It's been raining here for over 2 weeks, and where we do have 2 days that it's not calling for rain, there does not appear to be an end in site anytime soon. Now, considering the fact that generally we do need rain, right now, it's keeping us from getting the garden plowed, and keeping us from being able to do some of the farm work that we've been wanting to get done.
On the upside, the peas are growing quite well, and I'm hoping that it wont be long before I'm picking peas. I'm so ready to be canning and starting the process for getting ready for next winter. It probably sounds like a funny thing to be worried about in May, but well, we all know how the winters on the East Coast can be.
Ginger had a littler on May 4th. Initially I thought she only had 8 kits...I was really surprised when I went out there yesterday with a container that had a towel in it, so that I could take them all out, and discovered that she had not 8, but 10!!!! That's the most she's ever given birth to. Not the most she's ever raised, but the most she herself has delivered. (if you all recall, she raised 3 of Betty's the one time.) So then, on Monday evening when I was doing the end of day chores, I noticed that Lucy was acting kind of weird, she was pulling fur and acting frantic. We had not been able to breed her when we tried to breed her the same time we bred Ginger and Betty. She was violent towards my bucks. Well I figured it was from all of the hormones floating around the rabbit house and that she would want to just make a nest for the sake of making a nest. Wrong, I went out there yesterday morning, and I saw that her nest box had a perfect nest, with lots and lots of fur in it...I was like wow, impressive, she made a really awesome nest for a doe that's not pregnant...then I thought...wait...just for the sake of looking...I stuck my hand into all of that fur and felt squirmy little babies...I was like holy crap!!! The only thing we can figure is, Bob had escaped his cage a few times, and I came out one morning and found he had climbed on top of the does cages, and I think he must have gotten her pregnant. Her cage was too far from Fred and George for it to have been either of those two. I took them out to check them last night, because I had not been free feeding her during the last 2 weeks of her pregnancy that we didn't realize was even happening. She had 6, 5 black and 1 blue. I know that Bob carries Blue, and that Lucy has a genetic back ground of all of the Silver Fox colors, so that was pretty good to see her give me a blue. I'm still waiting on Betty to have her kits. I'm thinking if she doesn't have them in the next 3 or 4 days I'll just have to take the nest box out. So, right now we have 27 kits all of different ages. Right now, Doris is the only one that has any kits by George.
Speaking of George, we are going to put him with Ethel when we take her kits away from her. I need to put him with one of my best does to see what he will do for that line Genetically. And if those kits turn out good, we're going to go ahead and weigh him, tattoo him, and write up and print out a pedigree for our book. Then, once Lucy has successfully raised this litter, and has weaned them, and we get her back to pre pregnancy shape, we will go ahead and get a weight on her, and tattoo and do up her paperwork.
Neither of the two Blue does we brought home have given birth or shown signs of nesting yet. I know that if they aren't pregnant, we need to work on them a bit and get them in some kind of a better shape. They were in the hands of inexperienced rabbit breeders/raisers, and their nutrition wasn't what you would want for breeding rabbits. We take their nutrition, and care very seriously. Unfortunately, it turns out that their pedigrees weren't worth the paper they were printed on. There were no weights, and they were missing lots of tattoos, and stuff. So, we are going to have to get their weights, and start from scratch, and work on breeding 3 generations so that we can have pedigrees from their lines. They have good fur, a good shape, etc etc, but it's going to take a lot of selective breeding/keeping before we have pedigrees from them. (oh the joys)
Everything in the world of chicken keeping is going well...kind of muddy right now thanks to all of the rain, but as soon as its not like shoveling soup, we will be out there with shovels, and buckets, and new bedding. People ask me if they are really worth the time, work and effort it takes to keep chickens, especially ones that I'm not able to free range, and my only answer is, yes. I cant describe the love I have for these funny creatures that are flighty, smart, and stalk me from one end of the run to the other, and wait for me every morning at the gate door. They have found a huge place in my heart, and aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
And lastly, we are going to be buying some hog panels every month, and putting them up as we buy them. What are we getting ready for??? Hogs!!!!! We are going to be raising American Guinea Hogs. We will be getting a trio next spring, 2 females and a male. I am actually thinking that if I have enough saved up for them we may actually do 3 females and a male. The Guinea Hog is a fascinating pig, and I'll tell you more about them as we go. I think that for now, I've blogged on for a bit longer than I usually do!!! I'll have some new recipes coming up here soon to share with you all!!! But for now, I'm going to close up.
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