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.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
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.
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.
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