I want to take a moment and talk about my process when it comes to evaluating my juniors and deciding what to keep/show and to sell/cull. I start evaluating the kits when they turn 4 months old as anytime sooner you may cull to early and not see how your line develops. *FYI: Cull does NOT mean to kill. The correct definition is "remove from one's herd, example: selling to a pet home or using for food". Now back to Margarita.
This doe is out of LHR's Olivia and my registered buck Kareha's Casper. This is a total out-crossing meaning the parents come from unrelated lines. The only reason I did this is that Casper could correct some of Olivia's faults as in her head and bone. I decided to let this doe grow out because at 8 weeks old she was looking like she had promise but in the back of my mind I knew things can change so getting advice from a fellow friend who told me to let her grow out till 4 months old and then start going through them and that's exactly what I did. Every juniors that is produce in this barn will be evaluated at 4 months unless there are major things that shouldn't be bred for example: pinched hindquarters or genetic disqualifications then those juniors will either be culled or sold as pets. Let's talk about the Margarita's weaknesses/faults: The two main things I would fault her on is the substance of ear (ear thickness) and she needs more width in her muzzle. If you take a look at her father's Casper face, that's the ideal face you want in mini lops but please understand that a doe's head is going to be a little smaller but you still want a nice width head. I can definitely correct both of this faults by line-breeding her back to her father or her half-brother. Margarita definitely has more strengths than weaknesses in my opinion. She has a a nice and balanced body. She's got nice full hindquarters. Her balance between width and length is wonderful and I definitely am going to be incorporating that with future juniors that may be lacking the width and the length of the body. She has a good crown and crown width as well as good bone. These are some of things you need to look for in your mini lop herd and also refer back to the Standard Of Perfection if you aren't too sure. Always breed rabbits that compliment each and never breed two rabbits who have the exact same faults as that will only make things worse and you may have a much harder time improving the breed. This may turn into a series on evaluating my juniors and what I look for. If you ever have doubt on juniors, take them to a show and see what the judges think and talk to fellow breeders or mentors and go from there. You can learn a lot from talking to other breeders and having a mentor! Stay tuned for another post like this!!
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Welcome to a New Year! I just wanted to talk about the plans and goals that I have set for myself for 2018 on what I want to accomplish this year for my rabbitry!
Goals/Plans: 1. Work on good bone and head width. Cull those who have refined and long bone 2. Produce a broken chinchilla 3. Win Best of Breed with a homegrown 4. Win Best of Breed with a rabbit that I purchased 5. Get a homegrown registered and granded 6. Produce a pedigree with mainly my lines 7. CULL HARD! 8. Have at least 2 juniors per class 2 solid junior bucks 2 solid junior does 2 broken junior bucks 2 broken junior does 9. Produce a nice quality broken orange/orange 10. Keep attending as many shows as possible 11. Produce a few quality broken does and broken bucks 12. Evaluate juniors at 4 months. Cull anything that has faults or DQ's that cannot be fixed! 13. Work on producing quality kits for PASRBA and ARBA Convention for 2019 These are a few goals and plans that I would like to accomplish in at the end of the year. I will be making another blog post about what I accomplished and what I still need work on! Follow me on this journey :) *Prices reflect on the quality of the animal(s) and do not change. Show and Brood Quality animal(s) are priced accordingly and can change if, for example, animals have been shown, proven/reproduced, number of wins and awards(legs). Show and Brood animals will not be charged at a pet quality price. If you are wanting a show/brood animal and wanting them as a pet, these particular animals will NEVER be charged at a pet quality price! I determine the quality of the animals that I produce. Please understand that these are my opinions and my evaluations of the animals and not a judge’s perspective. Please do your own research before you get into showing or breeding as there are a lot of information and tips that need to be taken seriously.
Pet Quality: Pet quality animals are animals that are not meant to be shown or bred. They are deemed not show worthy or brood worthy. Rabbits that end up pet quality are ones that are unshowable or do not fit the breed standards for a particular breed. Examples: Disqualifications or genetic undesirables that affect breeding or showing. A genetic undesirable example is a split penis. Animals that have genetic undesirables or disqualifications should NEVER be bred or used in a breeding program! Pet Quality rabbits from King’s Rabbitry will NEVER come with a pedigree and are priced at a much lower price than my brood/show stock! *Brood Quality: Brood quality animals are animals that end up being unshowable due to being overweight, having disqualifications like missing tooth/teeth, missing toes/toenails, mismatch nail colors, color etc but are still able to be used in a breeding program. Brood quality animals have the ability to produce quality animals. I cannot guarantee that brood animals have the ability to produce etc but still could make a good breeding rabbit if used correctly. Brood quality animals are a great addition and are very helpful animals in anyone’s breeding program! *Show Quality: Show quality animals are deemed show worthy which means that these particular animals are free of disqualifications and fit their breed standard. Show animals still have faults that can be easily fixed by breeding them to another animal that compliments the animal. These animals usually have great qualities such as type, mass, bone, color etc. These are the animals that I would feel comfortable with putting on the show tables and getting a judge’s opinion. Any show quality animals are kept in my care until 4 months old when I begin my evaluation. *Show quality and brood quality animals are kept until 4-6 months old and I begin my evaluation. If any animal that I feel is worthy of being put on the show tables, I will try to enter and bring them to any shows that I am attending. Most animals that end up being show quality or brood quality will most likely end up being for sale. I can’t keep everything but I will keep ones that I feel that I can use for my breeding program etc. If you are interested in showing and do not where to start, I can help as much as I can! When I evaluate my juniors, I look at type, bone, head/ear/crown set etc. I’m a lot harder on my bucks then I will be on my does so I may not have a lot of bucks for sale but I will from time to time. Does I will have for sale more frequently. As you may know, 2018 is right around the corner and there has been a few updates and changes with King's Rabbitry. The major change is that I am no longer open to the public. This isn't because of one certain individual or a group of people, it's just for personal reasons. I am still open to close friends and family but other than that, I no longer allowed the public to come to the rabbitry. The second is that I am doing a heavy breeding schedule along selling some of my mini lop stock for new lines/upcoming juniors that are expected in the near future. The reason for doing a heavy breeding schedule is for me to have more juniors to go through and have a fun time showing them as well. It also helps with new breeders that are wanting to get into raising mini lops. I've posted the schedule for 2018, but things are going to change because of rabbits that will be posted for sale and those that are being retired for breeding. I am also going to be putting a halt on selling pets. I'm tired of potential pet owners wanting so many pictures, asking the same questions multiple different ways and in general just wasting my time. So as of 2018, I am no longer selling pets.
The updates with the show/breeding stock. I am no longer selling any show/brood animals till 4 months old or later. The reason why I'm doing it is that juniors change so much after they are weaned. I'm a show breeder and 4 months old is a good time to start evaluating and selling show juniors. Please understand that if you have a potential interest in showing that you may not get a rabbit from me till the animal reaches 4 months old. If I have juniors that I've kept back and are older than 4 months than those of the animals that will become available. I'm planning on doing a mini-series or blogs about how I evaluate my juniors so be on the lookout for that. The last point, I'd like to make is that I DO NOT BREED FOR COLOR! Too many individuals are looking for a certain color or for whatever reason for wanting a specific color. If that's the case, PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL ME! I'm not going to be responding to emails that are looking for colors because I breed for type and color is the last thing I have to worry about. The other day, I picked up my very first trio of New Zealands from a very good friend of mine. 2 does and 1 buck is what I wanted. This is the very first time I've ever had NZ's so it's going to be very interesting on how I end up liking the breed. So far, I really like them a lot. So these guys are going to be used for meat and show production. I know there's a lot of people against raising rabbits for meat but at the end of the day meat is meat and rabbits can be used for meat or show etc. I will be doing a project on deciding which way is better to feed the babies. I will be doing an experiment using the babies after weaning and putting one litter on a straight pellet based diet and the other litter on a natural diet. This will take a few months as I'm going to be doing this 3 times with each litter of NZ's I produce. I will most likely create a new tab on my website to talk about the project and post on the findings. If you are looking to raise your own meat, stay tuned for the new tab on the website and how the project is going!
As the title says, I'm starting a new breed! Well, not really. I've decided that I wanted to add a new breed into my rabbitry because I'm in love with this breed. Don't get me wrong, I love my mini lops and will always continue to work and improve the breed but I want to try to something different and work another breed while I continue to improve my mini lops! You may be asking yourself what breed is he talking about?!? There are 49 breeds that are currently recognized by the ARBA and that's a lot of choices to go through. The reality is that one of those breeds really stood out for me! The breed is NEW ZEALANDS! Why New Zealands? New Zealands are one of those breeds that I have to have because I'm so fascinated by them and they are such a beautiful breed. The reason I chose New Zealands is that Pj from Grace Hollow Rabbitry in Arkansas raises and shows New Zealands and ever since she began raising them, I fell in love with the breed. I look up to her and another breeder from Missouri that has them and they are such a lovely breed! I've signed up for AFNZRBA and OSNZRBA clubs to learn more about the breed. I won't be getting into them until the end of this year or sometime next year because I want to learn more about the breed before I get into them. New Zealands come in black, blue, white, and red and I've decided to either start with blacks or reds because those two varieties are my favorites. So please follow on my journey with New Zealands and Mini Lops and see how I grow with both of these breeds.
As some of y'all have seen on my facebook page that I had posted a status about doing a major breeding in December. I bet y'all are curious on why I've made this decision on doing it. The reason I'm doing it is because I need juniors for show, for setting up pairs and trios for upcoming youth or future breeders for mini lops and also 2 great friends and I have decided to do something special but I can't go into details until further information is happening with this. Anyways, the reasons for juniors because I would like to have multiple litters to go through and pick the best ones that I feel will be great show rabbits or brood rabbits and cull the ones that don't fit the standard or have major faults that can't be fixed with breeding. I have paired all 6 of my does to all 4 of the senior bucks that I have. I will go through them and give you a description on why I chose these pairings.
First Pairing is: Lazo's Winnie x Kareha's K241 aka Casper. This pairing is a aunt x nephew pairing and they will compliment each other very well. Since they have the same lines on Casper's mom's side, they should compliment each other super well! They will be bred together 12/01/17. Second Pairing is: TLD's Janice x King's JEK5. Janice and Feisty have already been paired before and the results of them are great! Really liking how the babies are growing out. The other reason why I'm doing this pairing is to figure out if Feisty is a self steel or a double steel. Why? Because he's out of two steels and I was hoping to get genetically self rabbits so I can produce blacks, blues, chocolates and lilacs but since he's out of two steels, the chances of him being genetically a self is slim. So by doing this breeding again, it should help determine if he is a self steel or double steel. They will be bred together 12/02/17 Third Pairing is: TLD's Demeter x Star City's SC225. Bubba and Demeter are being paired because Demeter is a non extension carrier and being bred to Bubba I have the chance of getting broken oranges and frosted pearls. This is a complete outcrossing and I'm pretty sure they do not have similar lines so this should be an interesting crossing. I'm hoping the babies turn out to be show quality. They will be bred together 12/03/17 Fourth Pairing is: Star City's SC239 x King's JEK5. The reason for this pairing is because I think these two will compliment each other well. Sapphire's first litter when paired to Bubba show that all the babies were culls so possibly in the future if I decide to keep Sapphire I will try and pair her with Bubba again. Feisty and Sapphire have complete different lines and it's a total outcrossing. Hoping the results from this pairing are good. I should mainly get a bunch of chestnuts but you never know!! They will be bred together 12/04/17 Fifth Pairing is: LHR's Olivia x DRD's Nomad. I've done this pairing before and that's how I got Feisty. I really liked how Feisty turned out so I figured why not do this exact cross again for hopefully more quality babies. Also, Olivia and Nomad are dilute carriers so I'm pretty excited to see if I can get a show quality dilute! They will be bred together 12/05/17 Sixth Pairing is: AEC's Bianca x Kareha's K241. Now the reason for this pairing is to potentially produce a great quality charlie doe. It'll be interesting pairing because this an outcrossing but they may have a few of the same breeder's lines in the breeding but I can't remember off the top of my head. Another reason is that Bianca is has some length to her so hopefully breeding her to Casper, the results from the babies will create short bodied mini lops! They will be bred 12/06/17 Hey guys!
I hope you are having a wonderful beginning of summer as I am! There has been a lot of changes/things going on in the rabbitry and I've decided I would like to talk about it. Let's get into the showing part first. How are the shows going? Well, the showing aspect that I'm doing is going fabulous. Winnie has earned 4 legs and she is eligible to be a registered grand champion! This is pretty exciting. I'm planning on getting her registered and granded at the Randolph Show on the 17th! Feisty, my first ever homegrown buck that I've shown, is doing a fantastic job in his show career. He was showing against juniors but now that he is a senior, he is going to be showing up against the big boys! I have a few juniors that I'm looking forward to showing this fall! How are the juniors doing? I have a lot of juniors in the rabbitry but only a few have stood out to me. King's Cincinnati, is a broken sable steel and he is out of TLD's Demeter and Lazo's Wizard. At first, all the babies were looking promising but as they got older, I didn't really like anyone of them except for Cincinnati and New Philadelphia. But out of those two brokens, Cincinnati stood out for me! He's a nice well balanced buck and he will be hitting the tables at the Randolph Show and that is pretty exciting because it's another homegrown that I will be putting onto the show tables! King's Bloomington is a black frosted pearl. He's out of AEC's Bianca and Star City's SC225. I knew from the beginning I wanted to keep him. He's such a cuddle bug. Every time that I take him out to pose him, he just keeps getting better and better. I'm always looking at the type over the color but he is such a pretty rabbit and will make an amazing addition to my herd if he matures nicely! He's a very promising buck. King's Potomac is a broken sable chin. He's the brother to Bloomington. This little bugger has been giving me mixed feelings since he was 6 weeks old but I decided to keep him and grow him out. So far, he's a promising junior buck! Last junior that is still here and growing is King's Sedona. Sedona is a chestnut agouti and he is out of TLD's Janice and DRD's Nomad. I'm selling Sedona because I don't want or need a chestnut in the rabbitry but let me tell you, he is a promising young buck and would make a great addition to anyone's herd. Current babies!! So as many of you know, I have a ton of litters right now but it's only like 3. Let's start with Corona's litter. Corona had a litter of 3- a broken chocolate, white and a black. This litter was pretty shocking because I wasn't expecting a broken chocolate or a white -_-. But these babies are adorable! Lucky's litter had a new surprise color and that is a BROKEN AMBER!! This broken amber is now named Charlotte and she is the sweetest little doe there is! Charlotte is more likely to stay here in the rabbitry! The last litter belongs to Midnight! Midnight is a first time mom and I was pretty worried about her and her mothering instincts but let me tell you, she's a fabulous mother! She has 2 blacks and a chocolate. I was shooting for blues but it doesn't seem like it's happening. Upcoming babies! I haven't bred Winnie since last year but I decided to go ahead and breed her to my homegrown buck Fiesty! Winnie is due on the 10th! I'm pretty excited about this litter because this breeding should compliment each other well and because both rabbits have done an excellent job in their show career so I'm hoping the litter will be show quality and hoping that there will be more does than bucks lol. The second rabbit I bred was Sapphire. She was bred to Bubba and she is also due on the 10th. I'm pretty stoked about this litter because I can see what the pair carries and hopefully there will be some interesting colors.(Hint, hint: cream)! These babies should turn out really nice! That's all that has happened in the rabbitry! Pretty stoked to see how the juniors mature, how the mini rex babies turn out and the upcoming litters from the black chin doe and orange doe! If you are looking into showing rabbits, it is the best thing you can do! You have so much fun seeing all the different breeds and meeting many new breeders! Rabbit shows are where you can compete against friends and other fellow breeders but still at the same time have super fun! But remember you must have some etiquette meaning don't rub your wins in other faces or point out your rabbit to the judges because it'll upset others and judges. Just celebrate when you are at home!
How To Sign Up For A Show? You really don't need to sign up for a show but you want to be there early because it may take you awhile to set up and get your rabbits paid and registered for the show. Decide how many rabbits you are going to bring, and that number will determine how many remark/show cards you are going to need. The comment cards are pretty self-explanatory . If you are bringing 5 rabbits and you want to do both shows make sure you get 10 remark cards, 2 for each rabbit. Always make sure to bring extra money if you decide you want to buy something. Also make sure you know how much the show is going to cost. It's free to get in but cost money to show your rabbits!! I can possibly do a video better explaining this. How To Prepare For A Show? Always make sure you have your carriers, pedigree book, food, water, chairs and other items you want to bring to the show packed the night before. I always put puppy pads on the bottom of my carriers so that way when I get home from the show, I can easily clean the carriers. Decide how many rabbits you are wanting to bring. Also make sure your rabbits are in condition and are healthy. Make sure to check them over for any broken or missing toenails, not molting or have missing or broken teeth, these will get your rabbits DQ'd. I usually bring more than 3 but I won't attend a show with only two rabbits because to me it's a waste of a drive. Have everything loaded in the car the night before and pack the rabbits up early in the morning so you can leave and be at the show at an appropriate time. If you have any rabbits you are selling make sure you bring your dry erase board sign and a dry erase marker and write what you have for sale so people know what they are looking for! If you don't raise a certain breed that a customer is looking for and you know someone that raises that breed and is going to be at the show, let them know! How Does A Show Go? This is a little difficult to explain but basically each rabbit judge gets assigned a certain number of breeds to judge and make sure you are always listening to what breeds are being called. I raise and show both mini lops and mini rex and how there judging goes like this: Mini Rex are called up by variety: ie: black, blue etc and the judge will let you know what variety they are asking for. Mini Lops on the other hand are a lot different because they have so many colors but their judging begins like this: First is Solid Senior Bucks, then solid senior does. After that, then, it's solid junior bucks and then solid junior does. After the judging of the solids happens then the brokens go up in the exact same order as the solids. It's a little confusing! But that's how a show goes but it's always better to go watch one to get a better understanding of the show and how the judging of the rabbits goes! Hope this is helpful! If you have any questions feel free to email, text, or message me anytime and I'll be happy to help as much as I can! Welcome back!! A lot has changed and happened in the last few weeks or so in my rabbitry and I thought I'd give y'all a little update. Let's start with the litters! Olivia's litter are 2 weeks old and are getting big! Hopefully will be able to tell the genders in the next couple of weeks! Lola's babies are doing great and they are just roughly 1.5 weeks old. Bubbles had a litter on the 28th but wasn't taking care of them so I decided to foster them to Demeter and Janice. Unfortunately, I lost 3 of Bubbles' babies but the remaining 5 are doing excellent. Demeter had 2 solids and 2 brokens and they are fat and healthy. Janice had 2 solids and 1 broken. She does have a mystery color kit in that litter and I'm pretty excited to see what it turns out to be!! It may even be a shaded!! Bianca is due next Saturday, Winnie is due in about 2 weeks and Corona is due the week after!!
Show Update: Today on 4/01/17, I went to the Lisbon Show in Lisbon, Ohio. I only took 6 rabbits: Olivia, Winnie, Wizard, Bubba, Sapphire and my homegrown buck Feisty. I did good! I met up with some fellow breeders and got to meet a few new ones and it was amazing!! Wizard took 5th place out of 14 senior bucks and he did good. Bubba took 13th place out of 14 senior bucks. He had some stiff competition but ARBA Judge Nita Butler said he's a promising buck! Olivia took 8th place out of 8 senior does. I was kind of bummed with how she placed but she is currently on a litter so I can see why she was placed as last. But still, to me she did fine. Winnie took 1st place out of 8 senior does and received B.O.V. This was a major win for her and for me. The judge loved this doe and I'm glad I got show Winnie as this was her first show of the year!! Sapphire took 5th place out of 6 junior does. She had a good comments and the judge said she was a promising doe! Feisty, my homegrown buck took 1st place out 3 junior bucks! The judge also said he was a promising buck! I'm so glad I decided not sell him. He did an excellent job at his first show of the year and his first show ever! Yesterday was the Stark County show and I took only 2 rabbits to show. Overall, Wizard and Olivia did a great job. As I didn't win anything with them I was glad that I took them. The judge liked them overall so hopefully at the Springfield Show next month I'll have more to show and hopefully win some. I picked up four new rabbits. 3 mini lop does and 1 mini lop buck. I'm so excited to have them in the rabbitry. Let's introduce them:
Star City's SC225- This gorgeous little buck was the surprise I was getting. I waited more than a month to get him and I'm in love with him. He's an orange which is my favorite mini lop color there is! He'll make a great herd buck and a great show buck as well. Can't wait to show him next month. Next we have, Star City's SC239. This is a gorgeous little doe that I got from the same breeder as I got SC225. She's also an orange and now I can finally start my orange project in my herd! I love this little doe and she has amazing type! Can't wait to show her next month. We also have TLD's Demeter. She is a gorgeous broken black mini lop doe. She is a BIG girl! I mean her type is on point and she amazing mass to her! She's a nice big doe and I can't wait to show her as well and see how she does . Last but not least is TLD's Janice. Janice is a broken chestnut agouti mini lop doe and she is a big doe as Demeter. Super friendly and big boned girl! Love her type. Another interesting thing is that she is Bianca's mother!!! They resemble each other so much it's unbelievable. Janice currently has 1 leg and I hope to show in the upcoming months as she and Demeter are both expecting a litter next month! HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I know it's late but oh well. So a lot has happened within the last few months. First let's start off with the new litters. Bubbles, our black mini lop doe gave birth to a litter of 5 on 1/25/17. Unfortunately, all the babies had passed away :( but I don't get to discourage because I did recently breed her a few days later so she should be having babies next month. It kind of messes up our show team because I was planning on showing her but I can always wait till March to show her! Second litter came from Lucky, our broken opal charlie mini rex doe and she gave birth to only two babies, a broken castor and a broken black. I'm thinking of retiring her after this litter but I"m not sure yet. Both babies are fat and healthy and I have some high hopes for this litter because they have the same sire as Ruby's litter. Our current litters: Over the last two weeks or so I had evaluated all 4 litters that ranged from 4 weeks-8 weeks old. I had to make some tough decisions on who to keep and who to sell and I felt like I did make the right decisions. Out of Olivia's litter, I am keeping back her chestnut doe, blue gold tipped steel doe, and black buck! All 3 of these babies have amazing type and good heads, the only complaint I could have is that I wish the blue gold tipped steel had a much better head but I know I can work with it!! Yippe!! Out of Winnie's litter, I am keeping a black chinchilla buck and black silver tipped steel doe. I was keeping a black chinchilla doe from this litter but decided to move her on because her sister and her brother were a little bit better, but let's not say it's the end because I still have to make the second round cuts on who I definitely will be keeping and selling. Ruby's litter, out of her litter I'm only keeping a black buck and a black doe. They have the best type and the best fur texture out of the entire litter so I'm pretty excited! They could be the next step into making more show quality babies, but we will have to see. Ruby was bred to Cadbury, and I'm very happy with the outcome of this litter and I will for sure be doing this exact cross in the near future. Lastly, Bianca's litter. This litter has thrown me in for a loop because I had gotten a mystery color baby!! What a shocker? Right haha. The mystery color is a sable steel! I did evaluate this litter at 4 weeks to get an idea of what I should be expecting and so far the babies are looking pretty decent.
Upcoming Shows? Next month, I am attending the Canton Rabbit Show and will be showing a ton of rabbits. I am bringing, Winnie, Wizard, Olivia and the mini lop babies. I haven't decided if I wanted to bring the mini rex but it is still in for a decision. I'm pretty excited and hopefully with this show team we can earn some winnings but if we don't, no big deal. All that matters is that I'm having fun!!! At this show, I will be bringing home a surprise!! Stay tuned for a new post and pictures!!! I hope to see many of you there and feel free to stop by and say Hi!! Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know that I will be taking a break from breeding mini rex. I'm just not happy with where my herd is right now so I've decided taking a break from breeding them is best. I will still be showing Cadbury, our black buck still but will not be breeding any mini rex at this time. I have one more litter of mini rex due at the end of January and that will be the final litter of mini rex for awhile. If you were interested in mini rex please let me know in advance as the current litter of mini rex will be ready at the end of January. I will get back into breeding the mini rex possibly in the late summer, early fall. I'm going to have my primary focus on my mini lop herd so if you are interested in mini lops, I will definitely have those avaiable within the next couple of months! Sorry for the inconvience.
Here at King's Rabbitry, we currently have 3 litters in boxes. There is 1 mini rex litter and 2 mini lop litters. Ruby, my white mini rex senior doe has a litter of 6. She was bred to Cadbury, our black buck on 10/29/16. She gave birth on 11/29/16. She had 6, 3 whites and 3 blacks. This is her second litter and she is taking great care of them! The second litter is from Olivia, my black gold tipped steel senior doe. She was bred to Nomad, who is a black silver tipped steel. She had her babies on 11/27/16. She had 7 beautiful babies that are all fat and healthy. She is taking great care of her babies with her being a first time mother. She is doing a wonderful job. The last litter comes from my black chinchilla mini lop doe, Winnie. She was also bred to Nomad. She gave birth to 6 beautiful babies. They were born 12/02/16. I was surprised that she would take care of her babies but what I can say, never doubt a first timer. She is a wonderful first time mom!
I have came up with an evaluating system for our mini lops with the help of a few well known mini lop breeders. I will begin to evaulate our mini lop babies at 4 weeks to get a good idea where they stand. Please understand that babies can change tremendously in weeks or months of their lifetime. Then I will look at them again at 8 weeks for any DQ's. If I happen to find any DQ's with them at 8 weeks I will pet them out or cull them. I will re-evaulate them at 12 weeks for any changes. Lastly, I will evaulate them again at 16 weeks for any final cuts. If all the babies make it to 4 months , I will begin to show them then I will decide which babies I will be keeping and which ones I will be selling.
As of January 1st, 2017, I have decided that I will be selling our mini lops and mini rex kits in pairs or trios. You still are able to purchase rabbits by themselves but I have thought that if buyers have children or buyers themselves would like to raise either breed I can give them an option on a pair or a trio. I will be doing the pairing or trio of the rabbits that I feel will pair well together. I will be breeding for type before color so please understand that you should look for a good typed rabbit before color. If you decide you would like to have a pair or trio of either breed please let me know in advance so I can put you on a waiting list. Also, I am no longer raising californains. They were an amazing breed but I no longer see a need for the breed!
On September 17th, My mom and I went to Painesville, Ohio to pick up my new pair of mini lops. If you follow my youtube or facebook page, you know that I'm getting back into mini lops and recently talked a well respected breeder about them. Well, that day I purchased the siblings. They were a Black Chinchilla doe and a Black Silver Tipped Steel buck. I love them to pieces. The next day, I went to the Ashland County Fair Show and I brought both mini lops and Cadbury, my black mini rex junior buck. I entered them into the show. After the show was over, Cadbury received B.O.S and B.O.V. Lazo's Winnie, black chinchilla, got first place out two does. Lazo's Wizard, black silver tipped steel, got 2nd place. I can honestly say it was worth the drive. They did great for their first show with me! I can't wait to show again! Stay tuned for the next update which will be October 22nd.
Over the last month and a half, I have been debating on whether or not to get back into mini lops again. Well, I finally decided that I wanted to really work on this breed and focus on them more. I recently received two amazing does. Olivia, a black gold tipped steel junior doe and Bianca, a broken black senior doe. About a month ago, I went a talked to the owner of Lazo's Lops and got a great deal of information that helped a lot! This weekend I will be picking up a pair of mini lops from Shelley Lazo and I'm super excited. They are brother and sister and I will be showing the sister before I start breeding her! I'm super excited to start raising them and show you my progress along the way. Stay tuned for more updates! Follow my instagram and facebook page for the updates as well.
I haven't posted anything about the new breed that I'm going to be working with but I have decided that I will be adding mini lops back into our rabbitry. I really love the breed because they have an amazing personalities than most of my rabbits. It was a hard decision between them and the hollands but overall I had to go with the mini lops. I know I've had them before but I've been getting advice and searching for reputable breeders that have good show stock. I will be keeping the website and facebook page updated with the progress of getting the mini lops. I will eventually make a video on youtube but please stay tuned for updates!
Ruby is my homegrown doe that I've raised since she was a little baby. She was the one rabbit that I just couldn't sell. After 7 months of her growing up, she finally had a litter! She had 4 amazing kits! There are 2 rews and 2 brokens of some sort. This litter is probably my favorite litter of all times! It's great to see Ruby taking great care of them. They were born 8/8/16
This is our newest litter in our rabbitry. They were born on 7/19/16 by my homebred doe Foxy. She had 8 beautiful kits. All 8 are healthy and she is an excellent mother. I'm hoping for a lot does in this litter!
The title says it all. Corona's litter of 6 have made it to the 2 week mark. I am so grateful and thankful that I decided to give them a chance at life and I'm glad I did. They are the most adventurous and friendly babies I ever had! They are super playful and very curious and I'm in love with this whole litter. I'm planning on keeping the blue in this litter!
I have been talking with my grandparents and mom about adding a new color in our mini rex program. I always choose type over color but a few days ago I thought about adding a new color. Well, I choose to start working on reds! Red Mini Rex are a tough color to breed because of the little color you can breed them to. I've decided that they will have their own separate program while I will be adding Coco, our chocolate mini rex doe to help with the reds! I'm hoping to start them soon within the next few months but if not hopefully by the end of the year! Stay tuned for the progress of the reds!
The 3 photos above were taken on day 8. Corona's litter of 6 are now 9 days old and soon their eyes will begin to open. I'm planning to keep the solid blue if it turns out to be a good type rabbit and a doe. You know what, I'm am so thankful that I gave these little turds a chance at life and you can truly see it with their development in their growth. It took a lot of strength to help save these guys and I did. They are almost to the 2 week mark of their life and if it wasn't for me helping them nurse, they won't be here today. These little ones have great personalities are hyper and calm at some points. They fight over one nipple haha, just like siblings do over other things but they all get enough milk to keep them full till the next feeding. I'm glad that these little ones are thriving so good and getting their chance to become either pets or show rabbits. Stay tuned for more on their development and how the little solid one turns out in the future!!
As many of you, who follow my youtube channel, instagram or facebook page may know that on 6/21/16 Corona, our broken blue mini rex doe, had her litter of 6. This being her first litter, I was hopeful enough to know that she would take care of her newly born babies. Well, that wasn't the case. I had a back up plan in case she decided she didn't want to be a mom. She chose not to. Well I waited at least 24 hours after she had kindled to see if the babies were being fed, which they weren't. I had decided to take it into my own hands. I wanted to save this litter and give them a chance at life. Well, the next day after birth I brought both mom and babies inside to try and nurse from her. I flipped her on her back and held her there, while the babies were nursing. It was a success. They are now 3 days old and are big and healthy. I am continuing to flip mom on her back and let babies nurse which is helping quite a lot. Hopefully by her second litter she'll know what she is doing.
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AuthorI've created this blog section because I would love to give any newcomers who are thinking about having rabbits as pets, starting to raise rabbits, care, and product reviews. Please enjoy. Archives
March 2018
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