2014 Goals

It's that time of the year again! I love revisiting last year's goals and see the growth that was accomplished over the year.

2013 Goals

1. Build a line- MET - I think I am at that point where I'm starting to get constancy in litters and developing a certain look to my animals. I think we're finally at 3rd generation 4Kings rabbits too!

2. Improve heads/ears- MET - Oh yeah!! Finally finally, heads that I'm loving! Just would like to continue to see head and ear improvement without loosing nice bodies.

3. Grand a homebred- MET - 4Kings Martin now has 4 GC legs and officially granded. We didn't do a lot of shows this year, in fact, much less than I had wanted to attend. :-(

4. Give a quality pair to a dedicated TX youth member- MET - Earlier this year I was able to give a nice pair to a youth member who now is an ADHRC member! Very excited to watch her herd grow and see her successes on the showtable. :-)

5. Polish get their own barn- NOT MET - Ehh, okay, we no longer have Polish...BUT, we now raise Californians and they do indeed have their own barn. So win, win! 

2014 Goals

1. Acquire a new homebred herd buck- This doesn't sound hard to accomplish but believe me, it IS. I am working so hard to find a worthy buck but pickings have been slim. *sigh* is 2014 our year? I hope so!

2. Attend Nationals and Convention - While this may sound like an easy feat, I am not sure if I can make the drive to Ohio! haha I am paranoid about driving long distances. Convention will have its own can of worms. I am the booth director so lots of work ahead of me.

3. Place in the top 5 at either Nationals and/or Convention - Pretty explanatory. We shall see!

4. Improve eyebands- I'm kinda lacking in the eye band dept. Not that mine are missing them but they are a little too feathery. Need to get a little cleaner.

5. Improve Californian program- This one I might be the most excited about! I'm very new with this breed but would like to get a nice line going to produce consistent meat pens.

Litter Stats:
Born: 133
Died: 50
Raised: 83
Keepers: 23
Culls: 60

Now that my friends is a tough breed.....but hey total improvement from last year!

 

Rabbitry news

Lots of good things have been happening at the rabbitry, we are really getting some consistent type on the up and coming juniors! So much so, that I have ran out of room and have yet to sort out juniors for nationals! Eeek! So it looks like I will have to move a few outside to the overflow pens to let the show team grow out in the barn.

My new herd of Californians! The hotots are trying to creep into their cages as I'm overflowing in the barn...

See! Ack!! New cages are on their way!

Hmm...maybe add another stacker inside? Hubby says NO. lol

If you can look past my donkey eared doe, she makes the dwarfiest little bunnies.

Lovely bunch of bucks coming up.

Lovely bunch of does!

This guy was my cull pen find...he was a scrawny jr, one I was sure a fader so I stuck him outside with the cals to take care of him. He grew and blossomed into a handsome thick bodied buck! this guy has the widest body/HQ!! A kendall and Bruce son...who will stay around a while.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have some incredible crosses due next month...stay tuned!

Babies!

Oh its been way too long since I've had babies, the last litter was in July. So glad to have little ones in the barn again. Zelda's entire litter are keepers at this point. So excited about them, all apear to be showable too. The best part....wait for it....I have a show buck in the trio!! Heehee! I have NO show bucks so this is a big deal. Can't wait for Nikolai to make his debut in a few weeks when he's bigger.

Zelda is such a sweetie, perched on her box all the time :P

Zelda's litter, with one foster in there...Nikolai is in the back-heehee, that head!

This is Piper....Gorgeous girl that i wish had shorter ears but the body r-o-c-k-s!

This is a short post for tonight, I have 7 more cuties that are looking pretty good at the moment, all still in the box though. Getting excited for Convention!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not going but I have presents coming back. *feeling blessed*

First day of Fall!

Finally, cooler temps! Thought we'd never see it get cooler than 75 at night. ;-) The bunnies were loafing in the barn this morning, you'd think they were a little cold or something with it being 54 degrees in there.

Got Ike out to work on that molty coat of his and maybe he wants to be a Netherland? He's not looking like a show quality one...hahaha Stinker!

Cal babies on the way!! Sorry about her messy coat, she has a buck neighbor and the rain made the wire rust come off on it a little. She needs a good molt!

All this girl needs to do is give a good shake in that nestbox...no pulling fur necessary!

First fruit found on the farm...Persimmons...they're abundant and I didn't even know. Quite tasty too.

Stacker Snapshots

I can't believe it's already late September! Where has the time gone? It's been 3 months since the last blog post and it feels like I've taken a bunny vacation with only one litter born this summer. Life has changed drastically for us, we are finally moved in and settled for the most part. Now it's back to business with the buns! This past week we have had a couple of litters born and two new ones born today! Safe to say that it looks like my baby drought is over. :-) So ready for fall and winter litters! I seriously think I'll halt showing the rest of the year just to make sure my girls can be good moms. Nationals is coming up and before we know it, we'll be nervously standing there awaiting judging at Columbus!

I'm down to 3 stackers now(I have 5)...so here's the stacker snapshots for the evening.

A new up and coming cutie, this is Harper. In the weird 7-8 week stage:

 

The barn is situated under the RV shed, it keeps it cool in the brutal summer and its not so loud inside during rain storms. God knew what we needed!

New Usher litter...there are a couple of cuties in here I've got my eye on. :)

Leave of absence

Life has been turned upside down here in the King household. We have moved out of our home(sold rather quickly) and now have the rabbits in the new barn about 15 minutes away from where we are living temporarily. School will be starting in another couple of months and then we might possibly be moving again sometime between then. I apologize for not keeping up with the blog...at this point I will probably do away with it all together. I just no longer have the time like I did when I was a stay-at-home mom. Oh how I miss those days! Anyhow, life goes on and change is inevitable. To continue to be updated on the rabbitry, please find me on facebook and/or check the website from time to time. :-)

Happy Summer!!

~Lindsey

inside the new barn

love the room!

Noelle, my favorite jr doe

Bruce, my favorite jr buck.... and the bloodline continues!

New Barn!

We got a new barn this past week! Yay! It's just lovely, and should fit 30 holes comfortably...I am wanting to max out at 30. A small herd is less to feed, vaccinate, and clean after...plus not such a big A/C bill is nice too.

Let the insulating begin!

clutter everywhere! Will be glad when the electrician comes so I can get things finished.

Babies are doing well except for Ceasar...the singleton that was delivered by C-section. He is just significantly smaller than the others and it is making it hard for him to compete for food. I am putting mom in a separate pen and will feed him first every evening and hopefully that will help.
Last but not least...Giovanni and Gianna! Littermates I just wanted to share pics of :-)

Giovanni- jr buck

 

Gianna- jr doe

Comments, Concerns, and Questions

"Comments, concerns, or questions?" I remember my algebra teacher asking so vividly which always resulted in a dead silence. Now, at this point in my life I find myself with a  list of the above. *sigh* Where to begin...lets start with new arrivals!

My last Percy's 302 litter is growing quickly...both are bucks and one is typey, while the other is longer in head and body. Both have spots...rats. Oh well, I will keep my eye on this one:

Several babies are in the nestbox now, 15 babies and 13 are banded, no spots and 2 are sports! Hmm...what an improvement in markings, of course all were from a different buck-one I've never used before. Several are very typey looking-short short ears and body!! VERY excited to see these litters develop. On a sad note, I lost Percy's Lucy last week. She was having trouble kindling and faded quickly. I did a C-section and was able to save her only baby. Upon inspection she had knots on her uterus which was likely uterine cancer. Her ovaries were very cystic too. :-( I initially thought the baby was a doe but after looking again it's parts are severely bruised so I'm just not sure yet.

4King's Gianna- Gorgeous little doe!! Sorry the bad photo angle, she is amazing in person. Poses correctly and has good type. Glad to have her and hope she'll be a great future brood doe.

Gianna

This is 4King's Thor....he is the most SOLID little baby I've ever felt...while he may not look like much from the side, he is extremely wide. If I were raising meat rabbits, he'd be one I keep for breeding. haha!

Thor- this is NOT fluffy fur!! His fur is actually thin, he is all muscle and smooth....this is width I don't usually see at this age.

4King's Givanni- This little buck was one I initially wasn't going to keep because he is on the bigger side but is very correct type wise. Guess I'll grow him out and see if his head/ear develop more. I love his big, full HQ.

Concerns....questions....concerns....boy do I have my share of problems lately. Long story short, we have to move out by June 12th. Rabbits have no where to go unless I buy a barn and place it on my mom's land....which I am hoping and praying that is going to continue to be a possibility. We are busy searching for the right place, I have found one but it is in Arkansas...not Texas and our kids couldn't go to school at our current school and I would loose my job. But it is in the middle of nowhere, quiet, GOOD farmer neighbors and the land is rich- I could have the self-sustaining farm I have always wanted. Please pray for good decisions!! I am trying so hard to keep it together!

New barn?!!

Moving!

Sold!! Yes, our house sold! Can't believe it did so fast. Now we are looking at land to build our dream home and forever farm. There is a property in mind that we will look at today. Our living situation will be in limbo though, and the rabbits will be homeless it seems at the moment. We are trying to figure out how it will work until we can get them moved into the new barn after our house is built. I will be reducing numbers down to 12 within the next couple of weeks. Just a dozen will be the foundation of my herd. We plan to up the cages to 36 holes, so lots of room to grow and develop my line. 8 of my own and 4 that are of other lines. Very excited!

Pictures of the land...field of dreams!

Summer is almost here!

Alright, I have to admit, I'm getting really excited about summer! The last full week of school was last week so as the weeks get shorter, the weather gets warmer and everything from baby bunnies to a flourishing garden gets me excited about this time of year.

Baby news: Two cute little bucks were born to Darci and 302 a few days ago! One is not showable as a spot is visible on the back and the other may have too thin of bands as well but its all about the type so we will see. This is the week of the babies that's for sure...3 does due this week and 2 does due next week. All are sired by the same buck. Woot woot! I'm ready to see how he crosses with my girls.

Lovely girl...Dot...just when I'm on the verge of selling her...I start to like her again. Unfortunately she has a bad habit of chewing like Vinny did. Good thing she isn't showable I suppose. Look forward to seeing what she will produce this summer.

It's Mother's day in a couple of hours...I just want to wish all of the moms out there a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow. I will be sure to give my girls some oats in the morning too. Without the brood does there would be no herd.

fresh cut from the yard!

 On a different note...Hannah and I have a new hobby now, we have 10 registered Miniature African Violets now that we are growing to show! She is so cute with her tiny plants...the plant stand is in her room which is a good thing with two fish tanks in there so the plants can have enough humidity. She's already wanting more...lol

Mature mini violet(can't remember the registered name off hand)-yes that's a 2" pot it is in! so tiny!

Predators and loss

:-( One of the benefits of having an air conditioned barn is that I am able to close it up at night and during the day while I am gone. Due to the need for space I put my sales rabbits in the overflow cages outside...it is under our porch with a fan, really a nice, breezy set up that has worked well until now. Last night a predator of some sort attacked my babies that I had in the overflow stacker. It left one with a broken back, and two others had wounds. I ended up putting them down due to the blood loss and obvious pain they were in. I'm so sad that this happened and have no idea what it was that looked like it grabbed them from the outside and pulled them against the wire(ripping one baby's skin off). Maybe a cat? Raccoon? Both of those I have seen around here. I just don't know. :-(

On the bright side, the bunnies are doing well. I will have 3 does and a buck for sale at the end of this month. I plan on going to the Longview convention and they can be picked up there.

A post wouldn't be complete without pictures so here are some of my August show hopefuls...not many unfortunately due to the predator attack. :( It is what it is though.