Chicks, Shiloh, Rabbit Ramblings & New Hedgies Coming Friday

Chicks are growing like crazy. I've only had them a week and they changed so much from when I brought them home. Few are starting to fly a bit and a few have tail feathers plus the wings. You sure an tell the difference between the broilers and the layers. The broilers are half again as big generally.

Shiloh is still gone. I know that she isn't coming back, but it would of been nice to find something or hear something. Someone I know said they thought they saw something that looked like one of my dogs on the side of the highway. I will have to walk the ditch again, if it her and it hasn't been too long I will take her in to be cremated. If it is her at least I know what happened to her. I'm not even sure why the dogs got out that night, they just did. One thing I can hope for is that Shiloh did not teach the younger dogs how to chew a hole in the chain link(which is how they got out).

Bred a bunch of rabbits and still have a bunch to do. I have been reading other breeders blog's and from reading the one blog I know I have some tough decisions to make this summer and fall. What the author wrote rang true with me and I have to do something to change what I am doing to make things better. I will be cutting back a lot and will be more selective about what I keep for replacements. Some cuts will probably be easy to justify as there will be does that I can't get bred or won't raise a litter. It won't be easy to actually send them on their way, though, as I get a little too attached to some of them and I do know most of the rabbits just by looking at them. The bucks I have will need to be evaluated as my ratio is far from the "ideal" and I really don't need that many boys. The lops are the worst for being buck heavy, all three breeds are closer to the 50/50 mark than I care to admit. The Lionheads and Harlequins are where they should be. I would really like my herd to get down by a third or even a half if I get really picky. It will not be easy to get down that much though.

The Florida doe has yet to kindle and I'm wondering if she absorbed her kits as I was sure she was pregnant. Will check her tomorrow and if nothing will put her to the buck. She hasn't even built a nest and just ate the hay/straw, so I'm thinking no babies from her for another month or so.

Supposed to be going to Grande Prairie on Friday. I am getting three new hedgehogs and I have to take Brianna her chair that we missed when coming back from Chestermere. I am getting two females and another male. Briar will finally have his girlfriend that we have been waiting a long time for. They will be coming from Winnipeg and hopefully everything will work out for Friday. Tomorrow I will know for certain if they are coming Friday or if the date has to be changed.

Chicks

The chicks came on Wednesday and they are growing like weeds. I can't believe how much something that little can eat! I have a person that wants to buy a couple of the layers. So at least I will not have 10-20 new laying hens.

The majority are the broilers and they will be gone after 2 months. Should be able to butcher them in one maybe two days. It has been a few years since I have done chickens and we used to be able to do 50 a day. Only have 40 or so to do. We may spread it out a little more as there is always runts and the pullets never grow as big as the cockerals. We just don't want 9lb dressed birds like last time.
Janine

Cages & Buns

Well, finally got the last few buns moved. Now I wish the shed was another foot or two wider as it really tight with all those cages in there. Wouldn't be too bad except for the outside feeders that seem to make it even more interesting to walk between them. Will have to do something different I think, but not sure right now. Don't have room for the stackers as it is right now. I think I will end up putting a third layer of cages on the one side and see if I can get the 12 hole double cage fit in different. We will figure something out, just not sure if it will be this summer or not. It was so much work to get this far and and I hate the thought of ripping it all apart again.

Now I need to do a little bit of a bunny shuffle as there is a few buns that are not in the right size cages and get the tattooing done of the ones that need it. Also get the name tags on all the cages so I know who the few that I can't ID just by looking at them are obvious.

Will get some breedings done as well. Both the Florida does caught, not sure on Buttercup. Will test breed her maybe. Any bunny that doesn't catch or kindle successfully after a few tries will be moved out. Can't be feeding a bunch of free-loaders that should be earning their keep by having babies and will be trying to downsizie a bit on the bucks as I have way too many Mini Lop and Holland Lop boys. Hopefully will get some replacements for some of my older rabbits as well.

Breedings

I palpated the Florida doe and she is pregnant. Will be interesting to see what she has. Also have bred the other Florida doe and Buttercup. Need to do more, but that is a start.

Have ten rabbits left to move to the new shed and then everyone will be under one roof. After they are moved, I will be working on redoing the stacker cages. Putting new bottoms on them and taking out the dividers.

Not much else going on
Janine

Took a few Pictures today

I took some pictures of the poultry today. The peacock was strutting his stuff and when his tail comes all the way in it will be very spectacular.

The goose is setting and hisses at anything that gets too close. She has 5 eggs last time that I checked.

One or two ducks are setting as well, just not sure where as they are good at hiding.
We have chicks coming next week on Wednesday. 10 Red Sussex, 10 Ameruanas, and 40 Broilers. I should be setting Partridge Rocks eggs in the incubator, but I have yet to seperate them from everyone else, though the crosses would be interesting.

I need to palpate the Florida White doe. If she caught, she could have some interesting babies. Not sure what a Mini Lop crossed with a Florida White would look like. The litter could also have two fathers as the Florida White buck clued in to what he needed to do after the Mini Lop.

Moving buns & Memberships

Hi
We have moved about half the buns to their new digs and are working toward the rest being moved. Should be nice when done and be easier to do chores as everyone will be in the same spot.

I sent in my membership to a couple clubs. Harlequins, French Lops and another that I am hoping to get a trio or quad of. Will do the Mini Lops next time around. Also have to do the Hollands and ARBA pretty quick as well.
Janine

Barn, Breeding and chicks

Well, our new rabbit shed is almost done. The roof has to be finished and the cage supports I have to build yet. Then the hard work of moving everyone. It is roughly 12x24' with the possibity of adding more later this summer.

Will do some breedings in the course of moving the buns and tattoo the ones that need a tattoo.

We are getting some chicks on May 23. Broilers, Red Sussex pullets and some Ameracuanas. We might have some other babies coming up in the geese and duck area as well. The goose is starting to sit and I have a couple ducks that are not seen very often. So maybe babies on the way there.

Not much else going on here
Janine

Planned Breedings

Well, I need to do a lot of breedings. And I'm probably going to be doing some(hopefully not a lot) of culling of the does that do not catch or kindle successfully. I hope to get a couple litters out of Willow. He is getting up in age and I had thought I was going to lose him this winter once or twice.
These are just what I am thinking of doing for the first set of litters:

Mini Lops:
Willow
-Calla
-Mouse
-Skittles
Van Gough
-Jen
Dark Secret
-Wenatchee
-Flicka
Prince Eric
-Bluejeans
-Pearl
Wes
-Shelby
Wetaskiwin
-Kahluha

French Lops:
Canon
-Lucie
-Phoebe
Jackson
-Bailey

Holland Lops
Cole
-Squirrelly
Comox
-Southern Classic
Elijah
-Kraft
Levi
-Petunia
Nicholas
-Shelley
Garfield II(RS1)
-Ella
Theotime(RS3)
-Pepsi
Sal
-Frosty
Taren
-Daila
Jordan
-Skywishes
Rueban
-Cobalt
Lots a Heart
-Pansy
Iggy
-Cassie

Harlequins
Langdon
-Buttercup

Lionheads
Dandy Lion
-Skip
-Mirage
Mike
-Tammy

Think that is everyone and this is a rough plan of what I am thinking and is subject to change. Janine

Saskatchewan and Rabbit Barns

Hi
We have decided that we are moving to Saskatchewan this summer or next(or so), depending on how things look. The trailer has had some improvements done to it to make it last longer and easier to sale. New roof, taking off horrible addition, fixing up the deck(until it can be replaced which it needs badly). I am not looking forward to moving that many critters though. They own more stuff than I do and it takes up more space. Will be a lot of work just to move them.

We need a new barn for the rabbits and shelter for the ducks/geese. Since we are planning on moving, we are just going to do a pole barn-type thing. It will have real walls on the ends to stop the nasty winds that we can get and the front and back will be a tarp or something along that idea. Cheap and easy to replace. It will be cheaper to build as it is basically a roof with legs and will be easy to keep cleaned out. Since it is cheaper to build I can go bigger and I hope that I will be able to fit all of my cages in it. This building should be started in the next week or so. I need to move a lot of junk first and some trees neeed to be cut down.

not much else going on
Janine

Chestermere Results

Well, we had a great trip down to Calgary. Had lots of fun with Laura-ann and Brianna. We had a few problems with the truck, but since it is on warranty(less than 35000 km on it) we just phone roadside assistance and they come and save us.

We were pretty tired by the end of the show but we were all pretty happy on how we did. You could tell that we were pretty tired when we could not stop giggling at the "cow house" after the zoo and how much fun we had getting lost looking for Westjet Cargo.

For other results, most of my rabbits need condition but still comments was what I was after anyway. Congrats to Brianna on her Youth BIS!

Anna got a BOS and BOB with her Mini Lops in the Youth Show(Ginger-BOS, Wetaskiwin-BOB) Samantha got a BOB with Buttercup under Jan Gosen and BOB(Bliss) and BOS(Langdon) with her Harlies in the Youth Show. I got good comments on all my buns and did fairly well.

I bought some new buns, we brought home a trio of Floridia Whites(wow is all I can say about the muscles on these buns) I bred the one doe already and the litter might be a little interesting as the buck was NOT interested in the doe at all. We then brought out the extremely interested Wetaskiwin and he did the job. The FW buck then was interested and did his job. I guess he needed the competition and shown how ;-)

Also bought some Harlequins - a junior blue doe from Barb Adams, a junior blue buck from Marlene and a senior buck from Valdine(Langdon). Everyone says that I have a VERY nice harlie herd now. Samantha is set with them now. Just have to get some babies from them :-)

Also bought two frosty hollands from Shannon. Both got great comments in the show. The doe is retired to the brood pen now and I imagine that I will bring out Tucker again at the next show. He has the potential but is gangly.

We picked up the two Frenchies from Sarah. I love the Chinchilla doe, both Brianna and Laura-ann said they wanted her as well :). The little steel buck is a cutie as well and shows lots of potential.

Need to get some does bred and hopefully we will have a baby boom. Need to get some babies and then we get some of the seniors out of here that are needing to go.

We also went to the zoo and could of spent much more time there. The girls had fun(so did we)

and was a nice way to spent some time.

We then went and saw some very cute puppies at Lisa's and we of course wanted to take them all home(thankfully they were 4 and 5 weeks old and you can't take them home that young)

Lisa was very happy with how Kiley is turning out and Kiley had a good lesson at the bunny show on how to behave at a show. First day she was a little whiney, but she learned quickly that mum was too busy to play all the time. And no messes in the crate, though once out of it you better be moving fast to a potty spot...

There is more pics of the show and the zoo in the photo albums, didn't get as many as I wanted

but there is some good ones.

Well, that is about all

Janine