Litter Stats for 2012

Yes, I realize the year isn't over yet but without being able to evaluate the babies from the upcoming litters I decided to do some stats and was surprised to see the pattern! So first let's take a look back at 2011...

2011 Final Totals
Babies born: 43
Babies died: 15
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Babies raised: 28
Babies kept: 3

2012 Final Totals
Babies born: 95
Babies died: 33
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Babies raised: 62
Babies kept: 6

So let's do some math...let's round up or down to keep it simple. We'll say in 2011 I kept 3 out of 30 and then in 2012 I kept 6 out of 60....see the pattern?! I'm not sure if its ironic or what but it seems I keep one out of every ten babies. I was shocked to see how much my production jumped up this year too. It definitely doubled, and even the litter losses percentage were the same too. There is exactly a 35% loss rate on my litters. Wow! Pretty neat to see it all on paper and it gives a black and white portrayal of how challenging this breed is to raise and show.

Live in such a way!

Hmm. Not really sure how to start this post off other than these past couple of weeks have been rather interesting. I have learned that I am hated and despised by several Texas Dwarf Hotot breeders and some pretty mean things are being rumored about myself and my stock. I would say it saddens me but really it is entertaining and I truly think it stems from jealousy. I found this quote this morning and I thought it to be fitting for the present time. :-)

I love all of my sweet bunny friends, old and new, and I do my absolute best to help others and treat them as I would want to be treated.

Moving on, Impress is looking very cute, I almost passed him as a pet but now those little ears are staying short and his body has passed my requirements. I would be okay about moving his daddy on at this point. Its going to be a Big goal of mine in 2013 to really get my line going next year and the only way to do that is to keep more homebreds for breeding.

On a happy/sad note, I have kept quite about an incident but now that everything is okay, I can share. Merci was accidentally bred and I had no idea until she started carrying hay around in her mouth over a week ago. I was Terrified!!! She is my best jr doe and the only one to have placed high enough for an award at convention. I just was worried she was too young to give birth and stuck kits were a high probability. Before convention, I bleached cages...had to take all the buns out of the barn and it took all day to get it done. So since I didn't have enough carriers, some buns had to go into the tub. Merci and two younger jrs-buck and doe were put into the tub so yeah...oops. :-/ I really didn't think he was old enough to do anything at all. Long story short, she had 3 kits, 2 peanuts and 1 DOA. She made a beautiful nest, pulled a ton of hair and is perfectly healthy herself. So I call that a success.

Watched her all day yesterday...so glad things went well!

So that's 3 litter failures and 1 successful one...not good odds at all for a 2013 showstring. But...this saying has always been true for me....

I'm so excited and ready! Bring it on! :-) Have a blessed day everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to wish all of my friends and bunny family a blessed Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to give your bunnies an extra treat of thanks today as well.

Photo found on CloverField Farm's fb page...too cute not to share!

Convention Video

Better late than never, finally got to doing the video from convention. Enjoy! I'll let the words of the song do all the talking. :-) Its all about the climb!

Updates

So much has happened in a weeks time, mostly disappointments but that's alright. Hannah's little polish baby passed away. She happened to get out of the nestbox and we couldn't revive her the second time. My convention doe who we received bred had her litter, 5 beautiful babies, but then trampled them all during the day while I was at work. So disappointing. She has two more chances here and that's it. Meanwhile, I have other moms due in a couple of weeks, so fingers crossed for those litters!

Martin's half brother, 'Impress', going to have to watch this fella!

Kendall...looking a lot like Merci when she was younger!

Kendall again, now looking like Diva with that depth!

Kendall is a keeper ;-)

Uh oh, look who we have here, this is 'Red', I've flip flopped on his name but he's now named Red because of that new Taylor swift song my daughter loves. LOL I think he's Red Hot! Love!

Can you tell I can't get enough of him? Love!

TJ's first litter! 2 banded BUCKS and 1 sport doe....one of the bucks is going to be a hottie! Can't wait!

Babies!

Its a warm fall day around here, babies are born and veggies harvested...doesn't sound like November does it....? Well it won't last long, a major cold front is moving in.

Oh boy...yes its a boy, and no he's not happy. Don't worry, she didn't drive the car with him in it.;-)

Steve being spoiled rotten. He thinks he owns the place now!

TJ's litter!! So proud of my first time mom who kindled like a pro! 2 banded and 1 sport...ALL does. Sigh....just when am I getting some nice little bucks?!

 I see my Utah friends are getting several inches of SNOW! Gosh I wish it would here, I just love watching it come down. No, instead we get high humidity and nearly 80 degree temps. I guess the benefit of that is that we'll have fresh veggies on the table. Anyone in Utah want to trade weather? I sure would like to turn the A/C off in the barn. :-D

in our PJ's in sequin boots...what a 'get up'...LOL

Monster squash! I haven't had to water them at all, love gardening the eden way...going to have to remember that squash grows best when planted in the fall..not summer. 

Kyla, still hanging in there! Her foster mom palpated pregnant today so I don't know what I'll do, I'll have to see if TJ can feed her. Fingers crossed!

Life and Death

I much prefer life than the latter. Oh what a few days can make around here. First off, the bad news, my new little buck Christina's Simon passed away. I'm so sad to have lost him, and if you've seen the pictures, I think anyone would be. He was a GORGEOUS buck. Unfortunately, he went off feed at convention and the stress of the trip and stay in the coops was too much for him to recover from. He started doing better for a couple of days and I thought we were back on track but like the calm before the storm, he got much worse thereafter. Stopped eating and drinking and became lethargic. I have one doe bred to him so hopefully she took and it won't be a total loss.

Rest in Peace Simon.... :'(

On a different note...I went out to feed yesterday and found a 'dead' baby on the wire, stiff and cold from Hannah's new polish doe!!!!!!!!!! She's a young jr doe and we weren't told she was bred but WOW, I was shocked to see she kindled. I was about to toss the dead baby but figured, what the hay, I'll put it on my belly, skin-to-skin and see what happens. What do you know, it came to life!! The little baby pinked up and screamed and screamed. I wasn't sure if it was dying or saying "I'm alive! I'm alive!" Hannah was so excited she's already named her...its a showable broken chocolate DOE by the way. What a little blessing!

Kyla, the miracle bunny!

We have to force feed her as her mom is clueless, she's jut a baby herself.

TJ is due this weekend! So excited to see the babies, she's a first time doe.

Cute little jr buck, our only baby hotot in the barn!

 Uh oh....somebody has decided to decorate the bunny barn...ahemm...yes that's pee on the wall...>_<.

302 (needs a name, will probably call him Red)

Sigh of relief!

Whew! I think everyone is going to be okay....its always nerve-wracking bringing home new bunnies as many go off feed, stop eating all together or have GI issues. At first I had 3 not eating and I didn't come home with any transition feed at all. For the first time this morning, EVERYONE had empty feeders! Lots of poop in the pans too...yay! Lots of poop is means for a celebration around here. :-)

What? Shiny new cages? Thank you hubby! Now I seriously can't fit anymore in ;-)

XEO eye'n some new ladies in the barn.

So glad he's eating now he has severe mucoid enteritis when I got him and refused to eat/drink. Thank you Lord for saving this guy! He's back to normal now!

Ummm....Kendall....quite flirting with the boys next to you.

Chloe's daughter, Priscilla..."Prissy" for short

 These girls are my next batch of hot looking jr does! Why can't I get any bucks?!

Kendall...she's gonna be nice, I just know it, kinda like seeing how Merci developed, this one will be the same.

New breed! Polish!

Well it was coming, it was just a matter of time before we decided on the breed to add to our barn. Hannah fell in love with a broken chocolate doe a couple months ago and so the search was on for a quality pair to start with. I'm so lucky to have friends with great stock and so we brought home a pair from Tiffany McCord and Drew Bliss. Meet Lilly and Steve, lovingly named by Hannah. This is Hannah's project by the way, I helped her make her own rabbitry binder and she is so excited! She's been given a set number of cages so it will be interesting to see who she decides to keep and sell. This is going to be so much fun!

Drew's 239DB "Lilly"

Rustic's R54 "Steve"

So excited after finally meeting her new buck!

Meet my new babies!

Merci and her awards. :-)

Well it was picture day here at 4kr....I won't post all the studio shots but please check out my website for updated photos, litters on the way and now almost every bun has their own page when you click on their image. So here's my new bunnies!! I'm so excited to have each and every one of them. Not much to say really, I'll let the pictures do the talking. :-)

This is Tige, she's a bigger doe but nice in type.

This is Dixie, she's hard to photograph because she's so skittish. I like her type and head/ears.

Dixie

Anberlin, she's a big ol brood doe, can't wait to see what she produces for me.

Probably my favorite doe in the bunch, this is J-LO, she's nice. Real nice.

My new hot young sr buck, this is Sarge...He's just about perfect except those ears fold a little, they're under 2" so I can work with him. ;-)

Sarge

Oh this is a cutie right here, he's on loan to me for a little while. I just LOVE him. Really, what is there not to love? Heehee! This is Simon.

Simon....yes, you'll help me out tremendously! Love his head/ears