Kidding Season Takes a "Bad" Turn, Beef Calves, Ducklings, and Kits

Kidding season took a bad turn when the next two does had buck kids. It makes 4 bucks for each of the moms, and zero does out of either of them in their lifetimes. They say that the sire determines the gender, but sometimes I'm not so sure-though of course, it could just be the luck of the draw, since the chance is 50% either way. 

Bluebelle's buck. I only had doe names picked out for her kids, and was following the "belle" pattern with Annabelle, Clarabelle, etc. When I explained this to two people, they both had the same name suggestion for this buck: Dumbbelle. 😂 Now that's all I can think of, but I don't really want to call him that, poor thing!

Clare was bred to two different bucks, so we will have to DNA these kids.

Domino 

Chess

 

I'm still having problems with the incubator and extremely poor hatch rates, but hatched 11 ducklings this week! (From day 1 my ducks think I'm a monster, hence them all huddled in the back corner.)

One of the ducklings had a big hole in the egg but couldn't get out, so the next morning I helped him out. Being stuck in the shell for longer than normal did something to his neck, I think, as he couldn't get his head of a fetal position for more than a couple seconds. I put him in a popsicle stick splint, but that knocked him off balance and he kept getting stuck on his back. 

 

So I googled "neck splint for duckling" and found an answer right away! Some blogger from Australia said to cut a small hole in the center of a piece of sponge and slide it over their head. I did that, and the duckling immediately looked better. The blog writer said to leave it on for 24 hours-as of this writing, it has been on my duckling for 24 hours and he now seems normal, but I might just leave it until morning to make good and sure his neck muscles have aligned themselves in the correct manner. 

Our calving season began and ended overnight this week! Both of our cows had their calves on the same night, and when Dad showed me the picture I thought maybe just one had had twins! But no, they'd both calved, and are both taking care of both calves. 

The all black one is a bull.  

This one is a heifer. Isn't she a cutie with those markings? 

I took all my does' kids and am bottle raising them. One has absolutely refused to take a bottle so far, and started starving after several days, so we came to a compromise-he can eat off of a doe, but it's not his mom, and he still have to live with the bottle babies and just eat 3xs a day. I'm still offering him the bottle occasionally, trying to get some interest but, as I said, have still had no luck thus far.

Carmelita will probably be staying here, as she's a good looking kid, and I like her temperament so far.

My favorite rabbit, Spruce, had 7 babies two weeks ago. She had never had a black kit before, but in this litter she has 5 of them! I love black and want to build my herd off of Spruce, so if these are does they are staying! I saved back several does last year, but so far they are refusing to breed, plus they aren't super nice and they aren't Spruce babies, so I will probably just butcher them.

My dogs and I. 

Jasper is like Duke was-looks half dead every time the camera comes out, and looks more dead the more you try to coax him to look like he wasn't just beaten into submission. 

Flint is doing okay, but has been extremely tired again the last few days, and not eating very well. I think I can blame the tiredness on the fact that he is back outside, on a cable, for the first time since he got sick, and I think the extra moving he does during the day, plus all the stimulation is just wearing him out. 

Liz is really developing into a nice puppy, but has been extremely angry when in her kennel the last few days, screaming and roaring for hours on end. Oh well-I know it's just a phase that will soon pass.

Jinger has really filled out and looks like an adult now, instead of a scrawny teenager. She lost a ton of hair after having puppies, and has a skinny rat tail right now. She should be coming into heat any day now, and I have some exciting puppy plans for her! After this litter, I plan to skip her next cycle and wait to breed her again until next spring.