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.