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.

Summer update

I cann't even begin to discribe how busy this summer has been. The barn and cages were full all summer. The house renos were all consuming. It is now mid August and I am only know having a chance to take a deep breath.

I have had several wonderful litters of Mini lops, Californians and Silver Martens. I am now just beginning to update my website to show all the changes in breeding stock and promising juniors.

I have decided to keep one broken chinchilla buck from Sunny's Phebe X Mitchell's Link. I am yet undecided between Nick and Joe. I will be showing both as juniors this weekend in Naniamo.

I have also decided to keep one chinchilla doe (Taylor)and one seal buck (Tank) from Mitchell's Ruby X Simmond's Pluto Jr. I will be parting with both adults.

I kept Moonstruck Twin, a 'sporty' blue Silver Marten buck from Silver Streak's Fiona X Silver Streak's Marten. He is just turning six months of age and will be on the show table this fall.

I also have a nice litter of seven little blue martens from Silver Streak's Flash and Riddel's Quervo. They are about four weeks old now. I will be rebreeding Flash to Twin and Fiona to Quervo in this falls' breedings.

I replaced almost all my Californian doe herd with new upcoming stock. Grasshopper went to Michelle Simmond's barn. I kept Mitchell's Lupin to replace her. Ladybug is still around for one more litter. I have yet to choose between her two daughters from her last litter; Hosta and Cloud. I also kept back two bucks, Tipsy and Trap. Both bucks are from these two does respectively. I will be showing them this fall, I will be selling Tipsy, Carters son. I haven't yet decided yet on Trap, Chester's son. He is a really solid buck with excellent mass and exceptional temperment.

Going back to Mini lops, I also have two nine week old litters both from Pro J's Diesel who is a chocolate carrier. Northern Lights Matilda had a beautiful litter with six kits all of different colors. Wow, what a diverse litter. Four of the six exhibited the chocolate gene. There is also a blue and a chestnut agouti in the litter. I am partial to the broken lilac buck but the chocolate agouti is also looking promising. The others also are nice kits, there is a chocolate steel doe, a chestnut agouti buck, a broken blue doe (pre-ordered and pending sale) and a broken lynx that is already sold.

Mitchell's Twix had five kits bred to Diesel. The bucks were either black or steel blacks and they went for fryers. There are two remaining does, one beautiful chocolate silver steel and a black golden steel doe. I am keeping the golden steel doe to replace Twix.

As an update, Posey's Austin produced a litter of five kits with my 'test' doe. All were malocclusion free! Tamashanter's Kenya produced a litter of eight kits with my 'test' doe. All were malocclusion free! Way to go boys :-)

I now have a litter of four kits from Hillside's Jazey X Posey's Austin. There is three broken chestnut agouti's and one chestnut agouti in the litter. Too young yet to evaluate.

Tamashanter's Horizon has a litter of six bred to Mitchell's Opal buck. There is a rainbow of colors. They are still very young and the color definition is yet to develope.

Velotta's Cattabrie has produced one nice little broken black doe. I will be rebreeding her again soon. Milkhouse Summer has yet to conceive. Galaxy is bred to Austin.

I have decided to move out several senior animals to make way for new upcoming juniors. Tamashanter's Horizon will be for sale as well as Simmond's Pluto Jr. (pending). Mitchell's Twix, Mitchell's Ruby are going. I am also parting with Mitchell's Alex, Mitchell's Sunshine and Mitchell's Goldie. I have decided to hang onto two tri-colored does, Dizzy and Ray as well as a junior tri buck named Rosco. I may also hang onto Horizon's broken fawn doe to breed into the tri line to add more genetic diversity if she has good body type.

I have recently bred Kong and Paddy to my test does to see if they are carriers of maloclussion or not. I would love to use them in my main lines if they come out clear of this gene. I will post later this fall with the results of this test breeding.

As soon as I clear some of the seniors I will be breeding Moonlight, Lyra, Ray and Blue jay. I am also planning to breed Kaylee, Kimmi, Jewels and rebreed Phebe.

In reflection, I have had a wonderfully healthy and productive year with the rabbits. I only wish I hadn't been so busy so the up keep wasn't so exhausting. The house renos look beautiful and the gardens have been plentiful. The new perinneal gardens make it a treat to spend time in the yard. The beautiful colors and diversity of the flowers are amazing. I look forward to another season but hopefully with less projects and more time to enjoy everything. The fall shows are now just beginning. A time to show off the years accomplishments. I maybe falling asleep in my chair but I will get my butt there with some of these beautiful animals.

I end the summer season with sadness at the loss of my step brother on the battle feilds of Afghanistan. I am proud of his dedication to his beliefs. He will be greatly missed.

litter updates

Wow, were does the time go!The litters in the barn are growing like bad weeds and hopefully some beautiful flowers are amougst the bunch. Mitchell's Galaxy raised the little blue kit to weaning. He is a very promising junior buck. He has a georgeous head and ears and excellent color. He has a very short round body that could use more depth. I need to watch his toenail color, he is too young to know for sure. I have called him 'Thunder'.

Mitchell's Dizzy successfully raised five kits. All tri's and tri charlies. There is one nicely marked buck who also has the best head of the bunch. I need to look throught the litter this week to sex and evaluate the others.

Posey's Phebe has a wonderful litter of five kits. Three chinchillas and two broken chinchillas. They are just four weeks old but they already have beautiful heads and round little bodies.

Mitchell's Bluebell, my blue harli doe unfortuately died from an unexpected visit from a neighboring dog. She tragically broke her neck. I was able to foster her five kits onto Mitchell's Ladybug, a Californian doe. There is one REW, two blue, one broken blue and a black in the litter. Being a F1 outcross, no tri's were expected. I was hoping for an opal but if the broken blue looks promising I may keep it.

Mitchell's Ladybug (cal doe) had a small litter of four kits after more that 14months since her last litter. She has raised three and is successfully nursing the five mini lop kits from Bluebell

Mitchell's Grasshopper, another Californian doe is raising seven nice kits. Their eyes have just opened.

I have two test (mal) litters. Firstly there are eight kits from Tamashanter's Kenya and five kits from Posey's Austin. I will evaluate the tooth orientation in another six weeks.

Mitchell's Blitz has a test litter of two. I will evaluate their tooth orientation in a month.

Silver Streak's Fiona (silver marten) raised a nice litter of blue martens. There are four bucks, two of which will be on the for sale page soon. The two does in the litter both have one blind eye..... not sure what caused this at this time but will watch the eyes closely.

I am expecting a litter this week from 'Kimmi', a chocolate carrier doe; and from Mitchell's Ruby, a chinchilla doe. I hope both these does conceived.

I rebred Velotta's Cattabrie and Milkhouse Summer. I hope these two does conceive this time round. They have both trimmed down in body weight and have completed their spring molt. They are looking good.

I have also had a chance to bleach out two of the four automatic watering systems the past week and moved animals and cleaned a number of cages. Tamashater's Kaylee is now in a breeding cage. She will be bred to S&K's Stanley. Mitchell's Twix was also moved into a breeding cage after the loss of Alpine's Aero who also died in the dog encounter. I will be breeding her to ProJ's Deisel.

I am continuing to work on fencing my one acre property to keep these pesky animals off the property. This week all the gates should be installed.

Planned rabbitry changes in 2008

As the New Year rolls in, the snow melts and the daffodiles push out of the soil I as usual begin to think about the changes and alterations I hope to do this year.

Firstly, I want to bleach all the water systems and feeders and do a good cleaning of the cages after not having running water to the barns for about two months now. I am sooooo glad I am not hauling water by the bucket to fill little jars two to three times a day. I love my rabbits but I couldn't do this for too much longer. My old bones are not so resilent.

I will be filling in under the cages with a good layer of sand. The many, many cleanings since last fall have hollowed out the soil from under the cages making it harder to clean. The truck is tuned up and ready to go for the upcoming farm work! I also want to get a fresh load of pea gravel for all the walkways.

My biggest problem last year was inadequate growing cages for my fryers and newly weaned animals. I am hoping to aquire at least three stackers (12 holes) if not five stackers (20 holes) to use to grow out young stock. To make room for these new cages I will be either eliminating eight adult size cages or putting the three runs of adult cages into hutches and move them to my outside enclosure. I have so many nice seniors it will be hard to thin down the breeders. I have played with the thought of reducing my Californian herd to four or five AND to reduce the number of Mini lop bucks by six. This would help out with making room for my new herd of Silver Martens and keeping some nice replacement animals in all breeds.

My small barn needs a new roof soon. I have all the materials but I need to reconstruct the roof slope and call my roofer guy to torch on the new material. The heavy duty tarp worked well and withstood the winter winds but it was just a temporary fix.

I am also re-wiring the lights and circuits to the barns. One of the barns is becoming a woodshop so it needs a sub-panel and extra circuits. I am also wanting to make sure all the lights are energy efficient. All these alterations will keep me busy this spring and before I plan on any more projects I first want to finish all these..... I also have a large vegetable garden, fruit trees, some new landscaping projects and house renos to keep me out of trouble this year. Hmmmm. Who said retirement was relaxing! Good luck to all my fellow rabbit breeders on all their 2008 projects.

Planned pregnancies

It finally feels like spring is near. I am hoping the rabbits also begin to feel it as I had 16 missed breedings since October 2007.

I am watching very closely the few litters that have arrived since January. Mitchell's Galaxy has two remaining kits from the breeding with Rah's Lightening. There is a beautiful little blue and an ackward REW bopping around the cage. I am hoping the blue will be a replacement animals for Lightening who is getting very old. I also have five tri's in Dizzy's litter from Pebbles. Pebbles is an F1 outcross carrying A_BBCcD_EejENEN genes. There are two ejej offspring, one eje offspring and two tri 'charlies'. An excellent tri litter. I am hoping that I can darken the red factor in the orange spotting and improve mass and heads. The kits are only two weeks old so I have much to look forward to in this litter.

My new arrival blue Silver Marten doe 'Silver Streaks Fiona' kindled seven live, beautiful blue kits from 'Silver Streaks Marten'. Marten is unrelated to Quervo so I plan on keeping at least one nice buck and one doe from this litter. There is also a small litter of fryer Californians in Blitz's box.

Over the next few weeks I hope to get six more litters; two being 'TEST' litters from Tamashanter's Kenya and Posey's Austin. If these litters come through it will help me determine if these two bucks are malocclusion carriers or not.

I have bred Velotta's Cattabrie to TOM, my home bred broken black buck. Also Mitchell's Ruby (chinchilla) is bred to Simmond's Pluto (chinchilla); Sunny's Phebe (broken chinchilla) is bred to Mitchell's Link (chinchilla) and Milkhouse Summer (chestnut agouti) is bred to Smith's Paddy (broken black).

This week I am planning to breed two of the three senior Californian diva's in hopes of generating some juniors and replacement stock to replace them. (Grasshopper, Ladybug and Star). If any of the three girls miss again they will be gone......

My next Mini lop breedings in the upcoming months will be Hillside's Kimmi (broken chestnut/choc. carrier) to Alpine's Munchkin (choc. steel); Alpine's Aero (choc. steel) to Alpine's Munchkin (choc. steel); Mitchell's Jewels (chinchilla) to Mitchell's Link (chinchilla), Hillsides Jazzy (broken black) to Hillside's Kong (golden tipped steel) and possibly Mitchell's Bluebell (blue harli) to Mitchell's Martin (broken chestnut agouti) as an F1 outcross. If I can make cage space for one more producing doe I will also breed Tamashanter's Kaylee (silver tipped steel) to S&K Stanley (golden tipped steel). I also have one 'test' doe available to test one of the new bucks. I am undecided yet who that will be. Maybe Kong or Paddy.

Mini lop bucks

I was just reading Cristina's blog about Sr. Mini lop bucks and had to laugh when she referred to a breeder she knew that had 17 bucks with a Mini lop herd size of 40. That would be me (too funny). I actually have 18 bucks...... I have always kept alot more bucks than most breeders for a number of reasons.

Firstly, I keep the best animals from a litter regardless of the sex. Statistically that would be 50%/50% ratio. Also I keep many of my colors very separate so in truth I have four separate Mini lop herds with a selection of bucks for each herd. I keep my tri-colored animals separate from my chinchillas, separate from my chocolates, separate from all the others.... I also like to have lots of genetic diversity.

For example, I have three Mini lop bucks that are tri or that carry the tri-colored gene. I have four does that I can use with these bucks. I will on occasion use an outcross buck that is A_BBCCD_E or eeENen genetically to increase genetic diversity in the line.

In the chinchilla line I have two bucks that I can breed to three chinchilla does.

I have one chocolate buck that I can breed to four chocolate or chocolate carrier does.

I have ten bucks from many different bloodlines (Mitchell, Posey/Velotta/Kitsemble, Hillside, Rah, Mobey, etc...) that are either steel, chestnut agouti, black or blue that I can breed to many of my Mini lop does that do not carry chinchilla, chocolate or tri.

I also have a tortoise buck that I have used to introduce the ee gene for fawn, frosties or torts.

I also keep a pair of 'test' Mini lops that I can use to test new addition for malocclusion or entropin.

Above all, I buy or keep the best typed animals I can, to maintain the best Mini lop type possible. After all, Mini lops are judged mostly on type with little consideration to color. I love the colors so I have fun with that but without forfeiting type.

So there you go; 18 bucks! I do want to maybe cut back three or four bucks this year. I do have some animals that are over three years old so they will probably be going this season. Hmmmm..... but there will be several new litters this year that will have some nice bucks too.