5 Breeds

My friend April posted 5 Breeds she would never raise so I thought I would give it a go too. :)

1. English Angora- the cottony coat was a nightmare. never again.

2. Flemish Giant- way too big...poop!!

3. Checkered Giant- I'd like to keep my fingers. Pass!

4. Lionheads- no....just no. the long ears....the coat....pass, it's just not for me.

5. English Lops- the shoulders make me cringe and the ears kinda gross me out. It is like a dwarf breeder's nightmare-lol I do Not want my dwarf hotots looking like English Lops. ;-)

No offense to those who raise the breeds, I am glad someone does to keep them going. What are your 5 breeds you would never raise?

I'm alive!

It has been months since I have been able to log onto my account. It wasn't that I forgot my password, but apparently my work email was trying to connect to my blog and I couldn't figure out how to block it. Strange. Anyway, after deleting and logging out and back in, I got it to work!

These past few months have been incredibly life changing. I now have a new job that has required me to go back to school full time. Talk about being very busy! I have sold the chins, really not by choice but it was just too much for me to handle at the moment and in hindsight was the best decision. I haven't had time to clean pans every 2-3 days(30 rabbits! 18 pans!) so I really struggled with the decision to sell out completely back in August. Thankfully, my husband and friends talked me out of it and we invested in a flush clean system. Do I love it? Sorta....I don't like that I have to scrape it often, it doesn't just roll right down like I thought BUT, there is no back breaking work involved and cleaning is literally 10 minutes or less for 28 rabbits. I had to get used to it and so did the rabbits. I have a feeling that this summer may be brutal! :( I hope my ventilation fans can keep up.

Rabbit wise....we did okay at convention. I was hoping for better placements but all but one were molting. So the highest placement I got was 3rd jr doe out of 53 I think. ;-) Spring nationals are coming up. I hope I have some nice jrs by then.

More updates to come! For now, some of my favorite jr does and an all doe litter! I'm enjoying it because the rest that I have are ALL bucks...many bucks to show off shortly. ;)

4Kings Neveah

4Kings Laurel- a descendant from my favorite doe Liesl

Sweet little does

Standard Chins

Did you know that Standard Chins made the rare breed list recently? It was updated a few days ago, I was surprised but after looking at the sharp decline in registration numbers, maybe they are. :-( It looks like only 21 total were registered last year. That's the whole nation! wow very low. I have 9 right now, but could have 13 max at the moment. I probably won't expand that number of cages so my chin project will be very small but productive.  I am really loving a couple of my jr does and one jr buck! I could be totally off because it's a breed I'm not that used to yet so we'll see how far I'm off come Sept. 6th at the show.

Losses and Life

It has been a rough summer in the rabbit barn, not due to heat...thank goodness....but I have lost several nice does to various problems. Gianna and Liesl were two I absolutely adored and was pretty certain they were going to live the rest of their life with me. It was devastating to loose them both so soon. :-(

As I look ahead to convention, and consider the entry fee cost, I do not plan to take many. Most of the rabbits I was hoping to take, I decided that their lines were too valuable to risk. Harlan(Martin daughter), Izellah(Gianna daughter), Isaac (GORGEOUS Liesl son) and Kyna (only Liesl daughter) are some that will be staying home unfortunately. That will just leave me with 1 or 2 to take per class but that's okay. No jr bucks though, not really a surprise as I am waaaay too picky on bucks and seeing how I just have a handful compared to the does in my barn. Oh well! You know there is always next year, year after that, and so on. I don't raise rabbits to win ribbons/awards/prestige, I raise them because I truly love raising them. There's nothing like coming into the barn after a night's sleep and seeing all the little round faces staring at me. "Good morning guys, who's ready for breakfast?" They perk up and start pacing, I really think they secretly know the English language. Haha!

This is Isaac, see that head he's getting?! He's just 2 months old! He's out of Jacob...may he will have an Usher head?

Compared to all the losses lately, new life being born has been extra special. Joy had her first litter a week ago, was so worried about her because she is the only Usher daughter I have and a Gianna daughter!! Talk about gorgeous, that she is. The sire was Jacob, an Usher son(only one too!) and Gianna's mom is Jacob's mom....so yes, very Linebred!! :-D The two baby does are looking awesome right now, both perfectly banded. She did have two stuck kits but they had died in utero and were pretty swollen. Luckily, I saw her trouble on camera and was able to be there to help get them out. She has proven to be a super mom. Constantly doting on them and I have fostered 3 more to her. She gets her wonderful mom skills from Gianna. <3 p="">

Joy, think she would rather be a mom than a show doe. She has 2 legs, so close!

The young jrs being weaned are looking great! However...of the 5 I want to keep....3 are sports- DOH!! That brings my sport total up to 6! Who in their right mind wants to keep 6 sports in their barn? This gal I guess. LOL I don't know, but I do know that all 6 in my barn have wow bodies and heads so....why not? Oiy I need a bigger barn.

Group of Kismet babies...Kismet's teeth corrected! Woot woot! Normal teeth now :)

Isn't she cute? This is Evelyn, out of Sasha, very dwarfy girl. In fact may be too dwarfy :( She poses like an ND. doh! She wants to go to Germany to show(they pose them like NDs over there).

The Dawn of a New Era

It is finally summer! So thankful for the cooler weather lately. There have been a Lot of changes in the barn and we're not done yet either. After much thought and consideration, I have sold my two XEO sons, the last of his line will be leaving shortly. XEO was a great buck and will still live on through a few of his grand kids. While I vowed to myself to not let his line go because of how it has built my herd, I have also become a bit barn blind and now see that my problems cannot be fixed with anything of XEO lineage. The common denominator is decent bodies with ugly heads/longer ears, and I have ignored heads/ears for too long. So, it's time to bite the bullet and try something new with my girls. What few girls I have left that is. ;-)

I am bringing in two bucks that are half brothers, both out of Christina's Dante, mostly ThunderHill's lineage. They have the heads I want. I hope they throw the bodies as well! I'm really not sure what they will throw as I haven't worked with the line before. We'll see by this fall. :-) In the meantime, I will share some pics of my beautiful bodied babies with ugly heads/ears...enjoy! lol

This is Griffin, she's a doe I bought that is out of Merci and a buck out of two of my rabbits, so she's of my breeding. Happy to have her!

This is one of my Dante sons, He has the massive head, width and short thick ears...body, the weakest one in the barn but I'm ready for fresh genetics and hope it won't knock me back too much.

I will end on this note, written by Briony Barnes...
"Not everyone has the strength to cull strictly and be confident in their decisions, knowing that some amount of breeding results will always be left to chance. Not everyone has the strength to breed to their interpretation of the Standard no matter what a judge here and there may say, yet remain open-minded enough to consider differing opinions from those who are very knowledgeable about the breed. Not everyone has the strength to move on a show winner if it won't help their herd, won't breed, or doesn't produce well, realizing that it's only stealing space from something that will. Not everyone has the strength to approach a friend for a second opinion, or to approach another breeder to ask to purchase something that will help. Not everyone has the strength to take responsibility when they don't place as well as they'd like, or to realize that even their best have faults to be improved on. Not everyone has the strength to say that they were beaten by a better rabbit, and to congratulate and not alienate the people who could help them reach their goals."
Definitely words to think on :-) Have a blessed day!

Farm Update

My friend April of OlivYew Farm posted a great blog post about the updates on her farm. I love reading what others are doing and how things are going. So here goes our updates :)

Garden: I'm a bit disappointed with the garden. It is just not prepped enough like our garden in the neighborhood. I really really need a lot of mulch or wood chips to keep the weeds out and moisture in. May have to get a wood chipper for my birthday I think. :) Other than that, we have tomatoes and peas growing well. I hope to have everything else planted this month!

Chickens: We are expecting a Belgium d'Anver chick! The egg is still alive and we're getting excited. It looks like the weekend of the 13th it will hatch. The ducks and chicks are no longer little bitties and we've moved them outside. We lost another Rhode Island red hen to one of the dogs....but were given 3 dutch bantam hens this past Tuesday. They were in pretty poor condition but seem to be happy to be here with us now.

Orchard: The trees and grapes are growing!!! All 17 of them! Looks like all but one grapevine made it through the winter. Pretty excited about that. My mom bought me 3 blueberry bushes for an early birthday present so we planted those today.

Rabbits: I'm making some tough cuts in the hotot barn. One of my herd sires, one I though I'd never let go, is up for sale. Along with a few others! I have noticed I tend to keep animals based on their lines and not how they look. whoops! So scaling back a little. The chins are due in another week, very excited to work with this heritage breed. :)

Lastly, I just wanted to share this picture taken this morning on the way home, I love this little country road. It takes you through green pastures, winding through woods, the deer are sometimes seen grazing in the pastures. It's so peaceful. I love it here.

Baby randomness!

The babies are getting so cute!! Too bad none are showable...oh well, there are two that have thin bands but I'm thinking about keeping anyway. We will see.

poor Gianna

I like this one...its a doe

I like this one too, also a doe!

buck pet on his foster momma, Jenelle

Awesome mom Gianna

 The bunnies got new wood blocks today!! They LOVE them.

I love this guy but no one will buy him because his eyebands scare them away. lol Oh well, guess he'll stay, things always happen for a reason right?

This is Martin, hasn't he filled out? Can't wait to start breeding this guy!

he's one of those that won't hold still when I take my hand off of him...