Open Does, Turkey for Dinner

Well, I just went through my list of Senior Does and I only have five that are open right now (of the ones I’m wanting to breed).  Now to figure out who their best matches might be:

White River’s Kenya (Black) – she’s gorgeous – just needs a more massive head.   She missed on my first try of breeding her.   Decided to breed her to White River’s Troy.

RA’s Capsaicin (Red) – was bred to ARR’s Angry Squirrel (REW) for Abby’s science project.  He was still on the young side when we did that breeding, so I’m not surprised things didn’t happen.  Will repeat the breeding.

GBF’s Tahlia (Tort) – I thought I bred her, but can’t find my notes!  Ahhh.  I hate it when that happens.  Now what to do…

White River’s Cora (SS) – thought I had bred her also to GBF’s Caden (carries REW or sable gene)…  where is that piece of paper!!!   Got one live kit from this same cross that I fostered to Triskit – and of course, it’s black (so far anyway).

GBF’s Cadee (Tort) – Poor Cadee.  Her first litter and she had a stuck kit.  She pushed all day and finally at 10:00 pm had delivered it enough that I could pull it.   She is out of White River’s Arden x THF Saynora’s Antigone.   She has a substantial body but lacks in the crown, so need to fix that.  The plan was to breed her back to Arden, but that can’t happen now.   So, Plan B.   I think we’ll go with WR Troy.

GBF’s Carmen (Black) – not quite senior yet, but want to get the ball rolling on her.  Breeding her back to her sire.

Have some does due:

Freeman’s Cocoa is due tomorrow.  I don’t know… she’s not acting like she’s gonna have babies.  Did see her in the nestbox this evening though.  I’m still not very good at palpating – I don’t feel any babies in her.  But, I’ve been wrong before.  She was bred to White River’s Dino.

Hunneshagen’s Salome (EA) is due Sunday.  She has been carrying hay around in her mouth for over a week now.  I gave her a nestbox early so she could start building her nest.  Oh, the hair is flying.  This is the first time I’ve bred her, so I hope all goes well.  ELS Mr. SandMan is the father-to-be.

GBF’s Topeka is due the 3rd.  She missed the first time I bred her.  She was bred to her littermate brother, Tobias, so we’ll see what happens – trash or treasure.  Man, she sure is grouchy!  And has a big ol’ belly going on.  Gave her a nest box today and she hopped right in.

Little Bit is the spunk-meister now.   He is still in the house with one of Baron’s kits and one of Charlee’s.  When I open the cage door, he is right there ready to hop out.  He is ALLL about his carrot at night, let me tell ya.  Cute little cuss.

Turkey Business

We took 8 of our largest Bourbon Red turkeys into the butcher this week (but not Tom or his two ‘girls’).  I baked one tonight for dinner.  Yum.  Fresh turkey.  We had 24 total running around.  So, now we are down to 16.  I want to keep 2 toms (including “Tom”) and 3 hens over the winter (including the 2 hens from last spring).  That way each of the girls can take a pair to the fair next year.  I’m keeping an extra hen ‘just in case’.   So, that gets us to 11 birds that we will take in around Thanksgiving.

Turkeys are the oddest creatures.  Whenever anyone comes up the drive, they come rushing out to see who it is.  They seem to be particularly fond of the UPS man!  It’s like they are the Welcoming Committee.  People who are not used to turkeys are a bit frightened, as they do look and sound fairly imposing when all the tom’s are displaying and gobbling.  When I go out in the morning to do chores, they come tearing towards me, making all their funny noises… where’s our food… where’s the grain??  Have you ever seen a turkey run?  It’s kind of like watching Jurassic Park.  🙂

Net 10

New Litters Update:

Little Bit continues to do well.  He is 7 weeks today and has gained a whopping 1.5 ounces since last week.  At least, he is putting on some weight.

Of the 8 does I had due this past week, results were slim:

GBF’s Tahlia x Emmet – 5 kits on the wire.  This was the first time she had ever been bred and her first delivery, so I knew the odd’s a having a live litter (or any litter for that matter) were if’y.

ARR’s Shmadzu x GBF’s Pistol Pete – 3 chestnut kits doing well.  Finally!  She missed the last 2 times I bred her.  So, I’m happy to have these 3 kits out of her.

GBF’s Triskit x GBF’s Tyraid  – 4 kits in a huge fluff of wool, 1 is a peanut though.  2 orange, 1 tort.  Reliable Triskit!

ARR’s Supersymetry (Suzy) x White River’s Troy* – 2 kits, 1 was DOA.  Fostered to Tallie.  Disappointed there were only 2 kits total and only 1 alive, but she also missed the last 2 times I bred her, so I’ll take this one live kit!

White River’s Cora x GBF’s Caden – 3 kits, but 2 peanuts.  Looks black, could be a Siamese Sable.  Fostered to Triskit.  This was the first time I had bred Cora, so I’m at least happy she can produce life.

GBF’s Fianna x White River’s Dino – appears to be a miss.  First time ever bred and he only got her 1 time, so I was not optimistic.

L&R Sedalia x Broo’s Chase – 4 kits DOA in the box.   This was disappointing since Sedalia is a proven mom.  I’m blaming this on the unseasonably cold weather we have been experiencing.

ELS Tallie x GBF’s Tobias – came home from the show yesterday to find 4 ice cold kits in the box.  I was able to revive 2 of them.  They are also rooming with Triskit’s growing family for the time being.  I will probably put Suzy’s kit with Tallie’s two and keep Cora’s 1 kit with Triskit’s brood.  7 kits is too many for Triskit to take care of.

So, out of 8 bred does,  7 actually delivered kits – so that was pretty good.  However, out of those 7 does I only have 13 live kits, 3 of which are peanuts and will not survive.  So, a net of 10 live kits for the week.  That is a pretty depressing low number.  Oh, well.  Better than none I guess.

NCIRBA Show

Ki and I went to the show in Nappanee yesterday.  The club picked a new venue for this fall show and it was GREAT!  30 minutes from my house (at the most), heated building (and floor!), LARGE building, tons of parking, and home made Amish/Mennonite donuts and goodies at the kitchen.

I had a lot of 2nds in the HHLC Specialty show, including a 2nd with my youngest SJB that I took – GBF’s Taber out of L&R Donna x GBF’s Tyraid.  The head and wrap around crown on this guy in SOOO nice.  KKR’s Izabelle, out of GBF’s Kuala Bear x GBF’s Annabelle earned her 1st leg with a 1st place in the BJD class.

Fared much better in the show proper, winning BOB with GBF’s Caden (his first senior leg to Grand with!) and BOS with GBF’s Mika.  That also gave Mika her senior leg needed to grand with.  Yea!!  GBF’s Taber won his class of 13 to earn his first leg.   Such a cutie!!   I almost didn’t bring him because I thought he was just too little yet.  Now I wish I would have brought his sister GBF’s Courtenay!  She has the same beautiful head and crown but I wasn’t sure she was big enough to warrant taking her.

“Little Bit”, “Mojito” and “Jupiter

Here are a few pictures of Little Bit that we took last night. We had him out on the couch with us (and the dog, and the cat!).

He curled up with Bandit (the cat) and took a little snooze for a while.  It was so cute.

Little Bit resting next to Bandit.

Mojito

I’ve been taking care of “Mojito” since the ISRBA show in mid-September.  He is a Sable Marten Britannia Petite bred by Krista Moe in Chandler, IN.  He is a part of the ‘bunny railroad’ – he is having a layover here at our house, until he is picked up by a transporter (Keith Rockwood) and taken out to Convention in California.  That is where his new owner will be picking him up (Tasia Thomas).

I’ve been very nervous taking care of him – he definately has a more ‘active’ personality then the Hollands or English Angora’s.  But, contrary to what I thought, he is not a biting-machine.  Although, when I was taking these pictures, he allowed me to click off a few before he leaped straight into the air about 4 feet.  That was my sign that the photo-shoot was over!

GBF’s Jupiter

I’ve also been ‘bunny sitting’ for a Chicago gentleman while he has been on vacation in Korea.  He purchased Jupiter from me back in February and needed someone to watch him while he was away.  Jupiter is out of GBF’s Tyraid x GBF’s Swiss Miss.  He was my pick of the litter, but Jupiter was the one for Wonseok.  He has been fixed and is the cutest stinker.

He is used to being a house bunny and running about free as a bird.  However, he has to be in a cage here and he is not very happy about it!

Such a handsome boy!