dams right now. The only others are some young does just or almost sr, but being unproven, I can't count on them. Looks like Honeycomb is my only option.

In the brooders:

I split the chicks out into 3 bins. 5 of them are quite a bit bigger and more feathered. I kind of wanted to move them outside into a cage on the ground in the pen, but it's still getting cool at night. So their bin is in the bunny barn where they are acclimating to the temps out there. The other 2 bins are still in the house, and the youngest are still under a heat lamp.

I was getting really frustrated trying to keep the chicks in water. They were kicking the shavings all over the place, into the water bowl and feeder. It quickly soaked up the water, and I was cleaning and refilling 4 or 5 times a day! I found a way to put a stop to some of that. I cut a piece of floor wire to fit the bin and laid it on top of the shavings. Problem solved. Now their water stays cleaner and they don't run out several times a day.

Weather has been up and down. Typical spring. A few cool nights below 40, but not freezing. Spring storm lines continue to develop in the valley, beat up the deep south, and lose power (luckily) by the time they get up here. This morning, I have the tail end of the latest line and there's wind and rain. Don't need more of either, but what are you gonna do?

tnt

This & That

2011-04-10T08:16:00.016-04:00

Attended the Taylorsville show yesterday. A lot of dwarf breeders were missing because they're gearing up for Nationals next week. Best of luck, fun, and safe travels to all who are going.

Because of the lack of entries, legs were hard to come by. Even otters couldn't pull a variety leg. Group and breed legs were all that could be earned. Chevette got the AOV BOG leg in Show A. Actually if I'm not mistaken, I believe AOV was the only group that could get a leg. I've seen that before at small entry shows where tan patterns weren't strongly represented. Oh wait, maybe Self as well, but since I didn't have any selfs, wasn't really paying attention to that group.

It was still a fun show. I like the T-ville shows. Everyone I talked to had the same reasons for liking these shows. Easy to get to because of uncomplicated directions, nice facility on the fairgrounds, usually pretty good organization, and good home-cooked breakfast and lunch from the best chef in the south.

Oh and yay. Cogburn is gone. I took him to the show and hung a "Free" tag on his carrier. Had 3 people who wanted him. The 1st's wife said no, so he went to the 2nd. He was crowing all day long which was strange to hear there when I've heard it for so long here. I'm happy and I'm sure he'll be happy. The new owner is getting him some hens. My baby birds will be safe from him.

It was a very violent day weatherwise in the south and surrounding states. I woke up to a bit of a light show which made me change my show day routine a little. Usually, I drink some coffee and do the internet for a few, then allow enough time to load up the rabbits and myself, and hit the road by the deadline. The lightening made me run out and load the animals first so I didn't get caught doing it in the rain. Turns out the lightening was actually not headed this way and the drive was dry.

Just a few miles from home, I was racing a storm. Got home in time to unload the rabbits before it hit. And it hit hard! There was pea and gum ball size hail that littered the ground like snow. I don't remember ever seeing that much hail on the ground, even up north. It was like stones falling on the roof, and it went on for quite a while. I don't know how much rain I got here. The rain gauge only goes to 5" and it's topped off! Serious runoff is flooding the bottom of the yard again. I think I'll have to call the road commission and ask them to dig out the ditch across the road that was taking the runoff down to the creek. It must be blocked as now it's coming across the road to me. Bad.

In the nestbox:

Chevelle x Stoneybrook's Jackson (himi buck on loan) has 4 fat healthy kits. Himis, I'm sure. His owner says there's REW in his background, but I have no reason to believe Chevelle carries REW. At least I hope not. On the other hand...

Anaba x Jackson has 3. It's possible she carries REW so I'll have to wait to see if the kits are himi or REW. Keeping my fingers crossed for himi.

Nyx x Sugardaddy - 1 nicely broken black fostered to Anaba, and a black. I don't trust Nyx. So far, she hasn't built a good nest and if she has live kits, they die if left with her. She did pull plenty of fur this time, but most of the other nest material had been kicked out. Good thing it was warm enough. I left her the black to see if she raises it.

Dreamcatcher x Ford's Roc - 1 nicely broken black. I might foster it as well, although Dreamcatcher is really good about raising a singleton. I've left singles with her before and they always thrive. Since I don't know if or to whom I'll breed her again, I might as well let her raise it. I could give her 1 or 2 of the himis.

Cirocco x Ford's Roc - 2 nicely broken blacks. Yay...they're not otters! This is her 1st litter and she did it perfectly. Can't wait to see how this match turns out.

So letsee. 5 new litters - 7 himis, 4 brokens, and every doe was successful. I'm very pleased with this round.

In the older litters:

Shadowland Honeycomb x Sugardaddy has 2 torts (almost 3 weeks), and I think one of them got his little ears. That would be cool!

Lady Blaque x Shadowland Whiskey Mac has 2 torts and 1 broken (75%) tort (almost 5 weeks). Their color is off so I'm not sure what I'll do with them. They're too light and not charcoal where tort is supposed to be charcoal (belly, etc). It's a creamy color. Strange. I even thought they might be blue tort, but I've got those before and know what blue tort kits look like. This is not that.

I recently chatted with Donelle Bomben, and she gave me lots of good information and theories on the cause. She said it might be due to Sable Points. There's no Sable Point in Mac's pedigree, although that doesn't mean it's not there somewhere. I believe he does not carry shaded, or I would have seen it by now, especially when he was bred to himis. Lady Blaque probably does carry shaded so it might have come from her. Another theory Donelle had was that the wideband gene from Red had been mixed into that line of torts. That makes more sense to me than the Sable Point theory. I have got properly dark torts from Mac with his other does, and lots of breeders do Tort and Sable Pt together without bad results. It might explain the odd extension (for lack of a better word) of the undercolor. I don't really know how the wideband gene works or why it would show up in Lady's litter. Research time, I guess.

In the chick brooders:

I got a 3rd batch of TSC chicks this week. Got even luckier than the 2nd batch. Picked up 3 more blues, another red, and 2 striking black & white chicks. I didn't realize until I got them home that they had feathered legs. Hopped onto The Feathersite and discovered they are Black Mottled Cochins! That was exciting because for feather legs, I like Cochins the most. Such an attractive bird, like a ball of feathers. And they're the only chicks I've been able to ID for sure.

It was all I could do to restrain myself from running back up there to get a couple more. No no no. I now have a total of 19 chicks and that's enough to start.

Not to mention a guinea is laying, and I'll be incubating those. I found a nest under a big grass in the garden inside the fence. One by one, eggs are appearing in it, but I never catch the hen on the nest. Since guineas lay large clutches of 20 or more and that's how I found the nest, I just assumed they laid all at once. I now realize it's that they lay the entire clutch before they begin brooding. Usually, I don't find the nest until the hen goes missing because she sitting all the time. Probably nature's way of making sure the eggs hatch at the same time.

It always amazes me that the day after a violent storm is beautiful...clear and sunny. It's like Mother Nature gave us the day to clean up the mess. I'm off to survey the damage and hopefully enjoy it.

tnt

More Chicks

2011-04-05T18:17:00.011-04:00

I asked when TSC got more chicks and he said the bantams came in on Thursday or Friday. So I ran up there Thursday and I'm glad I did. There was much more variety to choose from and all different from the first batch.

Still don't know what they are, but at least I can guess colors on this batch. They only had the 1 blue. The 2 whites this time are actually a buff color. I looked around the net and the reds might be partridge. That would be cool since that's one of my favorite varieties...the classic "rainbow rooster". The blacks might be mottled something...one has some white on it.

I also took a chance on the only feather-leg in that shipment because it was such a pretty foxy color. Sadly, lost it the 1st night. I took it back and they allowed me the exchange, but the only ones left were black or buff so I got another black. Then I lost another little odd color not like any of the others the next day. I was pretty sure I would lose it, it didn't seem to be thriving. Would have been nice if it died when I took the other back. I didn't feel like going back up there so I just called it a loss.

This is the 1st batch with wing feathers giving more hints to colors. But I still don't know what colors exactly. There is a pair of spangled greyish, a pair of white & gold spangled, and then the white and another more black with some gold.

The white and a couple others are developing combs which might mean roosters. A friend told me that big combed breeds will sometimes develop early on hens, too, so can't really call that either until I figure out the breeds.

I handle them everyday. Some are flightier than others. A couple are considerably calmer and allow me to pet them without running away.

This is the brooder setup. These bins just fit in this large wheeled birdcage stand. I actually just set it up today. I had all the chicks in 1 bin with the light, but it was getting crowded and messy with the older birds in there so I split them up. Don't have another light so I hope the older chicks will be ok. It's in the house, and they seem comfortable without the light.

The infamous Rooster Cogburn got on my last nerve this week, and he's now in jail awaiting deportation. I think I've mentioned how he goes in the pet carrier where I feed the cat. I've tried to block it from him while still allowing her access, but he always figures it out. He pecks her tail until she comes out. When he got past my latest attempts at blocks, I said fine, stay in there, and locked him in it for the day. During that time, I decided he lost privileges. I was tired of his mess on top of the cat's box, and all over the porch where he roosts. I was really tired of having to carry a weapon everywhere I went in the yard. I had a large cage kicking around and set it up for him...his jail cell. Then decided he needs to go away. I'm worried about the new chicks. He was pretty rough on the guinea keets sometimes. I think he will be a problem when it comes time to put them outside. I'm taking him with me to the show this weekend to try and rehome him. His previous owner said he'd take him back if no one else took him. One way or another, this bird has to go. I'd rather take my chances that roosters in the chicks will be easier to live with.

I need a few things from TSC so I'll go up this Thursday to see if I can catch another interesting bantam shipment. Trying to restrain myself but I know if there's some new variety or more of the colors I like, I'll get a few more.

The poultry pen is coming along. It was so nice yesterday, I worked on it almost all day. Then that line of storms came ripping up through the valley last night, and left cold air in its wake today. Too cool for me to do much outside. Supposed to warm up again after today so I'll be back at it.

Not a lot going on in the rabbitry. A few litters due this week. I'll get back to that next time. BTW, I decided bantams fit under the Spring Creek Gems name. Little rabbits, little chickens.

tnt

Chicks, man

2011-03-26T07:25:00.009-04:00

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

2011-03-14T12:15:00.002-04:00

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

2011-03-11T03:58:00.013-05:00

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

2011-03-08T06:55:00.008-05:00

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

2011-03-06T05:21:00.005-05:00

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

2011-03-02T06:42:00.002-05:00

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

Facebook

2011-02-23T06:38:00.004-05:00

I seem to be in a ranty sort of mood these days. Can't help it, some things just plain bother me. So today, the topic is Facebook and rabbit breeders. I think I might have talked about this before, but since it's recently annoyed me, here it is again.

First, is no one concerned that FB (and the guy who owns it) seems to be taking over the world? Or at least the internet. It's looking like most people now get their internet via their phones, and every phone company offers FB apps. Fewer and fewer use websites, forums, or even email. Are computers becoming obsolete? How sad that would be.

Yeah, I have a FB account (Spring Creek Gems if you want to look me up). I don't really use it all that much, but since everyone else does, I have it. It's mostly to socialize with friends. I recently set up a D6 FB page and that was a great idea if I do say so myself. It's seems to be something members will use. It's linked to the D6 Website and I can announce that the site has been updated.

I don't have a very fancy phone. I use it to make PHONE CALLS. If I wanted I could use it for internet, but I don't. I'd have to pay more and it's not in my budget. I don't text either. Also costs more, and to make sure people who live to text don't try to send me anything (extra for even receiving texts), that feature is blocked on both my phone and computer.

I love my desktop computer! It's fairly new, sleek and powerful, and I can do anything with it. Including seeing all the internet has to offer on a 19" widescreen. I have a full-size keyboard where I can type as I was taught in school, and I can type pretty fast. I have email accounts and that's how I prefer to communicate, especially for bunny biz. I do not need internet everywhere I go. I can wait until I get home. I do have a little Netbook that I can take with me if I'll be gone for more than a day. It's come in very handy when the power went out.

I recently used FB to get the word out about rabbits I wanted to sell. That didn't go well. I had people messaging or posting on FB even though I clearly stated more than once that inquiries be via email. One person said, "FB is easier for me." Awww, too bad. It's not easier for me. My email account keeps everything nice and organized where I can quickly read, review, and reply. If you want to do business with me, you're just going to have to learn how to use email. I won't be posting sale rabbits on FB anymore. You'll have to check my website.

BTW, the person who bought one of those rabbits is not on FB. Yep, he knows to watch my sale page, just as I know to watch his. The other buyer didn't "friend" me until after they bought the rabbit, so they also found it on my website.

I also detest inquiries in "texting" form. I write full sentences with caps (where correct), punctuation, and the grammer I learned in school. Texters are so used to abbreviations (that not everyone knows), short non-sentences without punctuation or caps, or worse...all caps, they just automatically write this way all the time. I know this has a lot to do with the tiny keyboards on phones, but that's no excuse. When I get a "texted" email, I immediately have less respect for the person writing to me. For that, they will get less from me. I won't bother going into detail about anything. I'll just answer the questions as shortly as they were given to me. I really appreciate a well-written email, and I'll respond in kind.

Ok, I'm done. What else is going on?

Had a couple litters due this week, but they're busts. I was surprised to see a Max Factor in one of them. It's been so long since I got one, I didn't know if MF was still running in my lines, but apparently it is. These things tend to show up from new rabbits. In this case, the tort buck Whiskey Mac. The MF kit had open eyes, but legs looked ok. It had an odd-shaped head, looked more like a puppy with narrow snout and high forehead. The only decent broken was a peanut. There's a few more due the 2nd week of March.

Earlier this week I saw a fox! That was very cool. I figured they were around but I'd never seen one until now. It was just after sunup and it was after the guineas that were out front under the birdfeeders. They raised a big ruckus so it was only there for a minute or so. Wish I had got to the camera quicker. I was just so surprised I didn't think until it was too late. It was a beautiful animal in full winter coat, and close enough to the window for a good shot.

Weather is still real nice. It's frosty this morning, but should get in the 50s. I can live with that in February.

24 days until Spring!

tnt

Rabbitry Websites

2011-02-20T05:37:00.014-05:00

Something I've wanted to talk about for a while is website design. Since this blog is mostly about rabbits, I'll focus on rabbitry websites.

I haven't had high-speed internet for that long. Until recently, dialup was my only option, and I really had issues with site design and certain hosts. I gave up on visiting many sites because it took way too long to load. I now have wireless broadband, and while not blazing fast, it's 95% improvement over dialup. I can do almost anything I want, but some things still take a bit of time to load. There are still dialup and slower connections out there, and webmasters should keep this in mind.

I'm a firm believer in designing a website so anyone can view and navigate it fairly easily. Some "webmasters" (I use that term very loosely) seem more interested in showing off fancy coding and graphics than creating an easily navigated site that loads in a reasonable time for even slower connections.

A lot of rabbitries use free hosts such as Weebly and Webs. Back in the day, there was Angelfire (I used AF until I got my current host) and Geocities. Angelfire is still around, and is affiliated with Tripod. Geocities went gone (good riddens). Angelfire/Tripod are real bad for the ads that slow the pages down, and I don't see them used much anymore. Geocities was so slow, I rarely bothered trying to see them. I think most of the AF/Tripod sites are just sitting there in cyber space, and every now and then you'll come across one on a links page.

I'll talk about Weebly and Webs for a minute. These are probably the best free hosts around right now. I got myself a Weebly account just to see how it works. I was impressed with how easy it was to create a good looking and fully functional site. It looks like Webs uses the same kind of setup. The pages load quickly and they aren't overwhelmed with ads. In fact, ads are so minimal on Weebly, you're barely aware of them. I give them 5 stars for free hosts.

One of the things every webmaster needs to understand is that every page on the site should link to every other page. A visitor shouldn't have to go back to find the full site menu, it should be available wherever they are. This was very easy to do on Weebly, and Webs sites are easily navigated as well.

Then there's Wix. I detest Wix sites! I mean I really do, and mostly I blame the webmaster's lack of knowledge about how to design a site. Wix uses Flash which is a dynamic and very heavy type of animated coding most often used for online games. Sure, it can look impressive, but it's slow for even my decent broadband. I have to look at that damn "loading" animation while it loads most of the site. Ok, once it's all loaded, it is fairly fast, but the heavier the site, the longer it takes to load.

I've yet to see a Wix rabbitry or home business site that was done well. I don't know if it's because actually setting it up isn't easy or what. I've never tried Wix. Maybe I should just to see what's going on and if I could do it better. Bet I could.

So what do I see on Wix sites? Mostly sloppy, clunky, and amateurish. Links are often animated, and flash-generated graphics aren't that great. Trying to see photos is time consuming and sloppy, and I usually have little choice about the ones I get to see. They're often loaded in a slide show and I have to wait for that whole thing to load. If I come to your site to see your sale page, I want to see the photos and info right now and all in one place. Very few Wix sites have the site menu available on every page. I have to look around or go back to find it. The webmaster might have set up each page with different graphics (takes longer to load), and different links, and I'm forced to figure it out. More than once I found myself stranded with no way to get back to a menu. My only option was to close the window and reload the site at the beginning. It shouldn't be that hard to get around a website.

When I see a Wix site, my first impression is that the webmaster is just trying to impress me. I'm not impressed. You're given software to work with, you don't need much real knowledge. And it shows. Software can only do so much, you have to understand how it works. A webmaster must understand what the visitors are coming for and give it to them as easily and quickly as possible. We didn't come to see your elaborate code, we came to see your rabbitry or product. Dialup or slow connection...forget about it...you won't be able to view a Wix site unless you have all day to wait for it to load. Why would anyone trying to sell something want to use a setup that not everyone can view?

Another thing. I see so many breeders proudly post their new rabbitry site and when I get there, I find it's still under construction. It's barely functional, and many of the page links are dead or blank. Updates are posted to forums or Facebook, but the site is still incomplete. They even ask for link exchanges. If I offer a link to my visitors, I want it to be a site they can actually use, so until the site is operational, I'm not interested in a link exchange. Finish it before you reveal it to the world. You can finesse the pages later, but don't send visitors to dead space. If a page isn't ready yet, don't add it to the menu until it is.

What impresses me? Well-thought out site design and navigation, attractive but not over-powering graphics and color theme, reasonable photo file size, and most of all....finished and fully functional for any visitor regardless of their connection speed.

tnt

Nestbox News - 2.5.11

2011-02-05T03:14:00.006-05:00

There's 2 new litters and I'm very pleased with the results.

Chevelle (himi) x Whiskey Mac (tort) has 5! 3 Blacks, 2 Torts. Cool, she carries non-extension. I thought she might but couldn't say so until she tossed it. All fat and sassy. Yeah, they really are sassy...noisy, bouncy. This also proves Mac. I wasn't sure he was old enough. She kindled during the terrible wind storm we had 2/2 and I worried it would affect the success of kindles. She's a pro!

Dreamcatcher (broken black) x Whiskey Mac had 4 on 2/4. 1 was near cold death at the front of the box with 2 DOAs, and 1 was tucked in the fur at the back of the box, warm and viable. I revived the cold one in the heat wrap. Both are nicely broken blacks. No sign of tort in this litter so I guess Dreamcatcher doesn't carry. Oh well. These kits will get me to broken tort.

I had a decision to make. How to rearrange the litters to ensure the survival of the ones most important to me. Chevelle is a very calm doe and taking fine care of her 5. Dreamcatcher is a good doe, too, but because she can't be counted on for the kindle, I don't trust her as much. For a minute I thought about giving them all to Chevelle so I could rebreed Dreamcatcher to the new black buck. Then realized that's 7 kits. No, that's asking too much. So I gave Chevelle's 2 biggest blacks to Dreamcatcher. The brokens are with Chevelle's warm wiggly torts and smaller black. I thought about giving all the blacks to Dreamcatcher, but they carry himi and I can use the small black that way.

Teat-sexed and it looks like not as many does as I would have liked. I think a tort and a black are does for sure. The others were ? so I'll see how that goes. I'll look again today to see if I can make a better prediction.

Flashdance x LB92 failed. 4 DOA. Darn. There was a broken in this litter, too. LB is leaving soon (he's sold) and I could repeat it before he goes, but I don't think I will. Tiny Flashdance was able to kindle his kits live the first time, but maybe that was just dumb luck. I'll give her to the new black who's a bit smaller than LB. Or maybe Mac who's even smaller than that. Yeah, that's probably the better plan.

Next round is due around the 23rd.

There's a couple open does. Lady Blaque has been waiting on this round and she'll get the new black. I was going to breed Honeycomb (tort) to Mac, but now that I have several torts in litters, I think she'll get Dot.com. Can't remember if I ever got non-extension from Dot. I should really record these things for the bucks. Dot hasn't been used in a while, and I need to preserve his clean spot pattern.

About records. I keep written breeding records for the does. It tells me when and how she kindled, how many times she's been bred, and what colors occurred. These serve as records for the bucks as well, but I don't keep old breeding records. I can't go back to see what colors a buck threw if the doe's record has been purged. I should start recording this in the pedigree program. There's a place for comments in each rabbit's data sheet. A good place to record what they carry.

It's getting close to time to move Lady Blaque and Dreamcatcher on. I don't want to hold them too much longer or they'll be up there in age for brood doe sale. But I have to wait a bit for the younger broken does before I make that decision. Probably one more litter out of each and then put them up for sale.

I really need to set up a photo shoot. It's been a long time, and I have jrs that need pix for the website. Need updated pix for others, too. Like Mac. I have to make a rabbit delivery run today, so I'll try to get on it tomorrow.

42 days until Spring

tnt

Triple Crown

2011-01-30T07:35:00.010-05:00

Yesterday was the Southeastern Dwarf Fanciers Triple Crown in Spartanburg, SC. This is a triple open specialty show that only sanctions 3 dwarf breeds - Netherland Dwarfs, Holland Lops, and Mini Rex. In a departure from previous years, some other breeds were included but the 3 sponsor clubs didn't sanction them. The exhibitors had the option of sanctioning them for themselves. I'm not sure what we'll will do about that in the future as it did slow down the show a little. There was a system in place to keep 3 breeds moving along to 3 judges. I'm sure it will be discussed at our club's meeting & Rendevous in June.

Actually, the show was just real slow for some reason, and I don't think it was the extra breeds. I didn't get out of there until after 6pm which is very unusual. I had a jr up for BOB but I knew she wasn't going any further so I booked after my last group was finished. Didn't get home until almost 9pm and I was whipped.

The weather was wonderful. A cold start but it warmed up real nicely with plenty of sunshine. Some exhibitors and judges came from much colder states, and we were pleased we could give them a taste of spring. The turnout was very good and other than being so tired as the day dragged on, we all had a good time.

How did I do? I think I pulled a few legs on my brokens but didn't keep written track so I'll have to wait until the report comes to say for sure. Most of my entry was young jrs so not really competitive. Otters and/or Silver Martens took the day across the board. The tan pattern group was huge, and judges were hard put to choose from the top half of the classes where the quality was so close. That could be a factor in the slowness of the day.

I brought home a new herd buck. Ford's Roc is a very nice black that I hope will add some things I need for the brokens, and he'll get himi does, too. I love an all-purpose buck! I was a bit frustrated in not knowing where to get what I need without resorting to otters which I really don't want. I'm pleased I spotted him in the carrier and the price was right.

So, in keeping with my perpetual herd reduction (and not wanting otters), I've put LB92 up for sale. I've got what I needed from him and it's time to move him on.

For Sale - Lil' Bit Farms LB92
Mostly Darkside's import lines and some Bond's. He's a big guy (3-4 oz over) but he is a true dwarf (throws peanuts). He meshes better with true dwarf does than BUDs, and I have some real nice get from him. He even covered my smallest does and they had live litters without a hitch. Did good things for bone, HQ, and head/ear. Carries self and dilute, throws more selfs than otters, and throws his great pattern consistently. It was never my intention to have otters, I bought him for his type, pattern and self/dilute genes. Earned a BOB leg the first time I showed him, but the 2nd judge that day DQ'd for weight. Decided to sell him after getting the new self buck yesterday. Price is what I paid for him.

I'm feeling hungover today. And no, not due to alcohol. Probably overly tired although I slept pretty hard last night. Maybe it was that heaping plate of dessert I indulged in. Lunch was pot luck and the sweets to be had took up most of the buffet table. There was the best cherry cobbler I've ever had! Yeah, feeling kinda wimpy today. Looks like a lazy day for me. Maybe a long overdue photo shoot.

48 days until Spring!

tnt

Happy 2011

2011-01-19T05:39:00.011-05:00

This is also the Chinese Year of the Rabbit. Best of luck and happiness to all bunny breeders born under this sign. I was born in a Year of the Snake. Specifically the Water Snake (I just learned there's more than one kind of Snake), which coincides with Pisces in making me a double water sign. What does that mean? I don't know, and this blog isn't about astrology so it's just a thing.

It's been a rough new year here in the south. Many of us (myself included) were stricken by the "Taylorsville Flu" after that show Jan 1. Some unusual storms the past 2 weeks kept us covered in snow, and some areas hadn't seen snow in decades. It snowed here almost every day last week, and it was so cold, none of it melted. It just kept piling up. I had 7" or more on the ground by the time it was over, and some of it still lays there. A lot of southerners get off on the novelty of snow, but I moved down here to get away from that kind of winter. I didn't appreciate it. Well, maybe a little for a short while. It was very pretty.

It's finally warmed up to more normal temps in the 40s. I hope it stays that way. I'd hate to miss the Triple Crown at the end of the month. Again. Last year, we had to cancel it due to a threatening snow storm.

The first news for 2011 is that the website has been overhauled with a brand new design and layout. Some pages were left as is (with some fine tuning) because I like their current layout, but the main pages are the new design. I'm still working on the Articles. I've added some new ones, and have a couple more to rework or create, but most of that section is up to date now.

I eliminated a couple pages that I decided were unnecessary. One of those being the Nestbox page. I'm aware that some of my regular visitors kept up with it to see what I'm breeding and getting in litters, but it was a hassle to maintain. From now on, nestbox news will be posted here in the blog. Without further ado....

Nestbox News:

There's really not a lot to report. I lost some, and am down to just the 1 litter from Shadowland's Honeycomb x Raspberry Run Messenger. 2 blacks and 1 tort. They're going on 4 weeks, and so cute. I revisited the "teat sexing method" for this round of litters. I had all 3 as does, but it now looks like 1 black is a buck. I believe I was tentative about one of them, and maybe this was the one. I hope I'm right about the tort being a doe. I really need her to be a doe.

Teat-sexing method? This is a way of determining sex in the first days of life. You look for teats before the fur comes in and this is supposed to indicate doe. Whether it's reliable is still up for debate. It's been pointed out that male animals also have teats, and this is true. I've used it in the past with fair accuracy, so my new theory is that does have bigger easy-to-see teats. The kit I was tentative about upholds that theory.

I had a few litters due this week, but all failures. Foxy Lady x LB92 delivered a live litter of 4 brokens (1 good pattern), but they were dead of cold by the time I got to them. I'm going to rebreed her to Whiskey Mac to see what happens. There's a good chance she carries non-extension and that could make orange. Not that I want to do orange, but broken orange is so pretty it could be a fun addition to the broken program.

Nova x Messenger failed. Not surprising for a 1st-timer. I'm confident she'll do fine eventually. The litter of 2 was DOA but she built a lovely nest. In any case, I decided to pare the himis down, and she is now for sale.

Nyx x Dot.com (also 1st-timer) also failed. She didn't build a nest although she carried hay around. She just didn't figure out what she's supposed to do with it. She had 2 DOA in the box with no nesting material. 1 was broken with a nice spotty pattern and the other was a peanut.

Don't have any more litters due until around Feb 2.

Food for thought:

A friend posted about this in her blog a while back, and I think it's worth repeating.

Sell-Out vs Herd Reduction. There's a big difference. Sell-out means selling off the entire stock of a breed or variety. Keeping 1 or 2 as pets is one thing. Keeping a breeding pool is another and that's not a sell-out, it's just a herd reduction. Calling a reduction a sell-out is false advertising, and it really annoys other breeders. Call it what it is.

In fact, why label it at all if it isn't a complete sell-out? Breeders are constantly reducing their numbers. It's a perpetual herd reduction that doesn't need a fancy title. Now, if it really is a large special sale list with reduced pricing to move quickly, then yeah...it could be called a "herd reduction sale". Such a sale implies good deals are to be had as in the retail business. If lower prices aren't offered, it's not really a "sale", is it?

59 Days Until Spring!

tnt

Happy Holidays to Me!

2010-12-28T05:05:00.013-05:00

I have some Xmas babies. Yay!

Shadowland's Honeycomb (tort) x Raspberry Run Messenger (himi) had 3 on 12/26. 2 black, 1 tort. The tort program is off and running. She made a lovely nest and is taking good care of the litter. I'm always a bit nervous about does I didn't raise, but she's a pro. She's even accepted the cold weather routine where I take nestboxes in the house at night. Have to safeguard this litter. There was also a peanut but I don't know what color it was. It was lighter than the tort so maybe blue tort, or dare I say sable pt.

I was hoping for more torts, but I'll take it. Black carrying for tort is almost as good, and they're also carrying himi which I can use in that program. She kindled early in the morning, and I'm calling the birth date 12/25 since it was so close. Is it a terrible lie to say they were born on Christmas Day? I think not, and I can give them holiday names.

New thoughts about Messenger. I've been calling him "tort himi". His color is rather light, and when I bred him to sable pt, I got all sable pts. So I assumed he was in fact tort, but I guess not. The blacks prove he isn't or there would have been all torts. I guess he's really "sabled himi". He's out of sable pt which explains his light uneven point color that often happens to himis out of shaded.

Flashdance (broken black) x LB92 (broken otter) had 2 on 12/27. 1 black, 1 black otter. Alas, no brokens, but I'm very pleased with this little girl! She's so small, I didn't know if I'd ever get anything from her, and this was just her 2nd attempt. I was taking a big risk giving her to LB because he's so big. He maintains at around 2.10 or more, but he seems to mesh well with does smaller than him, and this litter proves it again. I won't be keeping the otter, and normally I'd cull it right away. Since she only has 2, and I don't have a foster to give her, I'll let her raise both to keep the black safe. I'll definitely repeat this match.

The other does didn't do so well. Dreamcatcher x Artisan had 5, but only one was born live. I don't know what happened. She's 60/40 for reliability. They were all broken, too. The survivor is a cull as it has no butterfly or ear color, and it might be a sable chin. Fugly. I gave it to another doe and don't really expect it to survive in that nestbox. If nothing else, it proved Artisan for his new owner.

That other litter would be Chevelle (himi) x Dot.com (broken black). She had 2, but only one was alive. At least that's a good sign for her future success. But I don't like her kit either...it's charlie-marked. I gave her the Dreamcatcher kit and left them in the barn last night. It's wicked cold this morning at 11F so I won't be surprised to find them dead when I go out there. The heaters can only do so much.

Rayven (black) x LB failed again. She just dumped a DOA peanut. I don't know what her deal is. She was such a good doe, but now not so much. I don't think it's due to LB (she's another small doe). Her last litter with him failed too, but the one before that was fairly successful in raising one to weaning.

Voodoo Chile also failed. Again. I guess it's time to give up on her. She's so gorgeous, it kills me I have nothing from her. She was due today but dumped a peanut on the wire 2 days ago. Didn't pull any fur. I hadn't given her a nestbox yet because she hadn't asked for it. Just in case she has more coming I gave the box. If she does drop more today, I don't have any hopes. Remember I said how cold it is.

In other news, I think the blue w/brown eyes is a fader. Didn't look good yesterday. It's going on 5 weeks. Darn. Even though it had those odd eyes, the blue color was real nice, and I probably would've kept it for the dilute gene. Oh well.

The south enjoyed a white Christmas. Some areas hadn't seen it in decades or ever. I got 6" or 7" here. Surprisingly, areas south and east of here that rarely get snow got a lot more. It was a steady fine wet snow that went on for a good 2 days, and stuck to everything. Very pretty, but I don't appreciate the novelty of snow the way most southerners do. I moved down here to escape it.

They're calling a major warm up for the new year...50s and even 60s. I can't wait for that! It also makes it more possible for me to do the 1/1/11 (how's that for a cool date!) Taylorsville show. Here's hoping that easier winter I've been waiting for will happen for the rest of the season. Although, a fast snow melt and the rain they're also calling is going to make a big muddy mess.

Today I'll be tattooing some jrs, and making final decisions about what to move out. I've been on the fence about a few.

tnt

Happy Holidays

2010-12-23T12:33:00.004-05:00

Christmas is around the corner, and if all goes well, I'll have some Xmas babies. Got litters due on 12/26-28. All but one of the does are already nesting. Especially pleased that the tort is nesting as well since she missed the last time. Really looking forward to her litter.

Weaned a batch and have been going over them sexing and all. Got a couple promising brokens, and finally there are does in the mix. Also trying to sex the youngest litters. Bugger - too many bucks in that round, and of course they're the ones I need to be does...as in the bigger ones. ID's dotty kit looks like a buck, and the one with the excellent pattern might (please oh please) be a doe. The dotty one is looking more showable, too...the dots are getting bigger.

I've got a mystery in ID's litter. I thought for sure it was a siamese sable. I swear it was up until about a week ago when I realized it looked suspiciously blue. It's about 4 wks old now, still looking blue, and pretty nice blue at that. It's even displaying a bit of the white undercoat that sometimes happens on dilutes. The problem is its eyes are brown! WTH? It's not blue seal...sire is himi. Blue would be cool. I haven't got a dilute in the barn right now (even though so many carry it), and really want them. But brown-eyed blue is wrong!

I did get a couple blues in Sept, but they had the extreme white undercoat that doesn't grow out very well, and they were both bubbas. I think I can blame that on the sire. Dams were unrelated, but both were bred to the same buck.

I'm giving Manna Pro Show Supplement another try. I talked to the TSC manager and she got some in for me. They don't really carry it, but she could order it for me. I didn't want to mess with it if there wasn't a steady supply.

My main reason for wanting to try it again is the tort jr buck. He's been very slow to regain the weight he lost (a lot!) traveling to and from convention. He's not going to make Jan shows if he doesn't get more flesh on real soon. The problem is that he's not a big eater. He should have recovered by now, but he just doesn't eat enough.

I think it's working! Not only does he feel better, he's eating more. Yay! On the other hand, it looks like I have a fussy bunny on my hands. He's been picking out the supplement and barely touching the regular feed. Soon as I get him back to fighting weight, I'll cut back on the supplement. Been giving it to all the show string as well, and they like it, too.

Still awfully cold. I was counting on an easier winter this year. Seems like the weather patterns should have cycled around by now. Not. We might even get Xmas snow. All this snow threat could put a glitch in my show plans for Jan, too. There's 3 in Jan, including Jan 1st. Here's hoping. Haven't been to a show in a while or had anything I looked forward to showing. I do now.

Happy Christmas to All

tnt

Criminy!

2010-12-09T08:39:00.018-05:00

Waaaa! It's too cold! It hasn't been above freezing for 5 days. 9 days ago it was 71! Yesterday, it struggled to be 31, and I think that was only because the sun finally came out. Haven't seen much sun for awhile, and we got a little snow here and there. This morning it was 15, the lowest so far. The forecast for my old place in mid-MI is exactly the same as here! That just ain't right! I can't wait to get past the winter solstice on Dec. 21 when days start to get longer again. I really really hate being cold. As of today...100 days until Spring.

Ok. Got that gripe out of my system. What else?

I'm glad I have no litters due right now. Although it might be ok if I did. I moved all the buns into the shed when I saw the forecast called for all freezing nights. I've been running 1 heater, but had to dig out the other this week. 1 is enough to keep water from freezing when it's above 20, but any lower, I need 2. It's actually not bad in there with both heaters, so chances for litters surviving are better. There's none due until around Xmas, and hopefully the weather turns by then.

Allow me to endorse the electric oil-filled heaters. I highly recommend them for this purpose. They're similar to this....

It's real efficient, and most important, it's safe for a rabbit barn. You can touch the coils and not get burned. I lay my gloves on it to warm them up, and even a nestbox that needs warming. I've thawed water bottles on top of it. I don't have to worry about hay or shavings (I store them well away from it to be safer), or the wood floor of the barn catching fire. One time a kit just a few days old, somehow escaped and ended up on the floor. I found it under the heater where it stayed nice and warm. Smart little bunny! You can pick up this heater for about $40 which I think is very reasonable for the great job it does. I've had the 1st one for about 6 years and it still works just fine. Might have to replace it eventually as the surface is getting a little rusty. Not sure how that affects its efficiency.

Remember the near disaster with Infinite Detail's litter? Here's what I got out of that.

The dotty kit is as close as I've got to my beloved Dot.com. This isn't out of Dot, but ID is related to him. Cousin or something. It's iffy for showing, but if percentage of color is based on placement, it might be good to go. There are dots everywhere...even on the tail and elbow. The head markings are perfect.

Normally, the 2nd kit's pattern would turn out messy later, but knowing this broken line as I do, I think it will be pretty clean. Stunning, isn't it? The other 2 in the litter are solid black and siamese sable. Now I know ID carries shaded. I really didn't think she did as there's been other opportunities for it to show up.

This is Dot.com as a baby.

Until he began to look like a bunny, he looked exactly like a Dalmation puppy! I was so proud when Jamie Green saw him for the 1st time, and gave him the BOG leg. Brokens were still pretty new then. He said, "I don't have anything like this!". For those that don't know, Jamie is the judge who got brokens accepted. Unfortunately, Dot went over legal weight when he was fully mature so he hasn't been to a show in a long while. He's not going anywhere, he has a forever home.

I'd give anything to get this dotted pattern consistently. It's an elusive goal as the spot patterns aren't as predictable as the blankets.

Keep warm! 100 Days Until Spring!

tnt

That was close

2010-11-30T05:06:00.009-05:00

I had put a doe up for sale. She was bred, but I didn't think I'd have to move her before Jan, so she was kind of up as "pre-sale after litter". The doe in question is Infinite Detail - broken black. She was bred to himi RR Messenger. Yeah, I know, a bit unorthodox. It was an experiment to see if ID carried non-extension for tort. It was very possible. Messenger does. He's useful that way. Because it was an experiment, I could have given up the litter to a buyer if I had to.

So a buyer came along and was traveling a ways to get them. We worked out the details and set up the meet for yesterday. Then it hit me that ID was due the next day! I don't know why that didn't register before. For some reason I thought there was more time. I wasn't sure of the buyer's experience level and didn't know if she'd be ready to deal with a litter that was due anytime. I didn't want to send ID that close to her due date anyways. She had to stay put for now. A frantic game of phone tag followed. I had to catch the buyer before she hit the road so she wouldn't make the long trip without knowing what she was not getting. We finally hooked up, and worked out a different deal as she still wanted to come for the buck in the package. I wanted to delay the meet until later in the week to get past ID's kindle, but she didn't have any other free days in the near future.

In the meantime. I hadn't been out to the barn yet. It was very cold that morning and I just don't do cold. Chores were waiting for it to warm up a bit, and delayed even more by phone tag. When I finally got out there, ID was calmly sitting in the middle of her cage with a mouthful of fur. I swear she was glowering at me! "Hey, you know that nestbox I need? Need it NOW." I quickly gave it to her and she immediately began to pull more fur. By the time I left to meet the buyer, the box was full of fluff.

I'm so glad I didn't move her!!! When I got back late that afternoon, the litter had arrived. She would have kindled in transit for one thing. The other thing is that this litter is lovely! She doesn't have a lot of pattern and I don't think I've ever kept anything from her. No showable brokens, no daughters. She had 5 which I think is also her biggest litter. 2 very nicely marked broken blacks, a solid black and a ? I think the ? is a siamese sable which I didn't really expect from her, but shaded is there way back in her 3rd generation. Breeding her to himi must have pulled it out. There was also a peanut the same color. On the downside...apparently she doesn't carry non-extension.

The lesson learned: Pay attention to the calendar! And don't pre-sell bred does.

This worked out so nicely, Messenger will be getting more broken does. I know I'll be dealing with broken himis down the road, but the type and pattern he can produce should move the broken program forward some more. I've bred a Messenger daughter to Dot.com for the same reasons.

In other Nestbox News:

Lady Blaque is due today as well. She was nesting yesterday. This is a repeat breeding to LB92. The original plan was to foster whatever ID had to Lady B so I could sell ID, but since ID has such a good-sized litter, I guess she'll be raising them. I should be able to move her out by the time Jan shows come around.

Foxy Lady x LB had a litter of 2 poorly marked brokens (true charlies?) on Thanksgiving Day. Since they weren't keepers, I didn't safeguard the litter like I normally would. Lost them the next day to cold. The first litter from this match produced a beautiful broken doe, and I was hoping for a bigger litter with more of the same. Try try again.

Shadowland Honeycomb came pre-bred but she missed. Or maybe lost them to absorption in transit. She is now bred to Messenger and I do expect tort out of that. It will be interesting to see if she carries shaded. I wouldn't mind having sable points again.

The older litters are looking real promising. Camaro's first litter with Anaba might be 2 does. Camaro is spending a working vacation at a friend's. I hope to get something for myself out of that as well. A little more diversity in the himi lines would be good. The broken litters are all very cute, but iffy for cleanliness of pattern. Haven't sexed them for sure yet, but there might be some does.

Weather is up and down. Very cold one day, unseasonably warm the next, it's hard to call it. I had to deal with frozen water bottles for a couple days, but the low this morning was 64!. The current forecast says I'll probably be moving the rest of the herd into the shed very soon, and dusting off the heaters.

tnt

Got em

2010-11-14T05:26:00.007-05:00

Went down to my friend's yesterday to pick up the Torts. I'm very pleased with them. They're a bit rough around the edges but that's to be expected with what they went through to get here. They flew from Washington state, spent most of the week in convention coops, then the 24 hour drive home to TN in carriers, and the last 2 hour leg to my place.

Whiskey Mac is so cute! He's in the process of growing his head. Even though light in flesh from his travels, I can tell he has a rock solid butt. He's very sweet, and lit right into the hay when I got him home.

Honeycomb is also very cute. She was vocally grumpy when I moved her into my carrier to leave. I don't blame her. Brenda's house is a bit chaotic with 4 big dogs and a little BEW buck who rules the roost. She was quiet when I got her home into her own hole. Look forward to her litter that's due in about a week.

Visiting Brenda is a lot of fun. Moonwalker is the house bunny (bred by me) and it's a blast watching him tear around the house. Makes me want to try a house bunny. The big dogs include a 150 lb mastiff that's the handsomest sweetest guy. Moonwalker just climbs over him if he's laying in the way. Moonwalker accepted me pretty quickly and if my hand was hanging in reach, he was right there begging for attention. My pant legs and shoes were thoroughly chinned.

She and her husband own and operate a pet shop so there's a lot of other critters there too. A couple parrots, including a talking African Grey, and a chinchilla in the living room. Lizards, snakes, fish, guinea pigs and rats occupy other rooms. Always a fun visit.

I have a couple litters due today. Both 1st timers so keeping my fingers crossed. Another is due the same time as Honeycomb and a couple more a few days after that.

Still really nice for weather but I believe that's changing this coming week. Wish it was like this all the time. 50s-60s at night and 70s-80s daytime would be the ideal climate for me. Is there such a place?

tnt

Ready for winter

2010-11-11T09:00:00.003-05:00

I finally finished the barn remodel. You can see it here. Glad that's done so I can move on to something else. I figure I'll be moving all the buns in by the end of the month when we'll start getting more freezing nights. I eliminated the center unit for now, but I have the parts to put it back together if I need it. I don't plan to need it. I like the extra room to move around and position fans and heaters. I'm thinking about investing in a couple of bins big enough to stow a bale of hay which could sit stacked in the middle of the floor. I might make a playpen to sit on top of it. I'm sure the buns would enjoy that.

ARBA Convention is over and as I write this, exhibitors are checking their rabbits out to go home. Congratulations to all the winners and high placings. Wishing everyone a safe journey home.

This means my new Torts from Shadowland Rabbitry will be here soon. A friend is bringing them back for me, and I'm going down to get them this weekend. I've posted pix that I have from their breeder on my site. Whiskey Mac placed 2/6 jr bucks at convention. Honeycomb is pre-bred to a broken blue out of Micro Ranch lines. My transporter friend told me she's stealing Honeycomb. I guess that means she really likes her. Can't wait to see them. Honeycomb is due about a week after she gets here, along with another doe I managed to get bred for the same time.

Why Torts? Why not? No really, I do have a plan. At this time, I'm mostly only showing in the AOV group with Brokens and Himis, but there's occasionally something worth entering in the Self group. I've given up on broken agoutis, and don't intend to keep or show any solid otters that come out of the broken otters. Tort will give me another group to enter without having shadeds, and they'll fit well with the broken selfs.

Honeycomb's next mate after this litter will be Messenger. He carries non-extension and I should get tort out of that. After that, Whiskey Mac should be old enough to breed. I'll be giving him broken black does that might carry tort, too. Litters should be a little more colorful next year.

There's a glitch in this new plan, but I'll deal with it when the time comes. You see, I was counting on Blue Tort passing which would have had them officially recognized and showable in Feb. Something went wrong and they failed. Big bummer that. The broken blue that Honeycomb is bred to came from the Blue Tort presenter's lines, and that means they could show up in my litters. I probably won't keep Blue Torts to maintain the herd size where I want it, at least until if and when they are accepted. They might be useful for the dilute gene, and type will decide that.

Another interesting thing that could happen involves Foxy Lady, the one broken chestnut I'm keeping for now. There's a good chance she carries non-extension, too. What might happen? Bred to tort, which I might try, I could get orange or fawn. Not that I want them, but broken orange is so pretty I won't mind too much.

Well, it's another gorgeous fall day so I'm off to take advantage of it.

tnt

More babies

2010-11-02T14:16:00.005-04:00

Yay. I'm pleased.

Dreamer x LB92 had 3 - 2 broken blacks, and a charlie. There was also a peanut.

Dreamcatcher x Smith's DA (on loan) had 2 - A broken black and a black. This was one of DA's last breedings before he went back to his owners.

Dreamcatcher didn't build a nest as of last night. She had kicked everything out, and I forgot to add more material to her box before I closed up for the night. I barely caught the kits in time this morning. She pulled piles of fur which probably helped save them. They were alive but cold and they were doing that awful gasping squeak that is often their last breaths.

I had decisions to make. The broken I want for sure but I don't care about the black. Dreamer has the charlie that I wasn't sure I wanted either. What to do, what to do. I hate to tie up a doe and nestbox on just 1 or 2 kits so I usually try to economize. I gave Dreamcatcher's broken to Anaba where it will be safe and easy to tell in the himi litter. That can be a problem when fostering look-alikes around and these brokens do all look a lot alike.

I was going to give the charlie to Dreamcatcher to raise with her black, and if they died, it wouldn't be a great loss. Then I got to thinking this could be that elusive true charlie I've been looking for. The reason I'm thinking it might be a true charlie is that it only has color on the eyes and a little on the ears. Considering the heavy patterns on the rest of the kits and the parents which have proven to throw their heavier pattern consistently, it looks like a safe bet. I had given up growing out possible true charlies as none had proven to be true, and it wasn't worth wasting time on them. Those other not-charlies came out of a spot pattern parent which just threw lighter spot patterns that looked like charlies. That's not the case here. If this is a true charlie, it should carry the heavier pattern of its parents. So this and the type potential from the sire made up my mind to grow it out.

I don't know of anyone else raising broken dwarfs who has acquired a proven true charlie. If nothing else, it will be an interesting experiment. If it turns out that I'm wrong again, I'll go back to the original plan which is to not waste time on possible true charlies. For anyone reading this that doesn't know what a true charlie is. A true charlie will have a broken gene from each of its parents...double-broken. When bred to a solid, it will produce ALL brokens.

So it now stands that Dreamer has her whole litter. Anaba has her 2 himis and Dreamcatcher's broken. Dreamcatcher has her black which probably won't survive being an only kit, especially as cold as the nights are lately. It was also gasping more than the broken sibling when I found them. That often means it's past the point of no return. The other reason I decided to leave it with her is that she didn't get to raise her last litter. This way she can have it until it dies a natural death if that's what happens.

Here's wishing luck, fun, and safe journey to everyone going to Convention!

tnt

November

2010-11-01T07:32:00.006-04:00

Weather has been very nice. Cooler than I like at night, but days are perfect. Got first frost Oct. 30. Fall color is going strong. We had enough rain this year for a good display. I never realized how stunning Crape Myrtles are in the fall! All mine were small and set back by the droughts. This year they are more mature and they're on fire!

Out of 7 babies (5 litters) I have 2 keepers. These are both out of Lil' Bit Farms LB92 (broken otter), different dams.

Broken Otter buck, out of Lady Blaque (broken black), about 5 wks. I have high hopes for this guy, but he might go too heavy like his sire which will shorten his show career.

Broken Otter doe, out of Foxy Lady (broken chestnut), about 4 wks. Future show doe for sure. She's quite a bit smaller than the buck so I'm not worried about her going overweight. She's also the only doe out of all those litters. Dang.

LB's scorecard is looking real good. He is proving to throw his clean pattern consistently. Yay. That's one of the reasons I bought him. There's also a broken black self brother to the buck with the same pattern. The doe's litter (she was the only live kit) included a dilute broken that also had good pattern. Yay Yay. I needed this.

Both Lady Blaque and Foxy Lady have fairly clean blanket patterns, as does LB. Lady's is pretty heavy (what I consider over 50%), and Foxy's is more striped and within limits. All the broken kits have showable pattern and there was only 1 charlie-mark. When I bred LB to Infinite Detail who has a lighter spot pattern, there was a solid blue and a charlie. The only decent pattern was on 2 peanuts (of course it was). That didn't work out very well for me, but might be worth repeating to see if I get usable results. So far I've only bred him to 1 solid doe and while type is promising, there were no brokens at all. He may mesh best with broken mates.

He carries self and dilute, and so far, throws more selfs than otters. That works for me. He's producing small offspring with a small doe, but bigger brood does like L.Blaque and I.Detail produced bigger kits that may not be showable after they reach mature weight. Like him.

Nestbox News:

1 new litter so far. Anaba x Camaro (himis) had hers yesterday. More about that in a minute. Dreamer x LB92 is pulling fur as I write this. I'm looking forward to this litter so I'm very glad she didn't kindle in the night. There's a few more due today and later this week. Reminds me. I have to move those other does into the shed today.

Anaba. This is Camaro's first litter. She missed the first time with him. Camaro was cleaning up the AOV group until his broken toe took him off the show string. Anaba is still my best himi doe who also had a successful show career. Needless to say, I can't wait to see how this litter turns out.

It's not often you get to watch a litter being born. Anaba gave me quite a show yesterday. I was out there most of the day working on the cage remodel. Almost finished, BTW. She began pulling fur early in the afternoon. I hoped that meant she would kindle before I closed up for the night. She did. On the wire. Right in front of me. She's experienced and had put the fur in the box, so I don't know why she dumped them on the wire. I whisked them into the box as soon as she seemed to be done with them. There's 2 kits and they are fine this morning.

The 3rd was a peanut which she ignored after it was dropped on the wire. This was interesting to watch. The kit hung from her mouth in the sac like in a sling as she chewed the sac. When she finally chewed through it, the kit dropped. It was still enclosed in most of the sac. It was alive at first, it moved a little but then it stopped. Maybe it suffocated in the sac? How lucky it was a peanut and not something I wanted. If it had been a viable kit, I would have tried to get the sac off myself, but since it wasn't, I left it there to see what she would do. It turned out I had to clean up the mess and the rest of the afterbirth left on the wire.

As I said, I'm almost finished with the cage remodel. I'm finishing up the buck/jr units now. Just in time. I'll move everybody into the shed when we start to get a lot of freezing nights. I expect that at the end of the month or so.

tnt

More broken thoughts

2010-10-10T04:35:00.009-04:00

The recent litters have me musing about how brokens and solids work together again. I'm probably repeating some of what I've said in a previous blog, but I can't remember exactly. It was long enough ago that it might be new to some readers.

One theory suggests that solids out of broken affect pattern. Supposedly, a solid out of broken will carry the broken parent's pattern. Dreamer's litter supports this. She had all brokens with her rather messy pattern. The sire is the black on loan, and I know his history. He came from a line of messy pattern.

Messy is what I call the kind of pattern often DQ'd for scattered white. It's not really scattered white, it's a freckled blanket that feathers when the guard hairs grow. Judges see it as scattered white. It's a frustrating double standard. I'm told that 6 or more white hairs in one place is considered a foreign spot on a solid rabbit. But the broken standard says that white spots in a colored area are allowed. These feathered freckles are spots and they are quite a bit more than 6 hairs. The spots are white to the skin.

I should mention that my over-50% brokens have a large solid area of color on the body. There are no white hairs to be found there. The messiness begins around the edges of the blanket where the freckles appear. It is NOT scattered white.

Back to the theory. I'm now wondering if solid out of broken has the ability to pull more brokens. It's pretty unusual to get all brokens in a solid x broken litter which happened in Dreamer's. On the other hand, I also wonder if pattern is a 50/50 thing. Rayven is solid out of broken x solid. She has never thrown a broken in 3 litters. Her full sis Rana, also solid, has (none alive). Did Rana get the pattern but not Rayven?

Which brings me to my theory that solids with no brokens in the background also affect pattern. But now I wonder how that is. I used to think (read it somewhere) that all solids carry a broken pattern as part of the genetic color code. It might even be related (strictly my speculation here) to the insidious spotting gene. I've had solids that gave great pattern almost every time, and some that never gave a broken keeper. Is it maybe that they actually don't carry a pattern at all? If this is true, it might explain why my little black buck usually pulls the pattern of his broken mate, and it was actually herself that threw the good pattern. Maybe other solids were just paired with mates that didn't throw pattern consistently?

In conclusion. Breeding broken dwarfs is still a crap shoot! I'm getting better type on the messy patterns (of course I am), and the cleaner spot or streaked patterns leave a lot to be desired. I plod along. I'm bound and determined to produce better brokens.

Nestbox News:

A few more babies.

Foxy Lady x Lil' Bit Farms LB92 - 1 broken otter. Nice pattern. Foxy and LB both have pretty clean pattern so I hope this kit will be a breakthrough. She also had a dilute broken. It was alive at birth but it got pretty cold that night. I barely got to the other in time to save it. Fostered to Infinite Detail so I can repeat this breeding right away.

Infinite Detail x Lil' Bit Farms LB92 - 1 blue, 1 charlie. Normally I'd cull the charlie but I decided to grow it to see what I've got. I. Detail is a broody-lookin true dwarf. I thought she was a BUD but she always throws peanuts. She and LB share a Darkside ancestor and I'm hoping they will mesh. That's the main reason for growing the charlie. I've yet to come across a true charlie. I've grown a couple to breeding age, but they proved to not be true charlies, just charlie-marked, so I quit trying. Maybe this time I'll get lucky. Of course, if the type isn't there, I won't bother. Oh yeah....there were also 2 peanuts. You know they had pattern! Grrr.

A couple others were misses. I was getting a bit worried that Camaro was shooting blanks. This is the first time I've used him. Both his does missed, and the one was proven. Yesterday, I tried rebreeding some, and I got mixed up. I put Anaba with him and when she fussed, I looked at her card. Yeah, I had already put her to him. Duh. I hope her vocal refusal means that she took this time.

Speaking of vocal rabbits. Don't often come across chatty bucks. Other than the squeak or moan of a successful mating, bucks don't have much to say. LB is an exception. He's pretty loud when he "gits her done", but then he goes on to talk to his doe some more. Wonder what he's whispering in her ear.

In other news:

Got the Fairview show this weekend. Even though I don't have much to show, I'm looking forward to it. From what I've seen in the grapevine, looks like a lot of people are planning to attend, so I'll see friends. Ugh, I have to tat a jr I plan to enter. Dislike having to drag out the tattooer for just one ear. I suppose I could tat a couple others I'm not showing or at this point planning to keep.

Last thought for the day:

I've seen a trend lately and don't know what to make of it. Actually not all that lately, but it struck me again so I'll mention it. Facebook. I'm not a big Facebooker. I check in, comment sometimes, but not a real user. I've seen a lot of breeders post their sale lists on FB instead of their website or forums. Is that really all that effective? You have your friends list, but aren't many potential buyers excluded? Do you only sell to "friends"? FB doesn't come up in a rabbitry search because most FBers use their real names. So all others would only find you via a breeder list or google for rabbit sites, and if you don't post your sales on your site, you just might lose a buyer. I don't email someone to see if they have something not listed on their site. I just assume they don't, and I bet there are others like me. I also don't accept or request friends just to have access to their FB. Some people seem to collect all the friends they can. If you have rabbits for sale and a website, post them on it and give everyone who is not a "friend" the opportunity to find you. A website are still a valid and important way to put yourself out there, ya know.

tnt

October

2010-10-01T07:28:00.007-04:00

Chilly! The calendar and weather are matched for sure. Fall color hasn't really started yet, but there's bit of yellow and red here and there. It's also been very rainy. Almost steady rain for the last 5 days. I need to get out in the garden and start cleanup. The soaking will make pulling weeds so much easier.

But first I have to finish the project in the barn. I got one brood unit done in time for some litters that were due. The does are in the Summer House until their due dates, and I've been rotating them in and out as those dates come. If they give me a litter, they stay in.

Here's a pic of the 1st finished brood unit.

There were a few flaws in the original design. It wasn't that easy to clean the wavy panels, and it wasn't leak-proof. That's a needful thing with a wood floor. I laid flat vinyl flashing over the panels which solved the leaks. It can now be raked out much faster with a squeegy, and I can do light wet cleaning as well. The urine guards are attached to the frame instead of the cages which is part of the leak-proofing. Everything is directed onto the chute. The cage strips were attached directly to the legs, and the units couldn't be moved outside for heavy cleaning very easily. I added some support rails and the cage strips now slide out of the units.

I'll update the Barn page when it's all finished. Since I'll be maintaining a smaller herd, I eliminated the unit that stood in the middle. It was mostly in the way, anyways. I have the parts if I need to put it back together. This cut the barn back to 36 holes. In a pinch, I can use the Summer House for overflow during winter, but it's my plan to not need it.

Nestbox News:
Yes, I have some babies! Considering the does have been idle for most of the summer because of the heat, they've done remarkably well. Currently 2 does on litters and 5 babies. I'll take it! A few more due next week.

Rayven x Lil' Bit Farms LB92 - 1 black. It's a tiny thing and yay...not an otter. Also 2 DOA solids. Have yet to get broken out of this little doe.

Dreamer x Smith's DA - 1 broken black with her pattern. She had 2 DOAs and they were well-marked brokens, too. I love getting an entire litter of brokens out of a broken x solid pair. Fostered to Rayven.

Lady Blaque x Lil' Bit Farms LB92 - 1 broken black, 1 broken black otter, 1 blue. I'm very pleased with this litter! Only one otter and it's not the solid blue...yay. Oh and no charlies which would be expected from broken x broken. The brokens have plenty of pattern.

Do you get the feeling I don't like otters? Well, there's a lot behind my resistance to otter peer pressure, but I won't go into it. I can live with broken otters, but I'll cull all solid otters. LB92 is broken black otter so I'll get them. He's here as a parts rabbit for type and pattern, and the added bonus that he carries self and dilute. So far he throws more selfs than otters, and that works for me.

Guinea News:
Some came up MIA, and there's only 9 of the original 14 now. All the flocks (remember, there were 3) have joined into one. I can still spot the 2 original adults, but it won't be much longer and they'll all be identical. Yeah, those supposed-to-be pieds I bought from NC are not. Oh well, at least there's more genetic diversity. Next year, I'll see about bringing in more color variety.

Show News:
Next show is Fairview, NC. Don't have much to show, but it's so close I have to go. I'm down to 1 sr buck and a couple jrs. That's bad. Sr does that were doing well on the tables are now retired to breeding. Not breeding all summer meant few fall jrs. Sr bucks are off the show string for this reason or that. I'll get some litters out of them and then decide what to do with them.

Sadly, in the last couple months, 3 local dwarf breeders were forced to sell out due to personal circumstances. Seems to be a lot of that going around. We'll miss them and their lovely bunnies at shows.

Oh and one last thing. Dark Moon Graphix is now open. Offering custom web art design and a few freebies.

tnt

September

2010-09-05T09:34:00.005-04:00

It really cooled off a lot! It was a chilly 43 this morning. I can finally turn off the AC in the house and open windows again.

The Murfreesboro show yesterday was a real nice day. Also quite cool. It was almost too cool in the showroom. Stepping outside into the sun felt good. I don't have a lot to show for it. RR Messenger earned another BOG leg for a total of 6. Other than that, I was almost embarrassed by my entries. I have next to nothing to show these days. At least I enjoyed visiting with friends.

I did get rid of some stuff, including the old computer. I'm sure ticket buyers were excited to see something like that on the raffle table. Works for me if it's of use to someone else. No one is interested in buying an old computer, but they'd take it for free. I'd rather it benefit a rabbit club than post it in classifieds.

As I said, I have little to show lately. It has not been a great year. Spring litters didn't yield much, and later breedings were unsuccessful. The extreme summer heat wave forced a hiatus on breeding, and I don't have very many jrs for fall shows. Current srs are very limited due to molt or condition. Some of the does that showed well as jrs have matured into broody does. I'll be attending very few shows for the rest of the year, and distance will have a lot to do with it.

Sales Policies. I've always viewed long, elaborate, riddled with legalize sales policies as rather pompous. I tried to keep mine as short and simple as possible. I now know how those policies become so convoluted. Issues are always coming up that create the need for new clauses and clarification. If all buyers were upfront, and respectful of the seller's position, sales policies wouldn't be needed at all. Unfortunately, that's not the case.

Enjoy the coolth.
tnt

End of Summer

2010-08-30T04:43:00.003-04:00

Can't say I hate to see the end. It's been too hot for the last 2-3 months and not much has been done outside. I'm looking forward to some coolth.

A remodel in the barn has been hanging over my head, and it needs doing now. Been too hot to work out there, but it should start being cooler soon. Nothing major, just an adjustment in the design of the Brush-Clean System. Even though the units are light enough to be moved around in the barn easily, moving them outside is another story. This is necessary for hard cleaning of the cage wire. I've got a plan to make the cage strips detachable from the supports. I also want to make the poop shelf removable but haven't figured that out yet. They are tied on with zip ties and I suppose it's not a big deal to just cut them off and replace the ties a couple times a year. A bit wasteful but it's probably what will happen.

I bred some does this week and last. This is another reason I need to get that job done now. I'll start with the brood holes so the does can be moved in when it gets close to their dates. I'll do the buck/jr holes in time for freezing weather.

Instead of my usual routine of breeding every open doe at once, I'm spreading it out a little. A few this week, some more next week. Most of the gals have been up for it. It will probably be hit or miss. It's always iffy to get does back in production after a summer hiatus.

My management plan is to keep the head count where it is now at around 30. I'm culling harder than ever and it might go even lower than that. I'm liking the smaller feed bill and less work. I'm down to 8 sr bucks and one of those is the loaner who will go back to his owner eventually. I'll sell some older does after I've exhausted all buck options for them. Of the current batch of jrs, I'm only keeping 2 does and I might change my mind about one of those. They're himis and I don't really need both of them.

Decided to do the Murfreesboro show this weekend. I was debating because it's one of those long drives and I have so little to enter. I need to sell a few so that made up my mind. And seeing friends I don't see as often. I don't have another show on my calendar until October.

tnt

Nuthin much new

2010-08-13T06:08:00.016-04:00

Not a lot going on in the rabbitry. Still hot. Still just the 1 litter. Still no does bred. Still waiting for it to cool off. The boys could all be heat sterile.

I'll be getting pix of Foxy's 2 babies soon. They are about 4 weeks old now and so very promising. I think the Smith's buck was just what I needed. They're both bucks and the blue has good deep color. My dilutes haven't been that impressive lately. One buck was so light, 2 judges questioned whether he was blue or lilac.

So I'll talk about guineas again. Just got the latest issue of Backyard Poultry and there's a fun article about guinea fowl. The author talks about what she's learned from her guineas. Kind of like "What I learned in kindergarten". I'll talk about my observations of my flocks.

Yes, I referred to the flock in the plural. There are 3 separate flocks.

Flock #1: The adult pair and their 1 keet that survived hatching in the "wild". These 3 stick tightly together and the only ones that leave the fence for most of the day. Such a cute little family! In the morning, they head for the front yard and proceed to scarf up all the Japanese beetles they find. My gardens thank them! Jap beetles aren't super fast, but it's still pretty amusing to watch the birds take off like a shot and snap them out of the air. Guineas are such funny looking birds when they run.

Flock #2: The 7 from NC that were supposed to be pied. So much for that idea. They are showing some adult plumage now, and it's not there. This flock includes Rooster Cogburn. This is also the flock that forced me to change the dog and cat feeding routine. Cogburn roosts on the porch at night, and even though it's nearly dark when I take the food out, he hops down to grab a bite. I'm ok with that. I just don't want the guineas doing it, and they've gone to roost for the night. Since I changed the routine, they aren't coming up on the porch as much. BTW, I made a "rattle" to spook them off the porch. It's a plastic gallon water jug with some stones inside. I throw it at them and tied a string to it so I could reel it back in. After a few spooks, I can now just shake it at them and they take off. There is at least 1 hen in this flock.

As I write this, Flock #1 just went out front. No, I didn't see it. I heard them on the house roof. I still don't get why they don't fly over the fence which would be much easier. Who knows what lurks in the minds of guineas.

Flock #3: The 4 from the hen's last clutch. Same clutch the wild baby came from. For some reason, they aren't roosting high at night. They settle in under the shrubs around the rabbit shed. Maybe it's too crowded with all the others on the "guinea rack". Might have to throw another one together. I've only heard 1 hen in this one so far.

The only time the 3 flocks come together is in the morning when I go out to tend to the rabbits. After I'm done, I toss out the cracked corn mix for the birds. During that time, they are chasing around as I move around in the Summer House. I mess with them. Heheh. Every time I go to the side where I usually throw out the corn, they bombard the fence and even go up on the metal roof. Which then has the rabbits on alert. It's noisy. I open the corn container but don't give it to them. The next time I walk over there, I get it ready to toss. Then do something else with the rabbits. When I'm ready to leave, I wait until they are at another side and then toss the corn. Mad dash to the feed station ensues!

I find it very interesting that these flocks are so segregated. I don't know how they know, but the adult pair recognize the baby they raised. They chase their other 4 identical keets away.

Update: Found one of #3 dead the same morning I wrote this blog entry. I think what might have happened is that it was seriously injured by an adult. I assume that based on where I found it. There is a narrow space between the shed and Summer House. More than once, I've caught an adult beating up these smallest keets as they move through there. There isn't room for them to move out of the way fast enough. I now have the space blocked. I'm pretty sure it was the 3 week older singleton that was also a hen. That's an unfortunate loss because there's not a lot of hens.

I'm thinking the hen won't lay another clutch this year. Apparently, if they raise a clutch, they don't lay again until it's grown. By then, it will be fall, and too late for any more.

I've seen some ads for color guineas. Notably Royal Purple and Lavender. I believe this is what my first pair was. I definitely want to bring some in. Hopefully next year. I have all the guineas I need right now.

In other news:

I have a new computer! Yay! I took advantage of TN's Tax Holiday last weekend and upgraded from my old XP to Win 7. I'm loving it! XP was getting clunkier by the day. The new one is so much faster and Win 7 is a very slick interface. Almost every operation has been simplified. Bout time, MicroSoft! Not only that, but the eMachine I settled on (great price) is so tiny. My desk has a space on the one lower side for the CPU and the old puter took up most of it. The new one is so small, I can put it on top of the desk which gives me easier access to its functions, like the DVD drive and USB ports. This also means I don't have to pull the desk out to change connections in the back. I'm going to install some shelves in the old CPU space for more storage. Oh yeah and another thing. The eMachine is nearly silent. I read 1 review that said "you can hear it thinking". The only time I've heard a peep out of it is during boot up.

I got a new toy, too. A Netbook that was covered by the tax free weekend. I've been thinking about it since I got mobile broadband. Didn't really need it, but there are times it will come in handy. The occasional overnight rabbit show. When the power goes out for any length of time. I usually end up reading a book by candlelight or the clip-on book light (not very comfortable), but now I can go online or play games when that happens. It's nowhere near as powerful or fast as the desktop, but good enough for the price and size.

Oh wait, one more new thing. I guess the title of this entry isn't accurate. I bought a new domain name. I've owned 2 for a long time, and didn't see myself needing another. As I was backing up and weeding out my bookmarks in anticipation of the new puter, I discovered a site I've always liked was closed and the domain name had gone up for sale. It was originally a decal store with really unique graphics. It can cost a small fortune to acquire a domain name 2nd hand, but the price was very reasonable. So I snapped it up! For now, it's forwarded to my other domain and host. I'll eventually move it over so the URL matches the site. DarkMoonGraphix.com. Stay tuned.

tnt

Random stuff

2010-07-25T06:47:00.009-04:00

Still so hot and humid! I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be glad to see the end of summer, but I'm just biding time in the house until it cools off. I'm hoping this hot summer means a warmer winter. The last couple have been too consistently cold, but we should be due for a milder one. I hope. It's why I moved down here.

I have one little litter. Just one. 4 does were due this week, but only one was successful. Foxy Lady x Smith's DA has 1 black and 1 blue. Yay! It's been a while since I got a live dilute. Even better, they're selfs. I would have been ok with agouti, but I learned that plan could go off track when I got the otter in the agouti litter. The agoutis were brought in for type, but the plan was always to keep more selfs. Oh and the only broken in Foxy's litter was a DOA dilute peanut. Figures.

The does that failed went back out to the Summer House, and Foxy has the fan all to herself. She was really antsy at first, which is unusual for her. She didn't pull much fur so I added some from the stash. That was probably a mistake but I wasn't thinking. I should have waited a bit before giving the box back to her. She immediately began pulling it out. I heard furious squeaking and hurried to see what had happened to the kits. She had pulled the blue out with a mouthful of fur! Yikes. The kit seems ok. She settled down the 2nd day and the neighbor doe being gone might have helped. The kits are fed and clean. They've been migrating to the front of the box (probably because of the heat), and what fur is left is bonded to the shavings. I've removed more shavings so they don't bounce out of the box off the thick mattress. Hmmm, maybe Foxy knew it was too hot for fur.

I have no other does bred. It's just too hot so I'm letting it go for now. Besides, even though I've never had a case of heat sterility, it could happen this year. It hasn't been below 85 for more than a day in weeks. I promised to breed a sold doe, but I'll have to warn the buyer it'll be a crap shoot. The buck is going through a rough molt, too. That's said to be a bad time to breed.

Of dogs and cats and guineas:

My routine has been to feed the dog and cats in the morning when I go out to feed the rabbits. Whipper gets his in a dish on the porch. The cats' food goes in a dish in a plastic pet carrier on my work bench. This is to keep the dog out of it. I guess due to the heat, Whipper hasn't been eating in the morning. He just leaves it till evening. I hate that because it gets infested with ants. In the past, I've tried to force him to eat when I give it to him by taking it away if he doesn't. He goes hungry till the next morning. Didn't like doing that because he's not a fat dog, but it did work. I might give him a cookie which he'll eat anytime to hold him over. The cats mob me whenever I rattle the carrier so it doesn't really matter when they get theirs.

Cogburn learned dog food is tasty and comes up to snatch tidbits out of the dish. At first Whipper would nudge him away, but he gave up and ignores the bird now. I didn't mind that. It was funny to watch, and it's not like the roo eats that much.

Then come the guineas. Grrrr. The 7 older keets charge up on the porch when I feed the 4-foots and mob the dog's dish. I've been trying to teach Whipper it's ok to chase them away, and he kinda gets it. Yesterday had me running back and forth and it was way too hot for that! I'm out tending the bunnies, and there the keets go up on the porch. A lot of scrambling and noise as they furiously grab beakfuls and Whipper tries to get them away. I go running back, grab the broom to shoo them off the porch. I must have looked like a crazy woman! This happened several times in the time I was trying to feed and water the rabbits, and I was way sweatier than necessary. I even tossed out the corn for the birds which should have kept them busy, but it didn't for long. Dog food is better. Not only do I not like the guineas on the porch, I can't have them eating all the dog and cat food. Oh forgot to mention. Cogburn also discovered the cat food and goes in the carrier to get it. So of course, the guineas do, too.

Ok fine. New routine. I'm waiting until dark to put out dog and cat food. The birds have gone to roost by then. I just have to remember that's the new routine so I don't forget to feed them.

I'm going to turn out the 4 keets still in the Summer House as soon as I cut the grass. Probably today. I like to mow at least once before I turn them loose so they aren't so startled by the lawn mower. The older guineas aren't concerned.

tnt

Night Show

2010-07-18T08:55:00.005-04:00

Last night was the Taylorsville Night Show. Just as hot and humid as last year. Came home all sticky and grody. At least I was done fairly early. I hit the road about 11:30 pm and got home around 2:30 am. Really don't like driving that far at night. Ran into some drizzle and light fog which slowed me down even more. I can make much better time home from a show in daylight.

I had nothing to show and only entered 2 pre-molt brokens. As expected, they didn't show well. The only reason I went at all was to sell some buns and guineas. At least that part worked out well. I came home with 4 less buns, and no guineas. Well, I also brought home the new buck that I had to pick up.

The guineas generated a lot of interest! I brought 14 keets. 6 were pre-sold for sure, 4 were maybes that did sell, and the other 4 sold easily. I could have sold all I could bring! I'll keep that in mind for the future and incubate all the eggs I can get my hands on. I'd like to bring in more colors. I'll look into that in the future as well.

I'll have to get real serious about a pen for them if I want to incubate and sell on a regular basis. The grow-out cage works to some extent but it's a hassle. I had to refresh their water a couple times a day because they stomped in it which splashed it out and fouled what was left. The cage was in the way when I was tending to the rabbits. I learned to water the keets after I was done walking around in there. Hmmm, maybe I could rig some sort of cage for the water dish. Something that would allow them to get their heads in but not their clumsy feet.

There is still the one free-range keet following its parents around. I was thinking about plugging the space beside the gate that it was walking through to keep it confined to the fenced yard until it's big enough to fly over the fence. Turns out that little bugger can already fly!!! I looked out yesterday to see both adults and the keet on the porch roof! I had no idea they could fly that high that young!

There's still the 3 I picked out to keep from that clutch running loose in the Summer House. And the older singleton. That one might be a hen. I'll give them another week or two and then turn them out with the rest. That will be a population of 14. Ticks and bugs are history!

Shouldn't I be talking about rabbits? There's really not a lot going on there. I have to move the 4 does that are due this week back into the shed today. They need their nestboxes now.

I lost another baby. One of K10's brokens looked peaked Thursday. Friday it was dead. Don't know what happened there. Might have been the stress of moving the litter out of the shed. On one hand a sad loss (it was the best marked), on the other, I'm ok with it. I prefer to lose weak constitutions earlier rather than later.

Taleah's litter and the otter fosterling are still my keepers. Also still liking Infinite Detail's black.

Oh, do you want to know about the new buck? Against all my attempts to avoid otter, he's a broken black otter. Lil' Bit Farms LB92. Wonderful pattern and darn good type. Another plus is that he carries self and dilute. I sure hope he works out for me. Many thanks to Candy at Root'n Toot'n Rabbitry for this guy.

tnt

Wicked Hot

2010-07-09T05:26:00.007-04:00

The thermometer said 97 one day this week. 95 most of the time. The yard and gardens are suffering the lack of rain in this heat. Of course, if it rained, it would cool off a bit. Forecast says maybe today. At least the lack of rain also means lower humidity. It could be a lot worse.

Had the 1st casualty this week. A 4 week old baby died. I've never lost a rabbit to the heat before. At least it wasn't one of the more valuable kits.

Yesterday, I moved all the does and litters out to the Summer House except one. King's K10 is still inside because her litter is barely 3 weeks old. She's in the lowest tier at the end near the window, and now has the fan all to herself. I took the nestbox out earlier this week to give her some room to stretch out. I worried I'd lose the kits if they stayed in it. They have a resting board in place of the box. I'll move them outside in another week.

It's sad the the only litter that really matters to me is Taleah's. And the otter she's fostering. K's litter is 2nd in that I want to see the type she throws, even though the brokens aren't exciting for pattern. Infinite Detail's solid black is a maybe. Other than that....all pet quality.

I was going to breed some does but the heat made me back off. I decided to let it go for now. It's just too hot. I have a few litters due in 2 weeks, and not sure how to handle it. The cages outside aren't set up for nestboxes. The doors aren't big enough to get one in there. I do have the 3 larger cages I set up as holding cages for weanlings, but they don't have rodent and snake proof wire like the rest. Keeping my fingers crossed that it does cool off by then.

In guinea news:

Pictures!

These are the 2 "wild" keets and their parents. Now about 3 weeks old. I'm amazed they are still out there. The parents are bringing them to the feeding station now. I toss out the cracked corn/bird seed mix for them and the others. I was doubly amazed to discover the keets can get up on the roost the adults use. It's a wood rack I built for them under the carport outside where the rabbits are. The rig is almost 5' tall! Have no idea how they get up there. Looking at the situation last night, I think they use the wheelbarrow that's there as a jumping off point. Considering the keets are so small and have no flight feathers yet, that's a pretty good trick.

These are the older NC pieds. About 10-12 weeks old...I forget. Cogburn is so happy to have a "flock" again. There is a bit of bickering at the feeding station between the 2 groups. I toss seed out in 2 different place to give them some peace.

This old converted rabbit cage holds the 17 (same 2nd clutch as the 2 free-range keets) I hatched in the incubator. Plus the singleton from the 1st clutch that's about 3 weeks older. This cage works pretty well until they are big enough to turn loose in the Summer House. I just move it around to give them cleaner ground, and rake out under it as needed. It also saves on feed. They throw it all over and can pick it off the ground.

I picked out 4 of the bigger ones that I'll be keeping and turned them loose yesterday. I have at least 1 order for 6, and a tentative order for 4 to deliver at the Taylorsville show next weekend. I'll take all 14 with me and maybe be able to sell the other 4 as well. I won't be turning those loose. It will be too hard to catch them when it comes time to load up for the show, so they'll stay in the cage until then.

This was taken earlier this spring. This turkey strolls into the yard sometimes and the guineas dash out to greet her. It's a funny thing to watch. The guineas are good-sized birds but the turkey looks like a dinosaur towering over them. After the initial meet & greet, they lose interest in each other. Probably because they don't speak the same language.

I fear I may have lost something this morning. I heard the guinea's distress call (not the loud alarm call) that I heard when the cat got one of the keets a couple weeks ago. It was still dark and I don't know why the guinea would have moved off the roost at this time. I hope it wasn't a keet. I also turned out a couple garden bunnies yesterday and the one cat might take them. That would be Abby, the younger one, who hunts birds and other things. Stevie has never bothered garden bunnies and doesn't actively hunt birds. I could live without Abby.

tnt

July

2010-07-02T03:34:00.008-04:00

Happy Birthday, America.

It's been dry and hot, but not as uncomfortable as the last couple weeks. The dry probably helped a lot there. Rain has missed this area lately, and humidity is much lower. When I went out to close up the rabbitry last night, it was actually cool out there. I imagine the bunnies going "aaah". Maybe I'll breed a couple does this morning since the bucks should feel pretty good after a cooler day and night.

Down to just 4 does on litters in the shed. 3 litters are about 3 weeks old. The other almost 2 weeks. When I checked litters last night I missed the black in the youngest litter. Ok where the heck is it? I have baby saver around the brood holes but it doesn't cover the cage door and I've had kits get out before. I found the kit in the gutter! Glad it didn't make it to the floor, or into the bucket at the end of the gutter. I had cleaned recently, and the bucket was empty so it might not have been a disaster. Well, the bucket was mostly empty. There was still some stuff stuck in the bottom so the kit would have been real dirty. But before that, it might have been hard to find if it had even occurred to me to look in the bucket. I had cleaned out nestboxes and it was full of fur and shavings.

There's not much exciting in the litters. Too many 5-8% brokens and blacks. I probably would have culled the charlies at birth, but some of them are out of the newest opal buck and I wanted to see the type he throws. And there were 1st timers that needed to raise a litter. I guess I'll be doing the Knoxville Fair in a couple months. I was debating because the meat judges piss me off, but it's a great place to unload pet culls.

So what do I like in the litters? There's the himi and black from RR Taleah x Back In Black. I'm hoping BB shortened them up. Taleah is a bit long in the midsection and a short buck works best with her.

There's an interesting black from Infinite Detail x Back In Black as well. It looks like it could be a throwback to I.Detail's dam that came out of the Darkside line. Fur seems longer and that's a trait from that grand dam.

And then there's this damn otter that came out of Foxy Lady x Rhapsody's Burt. I was expecting agouti, dilute, broken, and got a black otter. The DOAs were all those other things. Grrr. After going on about how I don't do or want otter, it's the cutest kit in all the litters. I mean seriously cute! I think it got the stuff I wanted from Burt...head, width. Now what am I gonna do? Oh and worse, I'm pretty sure it's a buck. This is gonna put a big wrench in my program. Oh well, at least I know that pair meshed. Foxy is already rebred to Burt since I fostered the otter to Taleah.

I'm heading over to the Dickson show tomorrow. Not looking forward to that long drive (5 hrs) but I hope to sell buns that need selling. Especially since I bought another buck. Yeah, I did. I'm not getting him till later this month so I'll keep it under my hat for now. I decided to just enter the first 2 shows instead of staying for all 3. The sooner I can get on the road for home the better. I don't have much to show anyways. I only entered 3.

In guinea news:

The adults still have 2 "wild" keets. I'm amazed they are still out there. I'm sure the heat had a lot to do with their survival after hatching. After losing 1 to the cat and then another disappeared, the adults are very protective of them. I've seen the male run the cat away when she came too close, and he also fends off Cogburn. Yesterday, the hen brought them to the "feeding station" for the first time. I have to remember to take the camera out with me when I feed this morning. She hasn't come into the fence much since they hatched, although the keets can and do walk right through the chainlink. She will pace and fret outside the fence when they do. You'd think she would just fly over the fence to be with them, but sometimes they are birdbrains that way.

I turned the oldest keets out into the yard this week. They were too annoying in the Summer House. Even though I clipped a wing before turning them loose in there, they can hop pretty high. Had to run netting to keep them from roosting on the lowest rabbit cages. When I put the youngest keets out there in the "brood" cage, they were immediately on top of it. Out they went. So now I'm tossing cracked corn/birdseed mix out for them, which also makes the adults and Cogburn come running.

Cogburn adopted the older keets as his flock. So there's now 3 flocks in residence and they bicker. Cog and the adults go at it pretty seriously so I have to toss the seed in 2 separate places so they aren't so close to each other. It will be interesting to see if all of them eventually integrate into one flock. I'm going to sell most of the youngest keets. I have a couple tentative orders for them, and will take them to Taylorsville in a couple weeks. Of course the orders were for more hens but I don't think I can fill the orders that way. I'm just now hearing the female call from the oldest ones so I doubt I'll be able to sex the youngest ones in time. Probably have to settle for straight run. Including me.

More bird news:

My canary hen is setting on 2 eggs. After I sold the finches, I moved the canaries out of the big aviary cage into smaller, more easily maintained cages. The pair that were together in the aviary went into the larger of the 2 cages, and the single male into a slightly smaller one. I put a small dish of grit in for them and the hen decided this made a fine nest. Even though I hadn't given her anything to make a nest with. She laid them on the grit. When I cleaned out the big cage, I found more eggs in the tray. She had been laying all along. I tried to get her to use a better nest, but she wasn't having it. So fine, the dish it is. I lined it with some tissue and noticed she had pulled in some string I had given her after the fact. I'll give her a handful of hay today. The tissue alone isn't a very good nest. Sooo...we'll see how this goes.

tnt

Building a better rabbit.

2010-06-22T10:00:00.017-04:00

Thoughts on abnormal genes.

The goal of breeding is to improve the animal - breed to the standard for solid type. Health, temperament, fur, and flesh condition are also traits to be selected. Culling to eliminate undesirable traits and defects is part of the process.

A lot of high-ranking breeders insist the Max Factor (MF) gene is vital for nationally competitive dwarfs. Perhaps so, since that is what wins these days. But is it a better rabbit? Why are we perpetuating such a defective gene?

MF advocates argue that by that definition, the dwarf gene is defective in producing peanuts. Yes, that's true, but it can be avoided to some extent. A false dwarf doe (lacking the dwarf gene) bred to a true dwarf buck (the show bunny) can produce show quality offspring and there will be no peanuts. Other dwarf breeds also deal with peanuts, and it's just a fact of life with a dwarf breed. However, those other breeds do not accept another defective gene as desirable.

MF is harder to avoid if you are breeding to the current fashion. MF carriers
are bred to each other to get that desired type, but at the same time producing
more kits that must be destroyed. Many a MF breeder has lamented the high number of MF kits in a litter. One of the advantages of an animal that has litters is being able to choose the best from the litter. If there is only one viable kit (or none), there are no options. You have to rely on the parents to give their all in that one kit. Since these "high quality" rabbits probably cost a very dear penny, that's asking a lot.

Back to the question - is it a better rabbit? One of the main things that makes a species successful is its ability to reproduce. Natural selection culls defects very quickly. Man steps in, breeds a mutation that wouldn't survive in nature, and creates a new breed. That's all well and good, but sometimes fashion creates very unsuccessful animals. Is a dog breed successful if it can only reproduce with man's intervention (C-section)?

Peanuts rarely survive past 3 days. We don't have to destroy them, nature does it for us. MF kits can survive with the terrible deformities if not culled at birth. Some breeders allow them just to see how long they'll survive, or worse, because they have a soft heart, but the poor things are usually blind with constant eye infections, can't get around well enough to keep themselves clean, and they can't breed. While there can be an entire litter of peanuts, it's usually just one or two, leaving some healthy siblings. Breeding MF, the odds are much less favorable.

I could include hippos in this, but no one knows just what, if anything, they contribute to the breed. They might be a side affect of MF or the dwarf gene, and are becoming more common. No one seems to be going out of their way to eliminate the gene.

I admire the European (especially the UK) view on animal husbandry. Certain types of breeding are frowned upon and even illegal because of the defects it produces. They don't appreciate the MF gene, and it's ironic that it came from there. Maybe it was culled to export sales?

While MF is mostly a Netherland thing, other dwarf breeds may be victims, too. If Netherlands were used in development, or to improve type, the risk of introducing the MF gene is there.

I should mention that I haven't seen MF in quite a while. I didn't go out of my way to eliminate it, nor do I seek it specifically. It just went away. I think mostly due to MF-carrier does that never produced any keepers. That's pretty much the last time I saw it. I'm sure it will pop up again as I bring in new rabbits. I just don't think about it either way when choosing new stock.

Sadly, Americans are slaves to fashion with less regard for the integrity of gene pools. If ARBA was to look more closely at how our Netherland Dwarfs are being bred, would they consider educating judges on how to recognize this defective gene? I doubt it. Is it more important to breed a winning rabbit or a better rabbit? Why can't we have both in the same package?

tnt

Summer litters

2010-06-18T06:47:00.005-04:00

The heat is still brutal. There's now only 6 working does in the shed and only 3 have litters. The other 3 are due next week. They seem to be handling it ok. They lay against the front of the cage to catch the fan breeze. I'm just running one oscillating fan. The does are all in adjoining holes so it hits them all. This is definitely a breed that can take the heat better. I can't imagine trying keep a larger breed safe in this heat.

Got a few new litters this week. Nothing exciting in the broken department. 2 litters (3 kits) are by Rhapsody's Burt and I'm looking forward to how they turn out. Did they get his big fat head? I want that!

One of his kits isn't identified for color yet. Dreamer's 1st time (good girl!). Anything could come out of this buck. I talked about Burt's colorful heritage in a previous blog. It started out pink and had an orange cast that made me think tort. By afternoon, faint spots had appeared so it is broken. Maybe dilute, but I don't know. Blue usually has color at birth. I haven't seen opal in the box yet so don't know what that looks like. Non-extension broken (sable pt, tort) is often colorless at birth, especially with 10% pattern. I'll have to wait for fur to make a better guess.

I have a bit of a dilemma. I should really back off breeding for the rest of the summer. Predictions say this heat is here to stay. That's not a big problem for the well-proven does. They can take the summer off after their current litters, and some of them will go up for sale after this anyways. It's the younger ones that I need to prove or keep producing. And then there's the Smith's black on loan. I need litters from him before I have to return him, and he's a new option for does I thought I was done with. These two bucks are the MVPs in the barn right now. I guess I'll use them on whichever does are open for them. I better get to that this morning. It was a bit cooler and less humid last night.

In guinea news:

Have I got guineas! All the 18 eggs in the incubator hatched. One died the 2nd day. I think it was the one that had difficulty coming out of the egg. I helped open the shell, but maybe it was just weak to begin with. With the 7 older NC pieds and the 3 week old singleton, that's 25 keets! I think I'll sell some. I only need maybe 10 or 12 to maintain a working population.

The 4 I left with the hen also hatched. They left the nest yesterday morning and that was so cute. Both parents showed them around the garden. I knew I should have cut the grass before they hatched. They're so tiny they can barely see over it and I have to look for movement in the grass to see where they are. The parents seem very protective of them, whistling and chuckling to keep them in line. Unfortunately, it's not likely that they'll survive. I see the parents in the garden this morning but it's too overgrown to see if the keets are there.

tnt

Sum Sum Summertime

2010-06-14T17:12:00.010-04:00

Whew, it are hot! I broke down and shut up the house and turned on the AC. I really hate to do that, but I was miserable. I'd much rather have fresh air and the sounds of outside inside. Oh yeah, and there's the electric bill. I like my minimal summer electric bill.

Spent some time in the Summer House this morning. It was time to turn out the guinea keets that have been living in a cage out there. First I had to muck it out. Haven't done that since I moved rabbits out in March. It needed doing and didn't want to worry about keets slipping out the gate while I was hauling manure out. It wasn't too bad in there as far as working in the heat. There was a bit of a breeze coming through.

My poor working does in the shed. There were just 11, and only 2 have litters at their side. I realized they don't have to stay in there all the time. I can give them a break from the heat by putting them in the Summer House until their due date. So I moved the 2 does with 5 week old litters out, and 2 open does. One kindled a DOA litter last night, and the other was a miss (again from Sterling). The rest are due today, later this week, and next week. I'll move them out if they fail. This also helps with the heat in the shed, I'm sure. Less body heat.

It will also be easier when I'm breeding them. Instead of hauling them out to their buck and then back to their hole in the shed, I can just leave them out there. Oh yeah, and less cleaning for me in the shed.

One of the does due today has pulled a pile of fur so I'm expecting them anytime. The other is still messing with her hay nest.

We had our Rendevous at the Smith's Saturday. That's always a nice time. Gary loaned me a real nice black buck for my broken does. I begged. He kinda owed me, although I didn't mention that. I loaned him brokens to get him started in the variety 2 years ago. This buck isn't out of my line but in a way it is. Some of my original brokens came from my good friend in MI, and this black is out of a broken chestnut Gary bought from him at convention. He might not have had a shot at the buck if not for me being a friend of the breeder. I'll be using him as much as possible before I hook up with Smiths again to return him.

In guinea news:

Oh cool! I just now looked in the incubator (it's here in the living room) and one of the guinea eggs pipped. I knew it should be any time now.

When I turned the older keets out into the Summer House, they immediately had a dust bath orgy. That was fun to watch. The cage they were in has a wire bottom so they can't do that in there. I just put the cage on the ground so they can pick at the feed that drops in the dirt, but they can't wallow. They also began finding the bugs crawing on the ground and in the manure. Should go through less feed now.

I'm getting serious about the poultry pen. I ordered something to serve as a coop. I looked all over online and pre-fab chicken coop kits are expensive! I found lots of ideas online and in Backyard Poultry magazine, but I'm not really motivated to build one from scratch.

One guy used dog houses. Hmmm, there's an idea. So I looked into that. Still pretty spendy and they weren't big enough. Would need more than one. A forum friend turned us onto a Petsmart coupon that was only good for a few days. So I went to Petsmart.com and found the perfect thing. It's a simple wood flat-roof style with a hinged top. Price was right (and saved $15 with the coupon) and maybe even less than I could have built from scratch. It will go together very easily and just require a little customizing for birds. The dimensions (biggest model) given are almost as big as my kitchen island! That's pretty darn good sized. I think this will work.

Now to make up my mind where the pen will go. My original plan was to pen in the back corner of the fence. A lot of work that will be. It's hard to dig post holes in this rocky ground. Then I thought I could put it on the east side of the rabbit shed. The fence is about 12' from the shed. I could connect shed and fence and would just need to finish the ends.

My other option is to use the rest of the carport where the rabbits are. That would be super easy. I can just run wire around the carport's poles. The hardest part would be building the gate. They'd have a roof over their heads, and be more protected from predators. Whipper keeps bad guys out of the yard, but beside the shed, he couldn't help much, and I'd have to put some kind of netting over the entire thing. The only problem with this option is that I do store things there. Like the lawn tractor, garden wagons, and wheelbarrow. Lately I've been lazy and just park the tractor beside the porch. It's handy to electricity if I need to jump it or pump the tires. I guess I could just get a cover tarp for it. Should anyways if I'm just leaving it there. Yeah, I'm really leaning towards this option.

It's my plan that the chickens be allowed to range in the fenced yard most of the time. It will be fun to have more pretty birds in the garden. Guineas aren't all that pretty, ya know. And Cogburn really really needs some hens. He's rather annoying and needs something else to occupy him.

In other news:

Finally got to see the neighbors. There are 3 of them! 2 horses and a donkey. I thought at first it was a mule, but then got a better look at it.

Like the new look of the blog? I didn't care for any of the ones that were originally offered when I started it, so I just tweaked a plain template. When I logged in to post today, a pop up offered some new ones. This one's soft colors match my logo and hummingbirds are special to me.

Keep cool.

tnt

June

2010-06-05T07:04:00.008-04:00

Summer is in full swing. Been uncomfortably hot and humid lately. It threatens rain almost everyday as thunderstorms flare up. Some of them have been intense, lightening and thunder cracks way too close, but not a lot of rain out of them.

Current litters are about 4 wks old. Now they are cute! Rayven's look like 2 black does and a chocolate buck. Haven't sexed Anaba's yet. Emaline's kit (fostered to Rayven so she could be sold) is a doe, I think. None of the himis are showing much color and that's disappointing. But it's been very warm since they were born so not unusual. All of them are looking promising at this point.

How can I see that at 4 wks? Well, I know my lines for one thing. All these kits are the same size and all have small ears. The bigger longer-eared non-show bunnies begin developing about now and I don't see that anywhere. That's not to say some might go less than showable in the next couple weeks. My BUDs tend to have shorter ears than the typical BUDs, but they will be longer than I like, and they can begin to gain in weight/size. I've noticed the himis from the Raspberry Run line will change quite a bit soon. Now that I've learned how that line develops, I can make early cull decisions.

We have our Southeastern Dwarf Fanciers Rendevous this coming weekend. I always look forward to that. Other than that I don't have concrete plans for any shows in the near future. I've updated the sale page and pre-sales are pretty much what will get me to a show for a while. I only have 4 jrs to show, and 2 of those are now sr age but not mature enough to compete as srs. Not really worth the drive for just 2 or 3 rabbits.

In guinea news:

The 1 lone keet from the 1st clutch is still alone. The other 5 eggs didn't hatch. Poor baby. I wonder how it will integrate into the flock later. The gooseneck clamp lamp I had set up as the brooder heat crapped out the other day. The keet seemed cold at first, but by the next day it had adjusted. At 11 days it has enough feathers and it's been hot enough so I wasn't too worried. But I did have to find something to replace the lamp for when the 2nd clutch hatches (if it does). I must be off on my calculations as I had the 1st or 2nd week of June as estimated hatch date. When I candled the eggs the other day, they are only half full. Hatch is definitely not happening right away.

The hen is still sitting most of the time on her remaining eggs. I don't feed them much during the warm months. They don't need it, they find all they need free-ranging. I began tossing some bird seed out to them when I feed the rabbits. Just to remind them where they live. This seems to keep them on the property. Now they come running again when I head out there. If the keets she's sitting on survive, I want her to show them this.

Interesting thing about guineas. Ducks and sometime chickens will bond to a human if that's the first thing they see when they hatch. Not so with guineas. The keets are very wild and will panic and dash around if I even come near. The older keets outside are calmer now when I feed and water them, but if I put my hands near them, they run away. I'll have to put the chicken wire top on the brooder bin pretty soon. The loner will be able to jump high soon and I sure don't want it loose in the house! I'd never catch it!

I forgot to mention in the last blog. Lost one of the NC keets. Don't know what happened but it was one of the smallest ones.

In other news:

There's a horsey neighbor again. One was trailered in about a week ago, but I never saw it. The field is so over-grown that I could only see it if it came down near the gate and it didn't do that. Then the trailer was back about 4 days later, but apparently they brought a different horse and took the other one away. I've glimpsed this one when it came close to the back fence. Also over-grown back there so it's just a glimpse. My dogs sometimes alert me when it's in that area. All I know is that it's brown.

tnt

Taylorsville, NC

2010-05-30T09:07:00.003-04:00

Don't have anything to brag about. It was a pretty good show for fun and I did sell some things which made it worth the drive. It was such a long hot day! Very humid. The show ran way too long. I think the officials were new to this (not the usuals) and judges were standing around waiting for a breed. A couple judges were no-shows which also put a glitch in the efficiency. I didn't get home until 8:30 and that's pretty bad for T-ville. I was grumpy and very tired by the time I got home.

And geez, did I feel grody! I've noticed this before at this fairgrounds when it's hot and humid. My skin was so sticky I couldn't wait to get home and wash off! I think the fans everyone set up for their rabbits have a lot to do with it. It's blowing stuff on the floor all around. We're sweaty and it sticks to us. Yuck! I saw evidence of this a couple years ago at the T-ville night show. My friend and I stayed at a motel that time. She showed me the white motel washcloth after she washed her face off and it was covered in black soot! I didn't notice it on mine so much because I went straight to the shower with soap.

In guinea news:

I moved the incubator eggs off the rack in anticipation of the hatch. I candled them all and only found 6 out of the 18 that looked viable. I moved them just in the nick of time! The next morning, 1 hatched! So far there's still just the one. Poor little thing looks so small and lonely in the brooder bin. It's eating and drinking well. I gave it an old washcloth to snuggle against and it seems to like that.

Since I couldn't count on the rest hatching, and at this point I'm thinking they won't, I stole 10 more from the hen's 2nd clutch. Estimated hatch for those is around the 1st week of June. This time I candled them before placing in the incubator, and they seem to be good to go. I'm not using the turner rack this time. I'm just turning them by hand once a day or so. The hen still has about 10 and she's sitting almost constantly now.

The older keets are out in the rabbitry in a converted rabbit cage. They're still too small to let out of the cage. I'll turn them loose in the rabbitry in about a week and they can learn insect catching skills on the rabbit manure. They should be big enough to turn out free range in a month or so.

Haven't decided when my next show is. I'm in a rather bad place right now. I only have 4 jrs to enter and most are now officially srs. They aren't yet competive as srs. I'll need an ulterior motive to drive very far to a show.

tnt

Another litter

2010-05-20T11:52:00.005-04:00

Just one. Anaba x Raspberry Run Messenger has 3 lovely himis. She's my best himi show doe (6 legs) so I looked forward to this litter. When I say lovely, I really mean that. I don't think of newborn kits as cute, especially pink ones. I don't see cute until they are 2 1/2 to 3 weeks old. Open eyes, round faces, fuzzy...that's cute. Anaba's kits are all the same small size (a good thing), clean, plump, and pretty in pink. She's taking very good care of them, and as all my himis, she's very calm about it.

Rana failed. She built such a nice furry nest, but dumped the DOA litter on the wire. Looks like she had difficulty getting them out. There were only 2. She was 2 days late, but I didn't worry much because her last litter was late. I had my hopes up too high since she didn't do too bad the 1st time. Try try again.

I should get a photo of Rana. I just noticed this morning that she has perfect "poodle pom poms" on her front legs. Does pull nest fur so funny sometimes. Her fur is very thick and lush unlike most rabbits that have smoother fur on their legs.

All the does than needed rebreeding are bred except for Rana and Gypsy Eyes. I'll get to them real soon.

Rayven is also taking excellent care of her 3 + the himi fosterling.

In guinea news:

I picked up my order of 8 keets on Monday. About an hour drive into NC. Interesting guy. Has a wonderful place in the mountains. He only raises guineas and has a pretty cool setup for that. Turns out he's published author of historical novels.

The keets are in a rubbermaid bin in the kitchen. They're only about 2 weeks old, too small to go outside yet. I'll move them into the rabbit cage I converted to accommodate young birds until they are big enough to turn loose in the Summer House. When they are big enough that they don't fit through the chainlink fence, I'll turn them out to free range.

In the meantime, it's kind of smelly in that area of the kitchen. The chick starter feed gets...ummm...fragrant. I guess because they kick it out and it mingles with their droppings and the shavings which might be a bit wet because they also kick water all over. I have to clean it out every few days. Oh well, should only be another week or so and they can go outside. They grow fast.

The hen is sitting on her 2nd clutch more. I've marked the calendar and will try and save as many as possible when the hatch comes. I already know that hatchling keets won't survive long around here.

Abby would probably be the one to get them. Abby is the bird hunter. Her mother Stevie is the ratter. I've seen a decline in birds at the bird feeders and the bluebirds abandoned their initial attempts to nest in the birdhouses. Grrr. Abby even curls up for a nap in the birdbath near the feeders. Without a lot of rain, it's dry most of the time.

One of the things I have to do before the keets can go outside is plug up the places Abby gets into the Summer House. I caught her in there a couple times and couldn't figure out how she got in. The 2nd time I watched and what she does is climb the dogrun and slip in the gap between the top of the run and the carport roof. I'll patch it with chicken wire. Haven't caught her in there in a while, but I know as soon as I put those small peeping things out here, she will try.

Not much else. Next show is Taylorsville, NC, and that's probably it for a while. There's the SDF Rendevous in June but that's not a show. I don't have anything else on docket until the Newport, TN show in August. I'm debating the Dickson, TN in July. That's the other side of Nashville and such a long drive. I'm really backing off long drives to shows this year. I did enjoy the Dickson show, so I'll see how I feel when the time comes.

tnt

Got a few babies.

2010-05-13T07:37:00.008-04:00

Not too bad. Looks like blanks again from Sterling, but at least there are babies.

Rayven x Dot.com - 5! 3 alive. She's a teensy doe so that surprised me. And just her 2nd try. 2 blacks, 1 choc. Bummer...no brokens.

Emaline x Raspberry Run Messenger - 1 himi and 3 peanuts. I left her the 1 live peanut with the viable kit. Then decided to sell her to someone who asked for a himi doe and fostered the viable kit to Rayven. Took a while for her to get it right. This was her 6th attempt.

Yes, I give does more chances than most breeders would. My himi lines tend to take longer to produce so I keep trying until they do. They eventually do.

Voodoo Chile x Ford's Ranger had a pile of peanuts! 4...2 were alive. Wellhell.

I have yet another opal buck. He was dangled in front of me at the TN show last weekend. Since Sterling hasn't produced, it was a lucky dangle for that seller. His name is Rhapsody's Burt and he goes back to Fandango, one of my favorite brood bucks. He's out of a Fandango son that I sold to someone else. Wonderful head/ear on Burt! He has a wide solid body but it's a bit flat on the topline. I'll try him with the brokens for his dilute gene and head/ear. And as back up for Sterling.

Since Fandango carried EVERYTHING, there's a good chance Burt does too. Self, choc, and non-extension could come out of this guy.

In guinea news:

The hen laid another clutch under the dayliles in the front yard last week. Thursday or Friday is when I noticed her MIA and the male standing guard. This is a very informal garden around the electric pole created to eliminate trimming around the pole. I decided to leave them alone to see if she hatched them. Then she seemed to abandon them. The hen last year only left the nest long enough to graze. This one spends little to no time on it.

A few months ago, the electric company replaced old poles with new. They had to leave the old pole because the phone wire was on it. Had to wait for the phone company to move the wire before they would come back to remove the old pole. When I saw the guinea nest was less than 3 feet from the pole, I just knew they would come out to get the pole now. Sure enough, they came for it the other day. They didn't disturb anything much. They just pull it straight out of the ground.

So I figured the guinea wouldn't return for sure. Darned if she did! She sat on it for quite a while yesterday. I don't hold much expectation for a successful hatch, she's just not sitting regularly.

Should be hearing from the NC guinea breeder soon about my order for keets.

In other news:

The horsey neighbors are gone already. They were only here for a week. This happened once before so I'm not sure what that's about. Maybe they were just holding them until other pasture arrangements were made.

tnt

Eggs!

2010-05-01T06:28:00.012-04:00

There's not much happening in the bunny barn right now. The 2 litters are almost 3 wks old now and I've been attempting to sex them. Still pretty small for that, but there might be broken does. Several litters are due around the 2nd week of the month.

So I'll talk about guineas. I've been watching closely and the hen finally laid on Thursday - 4.29. There are 18 eggs and they are in the incubator. The adventure begins.

There's an acre and a half for her to hide in, so what do I look for? They always stick together. Members of the flock are rarely out of sight of each other. When I noticed I could only see one of them, I paid attention to him. She won't be far away. Then I listen for her call. The hen is very good at hiding. Even when it's found, it's hard to see her on the nest. She eventually calls out and then I can pinpoint her location.

I was very lucky she nested where I could get to them. With all the prickly brambles around here, that could have been a problem. She was in a little "cave" of tall grass under a honeysuckle on the outside corner of the fence.

When she got off the nest and was out of sight, I collected the eggs. At first I left her 2 in case she wanted to lay more, but she didn't return to the nest. I guess she knew it had been disturbed. I collected those eggs as well.

Of course, I knew I should have had the incubator set up and ready to go, but I procrastinated. Turns out that was ok. I researched and learned it's best to let the eggs "settle" for most of a day before starting incubation. Settling lets the contents of the eggs stablize and brings them to room temperature before exposing them to the much warmer incubator. These were so freshly laid, they were quite cold. While the eggs settled, I set up and regulated the incubator.

That was tricky. It's real sensitive. One of the things I couldn't get right was the humidity. There's several small holes and one larger one in the top. I covered them with tape and the humidity immediately came up. Then it was too hot. So I uncovered some of the small holes and that seemed to do the trick. Still can't get humidity above 50% so I hope that's enough. The incubator is a styrofoam model with a circulating fan. This may have something to do with why the humidity won't go any higher.

It also came with an automatic egg turner but I couldn't get it to work. Don't know what was going on there. I bought the unit used and had to print a manual from the website. The diagrams don't match what I have. I suspect I didn't have it installed correctly but couldn't see any other way. I ended up removing it and will just turn the rack by hand.

In the meantime, I had put in an order for some keets. I found a breeder within reasonable driving distance in NC. He has pearls and pied pearls. Cool! A different color will be nice. I ordered 8 pieds and he says they should be ready to go within a month or so. He has a lot of orders to fill before mine.

As annoying as that many guineas can be, I really really need them! I'm already finding ticks on the dogs and me. Yuck. 2 adults aren't enough to control them. I saw hardly any ticks last year when I had more birds! I did find a good way to dispose of any ticks that make it into the house on my clothes. I drop them in the fish tank. The cichlids love em!

In other news.

Haven't been able to get a good snap of the horses. They're shy and won't come close to me. They are being very well taken care of. The owners are out here at least once a day and spend time with them back by the barn. I can't see the barn very well from here so don't know what they do.

Oh I almost forgot! I finally have highspeed internet! Don't know why I didn't know this but I just found out I can get mobile broadband from my cell phone company. It seemed to me I should have been able to get wireless internet, but I guess I asked the wrong questions. A friend turned me onto the facts. I ran to the cell store and got the stuff. I'm lovin it! So many things I can do now that I couldn't before. I can even watch videos. So far I'm not a big video surfer because it still takes time to load one, but if it's less than 5 mins long, I'll go for it. But photos and heavily-coded websites...I can do that! It only took a few seconds to update my anti-virus where before it took too long and bogged down the internet while doing it. Not only that, I don't get disconnected all the time. My dialup ISP had a policy of disconnecting after 3 hrs (the Fair Use Policy), and it often dumped during inactivity...like composing a long post like this. I have finally joined the real world.

It was my plan to drop the land line phone and dialup bills. Together they are about the same as the broadband plan. When I talked to the phone company, he was so eager to keep my business, he came up with a new plan to save me money. What a racket! All this time (or at least since I've had a cell phone) I was paying for stuff I didn't have to. I don't make long distance calls, I use cell minutes, so didn't need that part of the bill. A couple other things and he cut my bill in half or more. I said ok, I'll try it your way. If it's still too high, I'll disconnect permanently.

Well, that was quite a ramble about things that have nothing to do with the rabbits. Oh well. I do go on sometimes.

tnt

Spartanburg.

2010-04-25T07:55:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately, turnout wasn't as good as hoped for. Possible reasons are that there are a lot of other shows at this time of year, including several breed nationals. It was decided that we'll continue with the January date unless we get snowed out again.

So how'd I do? Eh, soso. Didn't do anything in A and B. I entered 2 sure DQs and a possible DQ.

The possible was the opal buck (SVR Sterling) and he was busted in A for mismatched nails. He passed in B & C. He was BOB at his last show in Taylorsville, although the judges looked at his nails for a long long time.

Almost messed up! I picked Sterling up to put on the table in the next show and noticed long sharp dark front nails. WTH? I had clipped his as short as possible to lessen the odds for spotting the lighter nails on his front feet. I had the opal doe in my carrier! Not sure how that happened but no biggy. I knew who she belonged to. Just glad I caught it before I packed up to leave. I double-checked then, too.

Camaro has a broken toe and he was busted for it in A. Passed in B & C, and earned a BOG leg in C. Maybe a bit unethical to keep showing a DQ rabbit, but since it's not a genetic defect, I don't see a problem with it if the judges don't catch it. He now has 4 legs which is confirming his quality in my opinion. I'll keep showing him until more judges catch it than not. Hey, right now, he's the best I've got and it won't be worth attending any shows without at least the chance to earn legs.

Selia is a 75% broken and a seal. She has a bit of shading at this young age, so she passed as far as color (as a sable). She passed the broken pattern in A, but was DQ'd for over 50% in B & C. That's ok, I expected it. I like to test judges on the brokens now and then. I know as she gets older, she will turn black and it will just be her pattern at issue. Her type is worth it so I'm not going to throw her away.

Flashdance is a tiny broken black and this was her first show. She barely made jr weight at 1.5. Jamie Green gave her the BOV leg in C. He liked her!

Got home around 5pm. I like this show because it's a fairly easy drive and one of the shortest for me. Most shows are 3 hours or more. This is 2 1/2.

Next show is Lenoir City (Knoxville) and about 2 hours. Some of the farther TN shows I'm rethinking due to distance. I'll see how I feel when the time comes. I'm just not into driving very far for shows these days.

It was getting stormy as I neared home. The wind kicked up which I hate, and whipped most of the night. Dont' see much damage this morning other than some things blown around.

In other news:

The new neighbors are here. 2 beautiful horses! A grey and a chestnut. They look young and prancey. I'll get pix when they come to where I can snap them. Wolfie is fascinated. He's never seen horses before. Whipper has so he's not paying that much attention to them.

Cold!

2010-04-19T05:37:00.007-04:00

I hadn't been paying attention to the forecast. It's been pretty steady. Sunny, 60s/70s, 50s at night. Yesterday, I woke up to a freezing house! I did close the windows, but haven't had the furnace on. The outside thermometer said 34!

I had been leaving the 2 nestboxes in the shed at night. I take them away from the doe and just set somewhere in the shed. The main concern is that a kit doesn't get dragged out on a teat by the dam. They are about 10 days, and they have enough fur and all to handle a cool night. I thought.

I found Foxy's broken litter very sluggish. The smallest one was dead. I expected this runt to die so not a great loss there. It just wasn't thriving. I don't think any of them are being fed enough to put on the fat they needed to get through a cool night. Also, the fur in her box keeps disappearing. I keep adding more from the emergency fur, but somehow she is pulling it out. I brought the box in the house to warm it on the heating pad before giving it to her.

Taleah's litter of himis was fine. They are very well-fed and fat, and there is a lot of fur in her box. In fact, maybe too well-fed. They are twice the size of Foxy's.

Foxy didn't hop right in to nurse. She was more concerned about her feed hopper being filled. So I made a snap decision to switch them around. I put all the brokens in Taleah's box, and 3 of Taleah's in Foxy's. They were the biggest ones and probably BU so I can spare them if Foxy doesn't care for them. The one fat himi I left in Taleah's can help keep the brokens warm and stimulated. That worked, they were much more active the next time I checked on them. And fed. Taleah is such a calm doe. Not much fazes her.

And yes, the boxes came in the house last night. It's 36 this morning. And I didn't turn on the heat so I'm cold. I'll manage, I don't want to run the heat unless absolutely necessary. It shouldn't be necessary anymore.

Here is the broken litter.

Left to right: Siamese Sable, Chinchilla, Chestnut, Chinchilla. The little chin between the sable and chestnut is the one that died.

The other reason it wasn't a great loss is that the chins are "sabled". Note the brownish color. Chins are to be black.

The day I took this photo (at 8 days), I was calling them sable martens. Then I remembered the dam had a sable chin sibling. It faded at 4 weeks. I went out and looked again, and also remembered that earlier chin had dark ears and eyelids like this. I haven't seen chins in the box since the earliest days of the rabbitry, and couldn't remember what the kits looked like. Now I know.

Doesn't make me happy. I'd almost rather they were sable martens. Sable chin is wrong for NDs and not all that attractive. As broken, it might pass on the table, but I doubt I'll keep it. I don't want to see any more of this. I probably will because I bred Foxy's broken black sis to the same buck. He's sire of both these does. Hopefully I'll get some selfs out of that instead of chin.

Might have to think about moving the chesntut buck on. I got out of shadeds and he keeps throwing them. I like what he's done for broken type, but maybe this is as far as I can go with him. As soon as I get offspring from the opal buck, I'll sell the chestnut. Maybe seek another from different lines less likely to carry shaded. He would be better off in an otter/chestnut herd where the shaded gene isn't as likely to express.

BTW, the chestnut's pedigree is almost pure chestnut. There's one otter in the 3rd generation. That can be a problem with a "pure" ped like this. The undesirable gene could be farther back and carried on down. There's nothing to suggest it's there until it pops up in a litter. And to tell the truth, I'm not sure his ped is correct. The breeder isn't good about getting peds out to buyers, and just recently started using Evans software. I got lucky in that I had ordered the buck ahead of time, and asked that he please have the ped in hand. The ear tattoo doesn't match the ped. I just let it go as not worth the hassle. I just changed the ped to match the ear.

In other news:

I went to the big Sunday flea market yesterday to see what I could find in poultry. Nada. Lots of pretty bantam roosters, but no hens. No guineas. I'll try again in a month or so. Should be more available as the breeders start getting more hatches. The "guinea guy" said he didn't have any hatchlings, but might have some older birds to spare. I'll be watching my hen closely so I can attempt to save hers when she lays.

tnt

Blog-worthy

2010-04-16T05:48:00.003-04:00

I'm kinda excited about this so here I am writing about it.

Rana, my wee chocolate doe had her 1st litter yesterday. Sadly, it's dead, but still exciting for a couple reasons.

1st. Kits were alive! There were 3 born in the night. The black was alive but cold and dying. A chocolate that was alive at birth, and a broken that I couldn't tell if born alive or not. I decided not to try to save the black. It looked like it was taking its last breaths, there was no where to foster it, and didn't want to tie Rana up for just one kit that I didn't care about. So I let it die. The fact that they were alive amazes me. She was 2 days late, 1st timer, she's so small, I just didn't expect a live litter out of her. She didn't nest until that last day, and then she was frantic about it, and she pulled a good amount of fur.

2nd and the most important. Sire was Dot.com. The broken was dotted like him!!! He has never thrown his pattern before! He's a "dalmation" with evenly spaced spots all over his body. Coolest pattern ever and he never failed to earn oohs and aahs at shows, even from judges. His get always had a spinal stripe instead of dots. This dotty kit was the other reason I can't wait to rebreed Rana.

I know the odds of repeating this pattern are slim but I can only hope. I'm rebreeding Rana and Anaba today.

Update on the other litters. I now know for sure what the brokens are. I'm not saying here. I'm going to post them as a guessing game for the forums.
tnt

Baby update

2010-04-14T07:11:00.010-04:00

There's just the 2 litters, and looks like that's all there will be for now.

Taleah x Messenger - 4 himis. Doing well. I got a photo of this colorful himi litter the other day but haven't got it out of the camera yet. They were kind of messy...stained, a little wet. That happens sometimes due to the nestbox routine I have. If you've read my Articles, you know I put a piece of plexiglass on top of the wire bottom of the box. Under that a piece of foam for insulation. Once the litter is born, I slip a layer of newspaper under the nest material on top of the plexi. What can happen, especially with a good-sized litter like this, is that moisture can't escape. The paper becomes soaked, nest material is damp, the kits get wet. If it's warm enough, I remove the plexi and insulation a few days after birth which solves the problem. I removed it yesterday, put in fresh paper, and the kits were clean and dry by the end of the day.

Foxy Lady x Ranger - 4 brokens. Also doing well. I was concerned about one of the light brokens. It wasn't getting fed and very skinny. Expected to find it dead anytime. Yesterday, when I checked them before closing up the shed for the night, all were well-fed. Good. This is Foxy's 1st litter and she probably had to learn how to nurse. Might have taken some time to get the milk flowing well. Also snapped a pic of this litter for color development. Still don't know what the 3 light ones are, but I'm betting sables.

My best himi doe Anaba x Messenger had 2 DOA himis. She's a 1st timer. Odd-looking litter. A very large one and a peanut. I hesitate to use the term "fetal giant" because I don't really believe in the concept. It's just a large kit, probably BU, and sometimes made bigger by small litter or difficulty in kindling. But next to the peanut, it was huge. I think the peanut was alive at birth so that's a good sign for better results next time. She also pulled piles of fur. Lots of that went into the bag of emergency fur.

Rana x Dot.com. Looks like a swing and a miss. She was due with Anaba but no sign of nesting. She dug around in the box, but hasn't bundled hay.

All but these two does are rebred. I'll probably get to them today.

Damn. Don't see any guineas this morning. Cogburn the rooster is crowing and looking for them. I hope it's that the hen is setting somewhere and the male is watching over her. I'll scout around when I go outside in a bit.

Oh wait. The guineas just showed up. They were down at the bottom of the yard where I couldn't see them. Good. Guess Cog was just calling them in. Really need to get him some hens. He thinks the guineas are his flock. I think I'll hit the big Sunday flea market in Jonesborough this weekend and see what I can find. Hopefully more guineas, too.

tnt

Eager does, happy bucks

2010-04-12T05:32:00.006-04:00

I rebred most of the does that missed yesterday, and they were all very up for it. I'll get the rest today. Their bucks were occupied.

It's fun to sit and watch them play. The boys just look so happy. Bright-eyed, bushy-tailed. They "smile". Oh yeah, the does are having fun, too. Sometimes quite vocally.

I changed up the pairs a bit. All the opal buck's does missed and his breeder tells me his sire was slow to produce. So I'm only giving him well-proven does and the young does are going to proven bucks. Need to get those younger gals producing.

Many sale pages state a buck's proven or not status. I only give the labels to does. I've never run across a case of true buck sterility and didn't think it was necessary. Still don't.

The subject of legs in pedigrees came up recently. A recent trend on sale pages is to count up ALL the legs in the pedigree and include in the rabbit's description. As if this makes the rabbit more attractive or valuable. Apparently some buyers fall for it. What they don't understand is that two rabbits with umpteen legs can produce mediocre offspring. Buyers of expensive rabbits with legs expect the same, but might not get what they paid for.

On the same note, many buyers assume a big name rabbitry or Grand Champions quarantees they will get the same. They study the pedigree like a legal document and base their decision on it. Again, not a guarantee. Top breeders sell their culls, and often as jrs that develop differently. An ugly jr might grow up to be a fine sr. Or a nice jr grows up to be disappointing.

Some buyers look for those G.C. rabbits in the pedigree. It's not that hard to put a GC on a rabbit. All it needs is 3 legs and to pass a registrar's inspection for DQ's. Some breeders will scout shows where they know they can beat the competition, and even stack classes to earn those 3 legs and GC. A mediocre rabbit can earn a GC quite easily. They then put a higher price on its head.

Myself, I don't grand anymore. It was a bit of a hassle. You have to take the bun and a copy of its pedigree to a show's registrar. You might have to wait in line for the registrar to get to you. I might not be showing that rabbit much anymore, or it might not be in condition to show. So that bunny is just along for the ride taking up carrier space.

Even when I did grand, it was often a bust. At first, I registered the rabbit and then sent off for the GC certificate when they got the 3rd leg. Some never earned that 3rd leg. So I waited to register when they did have 3 legs. A couple times, I registered/granded with more than 3 legs and then lost the rabbit before I got offspring from it. One GC doe with 7 legs decided to never breed again after her 1st dead litter. A GC is wasted if it doesn't appear on offspring's pedigrees.

Some breeders work towards a "Gold" or "Red, White & Blue" pedigree. These are peds with all registered or GC rabbits respectively. They get a special stamp and recognition from ARBA. This is nearly impossible to get for Netherlands. We rely on BUDs, overweight bucks, and sometimes DQ colors in our breeding programs. None of which can be registered and granded.

In the case of big name rabbitries, there's no guarantees either. Buying one expensive rabbit from a top breeder could be a big disappointment. These lines are often so tightly bred (line bred) that they won't mesh with other lines. It's usually best to get a pair or trio from the same breeder. If you already have the lines, it's best to stick with them for the best results. Otherwise, looking for those names in a pedigree is not the way to buy a rabbit. Some sellers brag up the lines in the background. Top names in the 3rd generation mean nothing. Although, you should pay attention to the colors in a pedigree to make sure it won't affect your lines negatively. Buy the rabbit, not the pedigree.

When I buy a rabbit, I usually don't see the ped until I've made my decision and handed over the cash. I don't even ask for it until then. I like to see legs like anyone else, but except for the immediate parents, it's not that big a deal. More than 3 legs means more to me than a GC. If it has 5+ legs, it's a damn good rabbit.

Update on the guineas. Still seeing only the two, but now I know it's one of the males that went MIA. That means something took it. Bummer. The hen is accounted for. It's hard to tell them apart until they sound off. If I was paying attention I'd have noticed the hen's wattles are much smaller, but the calls are the sure way to sex them.

They roost inside the fence at night and my dog keeps anything that could hurt them out. I don't know if a raccoon could or would take a guinea anyways. Coyotes and stray dogs could. Don't see that many strays back here but we do have coyotes. It's possible it was taken when it stayed out of the fence too late or left too early. I might have to buy a couple more guineas if I can't count on a hatch from the one hen. They are just too valuable for tick control.

Oh yeah, in other news. I think I'll be having some neighbors again. Guys have been fixing the fence in the field next door. That usually means horses. I like having horses for neighbors.

tnt

Taylorsville

2010-04-11T07:57:00.009-04:00

Good show. With so many nationals going on this week, a lot of the usuals weren't there. Luckily there were enough dwarfs. I did pretty well.

Himi JB Camaro earned 2 BOG legs for a total of 3. He's been my pick of the 2 bros (Cavalier) since the beginning, and so far my instincts are right on. I'm still going to hang onto Cavalier for a while in case that changes as they get older.

I showed their half-sis Chevelle for the first time. She was the only himi doe so BOSV no leg. I sold her little sis who is very nice, too. I often sell the smaller of 2 sisters since their future is as a brood doe. Chevelle might even go broody, but that's ok. That's what I need her for...replacement for her dam.

Opal SB SVR Sterling was BOB in show A! Didn't see that coming! There were some real nice chestnuts and otters for competition, and they took show B. The judge and trainee looked at his nails for almost 10 minutes and I expected him to get thrown off. His front nails are pretty light but not white, and I clipped them as short as possible so it wouldn't be as noticable.

For the 2nd time, a judge questioned Bluesman's color. The judges want to say he's lilac. He is blue but rather light. I've had lilacs so I know the difference.

Next show is the Triple Crown in Spartanburg on the 24th. Don't know yet what I'm entering. Might not have as many. It will be harder to slip possible DQs past these judges.

In nestbox news:

Raspberry Run Taleah x Raspberry Run Messenger - 4 himis. She had 6 altogether. I knew she was stuffed with babies...her belly was draggin the ground. I think I'll document this litter for a color article. Right now they look like 2 sables, a smoke pearl, and a himi. They can only be himis but it shows how himi kits can fool you.

Foxy Lady x Ford's Ranger - 4 brokens + a broken peanut. Yay! I don't know what colors yet. I'll document this litter as well. Both parents are chestnut, but at this point only 1 kit is chesnut. This is daughter x sire so recessives could show up. Both carry self...might be something self. Sire carries shaded so daughter probably does...they look like sables. Daughter carries dilute, but sire doesn't...can't be blue. It will be interesting to see what other recessives the sire is hiding.

Little black doe Rayven (x Dot.com) dumped a litter of 4 on the wire. I didn't think she was bred so she didn't have a box. She didn't lift and I didn't see Dot connect. She made a pretty nest of fur in the corner. The kits were all DOA anyways, but at least not terribly mangled. I was worried she wouldn't be able to handle his get because he's bigger than she is. I think she'll be ok. 2 were well-marked brokens.

All the rest were misses. Dammit. I bred 3 to Sterling and 1 to Bluesman. I'm desperate for dilute brokens. I hope it's just due to the bucks' inexperience. I was really looking forward to Sterling's get. Bluesman is not yet 6 mos so hopefully just immature. Sterling is about a year old, but I'm not giving up on him yet. His breeder said that line was a bit slow to produce.

So I'll be rebreeding does today. Got a couple due on the 13th.

In other news:

I only see 2 guineas this morning. That usually means the hen is sitting on a clutch somewhere. Now to find where she is hiding. The males sometimes point her out so I'll keep an eye on them. I have an incubator now and will give that a try. These 3 are all that survived last year's clutches and I need more survivors.

All for now.
tnt

Color Management - Part 3

2010-03-24T06:01:00.018-04:00

This installment is about my own color management and history with color over the years.

On the way home from work one Saturday morning in 1999, I saw a sign in town that said "Rabbit Show". Really? I didn't know there were rabbit shows. I had a pet rabbit at the time, so I swung into the show to see what it was about. They were just setting up and told me when it would open, and yes...there would be rabbits for sale. So I dashed home, grabbed whatever I had for a carry cage and went back.

The showroom was packed by the time I got back. I had no idea there were so many beautiful rabbit breeds! I saw some that looked a lot like my pet bunny which led me to believe he may have been a Havana mix.

There were a lot of Netherland Dwarfs. I'd heard of them, but had never seen one. How cute! I brought home a pair for $25 each w/ pedigrees. Since they were adults, I decided to raise a litter of pets that would be bonded to me from a young age. I knew nothing about color! The buck was a Chinchilla and the doe was a Himi. I got one litter out of that sweet little doe and then she had to be put down for wry neck. Research said this was sometimes due to weaning stress. The litter was 2 himis and a chinchilla. I kept the chin doe for my pet baby bunny and gave the other 2 away.

I had internet by this time and used it to research this adorable little breed. I learned there were rules to breeding color and my pair was a big no-no. I had fallen in love and wanted more, and began to look for local breeders.

I found a couple in my neighborhood, and since I had the chin doe and her chin sire, I went with what would be compatible for them. I came home with an otter doe from one breeder, and a seal buck and smoke pearl doe from another who specialized in shadeds. I was off and running and various colors began to appear in the nestboxes.

I lost interest in the agoutis, and focused more on the shadeds. The otters were around for awhile, and the occasional silver marten came out of that group. I learned himi was a good mate for shaded and acquired a pair of those. Those original rabbits are still in some of my pedigrees way way back!

Then I heard about Blue-Eyed White. Oh my. I had to have some! I found a breeder in Canada in 2001. I was in Michigan and it was an easy drive to the Canadian border. I bought a sr doe who was bred, and her daughter from the same sire. I then found another BEW breeder in MI and got a blue VM buck and BEW doe from them. So began the BEW project. I won't go into the problems I encountered with this early BEW stock. This is about color.

It was probably close to 2 years before I got up the nerve to enter a show. In the meantime, I went to them to learn and pick up new stock. A wonderful little Sable Marten became an important foundation buck. I began to specialize more in the shadeds and shaded martens. More himis joined the herd to breed to the shadeds. I leaned away from otters and silver martens, expecially when I learned the shaded gene wasn't good for silver marten unless you were doing shaded marten. I got some badly colored silver martens in litters.

For many years, the herd consisted of shaded, himi, BEW, and a few tan patterns. I dabbled in orange for a very short time but quickly lost interest when I saw how difficult the variety was to acquire and breed correctly. The BEWs were taking up quite a bit of valuable space by this time.

In 2004, I retired and moved to Tennessee. I brought about 25 rabbits with me. I sold off a lot of rabbits to make the move easier. The varieties still included shaded, shaded marten, himi and BEW. Before I left MI, I picked up a few more from top notch breeders, and that included a blue otter out of import lines. So I was back in otter again.

I worked with the ones I had, and bought some southern stock to compliment them. I lost interest in the otters again and sold all but a son from that blue otter buck. I learned he carried everything, and I used him effectively with almost any doe. He sparked my interest in selfs, especially chocolate. I learned about recessive genes, and that I needed more chocolates. A good friend sent me some from MI. He also sent me a sable point buck. This was another recessive gene I had tried in vain to acquire by breeding. This buck finally got that project going.

About this time, brokens came on the scene. They were about a year from being accepted, so at the same time as the chocs and sable pt, my friend sent me 3 brokens...2 does and a buck. I was one of the first in the south to have them, and the first to put them on the table as soon as they were recognized.

I soon cut out the shaded martens, and only kept selfs and shadeds that came from the otter buck. His type was important and he became herd sire to the brokens. He also added his wealth of recessive color genes. I preferred the broken selfs, and tried to work the broken shadeds. That didn't work out as well. All the brokens carried self and I got more selfs than shadeds. The choc gene now being carried by most of the brokens also put a glitch in shaded brokens.

Soon other breeders were working with brokens and because they had otters (currently the best type in the country), I was falling behind. I could still claim the best patterns consistently and culled harder than everyone else for that. I don't care for tan pattern brokens, but needed type from somewhere. I had by this time a chestnut VM buck for the BEWs, and I realized how pretty agouti + white is. Enter the agoutis. This was the next best option for broken type improvement, and I acquired a pair from the best chestnut breeder in the south. I've come full circle to one of the original varieties in my herd.

I'll wrap this up to the present day. I've already talked about this in recent blogs so I won't go into details again. This past year, I took stock of the herd, my goals, and other things, and decided it was time to cut way back. I'm now down to selfs, agoutis, himis and brokens. I plan to maintain a much smaller head count in the future and work hard to move forward in my current varieties. My focus is the brokens. The selfs and agoutis won't be shown that much, they're mostly here for breeding to broken. The himis are my easy variety and I'll keep them to always have something respectable to enter in a show.

Happy Spring!
tnt

Color Management - Part 2

2010-03-23T06:33:00.050-04:00

Some colors are very easy, some not so easy, and some are very difficult. New breeders should think about this as they choose their colors. If they want some variety in litters, they should choose compatible colors.

Again, see Color Articles for lists of colors and how they can be used.

So what are the easiest varieties? One way to decide is to look at the Standard of Perfection. Varieties with the fewest color faults or DQs are generally the best for beginners. I'm not going to talk about every variety here. I'll just touch on the easiest and hardest with a few in between.

~ Very Easy ~

Ruby-Eyed White (REW). I call this the no-brainer color. REW is the true albino and there is no color to consider. The breeder can concentrate on type alone. It's not hard to obtain quality REWs. Breed REW x REW and you get REW. They are useful with other varieties, but you have to know what is under the white sheet or get some unexpected surprises in the nestbox. REW is a recessive (both parents must carry it to produce it) but it also seems to be a rather strong recessive. It can be carried hidden (not appear on a pedigree), and it pops up easily when two rabbits carrying it come together. Probably the hardest thing about REWs is keeping them clean and white. And it can get rather boring seeing nothing but REW in the nestbox.

Otter. Otter is currently one of the most popular varieties. Type is outstanding and that's probably the hardest thing about Otters...acquiring the desired type. Most of the top breeders are doing Otter, and the competition is large and fierce. The color itself is not that difficult. There are few DQs, and the main difference will be in the intensity of the coloration. Black Otter is the most common and usually does the best on the table, but all four colors are available. It also tends to be the most expensive to acquire high quality stock.

Chestnut. Pretty much the same as for Otter. Type is established, and it's not that hard to obtain quality stock. Chestnut can also be bred to Otter without degrading the color of either. Once upon a time, Chestnut and REW were the most popular varieties, but Otter has taken their places. They are often more affordable than Otter.

~ Not So Easy ~

Himalayan (Himi). I put Himis at the top of this section because it's not that hard to work with. The main consideration (after type) will be the quality of the point color. Mates are somewhat limited, but there are options to provide some variety in the nestbox. Many shaded breeders include Himi in their programs as Himi (and REW) keep shadeds from becoming too dark. The best point color is said to come from Himi x Himi. Selfs (Black, Blue, etc.) are also options for mates. The dilute Himis (Blue, Lilac) tend to not do as well on the table because the color contrast isn't as striking as black.

Shaded. I'm lumping all the shadeds together because in most cases they can be interbred and type is fairly easy to optain. This includes Siamese Sable, Siamese Smoke Pearl, Sable Point, and Tort. You do have to be careful when doing all four as dilute is unshowable in Sable Point (Blue Point) and Tort (Blue Tort). Although Blue Tort is close to being accepted. One of the worst things about the shadeds is the rather small window when they are in show condition. They go through the most horrible molts and can take forever to regain their former glory. Some (Siamese Sable is the worst) never do after a couple of adult molts. 4-8 months of age is often when they are at their best and it's probably when new breeders first become enamored of the colors. They quickly learn they don't stay so beautiful.

Silver Marten & Chinchilla. These colors can be affected by modifiers and recessives such as shaded and REW. They can be as stunning and typey as Otter when the color is correct. The hard part is getting that crisp intense color. Options for mates should be limited to Silver Marten and Chinchilla, and to some extent, Otter. Silver Martens and Chins should be obtained from breeders specializing in those varieties.

Black. Black seems to have overtaken REW in the Self Group recently. Type is very good across the board. However, it's not an easy color. Hidden genes and modifiers can ruin a fine black. There is the always annoying white hairs, and very few blacks are completely free of white. Whether scattered or spots, white is something that may have to be culled. The best blacks are said to come from Otters. The color is purer as long as the breeder has avoided other things like the shaded genes.

~ Very Difficult ~

Tan. This is the ultimate black & tan rabbit. Due to the genes and modifiers necessary, it is one of the most striking varieties. I put it at the top of this section because it's the most difficult. It's a very rare variety and type is just not there. Many Tan breeders use Otters for type, but it's a vicious circle. Breed to Otter for type...lose color. Breed back to Tan...lose type. Many breeders attempted it, but gave up in frustration. There is only a small handful of breeders still working with it. Tan is not for the faint of heart and you really have to be dedicated to it. It also needs more space. One of the colors most helpful is Red and it's unshowable.

Lynx. This is another rare variety and the color is hard to breed correctly. There are quite a few faults and DQs, and unshowable Chocolate Chestnut may be necessary to work with it. As with any rare variety, type is a work in progress.

Orange & Fawn. These are pretty much stand-alone varieties. They can be bred to each other, but other varieties should be avoided. They are judged strongly on coloration. Smut (scattered black hairs) is a severe fault and is usually tied to the Oranges being based on black. You need the recessive Chocolate gene to clean them up. Outcrossing to Otter for type can be disasterous for the Otters because it adds the undesirable non-extension gene that produces unshowable Tort Otter. Chestnut is a better option for type because Orange/Fawn are agoutis. Unshowable Chocolate Chestnut is an ideal mate. Again, you need extra space.

Blue-Eyed White (BEW). This is another stand-alone variety that requires extra space and dedication. Type is the most difficult thing about BEWs. The color itself is not that hard, but does require outcrossing to create unshowable Vienna-Marked (VM) to improve type and suppress undesirable genetic traits. Due to these factors, they are a bit rare, and there's often not enough decent competition.

In Part 3, I'll talk about my own color management.

Color Management - Part 1

2010-03-19T09:16:00.044-04:00

One of the fun things about Netherlands is all the colors that can be shown. Most of those varieties are shown separately and then in their group, with lots of opportunities to earn legs. Finding an assortment of color in the nestbox is much more interesting.

One of the traps a new breeder can fall into is rushing to obtain lots of different colors and then learning that some can't be bred with others. Well, they can of course, but if trying to raise show rabbits, you must follow some color rules or risk too many unshowable colors in the nestbox. They find themselves breeding color instead of type, and might become frustrated when they don't advance as quickly in the show world. A new breeder should research the varieties they are interested in before making any purchases, and it's always best to start small.

See Color Articles for lists of recognized and unrecognized varieties.

Is there good type available in the variety?
Common varieties are usually more established in type. You need only find a good breeder willing to share their better stock. Rarer varieties are generally behind in type as the color itself limits the options for improvement.

Are there enough other breeders/exhibitors to provide decent competition?
It's very hard to earn legs* with a rare variety. The lack of breeding stock and breeders of that variety can make it difficult to progress in type, and they may not be able to compete with other more common and established varieties. On the other side of the coin, the most common varieties can be overwhelming on the show table, and even harder to beat.

* Legs are often the most exciting thing a new breeder/exhibitor can earn. Of course, winning Best of Breed is the goal, but leg wins let a breeder see that they are going in the right direction with their varieties.

Is it a "stand alone" color, or are there other options for mates?
Some varieties simply must be kept to themselves. Outcrossing (breeding to another color) can be done for type improvement but you often go backwards in color. They can add undesirable recessives to another variety and create problems, both for the breeder and anyone they sell to.

Is it a difficult color? (rarity often tells that story)
This is related to the previous question. Some varieties are very difficult to get correct color and breed out color faults or DQs.

Do you want to do well on the table right away?
This can make or break a new breeder. If they go into a show expecting to win, but don't, they can become discouraged. They spent a fortune on rabbits and assume that means they got the best, but as anyone knows, a breeder won't sell their best. If the breeder is at your shows, you probably won't beat them. You should have realistic expectations, and the will to work with the stock you purchased until you can beat the best. Most of the breeders at the top have worked many years to get there. The quickest way to get there is to limit your varieties to the ones with the best type.

Are you willing to put a little time and effort into a variety?
Some varieties aren't difficult and it's just a matter of acquiring the best starter stock. Others require more effort. You many not be able to find superior stock in a rare variety. It can take years to progress in type. Sometimes, you have to start from scratch and create the variety by acquiring stock carrying the necessary color genes. This can take several generations to get all the parts in one litter.

Are unshowable varieties necessary to produce correct color?
Some varieties need an unshowable color to produce correct color and type imrovement. You need extra room for these.

How much are you willing to pay for stock?
The top breeders command top dollar. You might have to go out of your region to obtain them which can involve transport expenses. You can usually find more reasonable prices in your own region, and local breeders might be more willing to help a newby get started without breaking their bank. However, no breeder sells their best, and you probably won't be able to beat them with the rabbits they sold to you. Although it does happen sometimes that a breeder culls so hard they get beat by their own rabbits.

In Part 2, I'll talk about my observations on which varieties are good or not good for beginners.

Moving Day

2010-03-12T16:42:00.003-05:00

Moved all the bucks and jrs out to the Summer House today. 19 altogether. That leaves 12 does in the shed. Most of those are bred. Will breed the rest this weekend.

After I got everyone situated, I sat down and watched them. It's fun to watch them check out new digs and neighbors.

That takes quite a bit of regular cleaning work off me. Just 12 in the shed means I can clean the brush clean system into one bucket instead of two every other day or so.

I suppose I could move all of them out there. With the herd reduction, there's plenty of holes. But I just feel better knowing litters will be born in the rodent/snake proof shed. I can also control temps in there if they fall when litters are due. That happens a lot. And I didn't really design the Summer House's holes for nestboxes.

Now I can begin spring cleaning in the shed. Not really looking forward to that big job but it must be done.

7 days until SPRING!

tnt

Aaah spring

2010-03-09T05:53:00.003-05:00

The days are warmer and the does are a-lifting. As I promised myself, I got several does bred yesterday. 6 of them.

The agouti bucks got 2 does yesterday. I don't usually do it that way but midway through the day, their does lost interest in any further play. So I put them back and gave the bucks the next does in line for them. Those does had a sleepover.

Got several more open does and I'll try them today. Some weren't up for it yesterday.

Noticed the daylilies are greening up. Doesn't take much warmth at this time of year to get the sap flowing.

10 days until SPRING!

tnt