Spring has Sprung

It is the May long weekend and I cann't believe a month has flew by since my last post. It is a busy time on the farm and the nice weather keeps me outside most days.

My garden is mostly planted with exception of the more delicate plants but those will be going in this week. The lettuce is ready to harvest with radishes and brocolli not far behind. The potatoes, peas, carrots, chard, beans,and sunflowers are up. The cauliflower, pepper, squash, garlic and some flowers are thriving. Tomatoes are transplanted to big pots and will stay on the deck to force the tomatoes to bloom and ripen faster; I hope. The apple tree is in full bloom. I am so pleased to see it swarming with orchard bees and the odd honey bee. The bumble bees have not yet appeared. A few ladybugs have also appeared! A 'thrush' has build her nest in the ivy in the carport and a pair of starlings have squacking babies in the nest in the eves of the house. The barred owls have returned and wake me in the night with their eerie cries. They will keep the wild rabbit population in control.
The elk have moved higher up the mountain but the odd white tail deer has wondered by and pruned some of my shrubbery and flower buds. The first sign of black bear is in the area but no visitors to the farm yet. Thank goodness.

The barns are full of baby rabbits. I had several very successful litters with litters of five, six and ten. Sales have been brisk so I still have some empty cages for upcoming litters. Firstly Mitchell's Mumbo my blue tort Mini lop has a litter of six torts. Mitchell's Daunte is the sire. Mitchell's Taylor had her first litter bred to Rah's Huffle; she has a litter of five. There is one chinchilla, two sable silver steels, one silver steel and one seal in the litter. They have awsome heads already. Mitchell's Peanut has her first litter bred to Posey's Austin. There are four chestnut agouti kits and three broken chestnut kits. JT's Godiva had one kit only bred to Mitchell's Geronimo. It is a very fat solid lynx. I fostered Mitchell's Jasmine litter of five to Godiva and she is successfully raising all six kits. Jasmine was bred to Posey's Bennett. Milkhouse Summer is raising four kits; the sire was Hillside's Paddy. The two old girls, Velotta's Cattabrie and Mitchell's Jewels didn't come through with live litters. They will be retired.

The demand for Californians have been high. I could of sold three times the youngsters I produced this spring. I purchased a forth doe from S&K Rabbitry. She will be of breeding age in about three months. Mitchell's Hosta raised three beautiful bucks. I sold two as herd bucks and I have held back one as Carter's replacement. Mitchell's Eclipse has a nice litter of six kits bred to Carter. I have bred Lupin to Chester and hope for a nice replacement buck for Chester in that litter.

The Silver Martens have amazed me with their productivity. Moonstruck's Promise raised six kits bred to Cedar Hill's Finnegan. Five blue does and a buck. Only one black doe in the litter. Moonstruck Tori raised two beautiful kits bred to Moonstruck's Twin. Cedar Hill's Sage had ten kits and is raising nine. She was bred to the new buck from Maryanne Preston - Preston's Jericho. All ten kits are black.

I have a few does due. Mitchell's Lupin bred to Mitchell's Chester; Posey's Portia bred to S&K Stanley; Mitchell's Dizzy bred to Mitchell's Jerry; Silver Streak's Fiona bred to Preston's Jericho. I will hold off breeding any more rabbits now until I free up some cages. I now need to sort and select stock from the upcoming litters for my fall show string. There is a show in Victoria in June so I can show the juniors in the barn and a few seniors that are not raising babies.

I will post again soon.

Spring is Here?

April showers are making this Easter Sunday quiet and lazy. A fire is burning in the woodstove; the smell of baking is coming from the kitchen. Happy Easter everybody.

The rabbits are resting today after a nice day at the RABBITS BC spring show and Garage Sale. It was quite a success all around. The club made enough money to put on a double rabbit show next time. There was a moderate turnout with 115 rabbits entered; 19 breeds exhibited. Not bad for a holiday weekend.

I had an exceptional day winning BOB in all three breeds. Snowberry's Caliber, jr Californian buck won BOB; Posey's Bennett won BOB and BIS for the Mini lops; Preston's Jericho won BOB Silver Marten. (co-owned with Kim & Cristina Posey). My own homeraised Mini lop Mitchell's Liberty won BOS Mini Lop; Mitchell's Geronimo won 1st Senior buck Mini lop. Posey's Joni won BOSV broken who is now also living at Moonstruck Meadow. Moonstruck's Saree won BOS Silver Marten, a beautiful jr black doe. Recognition should also go to the breeders of these three exceptional rabbits; Donna Williams, Kim & Cristina Posey and Mary Ann Preston. I am expecting litters from all three of these nice animals this spring! Watch out rabbit breeders this fall. All in good sport!

The barns will be brimming with new litters soon. I have ten bred does. I have four new litters growing now; Mitchell's Hosta with three Californian kits, Moonstruck's Promise and Tori with eight Silver Marten kits between them, Mitchell's Mumbo with a litter of six torts from Mitchell's Daunte.

The ten does that are bred are Mitchell's Jasmine, Mitchell's Lupin, Mitchell's Taylor, Mitchell's Peanut, JT's Lady Godiva, Mitchell's Eclipse, Cedar Hill's Sage, Velotta's Cattabrie, Mitchell's Jewel and Milkhouse Summer. I will post more details on these litters as they are born.....

I have recently added a new Californian doe to the herd from S&K's Rabbitry. She has some Wilcox bloodlines in her. She will introduce new blood into the herd this season. I will be posting more info on her on my website soon.

I still have a few rabbits for sale this month. They are mostly juniors, however I will have a few seniors available next month as I wean litters and hold back replacements. I hope to have my tri-colored Mini lops going soon. With so many others expecting I am waiting to make sure I have enough cage space to house them all.

I wish everybody a great spring rabbit breeding season. I look forward to seeing everybodies winners at the shows this year.

Spring at Moonstruck Meadow

Finally spring has arrived. You wouldn't know it by the weather with rain, rain and more rain with the odd snow flake. The plants are beginning to come to life giving us all hope that it will come soon. New seedlings are popping up under grow lights; tomatoes, squash, kale and brussel sprouts. I have lots more to start. The garden has had its first tilling. The fall rye is now turned under. A mountain of compost is waiting to be moved into the garden and tilled before planting time. Most of the winter damage has been pruned off the shrubs and trees. All the fruit trees and grapes were pruned weeks ago and now blossoms are about ready to open on the plum and quince trees.

The rabbits are fleshing out and many are ready for breeding. The Cals are molting but most of the others are almost in prime. Its interesting how each breed molts at different times and under different conditions. The lops molted really early this year when it was still pretty cold and lost some body condition in the process, while the Silver Martens and Californians held their coats and body condition much longer.

There were a few late winter litters. In Mini lops EE's Carrie had a really nice litter with Mitchell's Rocco. All seven kits are broken chestnuts and almost all identical in type. It will be keeping at least one or two. Hillside's Kimmi had a litter of six bred to Posey's Flick. Another really nice litter or interesting colors; broken blue, broken tort, broken cream, broken chestnut and chestnut. I will probably keep the broken blue buck and the broken tort doe..... The others are nice too. Mitchell's Liberty had a litter of three bred to Pro J's Diesel. There is a really nice little black doe in the litter. Milkhouse Summer struggled with her litter but raised two very large babies after loosing five from the cold. I like the golden steel buck in the litter. I will watch his growth. I have a tortoise litter due from Mitchell's Mumbo bred to Mitchell's Daunte and a tri-colored litter due from Mitchell's Dizzy bred to Mitchell's Rosco. Today I bred four does; Pro J's Godiva bred to Mitchell's Geronimo, Mitchell's Jasmine bred to Posey's Bennett; Mitchell's Taylor bred to Rah's Huffle; Mitchell's Peanut bred to Posey's Austin. All should be exceptional litters. The crosses are all very complementary for body type. I am still having difficulty getting my old does bred (Velotta's Cattabrie, Milkhouse Summer, Posey's Portia and Mitchell's Jewels). I will keep trying this spring but this is their last chance to produce. I have lots of young senior does that are desperate for breeding and that will take their place.

There was one Silver Marten litter born late winter from SAGE and Twin. Six lovely kits, most of them sold right away. I have held back a doe. I am expecting two litters this week; one from Moonstruck's Tori bred to Moonstruck's Twin and a litter from Moonstruck's Promise bred to Cedar Hill's Finnegan. Kim and Cristina Posey and I recently purchased a beautiful black buck from the Prestons'. I am planning on breeding him to Silver Streak's Fiona and Cedar Hill's Sage very soon. I am really looking forward to all four litters.

Mitchell's Lupin, one of my Californian does had a winter litter. She raised three of the five born. A really nice litter; all have been sold. Mitchell's Hosta now has a litter. Three of the five kits survived the cold. They are healthy and fat. I have a new Californian buck from Donna Williams from Mitchell's Ladybug and a buck from Granings. He will be ready for breeding in about eight to ten weeks. I will also be keeping two young bucks; one from Mitchell's Chester and one from S&K's Carter this season. The old boys are due to retire.

I will be working on website updates all week. New pics of upcoming juniors will be finally up. ;-)

Show Results of VIRBA - February Show

The VIRBA show in Victoria has now passed and I have finally warmed up! It is always a cold weekend, however we had beautiful blue, cold, crisp skies.
There were three Mini lop shows, two open and one specialty. I was a bit disappointed that the judges didn't weigh more of the rabbits. Mini lops are really hard to keep within the weight range of max. 6.08lbs. Most of the over-sized animals were allowed to go through. However, there was very nice size classes and good competition in all the shows which made it fun to watch.

Show A: Mini Lops: Mitchell's Jasmine my broken lilac sr. doe won BOV. I had good comments on many of my other animals.
Silver Martens: Mitchell's Tori a beautiful blue sr doe won BOV,BOB. Mitchell's Twitch my blue sr buck won BOSV,BOS
Californians: I entered three very young juniors for comments.

Show B:Mini Lops: Mitchell's Button my broken black jr doe placed BOSV, Mitchell's Jasmine placed top of her class - broken sr. doe.
Silver Martens: Mitchell's Tori again took BOV, BOB but this show Mitchell's Twin my other blue sr. buck took BOSV, BOS
Californians: My three very young juniors held their own with the junior buck placing 1st in his class and one of the does placing 4th against animals much older.

Mini lop Specialty: My animals didn't take any top winnings in this show however 6 of my 7 animals placed either 2nd, 3rd or 4th in their classes.

The main downfall with my Mini lop placings is that most of my animals were down in condition due to either just coming in or out of a molt. Not sure why everybody decided to molt this early, the Silver Martens and Cals had excellent coats.

I look forward to the April show in Duncan. Many of my seniors will be bred or raising litters but I have a few juniors that will be ready to show.

February at Moonstruck Meadow

Wow, what a winter! I am so happy to see the snow melting, the grass begin to sprout up and the bulbs push up through the winter grey. We didn't have a typical West Coast winter but more a winter like the interior of BC with -19C temps and 4 ft of snow. I don't think I have ever shoveled so much snow. I had to make trails to each of the barns and hutches. Each day I had to climb the fences to get into the enclosures so I could dig away the snow to open up the gates and barn doors. Yuck! I really felt my aches and pains of ageing this year. I finally have the watering systems up and going again so I don't have to haul water twice a day to 80+ rabbits.

I did a serious cut back in numbers and I am still thinning the herd to reduce the work load. I have been also going through the stock to prepare for the first show of the season. The Silver Martens have the most wonderful coats as does the Californians. Most of the Mini lops are strangely going through a change of coat and don't have the same condition as the other two breeds. I am getting everybody back into top condition by increasing the feed by 50% and supplementing with a show mix.

I had a few litters arrive during the winter cold and most of them survived and are now getting close to weaning. Cedar Hill's Sage has a nice litter of six out of Mitchell's Twin. Milkhouse Summer finally came through with a litter of seven but only two survived the cold. Mitchell's Liberty has four kits out of ProJ's Diesel. EE's Carrie has a nice litter of six out of Mitchell's Rocco. I will have pics soon on my website of these juniors. I hope to have several does bred this month in all breeds. I will post the upcoming litters as soon.

I will post again real soon with the results of the VIRBA show next weekend. I sure hope it isn't too cold!

Late Fall Update

The rabbit raising season is now coming to a close. With the weather getting wet, windy and cold both myself and the rabbits are settling in to quieter times. Several fall breedings didn't come through so there is only four litters in the barn right now and only three bred does due in December.

Sunny's Phebe has a nice Mini lop litter of six bred to Simmond's Pluto jr. They are absolutely adorable now at five weeks old. There are three chinchillas and three broken chinchillas in the mix. Mitchell's Bluejay also has six young bred to Tamashanter's Kenya. There is a REW, a blue, two broken blacks and two golden tipped steels. All kits are too young to evaluate for quality but many look promising.

Silver Streak's Fiona (Silver Marten) has a small litter of three with Riddle's Quervo. Mitchell's Lupin has her first litter bred to Mitchell's Chester. I have to keep a close eye on Lupin because she seems to want to move her nest every day. She is being a great mom as the six babies all have fat tummies, but it is too cold and damp to have the nest dismantled at this stage. I hope she settles into things soon.

The other day I had a chance to take another look at the animals I bred and raised this season. There are some really nice young animals that will be next years replacement stock. There was also a four month old litter of Silver Martens from Silver Streak's Flash and Riddle's Quervo that I hadn't yet evaluated. I was so impressed with the litter I kept three of the six to show in February. I am also thinking of keeping at least two to replace some of my older stock. Wow, I am so impressed with the quality of these animals. I love their personalities and I was some what concerned that they wouldn't come up to size. Many judges and breeders told me that reaching senior weight can be a problem with the Martens. Not these guys, they are growing extremely well and what impressive looking animals in full prime. WOW.

I am looking forward to incorporating my young Mini lop stock into next years breeding program. They are mostly all outcross breedings as a result of introducing a large number of new animals into the barn this season. Next year will be my first backcross breedings and first generation linebreed offspring of these new lines. This usually brings the quality of the animals up a notch or two. I am pleased with the selections of genes I will be working with. I will have more chocolate and chocolate carrier animals. New chinchilla carrier animals, new ee extension gene animals to add to the tri-colored line, a working pair of tortoise animals to keep this color alive in the barn, and some really nice steel, black and blue offspring to compliment what I already have. My biggest problem is having too many animals. I plan on parting with four to six senior animals to make way for the young animals. I of course must keep many of the older animals to continue my double backcross and linebred lines.

Fall update

It is now approaching the end of September and the fall crispness is in the air. The maple trees and some perennials are beginning to change colors. The last of the fall shows are over and I am cutting back on rabbits and slowing down the breeding program so I am not having so much work during the cold months.

I have only one litter in the nest box and only a few does bred. I have been sorting and showing the summers best with good rewards. I am still waiting for the show reports from all the shows but the rabbits brought home winnings in all three breeds. The Californians did especially well bringing home a BIS with Mitchell's Lupin. My first home bred Silver Marten 'Twin' received repeated BOV and many BOB wins and a Reserve in Show. I was showing many new lines of Mini lops this year. They did as I expected, some winning and others not. I look forward to next season where I will be working with less out cross animals and more line bred litters. I have introduced many genes that I was hoping to establish, now it is time to concentrate these new genes into winning animals.

I have purchased a nice pair of black Silver Martens from Lois Fernyhough of Cedar Hill Rabbitry. I love the Martens, their beautiful look and their personalities. My goal next season is to work with both the blues and blacks and to increase their senior size. I have had good success of introducing several bloodlines in other breeds to achieve out cross vigor which usually increases their size and by selecting the larger offspring without forfeiting type.

The Californians have gone up a notch in quality and type this season. I will be working with three exceptional does in my core herd. I will be breeding both Lupin and Hosta in about a month. I will be showing Eclipse in February as she approaches six months of age.

I have selected several of my nicest Mini lops this season which will be coming to breeding age in the new year. This fall I will be working on testing several bucks and does; Smith's Paddy, Hillside's Kong, Mitchell's Lyra, Pro J's Diesel to name a few. I am also hoping to get a few new litters for juniors to show next spring.

Hillside's Kimmi is now bred to Alpine's Munchkin; Mitchell's Blue jay is bred to Tamashanter's Kenya, Milkhouse Summer is bred to Hillside's Kong, Posey's Phebe is bred to Simmond's Pluto Jr, and I am trying to breed Tamashanter's Kaylee to S&K's Stanley. These are all out cross breedings. The first line bred litter will be Mitchell's Jewels to Mitchell's Joe when Joe turns six months of age in about two weeks. I am also trying to get Velotta's Cattabrie rebred and maybe one last litter from Galaxy.

I have decided to keep a nice solid golden tipped steel doe (chocolate carrier) Mitchell's Liberty from a cross Mitchell's Twix and Pro j's Deisel. I am also keeping Mitchell's Taylor, a chinchilla doe from Mitchell's Ruby crossed to Simmond's Pluto Jr. I also kept a solid seal buck from this same cross; his name is Tank. I am keeping a broken lilac doe 'Jasmine' from Northern Lights Matilda and Pro j's Deisel and I cinnamon buck 'Geronimo' from the same cross. Tamashanter's Horizon produced a broken blue tort doe and a broken fawn doe that I am holding on to for now. If they develop nicely I will be using them in my tort and tri lines respectively.

My meat sales were brisk this year. Many people are now feeding raw food diets to their dogs and cats. I have also been selling lots of Californians as breeding stock and some Silver Martens. Many people are looking to raise their own meat with the recent problems with recalled meats. I again have an empty freezer. I was hoping to have it stocked with meat for the winter for my family........ I have a few fryers on the go.

I have been harvesting lots of vegetables from the garden. I dug about 200lbs of beautiful Yukon Gold potatoes. I have been enjoying snow peas, green beans, chard, yellow zucchini, purple haze carrots and tigerella & cherry tomatoes. The winter squash is growing like it is on steroids and the sunflowers are now well over 10ft tall. Goes to show how good rabbit manure is for fertilizer. The apples are close to picking, the quinces are delicious and the grape vines are heavy with grapes. I am now hoping the raccoons and bears don't beat me to the harvest. The deer have already pruned many of my flowers and some of the grape vines. The darn raccoons have also been knocking many of the apples off the tree. I am use to running them off at 3am with my spotlight and sling shot. *laugh* The family of barred owls have caught and eaten almost all the wild rabbits that frequent the property. I now have to keep a close watch on my yorkies so they don't become dinner!

I am about to begin a few more house renos as soon as the yard and garden is done for the season. My son's apartment gets a new paint job and floor. I also plan on painting my bedroom and the guest cabin. The attic needs new insulation and the lower barn is waiting to be converted to a working woodworking shop. I have a few orders for nest boxes, grooming tables and feed sifters. Lots to keep me busy in the fall/winter season.