Photoshoot

Okie dokie guys, I promised you pictures and dang it- you're getting pictures!


Keep's Forest: Junior Jersey Wooley:

"Hey woman, it's windy out here and I do not like it!""You want me to pose? Nahhhh I need to stretch a little..."
"Put me up, I'm tired of you bothering me!"

My mini lop buck & jersey wooley buck living in harmony. My only two babies right now!

Keep's Gorgeous. She's got a nestbox in, cross your fingers!

Rumfelt's Knight, Solid Senior Buck- he's for sale! :) ;)

My buddy SBB's Jimmy. Excuse his cage, I was about to take him out to clean it. *blush*

Well, there you guys go! Just a few of the many, many pictures I took today. Not really website worthy, but it was fun taking them anyway :).

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Least Favorite Rabbit Task

I used to think cleaning pans was my least favorite rabbit chore. All that dumping, hauling, spraying, laying down shavings, scrubbing cages. Ugh, it's not fun.

Then I got woolies. I decided caring for their baby coats was my least favorite task. It's so easy for them to get matty, they bounce off each other- it can be a mess if you don't keep on top of it!

Then the woolies went through their first molts. I was back to cleaning pans as my least favorite task. Molting wooled rabbits are nasty lol. They blow fur everywhere, it gets stuck on the wire, they pee on it- ick! For some reason, only some of them are like that though! I have a few that are very clean.

Today, I hit on another least favorite task and it may be the one that causes me the most frustration.

I hate taking posed pictures of my rabbits. The mini lops look long, the hollands hug the table, the woolies just look a mess. I promise, I'm the only person who could take the ARBA BIS winner and make it look like crud in a picture.

I recently did a trade with a friend- when she got her buck, she was amazed! Why? Because he was so much nicer in person! My picture had been downplaying his beauty, which may be why no one snatched him up at his bargain price!


*sigh* I had hoped to have pictures to show you guys today. Unfortunately, every rabbit I pulled out of the barn was a Grade A pain in the butt. So I'll see if any turned out semi-decently, but don't expect much.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Announcements

Web Design page is up on my website! Sample Pages will be coming soon! I just have to get them all updated and arranged on the page :).

Also, keep your eyes peeled for "Keep's Crafts" a division of Keep's Rabbitry - at least until I get the new website up :P. Right now our special is Knitted Baby Bottle covers & made-from scratch dog biscuits!

I also expect to have new pictures up tomorrow of the rabbits, the baby bottles, and the ratty babies.

One final announcement, I'll be placing a page on my website with easy links for some of the more popular or helpful blog topics I've posted. I hope this helps :).

Thanks
Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Rabbit People.

I know I talk a fair amount about the bad apples in rabbit breeders- the terrible judges, cheaters, bad sports, etc, etc, etc.

I wanted to take a minute to just say- I love 95% of the rabbit breeding community. Show them a decent person who needs help, who is hurting- who's having health, family or money trouble. Then stand back.

It's truly amazing how a group of such diverse people will band together so quickly and so willingly to give advice, hugs and help, whether it be money, labor or a sympathetic ear.

I've seen several times on Rabbit Habbit the community band together to help people they've never met in person.

I see at shows cards being written out to people who need kind words, asking for group wide prayers- everything under the sun. And I love it.

Rabbit people- be good to them and they'll always be the best to you. I love all of you guys.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Agouti Jersey Wooley Her Buck For Sale

GC. Hare's 5H1- aka Chesterfield- Chestnut Jersey wooley buck. Mostly Yia and Hares in the lines, also has some Brian's and LSR. Carries for REW (big shocker there, I know!).

This rabbit has won legs on BOTH COASTS. He comes with 5 physical legs in addition to the 3 it took to grand him. I've also lost some of the ones he's won for me *blush*. Not that it really matters, since he already has his GC, but I can only prove he has won 8, though I recall winning at least 3 with him and can only find 1 of those.

Proven, he is going to live on here through his son, daughter and his grandson.

Can get him to Wooley Nationals in Dalton, GA.

I will discount him slightly if I pre-sell him for Nationals. I do have PayPal.

What to Do About a Bad Show

We've all been there- you get that guy that doesn't really know your breed, who hates one certain fault in a rabbit and refuses to place any that have that fault well, the judge that hates certain colors.

Then I sure hope most of you haven't experience the judge who literally can barely tell the difference between a buck and a doe. The one who poses all the animals wrong, who faults for good traits such as "too big of a head" in a holland or "shoulders are too wide". Maybe it's "HQs are too nice and full". Wait what?

When ARBA Nationals class winners are off the table very first- something may be wrong. When judges pose every rabbit wrong and begin faulting the positives in a rabbit, something is wrong. But you know for a fact things are not going well when 95% of the breeders gathered around the table are staring in disgust at the judging. When many go to scratch rabbits from later classes or just pack up and leave early, something is definitely wrong.

When you get a terrible judge, one who honestly doesn't know what they are looking for, not just one that didn't place exactly how you expected, it's important to say something to the Show Superintendent and the Show Secretary. If all the exhibitors explain why something is wrong, it doesn't look like sour grapes on the part of one sore loser. It's then the responsibility of those are putting on the show to take in to consideration what is going on and see for themselves. They need to explain to the exhibitors why, if they choose to continue using that judge when other judges have finished and are available to take over.

Those running the show also need to realize "if we ain't happy, we won't be back". Nothing kills a show faster than stories of inefficient running, terrible judges and an unwillingness to take action. It's so very easy to kill a show.

We exhibitors also need to realize that sometimes things happen- the show needed an emergency judge, no one realized this person was so bad, it's their first big show and they are working the kinks out, etc. Be understanding! If it's a show that's been terrible for several years, don't expect it to magically get better. If it's a first time show, remember all the tiny things that could go wrong.

Remember, on both sides, a little explanation goes a long way. Show Runners, don't be afraid to tell us about all the things that went wrong. Exhibitors don't be afraid to point out a problem before it snowballs! And everyone, be willing to jump in and help if it's at all possible.

As you can guess, I heard several horror stories about an out of state show this week. I'm so sorry for all the exhibitors that had to deal with the 7 hours it took to judge a single breed incorrectly. It truly sounds like the whole experience was horrible for all involved.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Forgive Me-

Forgive me, this is going to be an off topic blog. It's a rant though, so that's always entertaining, right?

I wanted to update everyone on our car trouble-as some of you know, Tim's car couldn't pass inspection and a diagnostic was run on it. We discovered that two of the cylinders were misfiring so it probably needed a tune up.

We took it to Anderson Dodge in Waynesville, NC. They made us let them run another diagnostic on it which was "free" if you "let them fix it". Well, THEY informed us that the head gasket was messed up and it would cost $2000 to fix it. We told them no, and they tried to strong arm us in to trading it in at their establishment. NO!

We got it fixed by a mechanic in Tim's home town. Total damage? $25. That's because Tim handed him $25 and refused to let him hand it back.

What was wrong you ask? A THIRD diagnostic agreed with the first one- it was a cylinder misfire. Problem? A fouled spark plug.


These foul, disgusting people at ANDERSON DODGE IN WAYNESVILLE thought that because we were young, we were stupid. So, they decided that we needed $2000 worth of work done- because of a "leaky" or "blown" head gasket. It changed from when they called us to when we picked up the car. Despite the lack of "milky" looking oil, the lack of smoke from the tail pipe and the lack of any kind of evidence based on two other diagnostics run- the first of which we told them about when we requested the tune up.

They also decided we needed our water pump and timing belt replaced- when we didn't because both have at least 20,000 miles left on them and this is a rarely driven car.

I can't wait to take the car in Monday and have it inspected. When it passes, I'm going BACK to Anderson Dodge to demand our $85 refund on the diagnostic test they forced us to run, when they misdiagnosed our car and tried to screw us. Oh yes, we had to pay $85 for the "free diagnostic' because they said our car needed $2,000 of work done on it- to change a spark plug.

I positively can't WAIT to contact the Better Business Bureau.

I have promised to let everyone know all about Anderson Dodge. So please, feel VERY free to pass this on to anyone and everyone you can think of, and I do apologize for being off topic and if you get this in duplicate in an email.


And now- here's a bunny with a pancake on it's head!



-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Why Do I Blog?

Why do I blog? I spend a fair amount of time creating entries, trying to figure out new and interesting topics

I also spend a good bit of time responding to emails about blogs and talking to folks at shows who enjoy it.

So- why do I write them at all?

As you might have noticed- I've got opinions :). I enjoy expressing them and a blog is a perfect place to let loose on anything I've been thinking about or that bothers me.

I've also been breeding rabbits for a few years. I'm an obsessive person sometimes and when I decide to do something, I research it to the nines. When I got my first pet rabbit as a semi-adult ( I was in college, you can't call me a full adult ;)- I was still fun!), I also purchased "Rabbits for Dummies" which I read and reread. I joined rabbit forums and asked questions. I still remember the first time I was able to answer a "real question" on a forum, before someone else did. It made me feel so good!

I've acquired so much knowledge from other breeders and I continue to learn! I enjoy sharing this knowledge with all of you- and I hope you guys enjoy maybe learning something new, or seeing a different point of view- or just being nosy and seeing what's happening here on any given day :).

As always, I invite you to leave comments or drop me an email! Let me know if you disagree, agree or are wondering what my opinion is on something :).

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Grooming Tools

I'm so excited! I recently ordered a Metro Air Force Dryer for the rabbitry from The Leash Connection. Not only was it cheaper than other places (including Pets Edge), the communication was amazing! They let me know one had just been returned after having been shipped out 3 days prior and they offered it to me at a discount. Being a slight cheapo, I agreed! (Hey, it's still under warranty!)

I ordered the item 4 days ago. It arrived TODAY. This is amazing considering just 2 days ago they contacted me about the discounted product! And no, I'm not getting an endorsement deal or anything- I just wanted to let you all know if you need a blower, here is what I got, I got good service and it was cheaper :)

I'm going to use the blower to work with my wooled breeds. It is supposed to blow apart mats and remove loose wool and hairs, reducing the need to brush, which can take the edge off the coat.

I'm hoping this also cuts down on cage mess :). So weeee! I can't wait to get out there and try it- but of course it's snowing today! Ahh well.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Our Surprise Arrives!

Thanks to transporting by Malena and the generosity of Cindy- our new breed has arrived!

Are you ready?

Can you handle it?

Am I about to blow your mind?


It's English Angoras!

This is Gracie, a black senior doe. She has 1 leg :).



This is Blizzard, our REW sr buck, being molested by one of the dachshund puppies.

They received the "puppy cut" treatment about a week before they arrived. I can't wait to see them in full puffy glory!

I plan on breeding them as soon as I can get the doe to lift! Please let me know if you're interested in a baby or in wool when they are sheared :).

These little guys are so fun- they have great personalities. They were even able to not murder the puppies who wanted to chew on the new toys. I've never seen such tolerant rabbits!

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Thought for the Day- Litter Sizes

As a general rule, larger rabbits give you larger litters.

Why?

Yes- I know they are bigger- but the babies are bigger too. Follow me on this one.


A 3lb rabbit would be more likely to be prey because it's so small- it packs less of a punch, smaller hunters can take them down- I mean, personally, I'd like to see a hawk go after a french lop. Can you imagine it trying to carry off a 12lb rabbit?

So, because the 3lb rabbit is more likely to be seen as prey by a larger number of animals. Therefore, you'd think it would produce larger litters to better ensure the continuation of the breed. Six babies gives the genes a better chance of making it to reproduction age than does a litter of three.

So- why don't Holland lops give us litters of 11, while Mini lops give us a litter half that size?

Ahh well, feeling goofy. These are the things I wonder about while trying not to murder people at Walmart.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Finishing What You Start.

Ugh, my aching back. Most of you don't know this, but I knit- and today I decided to finally finish up two scarf projects, rather than starting something new. All I had left to do was to add the tassles. Of course, I didn't do this in a comfortable spot, nope not me! I was hunched over in the floor for an extended period of time. In fact, I just dragged myself over to the couch.

What has any of this got to do with rabbits? Well- kind of nothing. I mean, the rabbits aren't going to wear the scarves, I didn't make the yarn out of wool or anything. But I got to thinking-

-finishing my knitting projects is kind of like projects we start with rabbits. Let's use Hollands as my example.

Lots of folks start color projects. Agouti, Otter, Marten, Chocolate, Tri- it goes on and on. Nothing is wrong with that. In fact, I know Saynora is working on tri hollands. When you accomplish what she has in a breed, you can do pretty much anything you feel like doing lol.

It seems though, that a lot of people don't want to "finish" just one project. I know of some rabbits that have all the above listed color projects going on. Of course, Otter and Agouti don't exactly mesh. So, you get a rabbitry full of incompatible colors. This sets ALL those colors back. It's kind of like my scarves. I can start a hundred of them, but they are all worthless if I don't keep working with them and see them through to completion.

My advice would be to pick one color project, or two that can be compatible. Make these animals beautiful, get other people involved- then move on if you want to work on something else. Don't expect people to jump all over otters that are long in shoulder, undercut, snipey in the face and have ears that would make an English Lop jealous. I personally would rather pool all my resources in to making my animals the best I can, rather than trying to quarter the resources to make barely decent animals in four separate projects. Imagine having three breeds like I do. If I allot $300 to rabbit improvements, only $100 goes to Hollands (no laughing, I'm trying to keep this simple). That means, only $25 goes to each of the four color projects I'm pretending I have. So instead of a single nice animal that will improve all my rabbits, I have to go bargain basement shopping and spend just $25 on an "ok" parts rabbit that probably won't improve anything in my line.

Now, I know- if I only had Hollands, I could spend $300 on those improvements to the line. But, I like to mix it up a little and so do color folks. That's why I suggest sticking to just one or two color projects that can at least be compatible.

Another example! The other day, my Jersey Wooley doe Raleigh gave birth to a beautiful black buck. Now, I already have a shaded Jr buck out of the same cross, however this black buck can work with my Agoutis, my Shadeds AND my Selfs! I WIN! The shaded buck can only work with selfs and shadeds. Assuming the type is comparable, I'm definitely going to keep the self buck, because he is the linking element between Agouti & Shaded.

See what I mean? I could bring in Tan as well, but this single black buck is the ONLY rabbit that is 100% safe to use with the tan group. My REW selfs have a very high chance of carrying Agouti. Tan + Agouti= not compatible. So, while the tan group rabbits are gorgeous, I'm going to stick to what I have. Because of the three colors in JW, I don't have space or resources to devote to color projects in Hollands or in Mini Lops. Now, I could. I could have pairs that work only with each other. But I'd rather make nice rabbits.

I know this seems very "do as I say, not as I do". But the mini lops are more technically "Tim rabbits", even though I love them and work with them. My rabbitry wouldn't be as big as it is if he didn't have the minis, so I feel like I can safely count them out. So I have two breeds. Since the self links Agouti & Shaded, I can spend my $100 on improving black/blue selfs or non-Agouti carrying Rews and improve the entire herd. That's what I mean by compatibility :).

If you have the room, have all the color projects you want! Just beware of starting all those new projects when you haven't worked on any of the first ones. Try not to be a starter but not a "finisher". By finishing I mean, at the end of your Agouti project, if the stock you've produced isn't better than what you started with- well, you missed a stitch, forgot the tassles- you didn't get that scarf finished. Was that bad luck, not enough patience- or too many irons in the fire?

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Today in the Rabbitry

We had a lady wanting bunny poop for a garden come out today. I must say, dumping those sterilite tubs was rewarding- and extremely foul. Because the hanging cages empty in to them, they don't get cleaned nearly as often and there was a high quality soil being created in there. Blah! Ahh well, they'll start filling the cages up again!

I'm happy to report we saw Misha, the barn cat, kill her first mouse! Well, it's the first mouse we've seen her take out anyway. Hooray for her! She's been just amazing to have.

We've got a new rabbit for sale-

This is an older picture of him as a barely senior

Keep's Elm- Self Sr Buck- REW- JW
Elm is my baby. Unfortunately I have his parents, his sister and a son out of him! Time to move him on. Really cute *little* buck, great to downsize those big honkin brood does. Out of Wooligans Aspen & Hare's Chester. Proven & managed to even throw better than himself. Won BOSG at 2 months old. -$35

I've also got a sold black holland buck that is available. He's got almost no stray whites and is a 9 month old who goes back to Rumfelts and Leprechauns. I'm selling him cheap to move him out as I'm very buck heavy right now. Pictures will be posted later.

Both these animals can be taken to the Sanford show! :)

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Fuzzy Hollands- The Great Debate

It's funny- I've been asking the question recently "How do you list a fuzzy holland" in a pedigree and just the other day it was brought up on Rabbit Habbit, where it's received some wonderful debate, some of which I've also heard before in conversation. We know if bred to American Fuzzy Lops, they are listed as fuzzy Hollands, rendering the AFL babies unregistrable for three generations.

Here is the problem, for me. Say you have both hollands and AFLs. You get a particularly nice fuzzy Holland buck and you breed him to a regular Holland. How do you list the father in the offspring's pedigree?

Some folks say that the cross above is NOT a pure Holland cross and it should be listed as what you show it under- in this case, AFL. Fuzzy Hollands can't be registered as American Fuzzy Lops- as we talked about earlier, they are still listed as fuzzy Hollands. But saying the buck should not be listed as a Holland because of the wool gene or even that it's dishonest to list it as a Holland, since most people don't want to deal with the wool gene, is crazy. Now, I want to make it clear, breeding a fuzzy Holland to an American fuzzy lop IS a crossbreed. It's a beneficial crossbreed, but a fuzzy Holland lop and a fuzzy lop is not the same thing.

My thought on it is- A fuzzy Holland is a Holland lop with a disqualification. You can breed rabbits with white spots, mismatched toenails, eye spots, bad teeth, etc, etc, etc,. Most of the time you won't want to, but you can. Offspring can then be registered assuming THEY don't exhibit the same problem. It's still a Holland lop, and still a purebred Holland lop, even though there is a DQ, in this case, wool.

There is no clear cut definitive answer. Should we say "list fuzzy hollands as AFLs"? If that's the case, then AFLs with fuzzy hollands in the pedigree need to be allowed to be registered. If it is considered a Holland with a DQ, then it should be allowed to be listed as a Holland lop and the offspring should be registrable. Perhaps conscientious breeders will add a note "carries wool".

As it stands right now, we're in a gray area. Is it a Holland? If it's not a Holland and it's not an AFL, what is it? Why? Why not?

This may be something we need to bring up to ARBA to get a definitive answer on.

Please feel free to debate this as well or just leave your opinions- they are always welcome :)

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Going Whole Hog

One of the biggest problems I see in new breeders or folks getting in to new breeds is the tendency to go whole hog. It's all or nothing, gimmie 30 rabbits or I don't even want one! That's a problem!

Take some friends of mine- two years go at the Greensboro, NC show, I invited a pair of friends to come see what I do with the rabbits. By now, they had three pet rabbits, so I thought the might enjoy seeing all the different kinds, how a show works, etc.

As their eyes got bigger and bigger, and their hands started straying towards their wallets, I warned them "Don't get anything off the raffle and don't buy without me there". Perhaps a little snobbish, but we all know there are folks that will sell you a cat and tell you it's a rare breed of rabbit.

I turned around to speak to someone and when I turned back, there they were- buying a trio! Luckily, they didn't get sucked in by a breeder with no morals but their pets included a mini lop and two holland lops- and they were buying MINI REX!

They broke the first rule for new rabbit owners: If you know an experienced breeder, take them with you! Barring that, DO YOUR RESEARCH.

Pretty soon, they stumbled across another breeder who had otters, which they decided they liked better than what they had bought (color wise anyway, they still didn't know anything about body type)! Should have looked around more, rather than buying from the first person they saw! I don't think it hurt that an otter she bred had just taken BIS for the youth either. So, they start making plans to buy from her in the future, they bought cages, etc.

When they got their new trio home, it brought their number of rabbits up to six. Not unmanageable and they loved them very much, although again, they wouldn't heed my advice about feed and the rabbits very quickly lost condition, due to crap feed one month, good feed the next, a totally different one the month after that.

Fast Forward to the next show they came to- the one they showed up an hour late to and were too late to actually show. They caught up with the second breeder they met and ended up bringing home six new rabbits. So now they have 12 rabbits!

I suggested that perhaps they would want to sell the original pets to make room in their breeding programs- they didn't and that's fine! Lots of us have pets in the barn, I still have my first guy, Scout. The next few shows they didn't want to attend because the condition of the rabbits was bad, they wanted to breed their own to show, etc, etc, etc. Ok. I'm a big fan of showing your starter stock, so you learn what to look for in the animals and get the experience, but some folks aren't.

They did end up making it to one final show, where their rabbits did all right- lack of condition killed any chance the animals had of winning.

They retired from showing, they won't breed the very nice animals they spent so much money on because they are afraid of dead babies and they ended up with 12 pets they don't have time to spend with, on top of the two cats they already owned.

Later, when one was busy working a lot of overtime, the other neglected to give the rabbits the basic care they needed- food and water, for instance. Two ended up dying before the first one discovered what was going on and they are lucky that's all they lost.

I told you that story to make this point- too many new breeders, or those of us going in to new breeds, are too eager to go whole hog before we discover all the facts. We get excited and want to buy, buy, buy. Someone is giving us a good deal on a bunch of rabbits, someone is selling out, someone just has some cute ones, oh that will go good with my buck, I like you, I like you, etc, etc. Then we end up with 12 rabbits or 12 in a specific breed and realize showing is too expensive, too time consuming, we're not willing to cull, we are afraid of dead babies, we aren't winning immediately or the breed just isn't for us. Then what? We're stuck with rabbits we have to get rid of that we invested a lot of money in.

Imagine having thirty angoras before you realize you're allergic to wool? Or thirty hollands, before you realize you don't really like floppy ears!

Go for moderation. Pick up a pair or a trio, try them out, breed them, show them, decide if you like the breed, like the people you'll be showing against, if you have the time for those breeds that need special grooming or care.

I'm so thankful when I got lionheads, I stuck with a pair. I decided they simply weren't for me, so now I have only a pair to sell, instead of a herd.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Evaluating Babies

When I first started out in hollands, I heard over and over again "keep your babies until at least 4-5 months old, then sell them!" I tried that, but I discovered something- at 5 months old, you can definitely see promise, but so can everyone else! If you keep a pet-quality rabbit hoping it will pop, you've wasted months feeding the animal, wasted valuable cage space, and at 5 months, it's much harder to place a pet rabbit.

So what are a few tips you can use to help cull a litter of four down to one or two to grow out?

Check teeth first. Anyone that has butting teeth or teeth that don't overlap properly should be removed from the herd. This can be genetic, so watch that in the rest of the animals in the litter! I've never been able to cull for this, but I always make sure to check!

Next, grab the rabbit and hold it in front of you, with it's feet facing you. Do those feet look like this \ / or worse \/? Or do they look more like | | ? Guess which one we're going for? Yep, you want the feet to be as straight as possible! This is an indicator of better hindquarters. Feet that stick out at odd angles, with the heels pointing inwards indicates the rabbit is lacking in HQ and/or undercut. This is a great way to move a rabbit out fairly young, especially if HQ is a problem in your herd.

Check for eye spots, miscolored toenails and unshowable colors. Unless your unshowable color has amazing type, most folks don't want to bother with them and pet folks usually don't care if the adorable bunny is a blue fox or not.

Has that helped cull down your options? If not, consider your lines. Are they late bloomers? Lisa in CA, who I got my woolies from, claims she can tell at weaning which babies to keep and which to let go- because what they look like at 6 weeks is how they will look as adults. I have to say, with only one exception, I've found this to be very accurate! The only exception was the doe turned out slightly bigger than I thought she would.

In mini lops, I've ended up with litters of 11 before. Imagine keeping ALL of them! At 6 weeks old, I posed them all and culled the worst looking doe and the worst looking buck. In a litter of 11, the odds were definitely with me that if I had just done an "eenie meenie mienie mo" I still wouldn't have picked the best animals to cull anyway :).

At 8 weeks, I posed them again. I ignored the head, unless the ears were super thin and overly long. Again, I culled out the worst three . So my litter of 11 was down to 6! I tried to concentrate on things like "What do I need in my herd and what am I willing to give up to get it?"

After looking at the herd, I decided I needed a doe more than anything else. So, I reevaluated the bucks for sale purposes, number their ears and let them roll! That left me with four does to take care of, instead of 11!

From there, you can take a leap of faith, cull to one or two and hope you didn't let the best one get away, or you can feed the four for a little longer and get another experienced breeder to help you check them, take them to a show, etc.

A lot comes from knowing your lines. If you know that holland baby with the ears dragging the ground will grow in to them, you won't cull it. However, if experience has taught you that ears that long STAY that long, you'll know you want to cull.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

I forgot-

I had a really exciting topic to write about today- I found myself thinking about it in the shower and while I was brushing me teeth- then we had to leave to go do errands and drive halfway across the state. Now that I'm here, at my computer, I'll be durned if I can figure out what it was I wanted to talk about! :( Don't you just hate that? I'm so ashamed, it was going to be so good!

I guess I'll have to do boring updates and hope tomorrow I can remember what I wanted to say :(.

We picked up our barn cat! HOORAY! Tim jokingly suggested calling her d-CON. If she were a boy, I'm ashamed to say I'd have jumped right on that idea! Right now, she's outside getting used to the area. I'm happy to say she didn't succeed in eating Brandi's bird! HOORAY! :).

Rogers Judas is now officially sold.

I updated my website with puppy pictures on the For Sale page! Go oooh and ahhh over them, they are so adorable! NO, bad Kristen, don't need to keep a related puppy!

It's official, we'll soon be home to an entirely new breed of rabbit! I'm so very excited!

I'm hoping to write a blog soon about culling the herd, evaluating babies, condensing lines, linebreeding etc. Hopefully I'll get that written up soon! I wanted to go on and tell you guys about it now though, in case I forget ;).

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

More Exciting news!

Wow, this week has been full of exciting happenings at Keep's Rabbitry!

Thanks to the tireless searching of my friend Brandi at BL's Bunny Barn, we're going to be welcoming a BARN CAT! Hooray!

This gal is currently nameless, so please feel free to make suggestions. She's a white cat with green eyes and I know Brandi was worried about her mousing prowess when she called me. After the cat fished a dwarf hamster out of it's cage and tried to eat it, then took up residence under her bird's cage, we no longer have to worry about it's predatory instinct! HOORAY AGAIN!

I'm going tomorrow to pick up this cat, as well as look at a few Holland does and some new cages and supplies!

Plans are also in the works to bring a new side-breed to Keep's Rabbitry! I'm keeping the breed hush-hush right now because nothing is set, I'm still discussing things with Tim. It would definitely be no more than 5 holes devoted to the breed, but I've always wanted this kind of rabbit :).


My lionheads are still for sale, all my sale Holland does are spoken for and I've gotten an inquiry on Judas.

I think I'm finally coming to the end of my herd reduction! HOORAY again! I will have a broken senior mini lop buck available at the next show :).

We've decided not to attend the Sanford show on February 16th. I do have a transport for sale bunnies to the show though. I may have another holland lop buck for sale soon, as I have found myself somewhat buck heavy. So please email me if you want to be kept advised of that.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Exciting Breedings

Wow, I actually have some does bred!

With the help of my wonderful, wonderful friends Malena & Marlee Hamilton, I'm now expecting some babies!

I'm expecting a litter of hollands from my Broken Sable Point buck Zapp and Miss Muffet- it should be a GREAT breeding, producing some killer babies.

My smoke pearl wooley doe Gorgeous has been bred back to her daddy, Smooth Mover.

My chestnut Chaos has been bred to Hamilton's Camo, an adorable chestnut buck. Hopefully we can finally get some live babies out of Chaos!

I was also able to breed another wooley, Arabella, to Smooth Mover! EEK

These new breedings, as well as a mini lop breeding, should put me back in business! I just hope everyone takes!

The most exciting news to me is that Zapp managed to catch his first doe! Let's hope he's locked in on the idea now and will continue his studliness in future breeding attempts! ;).

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry