The Nest Box 2019

[Nymphadora]

Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear your litter didn't make it in the cold, Shea. This winter storm has been troublesome at best.

Shazza, I'm right along with you. A bunch of young does I don't want getting fat and 1 old gal that I'd love one more replacement out of. And it's been a right circus getting them to breed. :x

I also feel like I should apologize for disappearing right around the time we were expecting kits... We did have 1 litter born last week (yay!), but I also started a new job last week and as such haven't been checking in on the forums as much as I like. Much less posting responses.

So, on to the happy: Lisanna had a litter of 9 and they were all warm and wiggling when I checked on them! They're still all doing well, although two are on the small side (I'm keeping an eye on them and if they don't seem to be getting enough milk I'll pull some of the biggest kits out for a night). This was the second time I bred her to our original herd buck, Odin, and we had a surprise red show up in the nestbox. I was unaware either parent carried nonextension! The rest are castors and opals, like the previous litter, so I'm thinking our girl doesn't carry any recessives on the A locus (I know Odin carries self). We'll keep test breeding to make sure. :mrgreen:

Oh, and :congratulations: to everyone else's piles of popples! The photos never get old! <br /><br /> -- Tue Feb 12, 2019 9:48 pm -- <br /><br /> Here are Lisanna's kits!

The wiggly pile on the first morning.


The little booted red baby.


I love all the booted brokens I get from this cross... pity I can't show them, but they're so lovely it's hard to be upset.

 

[bunny love]

These are my newest litters of french lops. My first second generation litter and I finally got some solid blues.

 

[dfr1973]

Big happenings here:
chicks started hatching in the incubator yesterday (Gold-laced Wyandottes)
a nanny goat is showing all the signs of imminent kidding
my maiden bunny girl Lacey had a mouthful of fur when I went to feed her breakfast half an hour ago! I just gave her a handful of pine shavings for her nestbox (which still doesn't have fur in it yet, but she must have just pulled her first clump of fur when I went to feed her) and she is panting like she's in labor. Will check on her in an hour. This is day 31 for her, so right on her mama's schedule. I'll probably wait a few days to take pics, her being a first-timer and all. Don't want the flash to upset her (and nothing will show without the flash in her cubby).

To top it all off, I have garden starts to transplant also.
opcorn:

ETA: bunnylove, congrats on the solid blues! I adore the blue color in all its forms.

====UPDATE!====
SIX! She had a six-pack! All live, wriggly good-sized squirmy-wormies, but the possible colors have me scratching my head. She made me wait nearly all day ... I was starting to wonder if she was going to do like my mini, Gracie (no relation) who started pulling fur 2-1/2 days before kindling last time. Nope, cool as a cucumber last time I checked, in fact she gave me the "You better have a treat for me this time!" look. Still cool as a cucumber when I fed her the evening hay, but I glanced into the cubby to see if she made a nest yet, and there they were on the "baby-saver" floor. As I picked them up and put them into the nestbox, I was pleased they were all warm enough. Then I gathered up as much loose fur as I could and covered them up. Hopefully, she gets the idea. The good news is we are in a warm spell down here, and it's forecast to last the weekend.

====Update 2====
I am very happy to report that first-time mother Lacey is caring for her six pack. I was a little worried yesterday when they looked a bit thin, but gave her 5 raspberry leaves in case her milk hadn't come in quick enough. Checking them last night showed she had fed them, but they weren't as fat as I would like ... but this morning there was more fur in the nest box, and when I picked up the smallest that kit was FAT and I could see the white splotch in the belly to show even the smallest was well-fed now. I told Lacey I was proud of her, which made hubby chuckle as he overheard me.

Lacey's mom Brooke is next up, with her day 31 being Wednesday. She was bred to Lacey and MaryAnn's sire Larry (the SCF's pet).

In other critter news, I had another great hatch, with 34 live chicks coming out of the incubator. My little nanny goat, Maggie, is still the proverbial broad side of the barn, but technically she's due this week although especially with NDs and ND crosses, there is a +/- of 5 days either way.

 

[Nymphadora]

Congratulations, dfr1973!

It sounds like Lacey's gonna be a good mom, and you've got tons of baby animals to play with! I've got Golden Laced Wyandottes on my wishlist as well, so kudos on the hatching!

 

[dfr1973]

I've got Golden Laced Wyandottes on my wishlist as well

If you want some nice triple purpose chickens (good at laying, males good for meat, and they all look good while doing it) drop me a line and we can work something out. I know express shipping across the country gets a tad pricey, so if you are willing to wait until I get my line stabilized - maybe 3-5 years - shipping will be all you'll need to pay.

(If this does not make sense, I can clarify later after the coffee jolt wears off. Maybe I'll be able to type properly then.)

 

[Nymphadora]

I've got Golden Laced Wyandottes on my wishlist as well

If you want some nice triple purpose chickens (good at laying, males good for meat, and they all look good while doing it) drop me a line and we can work something out. I know express shipping across the country gets a tad pricey, so if you are willing to wait until I get my line stabilized - maybe 3-5 years - shipping will be all you'll need to pay.

(If this does not make sense, I can clarify later after the coffee jolt wears off. Maybe I'll be able to type properly then.)

I've been researching chickens for years now, I think I can be patient for another 3-5. :lol:

Maybe I'll just start off with a few Eager Eggers and a Welsummer in the next year or two, that way when your line is established I'll be looking for some fresh birds to replace older layers, anyway. :mrgreen:

 

[dfr1973]

I was thinking just that: get some birds locally and use them to practice and work out the problems and general logistics. Once you get chicks, you will quickly learn just how many predators you actually have Don't forget about aerial predators: I lost a Wyandotte chick to a hawk earlier this year, and I suspect I've lost a couple hens over the years to a large owl (seriously, we saw it once - at least a five foot wingspan).

This has been such a busy weekend here. I did get the garden starts planted, but didn't get to putting seeds in the ground as I planned. Today, we went to get our second deluxe hutch, and a new stud bunny, unimaginatively named Dutch-Boy. My friend got him for free from someone who couldn't keep her rabbits anymore, but they don't need another stud, so they were just going to eat him even though my friend said it would be a shame since he has such a nice solid meaty body. I told her if my other friend doesn't want him, then I want him to add body to mine. So hutch and Dutch-Boy came home and were set up.

Just got in from evening chores, and I have a new goat kid. Except it wasn't Maggie - she's still huge. Nope, Cocoa Puff, who I figured had another week or two, had a large, healthy, and very cutely-marked girl, right before we went out for chores because the little one wasn't dried off yet.

Chicks, kits, and kids, oh my!

 

[michaels4gardens]

i like to cross Golden , or silver Laced Wyandottes, over rhode island red.. gives a meaty rooster, and great laying hen...

 

[dfr1973]

Shalimar pulled fur yesterday, on day 17. :wall: I guess this cross isn't meant to be this spring. She filled the nestbox this time, too ... I was checking under all that fur to see if I made a mistake. I'll give her a couple days, then see if she's ready to rock 'n' roll on Friday morning. I think I'll put her in with Dutch-Boy ... he ought to be settled in enough for that. :bunnyhop:

Oh, Michael, I haven't seen any decent (old-fashioned) type RIRs down here. I used to live up in Clarksville (hubby was still at Ft Campbell) and would have needed to travel to get some up thataway. What I am crossing my GLW roosters with are Isa Brown hen and red sex link hens. Right now I have one definite pullet from the GLW-ISA cross.

====UPDATE!====
Maggie finally kidded, and she had triplets, all boys. One appears to be polled like his mamma and gramma, and that is also the one who greedily takes the bottle. My friends were hoping either Maggie or Molly would have a polled boy who would take the bottle, and it looks like they've gotten their wish. Their billy, whom I named Harry Houdini as a kid, is developing quite the attitude, along with living up to his name and then some. The reason he is still alive at this point is that he is the son of my best milker, Prim, who has now officially passed the 24 month mark on continuous milking.

 

[Shea]

My satin doe Rory who gave me this last litter, starts nesting at week 1-2. She will pull fur through her whole pregnancy. Threw me for a loop on her first litter when she nested at 2 weeks since everything I had read stated that was a red flag for a false pregnancy.

Congrats on the red Nymphadora! I am one gen away from getting reds and torts in my littters. As long as one of these nice kits getting fat for me turns out to be a buck and friendly, i will have some very pretty kits come fall.

 

[Nymphadora]

Congrats on the red Nymphadora! I am one gen away from getting reds and torts in my littters. As long as one of these nice kits getting fat for me turns out to be a buck and friendly, i will have some very pretty kits come fall.

Thank you! It definitely wasn't expected, and of course DH has already fallen in love with our little redhead. Why does he always go for the colors, rather than the best growers...? :roll: :lol:
(He's adding to my color projects with each litter it seems).
I'll wish you luck with a good chunky buck to carry some torts and red into your nest boxes, too! :good-luck:

We never did get a litter out of Janey last time, so I bred her tonight, along with Juvia. I'm hoping this time I've spread my litters out better. The last couple weekends got entirely taken up with processing because I'd gotten behind schedule and had a bunch of grow-outs to do at the same time. I bred both to Odin (really interested in Juvia x Odin, they should grow pretty chunky), so Elf gets a turn next time we breed. I get better growth from Odin, but Elfman passes on good fur and rich color. Anyway, the buns are (hopefully) in the oven!

 

[shazza]

yep, all my february litters didn't take. the good news is all the does i had rebred a couple weeks ago were very willing and at least one of them is Incredibly moody now, so it seems like march madness is going to be a reality.

at least i got to make myself feel better by going to the local co-op and buying a bunch of chicks ;D

 

[dfr1973]

OK, now I'm really scratching my head here. Brooke finally kindled (she started pulling fur yesterday morning), and she has three big kits ... but not a one looks like Larry, who is a broken blue. I had bred Brooke to Jack, my opal buck, ten days prior to testing with Larry. Jack was busy with Lacey that day, I think, but Brooke lifted for Larry like nobody's business, so I figured the breeding with Jack didn't take. All three kits Brooke just kindled this morning look either opal or blue otter (I haven't sussed out all the recessives yet, see below), which makes me wonder: is it even possible that these are Jack's kits and she went 44 days?? :?: :shrug: :help:

Lacey's six pack is furring in, and will be opening their eyes over the next few days ... and I seem to have lilacs? Lacey is a broken blue of some sort, daughter of broken blue Larry and opal Brooke, bred to opal Jack. Now, Jack *has* thrown a solid gold kit (and a solid black, so I am assuming he carries the recessive self-color solid gene under the agouti), and the lady I got him from mentioned seeing the occasional fawn and lilac, so I guess it's safe to say Jack is also carrying the recessive brown-base, along with recessive extension? Figuring out rabbit genetics, even just for coat color, feels a lot like a game of Clue. MaryAnn, Lacey's littermate, is a broken ... *orange*. I do know Larry's dam is also a broken blue, but either didn't catch what his sire looked like or the lady didn't say. Brooke is an unknown, as I bought her at the livestock auction. So far, she has only had small-number litters of huge-sized kits.

Oh, over on the goat side of things, the smallest of Maggie's triplets died the other night. Apparently he lacked the suckle reflex, as he even spat out his mama's teat when I tried putting it in his mouth. He may also have been blind. The other two are growing and thriving. The firstborn I nicknamed "the Lone Ranger" because he definitely doesn't need anything from me and only seems to need Maggie when he's hungry. The rest of the time he is playing with the older kids. The middle triplet, whom I believe is polled, I nicknamed Mooch. Is happy to take the bottle, and I've even seen him trying to suckle the other nannies! He's now bigger than Ranger due to this mooching habit.

ETA: While I'm at it, Dutch-Boy has blue eyes, even though he appears to my (inexperienced) eye to be a dutch banded castor. Any idea where the blue eyes come from? Would they be dominant or recessive? I think they're cool, but he looks startled all the time.

 

[hotzcatz]

A day early! Generally, litters are more likely to show up a day late than a day early, but hey! Baby buns!

English angoras, from a chocolate mum (Olivia) x a tortoiseshell buck (Caesar). Statistically speaking, it's much more likely for the three pink ones to be tortoiseshell than Ruby Eyed White, but! (Or should that be butt? As in baby bunny butt? ) anyway, for half the litter to be REW is not statistically likely. Yet, if they are tort, what are the other slightly darker pink ones? Chocolates?

Well, in a couple more days, the colors will be more evident.

FWIW, I think we've got the lack of litters thing figured out. For the past few years, we'd been having problems with no baby bunnies showing up. Now we're breeding them much younger for their first litters and now baby bunnies are appearing much more often. For this particular litter, the doe was five months and one week old and the buck was just over ten months old. I'd thought she was a little young, but she not only had the litter, but a normal sized litter too.

 

[shazza]

well i finally got SOMEONE to kindle!! ten from one of my old does. i'll be keeping a nice daughter to replace her...i will miss the old girl. she's been an excellent doe. ten is her smallest litter to date and i can only hope her daughter is as prolific!


one of my other girls is acting very pregnant but still no real nest and i haven't seen activity in her belly so i'm not holding my breath...

 

[Shea]

Congrats on a successfull litter! Hopefully your other girl kindles for you as well.

 

[Nymphadora]

well i finally got SOMEONE to kindle!!

So glad you've finally got some babies to play with, shazza! I hope there's a real pretty keeper in that bunch for you.

We're giving the girls that should be due their nestboxes this weekend... with any luck we'll have some fresh buns in another week and a half!

 

[shazza]

me too! there's both satin and vm in that litter and i would love a daughter that shows both, but we'll see what i get.

my other girl came through though too! pure harlequin this time from both unproven dam and sire...very excited about these as well. there's a possibility for blue, lilac, chocolate, and black in both magpie and japanese, but so far it looks like there's only blue and/or lilacs, maaaybe one chocolate. i'm still so jazzed.

 

[Ferra]

I'm in the game now! Waiting on results from the two pairings below:

Grand Inquisitor (black tort buck) x Lee Lemon (opal doe)
Beautiful Bro (cream buck) x Goo Bun (black tort doe)

T-minus thirty days!

2019-04-24: T-minus FOUR days!

 

[dfr1973]

I have two new litters this week: Shalimar finally carried to term, but two of her five kits are head-scratchers ... first I thought solid white, but closer examination last evening show I somehow have two broken orange from a self-blue and a castor dutch-banded cross? I really need to break out the digicam for y'all. MaryAnn was indeed pregnant, and decided to outdo her sister Lacey not only by making me wait longer, but by having seven healthy little wrigglers. I'll have to see if I can move enough of the mountain of white fur aside to get pics - she pulled enough fur to keep an entire platoon warm.

UPDATES:
Shalimar does indeed have two REWs, not two brokens ... those were dirty paw prints, I guess. Her other three are blue, though! That means Dutch-Boy carries the dilute gene as well as the albino gene (as does Shalimar). Shalimar was rebred yesterday to Jack, and MaryAnn lifted for Dutch-Boy.

Brooke is now on day 37. I felt her belly the other morning, and it does feel like there's some buns in that oven, and yesterday evening it felt like her teats are filling, but still no nesting or litter. Lacey started pulling fur yesterday afternoon, and kindled another six pack overnight. This time, all the kits were in the nest box under a small mountain of white fur. Five look to be broken blue, and one looks like it may be an opal ... these are Dutch-Boy's offspring.