This weekend, the kids and I headed down island to pick up our new rabbits. Before heading down to Sooke, I went up to Dillon's (in Campbell River) and picked up 4 cavies for Kim and Christina to ship out (I believe for Janine). I also bought a pregnant Silkie sow for Coleton to add to his Caviary. He has decided to call her "Lola." Lola and Kara are getting along very well. I also culled 6 animals for Dillon.
On Friday, we headed down to Stan and Kathy's in Sooke. We made a quick stop at the Poseys' to drop off the 4 cavies and pick up Saskia's new mini Rex "KT's Cezanne OKT1" Saskia asked Stan and Kathy if she could breed Cezanne to one of his bucks, as Saskia does not have any other mini rexes at this time. Stan and Kathy will then get 2nd pick of the litter in exchange for the breeding. Cezanne was bred Jan. 26, 2008 to S&K's KS13 a bkn black SR. mini rex buck. Saskia saw them breed 5 times and then tried again the next day and Cezanne did not want anything to do with him, so we presume she is bred. Thanks Stan and Kathy for the use of the mini rex stud.
We picked up S&K's Lady Godiva "Diva" MSK37, my new REW SR. Mini lop doe. She is a smaller doe weighing 5.05lbs. I am sure she will grow once she has her first litter. We tried breeding her but she was not interested and neither were Stan's bucks. She is out of Mitchell's Dotti JK96 (Bkn Black) X S&K's MSK13 (Bkn Black). We will give her a rest and possibly show her at VIRBA or breed her to Sam within the next month. I also picked up a baby French Lop from Stan & Kathy. She needs to grow, but I thought I would grow her out for awhile to see how she turns out. She a Chestnut agouti out of Mairs Justice 6BM10 (Bkn Chestnut Agouti) X Mairs 7BM3 (Black GT Steel). She was born Dec. 12, 2007 and her name is S&K's Daisy SKF7.
We also went through some of Stan & Kathy's stock. We looked at their nice Triantha does, and 2 French Lop litters. They have held back 5 from one litter. We looked at a couple of mini rexes, but we just ran out of time to do everything. We planned to leave just after lunch, but Saskia got the hairbrush really stuck in her hair, and that delayed us quite awhile. The kids were not in a hurry to leave as they were having so much fun. Saskia was hanging out with Krystyna (her best friend).
We arrived at Kim and Christina's after 3pm I believe. It was cold at the farm and ran into periods of snow on the malahat. The weather was weird and unpredictable to say the least, especially with sunshine as well.
Shortly after arriving at the farm, Jody stopped by and dropped of the little doe that I bought from her "Mitchell's Pearl" a cute chin doe. I also bought 9 new medium-sized nest boxes as we don't have many med. sized nest boxes and the ones we do are very very old(like 15 years old). Time for some new ones, and Jody does such a great job. At Luxton I had bought 4 or 6 French Lop (large) sized nest boxes. Jody also showed us the first stacking table that she is making and the first one will be mine and I can't wait to see it finished. It is green, my favourite color. Jody does such a great job on her wood working. We also had a chance to see her new Blue Silver Marten buck that she got from Nicole Velotta. I love this breed and he is gorgeous.
After Jody left, Saskia and I looked at alot of their juniors and went through most of the mini lops and some of the jersey woolies. I learned alot about Jersey Woolies, so thanks for the lesson Kim. She has some very pretty colors in her barn. Some nice typed animals as well. I am just not a wool-breed person, but if I had to have a wool breed that would probably be it or the fuzzy lops. We would have looked at more, but we had to be at Kim and Christina's for dinner at 6pm. Rita did a fabulous dinner and it was tasty.
We also had some excitement with a chimney fire. Glad things settled down and Norm was coming to look the chimney this morning I believe.
We went through all the animals that I was getting. The animals that we picked up were:
1) GC Kitsemble's Ella Sr. Doe who is bred to Sunny's As You Like it (Jan. 27th). Christina will get 2nd pick of litter.
2) Velotta's Posey Sr. Doe who is bred to Kitsemble's Show Me the Money (Jan. 25th). Christina will get 2nd pick of litter.
3) Posey's Abby Sr. Doe. I hope to show her at VIRBA.
4) GC Velotta's Olivia SR. Doe
5) Posey's Armoni SR. Doe bred to Posey's Burke (Jan.27th).
6) Posey's Linnea Jr. Doe
7) Posey's Sacha Jr. Chin doe
8) Posey's Make Ya Famous (Blue GT Steel Jr. Buck)
9) Posey's Bodacious (Bkn chin Jr. Buck)
10) Posey's Thunder Cat (Black GT Steel Jr. Buck) This guy was suppose to be a doe, but he is nicely typed, so I still took him. I really like this guy alot and the Blue steel too.
Hopefully the 3 Sr. Does are bred and keep their babies as they will be a nice addition to the barn with 3 youngsters going back to Christina for the breedings. Thanks Christina. I really appreciate it!!
Plus, on Friday, Saskia had picked up and paid for Cezanne Kim. Saskia loves Cezanne as she is such a sweetie.
We arrived home early this morning like at 1:20am, so we just watered and hayed the buns till morning. This morning we put them away and rearranged animals again. One of these day I hope to be finished moving everyone, but we are getting closer to having them where we want them placed for a few months any ways.
Oh ya, Christina also made Saskia and I business cards. Saskia's business cards for her mini rexes and Bead Buddy key chains, and then I have my own as well. We also emailed a breeder back east to see about getting some mini rexes for Saskia, so hopefully in the next couple of months she will have a couple of more mini rexes to add to her herd. She does have her first litter due at the end of next month, so that should make her happy.
I think that is it for now. We all had a fun weekend and sorry it went by so fast.
Tam
Monday, January 28, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Leah is alive.
Hi All,
I made a mistake. Leah is alive and not the rabbit that died of a heart attack. It was Connie. Saskia switched Leah and Connie and didn't tell me and the two does look alike. I am happy that Leah is alive.
Also, a customer cancelled out on taking Desi and Patricia, so I now have 4 French Lop does.
So the current list of French Lops that we are keeping are: Tamashanter's Annika, Tamashanter's Patricia, Gamroth's Leah and Gamroth's Desi. I am also getting a SR doe from Sarah. Gamroth's Libby and a jr. Buck from Barb Adams. I hope to get another older buck that is close to breeding age as I sold Hezekiah, but I thought I was only going to be working with a trio. That is ok, I love the 4 does that I have so that will be nice to have 5 breeding FL does.
I can't wait to get my trio of my new breed as well. One is a Sr Doe and she is hopefully bred and then a young pair which will make a trio.
Rickie our mini lop doe is looking pregnant so we are looking forward to having her litter next month.
That is it for now. Tomorrow we head down island to pick up a bunch of new buns. I think 12.
Tammi
I made a mistake. Leah is alive and not the rabbit that died of a heart attack. It was Connie. Saskia switched Leah and Connie and didn't tell me and the two does look alike. I am happy that Leah is alive.
Also, a customer cancelled out on taking Desi and Patricia, so I now have 4 French Lop does.
So the current list of French Lops that we are keeping are: Tamashanter's Annika, Tamashanter's Patricia, Gamroth's Leah and Gamroth's Desi. I am also getting a SR doe from Sarah. Gamroth's Libby and a jr. Buck from Barb Adams. I hope to get another older buck that is close to breeding age as I sold Hezekiah, but I thought I was only going to be working with a trio. That is ok, I love the 4 does that I have so that will be nice to have 5 breeding FL does.
I can't wait to get my trio of my new breed as well. One is a Sr Doe and she is hopefully bred and then a young pair which will make a trio.
Rickie our mini lop doe is looking pregnant so we are looking forward to having her litter next month.
That is it for now. Tomorrow we head down island to pick up a bunch of new buns. I think 12.
Tammi
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Blogging for the First Time
Hi all,
This is the first time I have ever tried blogging. This seems like a cool idea, so I thought I would give it a whirl and update everyone what is happening in our barn.
Lot of changes are taking place right now.
First, Saskia and I both realized we needed changes. We were kind of disheartened this winter with losing a few of our favorite rabbits after culling and selling to just keep the few rabbits we wanted over winter. Saskia has decided not to raise mini lops right now, and has decided she would like to try the mini rex. She is purchasing her first mini rex doe from Kim Posey "KT's Cezanne" who is a nice typey brood doe. She will be a great start to Saskia's mini rex herd. We still need to find another few mini rexes to add to her herd. Saskia says she wants to raise blacks, blues, castors in both solid and broken varieties and also like the REWs and opals. In the next few months, we will work at adding to her herd, and we hope to find a stud buck to breed Cezanne to soon.
Second, I have become frustrated with Holland Lops. They at times are a hard breed to get bred or if you get them breed produce live babies. I was getting single huge babies, peanuts, and even some malloclusion. I sold my whole herd to a man up island, who wants them as pets for his daughter. Some did not go with their pedigrees. I also had cut way back on my French Lops and even toyed with getting rid of them all. In the last week, I lost a special doe (Leah), so I decided to keep one doe of my own breeding who goes back to Enosh and I am getting a doe from Sarah McCrea and a jr. Buck from Barb Adams. I will play with a trio for now.
I have also decided to take over the mini lops from Saskia, although we had sold off most of her herd, but we still have a couple of older does left and Sam. I am getting quite a few from Christina Posey who has great lines and has done well on the show circuit this past year. She has mostly Velotta and Kisemble lines, and a few others in there. I am so excited to be raising the mini lops myself this year. This coming weekend we will be picking them up from the Posey's and Saskia's mini rex doe. I am also purchasing a chin ml jr. doe from Jody Mitchell and a beautiful REW mini lop SR doe from S&K Rabbitry. Diva is a half sister to Africa who we just had to put down after the buck broke her back while trying to breed. What a freak accident and I have never had this happen to me before in all the years of breeding rabbits. Thanks Stan and Kathy for letting us buy Diva.
I am also adding a fun breed to my barn. A breed that I have never raised before, but have thought about over the years. It is a surprise and I will post later when I get them. I will be picking them up at VIRBA, and I am looking forward to playing with this cool breed.
We are also planning to attend VIRBA and will have only a few to show. We are going to VIRBA to pick up stock and of course hang out and mingle with our bunny friends.
This is it for now, will post more later.
All the best.
Tammi
This is the first time I have ever tried blogging. This seems like a cool idea, so I thought I would give it a whirl and update everyone what is happening in our barn.
Lot of changes are taking place right now.
First, Saskia and I both realized we needed changes. We were kind of disheartened this winter with losing a few of our favorite rabbits after culling and selling to just keep the few rabbits we wanted over winter. Saskia has decided not to raise mini lops right now, and has decided she would like to try the mini rex. She is purchasing her first mini rex doe from Kim Posey "KT's Cezanne" who is a nice typey brood doe. She will be a great start to Saskia's mini rex herd. We still need to find another few mini rexes to add to her herd. Saskia says she wants to raise blacks, blues, castors in both solid and broken varieties and also like the REWs and opals. In the next few months, we will work at adding to her herd, and we hope to find a stud buck to breed Cezanne to soon.
Second, I have become frustrated with Holland Lops. They at times are a hard breed to get bred or if you get them breed produce live babies. I was getting single huge babies, peanuts, and even some malloclusion. I sold my whole herd to a man up island, who wants them as pets for his daughter. Some did not go with their pedigrees. I also had cut way back on my French Lops and even toyed with getting rid of them all. In the last week, I lost a special doe (Leah), so I decided to keep one doe of my own breeding who goes back to Enosh and I am getting a doe from Sarah McCrea and a jr. Buck from Barb Adams. I will play with a trio for now.
I have also decided to take over the mini lops from Saskia, although we had sold off most of her herd, but we still have a couple of older does left and Sam. I am getting quite a few from Christina Posey who has great lines and has done well on the show circuit this past year. She has mostly Velotta and Kisemble lines, and a few others in there. I am so excited to be raising the mini lops myself this year. This coming weekend we will be picking them up from the Posey's and Saskia's mini rex doe. I am also purchasing a chin ml jr. doe from Jody Mitchell and a beautiful REW mini lop SR doe from S&K Rabbitry. Diva is a half sister to Africa who we just had to put down after the buck broke her back while trying to breed. What a freak accident and I have never had this happen to me before in all the years of breeding rabbits. Thanks Stan and Kathy for letting us buy Diva.
I am also adding a fun breed to my barn. A breed that I have never raised before, but have thought about over the years. It is a surprise and I will post later when I get them. I will be picking them up at VIRBA, and I am looking forward to playing with this cool breed.
We are also planning to attend VIRBA and will have only a few to show. We are going to VIRBA to pick up stock and of course hang out and mingle with our bunny friends.
This is it for now, will post more later.
All the best.
Tammi
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