August has begun to cool down. The rabbits are taking a sigh of relief and the garden is exploding with the few days of rain.
Mitchell's Lil One, a broken chestnut agouti Mini lop has been showing off her litter of chestnuts and broken chestnuts. The little bundles are popping in and out of the box. They are as cute as buttons.
I just weaned Mitchell's Twilights litter. There are two chocolates, two lilaces and three sables?. Only one is a doe. They are the friendliest litter of lops yet this year. They crawl all over my hands as I feed them hay. A very fun litter.
Posey's Raven, a black Silver Marten doe just raised a litter of five blacks, sired by Preston's Jericho/Soldier. This was his last litter in the barn before he headed to a new home and herd.
Moonstruck's Onyx had a large litter of 8 kits today sired by Silver Streak's Blue Manchoo, my new buck from Scott Rudolph. I am really excited to see how this litter turns out. They all look like blacks but not 100% sure. I just peeked and counted as Onyx was giving birth this afternoon.
Moonstruck's Rosemary is expecting a litter sired by S&K Froy. See hasn't been working on a nest yet so she may have missed....... will palpate her tomorrow to check.
Willow's Catalina is bred to Posey's Kayden my new REW buck from Sunnybrook Rabbitry. I will find out more of Kayden's genetics with the arrival of his first litter.
Most of the Mini lops in the barn are either in or just finishing a heavy summer molt so I will hold back on breeding anymore lops for a few weeks. I may try to breed one or two Silver Marten does this month and will probably be the last litters for this season. I hope to get Magic & Tori bred. Springer will be old enough for breeding after the show season. I am hoping to have litters sired by all three new herd bucks this season.
Most of the chickens are moved into their fall/winter digs. I only have a few extra roosters to find new homes for. I will post again after the show season.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
August Heat and Unlazy Days
The calender page just turned to August. The heat has been thick and heavy for weeks now. Endless trips with frozen waterbottles to and from rabbit cages and fans a humming, sluggishly moving the hot summer air. The garden plants are growing and maturing heavy with summer produce, the perinneal flowers bring a buzz of activities with fat bumblebees & beautiful butterflies collecting their life source of pollen and nector. Hummingbirds zip around my head and squabble and fight with each other.
The fast growing chicks are proudly strutting their beautiful adult feathers and wait patiently to graduate into the laying coop. All the rabbits are sprawled out like furry mats in their cages waiting for the cool of the night to come to life.
I have been loving the summer with all the life and activity but creaking through the chores with aging bones in protest. Many really beautiful animals are going to new homes as the herd is begin to dwindle, in preparation for the colder months to come. I am trying to slow down and listen to the need to rest and heal.
Most of the spring litters have grown and many are sold and a few kept to show and replace their parents. I sold two varieties of Mini lops this season; the steels and chinchillas as well as all the Californians, as I try continue to cut back the workload. I still have four litters of Mini lops to grow and sort and one litter of Silver Martens which will end the spring/summer litters. I have two late summer/fall litters of Silver Martens due next week. I have held back on breeding more does for now but I do want to breed a few before I part with the sires.
I have been trilled with the quality of the chocolate Minilops born this year. I am reaping the benefits of selective breeding and tough culling to acheive offspring with good depth, good width, heads, crown and color all in the same animal! I will be working on the tri-colored Mini lops this fall and next spring. I have only a trio but I am working with Kim Posey and she has a breeding pair of Tri's as well.
I still have a pair of torts and a handful of chestnut agoutis. I plan on using these two varieties to increase the genetic diversity of my tri-colors and to help improve type & color (mostly heads, crowns, bone and orange factor).
I just love the Silver Martens. I have many beautiful juniors I raised this year. They have such nice personalities and are wonderful mothers. What a pleasure to have them in the barn. I have high-hopes to do lots of winning with some of these beautiful animals this show season. I however will be missing a few of the shows due to holidays and company but i sure hope I can get to at least a few this season.
I want to really enjoy this season as I know that there will not be too many more ahead of me.
The fast growing chicks are proudly strutting their beautiful adult feathers and wait patiently to graduate into the laying coop. All the rabbits are sprawled out like furry mats in their cages waiting for the cool of the night to come to life.
I have been loving the summer with all the life and activity but creaking through the chores with aging bones in protest. Many really beautiful animals are going to new homes as the herd is begin to dwindle, in preparation for the colder months to come. I am trying to slow down and listen to the need to rest and heal.
Most of the spring litters have grown and many are sold and a few kept to show and replace their parents. I sold two varieties of Mini lops this season; the steels and chinchillas as well as all the Californians, as I try continue to cut back the workload. I still have four litters of Mini lops to grow and sort and one litter of Silver Martens which will end the spring/summer litters. I have two late summer/fall litters of Silver Martens due next week. I have held back on breeding more does for now but I do want to breed a few before I part with the sires.
I have been trilled with the quality of the chocolate Minilops born this year. I am reaping the benefits of selective breeding and tough culling to acheive offspring with good depth, good width, heads, crown and color all in the same animal! I will be working on the tri-colored Mini lops this fall and next spring. I have only a trio but I am working with Kim Posey and she has a breeding pair of Tri's as well.
I still have a pair of torts and a handful of chestnut agoutis. I plan on using these two varieties to increase the genetic diversity of my tri-colors and to help improve type & color (mostly heads, crowns, bone and orange factor).
I just love the Silver Martens. I have many beautiful juniors I raised this year. They have such nice personalities and are wonderful mothers. What a pleasure to have them in the barn. I have high-hopes to do lots of winning with some of these beautiful animals this show season. I however will be missing a few of the shows due to holidays and company but i sure hope I can get to at least a few this season.
I want to really enjoy this season as I know that there will not be too many more ahead of me.
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