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.