St. Patty's babies - 3/16/13

Or close enough to St. Patrick's Day to say so.  Baroquen x Smith's Boo made my day.  She has 3 beautiful brokens.  I'm also calling it my lucky birthday litter.  Hmmm, green might be the theme for names.

Baroquen is one of my favorite brood does.  She's also the oldest in the current herd.  Still producing like crazy, and she hardly ever fails.  One of the best things about her is that she always throws nice brokens.  This time, it was 3/5.  Last litter (died of cold) was 2/2.  Before that 4/4.  There's almost always a keeper or two.  The litter of 4/4, 2 had her gorgeous bold pattern which she had never thrown before.  I kept the 2 does from that litter and one has the pattern.

I had Baroquen up for sale a while back thinking I was done with her, but then took her down and bred her when I didn't get any bites.  That's also when I got the 2 new bucks.  So glad no one bought her then.

She might go up for sale after this litter, or I might repeat the sire(s) one more time.  I'll see how I feel about that when I see how this litter turns out.  I'd like to try Smith's Lou again because I didn't get the chocolate I was expecting from that pairing.  Maybe the genetic dice will roll in my favor next time.

All the other does are bred, and a 1st timer is due Monday.  Here's hoping St. Patty and Baroquen's success bring good luck for more spring litters.

It's finally like spring here!  71 as I write this.  Bout time.  It's been too cold and it snowed a couple days ago.  Yeah yeah, I know, it's just March.  But it's March in the south, ya'll.  It's supposed to be better by now.  

3 days until SPRING!

Oooh, what's that smell?

Late last night, I was awakened by a strong odor and Whipper carrying on.  In my sleepy fog, it took me a while to identify the smell.  I knew it, just couldn't put my finger on it right away.  Oh yeah...skunk.  It wasn't wake-up-choking strong, that's actually happened to me before.  Many years ago, I awoke gagging with streaming eyes because something that had been sprayed was right under my bedroom window which was open because it was a warm night.  There is nothing like being that close to skunk spray!  Last night was more like the sorta burnt odor you catch in your car when you go by roadkill.  In fact, when I first woke up to it, I was trying to place it as something burning.  It was still strong enough that the skunk must have been very close to my house which is closed up because it's cold out.

Since the odor wasn't debilitating and eventually faded, I think it was coming from the skunk itself (they often carry the odor), not actual spray.  I was worried Whipper had been sprayed but luckily not.  I don't think he has any experience with skunks, and I really hope the odor made him think twice about messing with it.

When I was touring houses with my real estate agent, the subject of wildlife pests came up.  She said skunks were the main ones.  Turns out that wasn't the case where I settled in.  Raccoons and coyotes are the main pests here.  This is the first time there's been any evidence of skunk in the 8 years I've been here.  Really hope it was just passing through.

Here's another skunky story from my past.  I was living in a single-wide mobile home.  We had built skirting from T1-11 (grooved plywood) and tacked fiberglass insulation to the inside.  This was Michigan, you needed every bit of help against frozen pipes.  We included a couple of access doors in the skirting because you do need to get under there.  I used to store stuff in the one in back.  One day I opened it to put some stuff in and was shocked to see a skunk curled up all cozy in the insulation it had pulled down!  Whoa!  It sleepily looked up at me and I immediately shut the door before it woke up fully.  It left, I think that night, and I scattered mothballs in that space and any other access points I found in the skirting.  Mothballs really do work to repel many pests.

Another time, my neighbors were all excited when I came home from work because they saw a skunk and 3 little ones go under my house.  They insisted I get the park manager to set a live trap.  I said oh no...I DO NOT want to piss off a mother skunk under my house!  Since this happened in broad daylight, I was sure she'd take her little family elsewhere after dark and I was right.

I posted this to Facebook, but I'll talk about it more here.

This is a better chicken feeder.  I've seen variations of this online, and one guy on Craiglist was selling them for $35.  I made it for about $18.  It's 2" PVC pipe and fittings.  I wonder if anyone wondered what I was doing in Lowes as I picked and tried parts to see what would work.

It was my hope that it would minimize waste and it did.  The hopper style feeder I was using just wasn't very efficient that way.  Too much feed ended up on the ground, and to force the birds to clean it up, I had to leave the feeder empty for a day.  This rig is harder for them to scatter it around.  I used my little Dremel tool to cut the holes and sand the edges smooth.  The 45 degree elbow is attached with a couple screws in each end because the weight caused it to fall off.  I didn't glue it so I could take it apart if necessary.  I left the end fitting loose to make cleanout easier.  There's holes drilled in the bottom for drainage in case water gets in it.

I added this fitting to the top to serve as a funnel.  There's a heavy end cap sitting inside although it might not really be necessary.  I thought it would help with any rain that might hit it since it doesn't go all the way up under the roof.  Rain doesn't usually drive in from that East side.

I had to make an adjustment in the design since I took these pix.  Feed wasn't coming down on its own.  I had to reach into the elbow with a tool to scrape it down into the feeder part.  It was about the angle.  I added a block behind the top to create more incline in both ends.  I also recut the hole at the elbow so the birds could reach the feed laying at the bottom of the elbow.  That fixed that, it's now coming down properly.

Not much going on with the bunnies.  I have a litter due from a 1st-timer but so far no signs she's nesting.  The rest are due next week.  I had to pass on Spartanburg because of the ice storm.  I've only missed it one other time due to weather, and that time the club cancelled it because of the snow that happened over the whole region.  I heard they delayed it a couple hours this year to give everyone more time to be safe on the roads.  I believe all of us Tennesseans opted out rather than risk icy mountains.

It was a good thing I stayed home.  I don't remember this much accumulated ice since I've been here.  It's usually either rain or snow...too warm or too cold for freezing rain.  I expected the power to go out but happily it didn't.

I'm going to try for Fairview the end of this month, and definitely Dalton next month.  My favorite jr doe (Fairlane) went senior weight but I still like her a lot so I do want to show her and her sis at some point soon.  Fairlane might be a BUD but I don't think so.  She's not humongous and her ears are 2".  I think she's just a big boned gal which is a good thing.

Even though it's been a relatively mild winter, I've had enough cold.

39 days until spring!

tnt

Rain rain rain rain rain

Never let up yesterday and still raining this morning.  It is so gooshy out there.  I almost went down yesterday while walking from the barn.  Really gotta be careful with well-worn rubber clogs on slick mud.  So glad I had the gravel driveway put in last year.  I probably wouldn't be able to get out, let alone get back in.  The last heavy rain about a week ago was the first time since I put it in that there was standing water on the low spot, but it's no biggy now.  The gravel is solid and grippy under the tires.  I'm sure there will be even more water by the time this system moves on.

Finally got all the does bred!  Mano...every single one was frigid!  I admit I didn't try every day so I might have missed their receptive days if they had one during that time, but still pretty frustrating.  The exceptionally warm weather this week motivated me to make a sincere effort, and every doe responded.  Almost every doe.  Every doe I tried.  I'm keeping one just turned senior open for shows this month and next.  I'll get her the next round.  Also didn't breed Broken Dream because she's for sale.

The other day, I realized I hadn't seen Silky.  Searched the yard for evidence and found nothing.  I did find a skull and bones out back, but they're so clean and white, it couldn't be her.  She hadn't been missing that long.  I have no idea who that was.  It must have been there under summer growth and only just now became visible.  Tried to think when I last saw Silky but realized I hadn't counted heads for a few days.  Probably due to the weather, or the fact that I've been keeping feed in the hopper for the winter.  They don't mob me for food every time I go outside, and if it's crappy out, I don't spend much time looking for them.  They hunker down under big plants when it's like that.

The day after I missed her, there she was at the water bowl in the early morning when I looked out the window.  She had a long drink and looked extra fluffy and perky.  Then she dashed into the Summer House to grab a bite.  And then dashed out and around the backside (unpenned) part of the carport.  All signs she's broody!  I hurried out to see where she went but she had disappeared by the time I got there.  Still haven't caught her in the act, but I think she's under the tractor's mower deck.  There isn't any other place back there to hide a chicken.  I had raised the deck and chute when I parked it there for the winter and apparently that's just enough room for a broody little hen.  But I can't see her under there.  I've found a few eggs in the yard here and there pretty much all winter.  I replenished the nesting boxes with hay and placed some fake eggs in each one.  Hope that gets them using the boxes.  The only hen old enough to remember using the boxes is Buffy and I happened to catch the red roo mounting her the other day.  Hope she shows the others the way.

In nature, this happened.

This is unusual because while I might see the occasional Great Blue Heron flying in the distance, I've never seen one here, and certainly not perched.  This one apparently startled the neighbor's dogs.  I don't think they knew what they were carrying on about, maybe they heard the wing beats.  It's a BIG bird and would make a fair bit of noise in flight.  I looked out to see what was the fuss, and this bird was flying low circles over the yard near the creek.  Then it landed in the top of a tree above the creek and sat there long enough for me to grab the camera and attempt to capture it.  Again, love my new camera.  This was so far away, I could barely see it with my naked eye.  Most of the shots were too blurry but this one was good enough to share.

In other nature news, I think I've finally foiled the cat.  Abby is good!  She's an excellent ratter, and too good at bird hunting.  She launches straight up and snatches birds off the feeders.  Grrr.  I attached cage wire to the bottoms of bird feeders which did spoil her aim for a while, but she is really GOOD.  At this time, I'm only filling the one feeder in the front garden, and she has honed her skills to where the wire isn't stopping her as well.  When I found too much evidence that she was taking birds again, I tried something else.  I made a barrier with some cheapo folding garden fence I had on hand.  I set it out far enough from the pole that she can't get good aim from that angle.  Of course she can walk right through the fence to wait under the feeder.  I knew that and thought about attaching chicken netting to the fence to prevent her from doing that.  Figured she'd just jump over it (it's about 3' tall).  Laid some more wire across the top of the fence so she can't jump from inside, and I do believe that has put a stop to that.  The added benefit is that the ground feeders like cardinals and juncos seem to feel more secure with cover over head.  They are spending a lot more time under the feeder cleaning up dropped seed.  I love watching my birds so I'm glad I can continue to feed them without putting them at risk.

Been trying to deal with a mess.  Wicked windstorm just before Xmas blew off the entire tin roof of the old shed.  This is the barnwood-slat thing that was here when I moved here.  In its defense, the roof was hanging on by threads and it was just a matter of time.  Mostly I just stored junk in it.  A lot of junk that, you know, never know when you might need it.  I don't even like to go in there during summer.  Hornets and spiders and snakes, oh my.  It was sort of an annual ritual to go in and straighten it up after enough cold weather had removed the creepy crawlies.  The rest of the time, stuff just got thrown in any old where so I didn't have to go into it any farther than necessary.

Thankfully the wind didn't blow it where it could do more damage, like my house or rabbit barn.  It did land on the carport but the next gust blew it down to the ground.  I decided it wasn't worth fixing it.  Hoping I can find someone to tear it down for the salvage.  I can offer a lot of scrap metal for payment.  There's an old lean-to type of barn at the back of the property that has been coming down little by little in every wind storm.  That thing is like my own personal dump.  I throw stuff up there that I don't know if the community dump will take it.  A LOT of scrap metal back there.  Before I can have the shed torn down, I have to go through what's in there and decide what to keep and where to put it.  Trying to do that when weather permits.  It has to be warm enough for me to work outside and not raining because...well...no roof.

tnt

12.12.12

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

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

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

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

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

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

Close up detail on a clematis.

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

Song Sparrow in birdbath at maximum zoom.

Mid-range zoom.

Birchen roo.

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

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

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

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

Happy Holidays

Manna Pro

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Thanksgiving