I brought in an outcross buck, who's pretty nice looking. I bred him around to several does so I could get a quicker idea of what he produces- IE, I bred him a lot, knowing I might have to trash him and an entire generation, rather than feeding him for a year and finding out the same thing.
However, if he throws gorgeous babies, I'll have lots of them more quickly!
I'm eagerly awaiting them to come out of uglies. They are all around 3- 3 1/2 months old, so most don't have any wool caps at all and still have a lot of filling out to do. By the time show season starts, I should *hopefully* know who I like. Unfortunately, most of the babies are BUCKS! ARRGH!!
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Babies born!
YAY! I had three babies born to a first time doe, Keep's Snow. It's the first litter out of Lyle Creek's Fabulous. I was starting to worry that maybe he was sterile :(. I'm happy to report he's not!
All three babies are REW, because that's what both the parents are :). I have NO idea what color Snow is hiding, though I do know that Fabulous is a self underneath his REW. Snow was out of Keep's Forest, so she does have a chance of being an agouti, which means the babies also have a chance of being an agouti.
I checked on Lyle Creek's Kendra and her two nestbox babies while I was out- thank goodness I did! Kendra has pulled more wool and her two babies were slow cooking! I pulled some fur out and moved them to the front of the box where they could cool off a little bit.
I've got 3 more does due on the 13th. I'm hoping they all take, especially since one gives me my best chance for ORANGES!
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
All three babies are REW, because that's what both the parents are :). I have NO idea what color Snow is hiding, though I do know that Fabulous is a self underneath his REW. Snow was out of Keep's Forest, so she does have a chance of being an agouti, which means the babies also have a chance of being an agouti.
I checked on Lyle Creek's Kendra and her two nestbox babies while I was out- thank goodness I did! Kendra has pulled more wool and her two babies were slow cooking! I pulled some fur out and moved them to the front of the box where they could cool off a little bit.
I've got 3 more does due on the 13th. I'm hoping they all take, especially since one gives me my best chance for ORANGES!
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Too Hot to Live!
Ugh, it's miserable outside! Thankfully the bunnies are safe inside their A/C'd barn. It's still warm in there, because I won't turn it on full blast, but it's definitely knocked the heat down a level.
I'm dying for a show! It's been so long. Most of my juniors look NASTY because of this weather! I'm going to go on and worm, which will hopefully blow their coats off. Even if they can't show in September, they'll be more comfortable and will be on their way to prime :).
I've got some woolies that are needing new homes- most can go as pets, broods or shows, they just need to go!
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
I'm dying for a show! It's been so long. Most of my juniors look NASTY because of this weather! I'm going to go on and worm, which will hopefully blow their coats off. Even if they can't show in September, they'll be more comfortable and will be on their way to prime :).
I've got some woolies that are needing new homes- most can go as pets, broods or shows, they just need to go!
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
Friday, August 6, 2010
Keep Records!!
Oh gosh- I made a big goof and didn't even intend to!
When I sold out my holland lops, I had 11 babies to move out and I didn't record who I sold them to in my pedigree program.
I was browsing websites and found the website of one person who had purchased several animals- some pedigreed and some pets. I emailed her based on a picture on her site, telling her that the pedigree information listed for one of the rabbits wasn't correct- I had convinced myself she had purchased 2 brokens as pedigreed animals and 2 solids as pets.
It turned out the pedigree (which I had supplied) WAS correct- my memory had failed me and she did get a solid animal with a pedigree. What started out as an attempt to make sure her pedigrees were accurate (especially because the pet animals carried a rainbow of colors behind them, while the others didn't) turned in to my giving a youth breeder a mini-heartattack.
It's important to keep good records! Unfortunately, my tattooer needle BROKE as I started pedigreeing the 11 holland babies, so only one got any kind of ID mark in it's ear.
Because I was selling out the hollands, I didn't do my usual record keeping. Eurgh.
KEEP GOOD RECORDS! That way you don't end up making a similar mistake!
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
When I sold out my holland lops, I had 11 babies to move out and I didn't record who I sold them to in my pedigree program.
I was browsing websites and found the website of one person who had purchased several animals- some pedigreed and some pets. I emailed her based on a picture on her site, telling her that the pedigree information listed for one of the rabbits wasn't correct- I had convinced myself she had purchased 2 brokens as pedigreed animals and 2 solids as pets.
It turned out the pedigree (which I had supplied) WAS correct- my memory had failed me and she did get a solid animal with a pedigree. What started out as an attempt to make sure her pedigrees were accurate (especially because the pet animals carried a rainbow of colors behind them, while the others didn't) turned in to my giving a youth breeder a mini-heartattack.
It's important to keep good records! Unfortunately, my tattooer needle BROKE as I started pedigreeing the 11 holland babies, so only one got any kind of ID mark in it's ear.
Because I was selling out the hollands, I didn't do my usual record keeping. Eurgh.
KEEP GOOD RECORDS! That way you don't end up making a similar mistake!
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Palpating Lark
I palpated Lark tonight.
I sadly suspect she is pregnant, I thought I felt a baby in her stomach. While I'm not 100% accurate on palpating, I will be proceeding forward as if she is pregnant.
:(
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
I sadly suspect she is pregnant, I thought I felt a baby in her stomach. While I'm not 100% accurate on palpating, I will be proceeding forward as if she is pregnant.
:(
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
Monday, August 2, 2010
My new barn!!
My new barn is ready!
The most beautiful thing I've ever seen! It took weeks to get the electricity run to the building in an affordable manner- the first quote was from someone trying to blatantly rip us off, then we had to dodge thunderstorms daily once we finally found someone to do it for us.
Looky what I have! :) I'm planning on just keeping a small amount of cool air running through the rabbitry- enough to knock down the heat and not much more.
The bunnies settled in! :)
I still have a few more things to set up- my shelves, my water jug, etc, but I'm so happy to have the buns in there! :).
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
The most beautiful thing I've ever seen! It took weeks to get the electricity run to the building in an affordable manner- the first quote was from someone trying to blatantly rip us off, then we had to dodge thunderstorms daily once we finally found someone to do it for us.
Looky what I have! :) I'm planning on just keeping a small amount of cool air running through the rabbitry- enough to knock down the heat and not much more.
The bunnies settled in! :)
I still have a few more things to set up- my shelves, my water jug, etc, but I'm so happy to have the buns in there! :).
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
Sunday, August 1, 2010
The Barn
We had plans to have the rabbits installed in their new barn yesterday. It figures then, that it would rain most of the day. In between dodging rain drops and sitting inside cursing the downpours, we managed to move 23 cages and their occupants in. :) So at least we're around halfway done!
It's weird to have the herd split up the way it is, I definitely am hoping we're able to fit everyone else in their homes tonight.
Looking out the window- it's still raining. NOO! At least anything could happen- with NC if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes.
I suspect I'll have to have another herd reduction. Ok, scratch that- I know I will. I've got too many juniors that will need to move out and since I knew not all of my cages would fit in the new barn, I'll have to get rid of more adults as well. I did talk Tim in to letting me keep a trio of cages in the garage to house the pets- Joe the Mini Lop, Scout the neutered mixbreed and Pants, the VM Netherland. I'm still hoping to convince him that Pants needs to come inside, but so far I'm losing that particular battle.
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
It's weird to have the herd split up the way it is, I definitely am hoping we're able to fit everyone else in their homes tonight.
Looking out the window- it's still raining. NOO! At least anything could happen- with NC if you don't like the weather, just wait 5 minutes.
I suspect I'll have to have another herd reduction. Ok, scratch that- I know I will. I've got too many juniors that will need to move out and since I knew not all of my cages would fit in the new barn, I'll have to get rid of more adults as well. I did talk Tim in to letting me keep a trio of cages in the garage to house the pets- Joe the Mini Lop, Scout the neutered mixbreed and Pants, the VM Netherland. I'm still hoping to convince him that Pants needs to come inside, but so far I'm losing that particular battle.
-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry
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