Coyote Creek

The daily ramblings of a turkey shepherd.

[coyotecreek]

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Welcome! Please read over these important notices!

First: If you’re sexist, racist, fascist, ableist, homo/transphobic, or a shitty human being in general, then please show yourself out. :) This blog is run by a pissed-off millennial transman who does not have time for your bullshit, and will just straight-up ignore & block. I won’t even give you the time of day, so don’t bother me with it.

Second: As stated in the “about” section, we do raise some of our animals for meat (and we make use of EVERYTHING). I have nothing against vegans and vegetarians who are respectful, but if you come here screaming at me, calling me a “monster” for being omnivorous (these animals also feed our dogs, cats and snakes, for the record), you will also get the silent treatment and a block.

Third: I’m willing to answer any questions you may have about my animals, setups, or practices, but I will not give medical advice pertaining to your own animals. I am not a veterinarian, and you need to contact someone who actually knows how to help your animal. Don’t ask strangers on the internet, and be very wary of anything online that tells you how to treat an animal. This can be extremely dangerous or even illegal. Please, CALL YOUR VET.

[coyotecreek]

Litter FH1. I love these. They're like little puppies. Just spilling out onto me the moment I open the door.

[coyotecreek]

Don'tcha just hate when you have a growout you weren't planning on keeping, and every time you look at them, you're like "...Damn, that kit is nice."

Raiju. Last of the KK1 litter. Not only is this kit super friendly and sweet, he's got rreeaaallly nice type, and it just keeps getting BETTER. Dude, what? And why are you a BUCK? I like him more than Juneau's kits (they're all afraid of me, for some reason??). Which has me thinking. I mean, I gotta keep someone from Juneau, regardless, but Raiju could be useful, in the meantime. I'd just have to keep him until.. September? More on that later, perhaps.

Speaking of growouts, I looked over the 420 litter today. Most are pretty nice, for what they are. Might ink a few of these tomorrow. The broken wideband chin is VERY nice. I wish I had room to keep her longer, but I'm already pushing my limits, and her broken sable mag brother is staying as another "just in case" holdback. I do think we'll get better out of Isa. But he's still neat. I like him. His points are disappearing again, though. They're growing in their intermediate coats, and it's been so warm, these sables are going light on me. Mezcal is blowing his coat right now, and I expect him to lighten up quite a bit, too.

[coyotecreek]

Pigeon hatch status: Cain and Nova hatched one egg. I think it was their egg, not the mystery egg. That one looked to have gone bad, so maybe it was never viable. EDIT: I was mistaken when I first saw it, this squab IS a dilute, and therefore, female. I swear she had more down in the beginning, but she be pretty naked, now. Blizzard and Winter hatched one egg. Their other one was rotten, and they tossed it from the "nest" a few days ago. Tiiiny baby, but it has no competition. I didn't like their nesting spot (and lack of any nest built), so I gave them a nest bowl today, and that should help keep the kid safe. Their last squab turned out really nice. It's fully fledged now. Fritter and Doppio's eggs are due to hatch Tuesday, and Doppio seems to be guarding the nest pretty well today. Might be she has some pips already. Their last two squabs had some issues. The big one injured its wing and now lives in my room as a pet (he/she can fly now, so good recovery), and the other one was kind of ignored and neglected by them, so she's small and runty, but is FINALLY flying. She hung out on the floor for a long time, and I was starting to wonder if she'd ever have the strength to use those wings. I think she'll be alright! Just small. I have one other "runt" from Pepper's last hatch who I have never seen fly. I'm not sure what's wrong with that one. She's never really walked normal, either. She was another case of parental neglect due to favoritism. (Ugh.) Some of these guys are just bad parents.

Pewter still has her two eggs, Indy (I think) still has both hers, and Pepper has her two. Gotta keep a close eye on the growth of these new squabs, because I do have leg bands now, and those need to be put on at around 5-6 days of age, or else you lose your chance. These kids grow insanely fast, and I've got a couple singletons who will grow even faster.

[coyotecreek]

The Porter poults are so.. messy. They keep somehow getting their water all over the brooder. What are you, waterfowl? Jeez. (This is why I DON'T do waterfowl). Anyway, cleaned brooder.. again.

They're still extremely friendly, bold kids. I pick them up, and they make their little happy sounds. A lot of them try to jump up and out of the brooder when they see me. Huge difference from my homegrown poults. I'm not happy with mine at all this year (they're very avoidant and nervous), and because 95% of them are probably the white tom's offspring, I'm wondering if that's his genetics. He's not from my lines. Of course, a family member got him from a friend, so she won't let me just sell and replace him. But, if this is how his kids are going to be, I don't want him breeding my hens. The poults were not like this in previous years when he was not our dominant tom.

[coyotecreek]

Kodiak has joined the basement crew. Not so much because I don't think he can handle the heat, but more because I don't want him going heat sterile in this. Him and Glacier are getting paired with does in late August (hopefully). I noticed today that his eyes are EXTREMELY light in color. Brown? Yeah? I think? But they're... very LIGHT gray/brown. Kinda wonder if this dude is self chin. I'll have to test that.

I might have to move more rabbits today, but we'll see how bad it gets. Everyone did pretty well yesterday, but it's going to be another 5 degrees hotter today, and we had a massive storm come through last night, so it's extremely humid and nasty outside already. So far, no issues with Juneau's litter. I don't like that they're now having to deal with an extreme heat wave right after being weaned, but they're not showing any signs of major distress.

[coyotecreek]

It's currently 90 F, and the humidity makes it feel closer to 100. I've moved some of the rabbits to the basement (whoever I thought was highest risk for heat stroke), but I can't move everyone. Tomorrow is supposed to be even worse. It's bad for me, and I don't have fur. Can't imagine what it feels like for them. I've been checking on them periodically. For the most part, no one looks super stressed, but the barn fans aren't doing much, and we don't have much of a breeze today. Sucks.

[coyotecreek]

I continue to be amazed at how friendly Harlowe's kits are. I know their dad is pretty cool, but Harlowe has always been a grouchy, somewhat grabby rabbit. She'll getcha if you're not quick pouring her pellets. I usually put one hand over her face when I do, because she's.. mouthy. She grunts and growls at me often. Very similar to how Equinox is, which is why I'm about 99% sure they're related. Both WILL let you pet them, and they enjoy it, they're just.. kinda high-strung and reactive, also.

But, yeah. These guys are nuts. They see me from across the room and they're CLIMBING the sides of the cage, wanting the attention. I'll get new photos today. Of this litter, and Nox's. That litter is pretty cool, too. Got some good, friendly kits here. They all just hit 4 weeks.

[coyotecreek]

I finally got around to processing litter KK1. Kept having to put it off. As predicted, these guys all had cocci in their livers. Not a ton, for most of them, but the runt had it the worst of all, so it really does affect their growth in some way. None of these kits ever showed signs of illness or infection. I never see or know they have it until processing day, though I may suspect it, if their growth rates make no sense. These were all very well put-together kits, just not hitting the weight milestones they should have been. Type was good, overall health was good, excellent temperaments.

That said, I didn't process the nicest buck. Not because I plan to keep him, but just in case Juneau's litter implodes on me in the coming days. At least then, I'll have a buck who carries non-extension and is, for the most part, very decent. If I don't process him next week, he will have to be treated for cocci, of course. If his siblings all had it, he does too.

So, at this point, I'm keeping note of all litters who get cocci. Maybe they get it from their mothers. That would maybe make some sense. You hear a lot of breeders say cocci is deadly for young kits, but that doesn't seem to be the case with my rabbits? They survive it just fine. Don't even show symptoms of anything wrong (aside from their weights being a bit low, of course). *shrug* I don't know. Weird.

[coyotecreek]

All the paired pigeons are on eggs again. Except Archie, who isn't really paired. Apparently, she just had a quick fling with Brock, because they're ignoring each other now. Ok. Who am I to judge? Let her have her fun.

That's 12 eggs due to hatch in the first two weeks of July. I have around five young birds I should try to get sold. I ended up getting two back that I sold some weeks ago. And not because they were returned. A family member saw them, didn't even realize they were previously ours, and bought them because "They're unique, we don't have any like that!" Y'all, the face I made when I saw them... Welcome back, kids!!! Ugh.

They were likely selling them because they wanted cocks. They had gotten a few others from me as well, and kept those. These two do look like hens. I don't need them, though. I'm very irritated at said family member. Who clearly does not even look at our flock, or she would have known that WE DO, IN FACT, HAVE PIGEONS WHO LOOK JUST LIKE THOSE. "They're unique." Please.

[coyotecreek]

Surprisingly, this month's rabbit pairings went to plan.

Bourbon x Mimosa: Due 7/26. These will be F2 satins. About half the litter should be satin-coated. We'll get chestnuts/coppers and reds, in both solid and broken pattern. I don't know if Mimosa carries wideband, but I'm hoping.

Mezcal x Isa: Due 7/27. Mixed. Isa is 1/2 satin, the rest being a mix of American chin and NZ. Mezcal's breed mix is unknown. We're just trying for more sable magpies or frosty points.. that are hopefully does and not bucks this time. 50% chance for wideband as well. Bonus if I keep one that happens to carry the satin fur gene from Isa.

Isa was not at all interested in Mezcal yesterday, but I walked into the barn this morning to find she'd pulled an absolute ton of fur. Like enough to have made a nest for a litter. Ok. Tossed her in with him and she lifted immediately. I guess she just needed a day to think it over. It's nice when you have a doe that has very obvious, telling behaviors. She started pulling fur here and there a couple months ago, so I knew she was ready and would likely be willing.

[coyotecreek]

:|

[coyotecreek]

Harlowe and Equinox's litters are doing pretty good. For the most part.

One of Harlowe's coppers has a bad eye, and I thought it was just a bit gunky at first, but cleaning it up didn't help, and I noticed it already looked to be going cloudy after one day. It now looks like this kit had a small cut on the eye (possibly got stepped on or accidentally clawed by mom), and this injury resulted in part of the eyelid curling inward. So, basically, she's blind in that eye AND has entropion caused by an injury. I don't think this is genetic entropion, due to the apparent damage, but I'll make note of that. None of the other kits have eye issues.

But yeah, that.. sucks. She mostly just keeps that eye shut. I don't know if this will correct as it heals, or get worse. If it does get worse or she just seems really miserable, I will have to.. make decisions. She's still behaving like a normal, healthy kit, otherwise. Running and bouncing around, interacting, eating and drinking fine. Just squinty.

Harlowe's are also very friendly. I'm surprised at how chill they are. They all want to come out to see me. There's a big difference between them and the one foster, even. And he's not overly skittish, but is definitely more unsure of me, or any other chaos that happens to be going on. His actual siblings in the basement with Nox are pretty much the same. They're quick to go hide, but will come and check me out after a few minutes. I hope they end up as nice as her kits from last year. It's the same pairing, so they should come around. She has four bucks and four does, as far as I can tell right now. Harlowe has two bucks and five does.

[coyotecreek]

Litter KK1 took a dip in weight gains these past two weeks. One kit only gained 6 oz, which is very strange. I'm a little concerned? Not sure what the cause was. All were on a steady track until this weigh-in. Two did go over 5 lbs, but it should have been most of them, not just two. No signs of fighting, either. They're all really laid-back.

Anyway, I'm processing most of this litter tomorrow. I wonder if I'll find cocci spots in the livers again. This seems to correlate with poor growth rates, though I'm not sure how they're getting cocci (if that's even what it is) in the first place. Some litters get it, some don't. That in itself is strange. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with which cages they grow out in, either. It's been very random. Maybe flies bringing it in? Though flies don't bother my rabbits much at all, really. They're far more attracted to poultry waste.

Tomorrow, we'll see how Juneau's kits are doing. I dont expect anything amazing for growth. They look small for age, and will get weaned next week when litter MP1 gets moved to the basement. We're not going to get any heavyweights out of these two lines. Just hopefully something slightly better than their parents.

[coyotecreek]

Other things: Both incubators have now failed, so we're just letting a few broodies do the work for us. Matcha has a mess of guinea eggs and a few turkey. One of the bielefelder hens has been given eggs from my ayam hen + some hopeful fibro cross eggs (my last attempt this year, I think - I have yet to get what I'm looking for), and Alba took over a spot where the guineas were stockpiling eggs, so we'll see what we get there. A lot of those have been there for a bit, so I don't expect all to develop. I think she's got a couple of her own she added to the pile. As if I need more poults.

Other potential hatches: Muscovies. Always. Got at least three on nests right now. We'll have plenty of those to sell soon. And of course pigeons. Two on eggs now, and one pair possibly prepping a new nest?

Also, the final goat kids were born yesterday. Two doelings! Photos soon to come. I'm very bad at getting those. One is chamoise, one is a very light... red? Almost roan-looking? Very unexpected color.

[coyotecreek]

Polaris's litter weaned fantastic. No issues. 8 weeks old yesterday, took new weights.

These are.. impressive, for what they are. Their dad is only a tad over 4 lbs. Most of these kits are at 3.5-3.75 lbs NOW. How much bigger will they get? We'll find out in the coming weeks. The runt is a full pound lighter than the rest, still. But, he is growing, and seems fine, health-wise. He just REALLY hates me. For some reason. Very skittish and avoidant.

As for the big magpie. I still dont know if he's sable or not. There is such a faint hint of color on his face and ears. He's either extremely low rufus, or is still stained. I'm hoping this will be more obvious when they have full intermediate coats. Mezcal's clone is definitely sable, it's very obvious. And that one is growing well, despite being the smallest of the "big" kits. I will hold onto him for a bit. Until we see what Isa can give me.

The other strange thing with this litter is the fur. Some are very "fluffy" with longer baby coats, others are looking like they're going to have a sleeker coat. Neat variety here. Every single kit is different. Love that. I'll have to get new photos soon.

[coyotecreek]

Problem child.