Rogue Kits

We have a situation in the Rabbitry.

One of the holland does has two broken tort kits. Every day, at least twice a day, we're finding one kit in the floor. Now, these are babies. Extreme babies. We're talking a week old!

So, at first I said "Ok, my fault, they aren't in a baby saver cage." So I moved the whole group over to a cage that has urine guards. Then, I found him out again! So I said "ok, the nestbox must be too low". So I remade a nice, deep nest in a good nestbox.

They are still escaping. The only thing we can guess is that Mama Bunny is kicking them out of the box by accident, with such force, they are going over the urine guards!

We've got them all in a super large plastic bottom cage. Hopefully it will be enough to keep our rogue babies home until they are old enough not to need the nestbox!

-Kristen
Keep's rabbitry

A picture's worth a thousand words

Well, I don't do this often, but I thought this blog would just be a few pictures of some up and comers or some of my favorites in the rabbitry :) Enjoy!

Keep's ?- 3 week old holland baby out of HF's Latte & Keep's Future

Keep's Barbee- my wry neck survivee! Out of LBF's Zapp & The Nature Trail's Miss Muffet

Keep's Zephrim- jr buck out of LBF's Zapp & The Nature Trail's Miss Muffet. He & his sister are starting the journey through uglies! Hooray lol

Keep's Future & The Nature Trail's Carly. Future is the solid, he's taking a breather lol

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Multiple Breeds

You know- when I started, I heard "Oh, stick to one breed. You'll never be a nationally recognized breeder if you have a lot of different breeds, and you look more professional".

Since then, that advice has obviously gone out the window, as we have 3 serious breeds and 1 I'm playing with.

My advice is this- do what you have to do to have fun. In a highly competitive breed, where it's cutthroat competition and you have to wait for long maturing lines, it might be necessary to have a more relaxed breed that can compete earlier. For instance, I've won Best of Group with 2 month old jersey woolies. Ask me when the last time I saw that in hollands was.

If you want a pair or trio of every breed available, go for it! Now, yes, if you have 15 breeds, it's going to take you longer to get where you want with them. But isn't the hobby for fun anyway?

I know of several extremely successful breeders that have two breeds. I don't personally know any with three breeds, but hey, I don't know 90% of rabbit breeders :).

If you start with good stock and work hard with them, I see no reason why you can't do very well in all three breeds, or all four, etc.

It seems to become one of the super elite of the breeders you have to go to pretty much every show that exists (more than just sticking to one breed). This is a whole 'nother blog though.

So how do you measure success? The number of trophies, number of friends, how many people know of you, website hits...

Thanks to the Woolies, I've met friends I might otherwise never have known. Same with the Mini Lops and the Hollands.

I'll probably never have more than three true breeds at a time, simply because it's so hard to get them on the table. I've complained about it before- if they call Jersey Woolies, Mini Lops go up seconds afterwards, sometimes with Hollands still on the table!

If you can handle running 8 breeds to the table, I say go for it. Have fun! That's what it's all about at the end of the day :)

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Happy Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!

Take a moment today, between the grilling out, the cage cleaning, the laughing with friends and family or whatever you're doing and just think about all those who have served, are serving and those will serve. It's because of their sacrifices and their courage that we have the opportunity to be who we are and live how we want to.

Thank you to all the veterans who have come home, and to the families of those who won't. We should say it way more often, but thank you so much for serving, knowing you might never hear that Thanks said aloud.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

The Aftermath

Wow, being gone for a while means some issues- for instance, the cages all need to be cleaned! ALL of them! UGH!

Since I've been gone, the flies have come out in full force! Time to break out the fly strips.

Some of my babies have popped out of the nestbox, others are waiting patiently to be born.

I did find that Miss Muffet had some trouble kindling yesterday. She had 1 DOA and 1 stuck baby- the poor girl had to pull it out herself and it was ripped and partially eaten. After a rest, I'll try her again.

We brought home some new does yesterday! I can't wait to go through and evaluate them, and start the breeding! We got two bred yesterday, including the long awaited Zapp x Ms. Lady match! She produced 3 babies the first time, but this was during the period of time something got into my rabbitry and stole the babies out of the nestboxes!

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Show Results!

Oh wow, LONG day, the show took until 6pm- for a DOUBLE!

In order of showing lol:

Show A

Holland Lops:

Mrs. Lady- SSD- 1/4- ARGH! So close to a leg!

Bart- BSB- 1/4- BOSV! Yay!
Zapp- BSB- 2/4- lost to Bart on Condition! Aw man! So close to that last leg lol

Jersey Woolies:

Keep's Forest- Self Sr. Buck- 1/3- BOG- BOSB! EEEEEEEEEEK!!!!! 1st leg

Keep's ?- Shaded Jr. Buck- 2/2- he didn't molt that crappy baby fur out lol. BAH! He's working on it, that's all she faulted him on.

Show B

Jersey Woolies:

Forest- 1/3 ( I tried to take him off, I thought he had placed second..oops)- BOSG- BOSB! EEEEEEEEK! 2nd leg

Keep's ?- Shaded Jr. Buck- 1/2- BOG! EEEK! lol


Hollands:

Ms. Lady- 5/5 (wtf? lol so confused now)

Bart- 1/4- BOSV! Yayy lol
Zapp- 2/4

So it was a very nice day! :)

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

We're back!

Hey guys,

We're back from Colorado! There is nothing like being home :).

I'm happy to say everyone is in perfect health and it appears one or two of the does will be kindling soon! YAY!

We have MORE rat babies- my fault, this was an unintentional mother/son breeding, so please let me know if you're interested in a baby *sigh*

Please bear with me while I return emails and other messages, we've got quite a few! :)

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

See Ya Later

Alligator!

:D

We're heading out early in the morning for our vacation, so I won't be around for a little while!

If you're feeling lonely for the blog, my website does have some of what I feel are more helpful blogs listed there :). I may have to cull that down a bit when I get home, it's a rather long list.

:D

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Holland Sell Out-

Sorry for the heartattack guys, this isn't my sell out, I'm posting this for a friend :)

One REW buck out of Sugarplums. Nice head and body.

One tort buck Bull Dog he won at (NC) convention.

A doe and her baby a little of line breeding. She is Bull Dogs half sister. They baby is really looking nice.

Another tort doe out of a Saynora doe. She need butt, has great fur and rich color.

Thorne a small buck out of Mary Justice stuff produces nice babies with the next doe.

October out of Alison’s (HF's) stuff. Nice doe body and head, good Mom.

Cracker son of Crazy Bentley one leg. Nice buck, he is broken nice dark tort colors.

Tim one of Alison’s out of Yankee Doodle lines. He is still a Jr.

Brendle out of LL Brendan and Levi out of Gendales of PA. his lines go back to Lov’s

If interested, contact Joan Polley at poleywogs@yahoo.com

Vacation? Tips for the Pet Owners

"Vacation? Are you crazy? What about the bunnies? What about the cats and dogs? What about the degu? Have you even thought of the chinchillas, the rats and the turtle?"

It's that time of year again! Oh yes, Spring Fever has HIT! Tim & I will be winging our way to Colorado for our anniversary trip. But how does a pet owner really go on vacation? We usually sneak by with a day or so out of the house, if we're lucky.

Here's how we're doing it!

Tim's sister Stephanie is coming up from Western Carolina University. She'll spend 3 fun filled nights here, taking care of the creatures. On the 4th day, she and the two female dogs are heading up to Mitchell County to live with my in laws. The boys are going home with a local friend.

The local friend, Deb, will be coming out every day to feed the rabbits and other animals, as well as give nestboxes. This is the unfortunate part, the day we get back I have 5-6 does due, all of whom I forgot to palpate, so we'll see how that goes lol.


Tips for helping things go smoothly with pet sitters!



1.) Divide and Conquer
We have a huge menagerie. Huge! I accept that. So we're splitting them up and we split the vacation time up, so no one person has to care for them the entire time we're gone, making it a less pain in the butt task.

2.) Write a list!
I have a list of the animals (excluding the rabbits) on what to feed, how much to feed, etc. The list is on the fridge and their food is in front of the cage!

3.) Clean up!
The litterboxes are being cleaned, cages are being dumped- no cleaning required on the part of the caretakers, which cuts down on their work and time spent here!

4.) Don't be picky.
I know you like that one special rabbit to get those lovingly hand counted oats in their food. If you have 1 animal, that works great. When you have enough for an Ark, it's crazy to ask someone to do that! My instructions for the rabbits look like this:

"Big ones get 1 full measuring cup, Small ones get 1 half measuring cup. Ones with babies get full bowls". That's it! No "Latte gets this, Morning Mist gets that, Future likes Burger King, Joe wants Taco Bell." Nope, they get two choices, end of story.

Notice they are divided in to "big ones" and "little ones"? That way they don't have to distinguish between mini lop and holland, show doe and brood, etc.

5.) Get supplies together!
I already mentioned the animals have food in front of their cages (in the house). The cats are having their bowls moved to the living room so they can be included in the rotation and not easily forgotten.

Everyone has enough food to last them until we get home, and we're stockpiling rabbit food as well. There should be no cause for Deb or Stephanie to have to scrabble for food for anyone.

Nestboxes will be assigned before I leave, and left sitting on top of the cage or in front of it. Notecards will note when the doe should get her box, and I am showing them what "stuffed full of hay" means. Don't leave anything to chance!

6.) Share tricks of the trade!

Tim & I recently decided to use the hose pipe directly to water. This is achieved with a 96 cents Walmart funnel and a little bit of skill lol. Don't be stingy, share that tip! It saves walking back and forth to fill up jugs! Same with my feed tin, I have a small bucket I carry with me full of feed. Why make her scoop out half a cup, feed the rabbit on the end of the row, then come back to the bag and try again?

7.) Leave contact numbers!

Don't scare the pet sitters in to not calling you! Yes, my preference is not to be bothered with stupid questions like "It's out of water, should I give it more?" Then again, someone that would ask that question shouldn't be in charge of your animals! If an emergency comes up and they need you, let them call! Everyone knows the numbers to the vets as well, and Stephanie has Deb's information as her local contact person, should she need anything.

8.) Don't forget the keys!

We'd look like fools if we ran off to the airport and found out as we touch down in Denver "Uh, I can't get in to the rabbitry, you didn't leave a key!" If you have a spare, make sure they know where it is, even if you have to move it from the usual place. If you don't have a spare, get one made!

It's a lot of work, making sure it's not a lot of work for the folks taking care of the animals. But without them, there would only be 2 options- don't have animals (unthinkable) or don't go on vacation (noooooooo).

So I think the extra effort is worth it :).

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

New Policies!

Well, I never had a sales page full of rules before. I'm about to put one up though!

The high points on it are as follows:

50% non refundable deposit required to hold a rabbit.

I will hold that rabbit for free for 1 week or until an agreed on meeting date. After that, I reserve the right to charge a reasonable holding fee.

Full payment required on delivery.

I can't do payment plans any longer because of difficulties with a single customer.

I really hate to do it, I think I've posted before that 95% of all the people I've dealt with have been 100% honest. I'm trying to protect myself, my rabbits and you guys.

So stayed tuned to see that page coming soon!

I'm happy to announce that I've sold all the animals I want to sell! WEEE! Some are pending details being worked out. I'm thrilled, I've got some beautiful empty holes and I hope everyone will be thrilled with their new animals!

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Making Your Website

I thought today we'd concentrate a little more on our rabbitry website than our actual rabbitry!

It's a much debated topic on Rabbit Habbit- by which I mean, it tends to pop up occasionally, and we are often asking opinions on new changes to our sites!

Now, before I get down to the nitty gritty, I want to mention- your website is YOURS. Do what you want. If you want to make it neon green with hot orange text, go for it. These comments are meant just to help those who are interested with little things that could make your site more accessible, more readable, and more pleasing to the eye! It's compiled of pet peeves I have or I have heard of- usually 75% of more of the folks I've talked with agree.

1.) Stick with one background.
It looks more professional. I get around this by changing the look of my website- pretty much when I feel like it. :)

2.) Don't have music
I keep my computer speakers turned off, but there is nothing more obnoxious than trying to listen to your own music and find a site that has something else playing! Especially if you hate the genre- ie. Rap or Country- or whatever. It can also slow down the load time for the poor folks stuck on Dial Up Island.

3.) Go easy on the blinkies, glitter pictures, etc.
This also slows load times, doesn't look professional and can clutter an otherwise nice page. Try to keep these to a minimum.

4.) Keep colors simple.
Like I said at the beginning- if you have a neon green background with bright orange text- good for you. I won't be visiting your site more than once ever though. The overly bright colors kill my eyes (and those of others!). I don't like squinting or having to highlight text to read it. Try to consider if it's easy for your customers to read your text- after all your website is geared towards them!

5.) If you can, try not to be redundant, if you can.
Do you have an "About Me/Us" page? If so, you probably don't need to copy paste the introduction on the index of your rabbitry to that page and vice versa. Either have a detail Intro or have a detailed About Us page. Example of a good compromise:

Intro: Welcome to Keep's Rabbitry. We're located in Western NC and consist of a husband/wife team.

About Us Page: Names, ages, how long we've been in rabbits, favorite breeds, why we breed the ones we have, hopes, dreams, pictures, etc.

Obviously, this is very short and scaled down, but I hope it does help to serve an example!

6.) Have pictures!
Preferably good pictures, in good lighting. Some folks prefer websites they visit to have all the animals on the same background. I'm lazy in the pictures department, so I don't really care about that. Pictures are definitely hard for me to get- my animals dislike posing and love to torture me by running around. However, I try to make sure the pictures aren't squished, are in good lighting and aren't fuzzy!

7.) Don't make me chase your links!
I hate searching through 300 links to find the one I want. Try to keep it simple. If you have more than 1 breed and don't want to just do a "Bucks" and "Does" page, keep the breeds together! Holland Bucks, Holland Does, Holland Juniors. Polish Bucks, Polish Does, Polish Juniors, Flemish Bucks...you get the picture!

I also hate clicking "Does", getting to "Hollands", then getting to "Brokens" or "Solids" , then to "Seniors" or "Juniors".....see how irritating it was just to read that sentence? I tend not to visit sites that make me hunt to see what I want to see.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Knoxville, TN

I sent in entries to go to the Knoxville, TN show today.

I'd like you to all note that it is 8:57 am and I appear to still be in North Carolina.

I woke at 5am and lay in bed playing the "should I go game". I don't normally do that, because I hate sending in entries and then not showing up- it throws off the show! Not terribly bad, but still!

Anyway, I was lying in bed, in the dark, weighing my options- how would I feel later today? Would it just kill Tim tomorrow? How excited am I about showing who I have in coat?

I think it all came down to- I'm sick of traveling. We were gone last week to my hometown (3 1/2 hours away) to see family. Then, Monday we went off again (1 1/2 hours) to pick up some cages with Malena. I'm not a good traveler. I get antsy after about 30 minutes in the car, and I'm notorious for falling asleep after rabbit shows (which makes Tim sleepy, then he jerks the car around...)

So, I talked myself out of going, which proved not to be a bad idea, since my stomach wasn't feeling happy with me not long afterwards.

It makes me sad that I didn't get to see my rabbit buddies and show around different competition. I think I'm going to end up regretting not going :(.

On a side note- gas has hit $3.79 in some places around here- eeeeek, I may be cutting more shows than I'd like to!

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

A Day of Do Overs

Ahh it's a day of do overs here.

I'm going to be rebreeding several does that obviously didn't take last month. I'm disappointed in the breeding rate. Half palp'd positive, but I only got two litters. Hmm- either my palpating skills are that bad, or they reabsorbed for some goofy reason. :( Either way, it makes me sad.

I'm going to be scrubbing cages as well- oh hooray. Always good times! They need it though, and since none of my friends love me enough to just come do it for me, guess it's up to me!

I need to separate out some babies from their Mamas. That's always fun, the moms look relieved and the babies look angry lol.

I've also got to figure out my entries for the show Saturday. I'm glad I wrote this blog, it just occurred to me! Ahhhhhhhh busy busy.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Announcement from Sea Breeze Bunnies

I need to sell almost everything. I don't have the heart to keep up right now. We'll keep just a couple of bunnies. I'll let most everyone go for $25 each. Please come get them if you would like them. We're going to try to go to the Columbia show, but right now I am so down that I'm not sure I'll even do that. Depends on the money situation, too ... gas is outrageous.

www.seabreezebunnies.com/available

Please spread the word and help me sell most of these bunnies.
Thanks,
Cindy

Cindy and her daughter are excellent breeders with great animals. She's someone that will tell you straight out about her animals and any faults, so if you're looking for some great Hollands at amazingly rock-bottom prices, send her an email. She also has several Netherlands and a pair of Flemish Giants that will need homes.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Still waiting

We're still waiting on some does to pop! ERGH!

Two holland does, both broken torts and both in the same stacker have started digging around in their nestboxes. Could it be?! Then again, they are both 4 days overdue at this point. I've been very disappointed with my convention breedings, to be honest. Only 3 babies out of a TON of does due.

Thanks to Nita for transporting two of our woolies up to Ohio, they are going to live the good life in PA!

I've also only got 1 California mini lop buck left who is for sale. I also have an Opal mini lop doe.

It's so nice to see empty cages in the rabbitry! I've got to clean the cages out, then do some separating. :D. I have some holland babies ready to be weaned.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Late Night Blog

Well, we had our first Convention Babies born today!

Our Jersey Wooley doe Hamilton's Smoothie had three babies early this morning/late last night. One was born DOA, one was a failure to revive and the third revived but then later slipped back under and didn't wake up. :( *sigh* It was her first litter and she tried, but she built an awful nest. We plan on rebreeding her tomorrow.

Around lunchtime, HF's Latte gave birth to my first Keep's Future babies! She had three beautiful torts that are very warm and jumpy! I have great hopes for this pairing, their faults are offset very well by each other!

So far we're being ignored by the other girls. I do believe one doe isn't pregnant. She's not one I palp'd positive, so that makes me feel better lol.

Hope your nestboxes are getting full!

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry