Babies sold and Ohio?

It's finally a beautiful day here in northeast TX! The sun is shinning and somewhat warmer at 44 degrees(I know, I know, that's probably really warm for everyone up north). The babies are doing great, I've sold 8 babies now! Wow! So I'm down to just a handful of my favorites. We'll see how they all turnout. There are more boys than girls this time. Yay! Here are some cuties that will be going to their new homes in a few weeks!

Sport buck!

Peppermint...he will live right up the road ;-)

Show doe and future brood doe going to a youth to start her herd!

Doe with a blue eye spot going to live 30 miles away!

Cute show doe

Meanwhile, I have 3 does due to kindle on Tuesday. I hope they're all doe babies. ;-) I've had more requests for does lately and I sure would like to keep some babies back for breeding.

Soooo.....I'm trying to convince hubby that we need to take a trip to Ohio in May for the Ohio Mini Convention. Sounds fun doesn't it? I really want to see my friend Shelley and maybe show if we have anything worthy to. Kendall will be ready but will need to be bred right after...she'll be getting old...er....;-) There's still time! Why not, life is short, enjoy it!

Sad day :'(**

I lost my herd buck today, I know it's 'just a rabbit' but to me he was more than that, he was my heart bunny. I will miss him greatly. This is not the way I wanted to start the new year off with.*crushed*  :-(

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Dixie (303) and litter

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We have been so busy with friends and family that I forgot to post yesterday. As much as I love having a job, I really miss getting things done and the house staying clean and tidy, errands completed and no stress. lol! This 'break' is hardly that. Anyhow, I must get back to cleaning the house but wanted to share a few pictures taken this morning. Have a blessed day!

The set-up for the bundle of joy shot :-) I had a spotter to the left of the frame and a big comfy pillow in case she couldn't catch him in time but he did great.

Cute Kendall

Babies, New bun and some Visitors!

 Sooo many cute babies in the barn! I'm seeing some nice ones starting to emerge, I hope they stay that way! I didn't go through 2 litters so these are my favorites out of the litters I did take a peek at.

We have two visitors in the barn, these girls are owned by a youth breeder and only staying briefly for stud service. ;-) I hope they do well for their owner and make some lovely babies next month.

I also brought home a baby of mine back home. I am so excited to have her again. She is just a sweetheart!

2013 Goals

Doesn't seem like a year has passed since the posting of my 2012 goals. My how far we've come!! I LOVE seeing progress and to have measurable goals met makes me feel like I've done something right. ;-)

So before moving on to next years goals, lets look back at this years.

2012 Goals (posted 12/27/11):

1. Keep more homebreds.- MET -But still in progress...looks like I have 5 hombred keepers at the moment. Last year at this time I only had 4.

2. Improve heads/eyebands.- NOT MET -Cruiz (BOJ 57), didn't pass on that head so this is still a work in progress and something that needs work on in 2013!

3. Add 4 more holes to the barn.- MET - I wanted 16 holes but ended up with 18!

4. Earn GC leg(s) on a homebred.- MET - 4King's Boss took BOB and won a GC leg as a result! He also won two more legs for his new owner making him eligible to be granded! 4King's Martin also won a GC leg for his owner in Iowa.

5.Place at Convention.- MET - Probably the only goal I was sure to fail at this time last year but I'm happy to say 4King's Merci AND 4King's Diva took 5th and 8th respectively out of 32 jrs does. :-) All smiles.

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2013 Goals

1. Build a line- Ah, sounds fun doesn't it? Lots of work involved here, this means culling strictly and keeping more homebreds. Probably not a measurable goal but one that I want to work toward. Replace parents with their babies and move the parents on to other herds. I would really like to develop a distinct 'look' for my line, every breeder has it that has be breeding for years. I generally can tell which rabbit is from Mingus, Percy, and Tonna by just looking at them.

2. Improve heads/ears- The elusive goal yet to be met...I really think I'll have better success in 2013, I'm ready to accomplish this one! Kendall is my first baby to really have a head I want to strive for.

3. Grand a homebred- Tough one! Especially when  I will only be at 2(!!) shows next year! Impossible? Never. Worth a try, if we fail this one, it will be on next years list. :-)

4. Give a quality pair to a dedicated TX youth member- I'm excited about this one! This year, I gave a bred doe to a youth member in Utah and it was so rewarding to see the excitement and happiness she gives her new owner. I want to do this again but offer a pair to one of our Texas youth members. Our youth numbers at the show is zero. That is sad. Is there interest? I'm about to encourage some!

5. Polish get their own barn- LOL! I doubt I'll accomplish this one but hey, dream big! Would be nice to have all of my holes for just DH instead of splitting with another breed. I have 7 overflow cages so maybe I can move them out into their own space

What's your goals??

Website link

Just a heads up, my web address has changed. Long story short but someone else nabbed my web address so now it is:

http://www.4kingsrabbitry.com

Have a blessed day everyone!

Rabbit of the Year :-)

 As I write next year's goals, I think about all of the babies born and evaluated here over this past year. I remember this time last year I was excited about what 2012 would bring. Little did I know what a successful year we would have. So with that said, I think I'll do a 'Rabbit of the Year' award....and showcase my favorite baby of 2012. I didn't do last year's so here is the 2011 Rabbit of the Year:

4King's Vinny- He is deceased now, even though he had his share of faults, (racy type with pinched HQs and a OCD issues), I was quite proud of him. :-)

 Drum roll.......................it's not Merci...................or Diva..................

.
.
.
.
.
.
. It's...........KENDALL!
Haha, I think Hannah's face says it all, she is just gorgeous! She would beat my 5th place jr doe at convention, hands down. Not sure how I can top her in 2013 but I'm up for the challenge!

Kendall!

short and wide...LOVE!

She's so smooth and round!

I love her little ears

 Last but not least, the babies didn't care for a photo shoot today...maybe another week and I'll drag their cutie patooties out of that box. ;-)

New barn layout and growing cuties!

Well with the long trip to Mississippi yesterday, I had lots of time to try to figure out a better layout in the barn. To make room, we took off all of the wheels on the stackers and squeezed them against one wall. It was crowded and crammed that's for sure but it did open up the little space I had. Today I decided I'd rather sacrifice space and holes for the ease of cleaning and keeping the barn in tip top shape. So glad we did it because the back part of the floor and wall is clean again! So now I'm at my max amount of holes at 18. That's a good number isn't it? I will have 7 extra cages that will probably be my overflow/Polish cages before too long and hubby will have to build a nice hutch to set them in.

Galley style housing...its not as tight as it looks. :)

Brought the babies in for the big move.

They're growing!

 Won't be long and hopefully I'll have some cuties to take pictures of!

A bunny break...

Just wanted to let my friends know that I will be taking a short bunny break from the blog and facebook. My grandmother passed away yesterday and as I held her hand as she took her last breaths, it just flooded my mind with sweet memories. Life is so short and something I think we all take for granted.  When I got home yesterday after being with family I went out to the barn and saw my favorite little jr buck had just passed away. I hope he is binkying over the rainbow bridge and into the arms of my grandma....*tears*

24 Babies!

I can't believe it! We have 24 new little ones in the barn, it definitely feels like Christmas around here. :-) Here's a few pictures! I will probably do a video on evaluating a young litter like this, I am already spotting my possible keepers! It is very obvious which one have the dwarf gene and which are BUB/BUDs. I'm seeing spots now too, fun to watch them grow!

Kendall, look at that head on her!

Steve, growing and growing!

his head has really developed!

Babies, Babies, Everywhere!

After a stressful week last week, I'm so relieved to have something I can smile about. My girls are doing a fabulous job and so far 4 does have kindled with a total of 14 banded  and 1 sport born! Wow!! I think some do have partial bands but time will tell. Diva and TG3 did great, they were maiden does and kindled like a pro! Diva's babies make it my first 3rd generation litter! Yay! I feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Sorry for no pictures, I hope to get to taking a few when my camera charges. Here's a video of Martin his mamma sent...hope it works!