Our Third-Generation Grand Champion!

I am very happy to introduce our first third-generation Grand Champion Lionhead, Grand Champion Blossom Acres' River Rapids!

River Rapids was born in January of 2015 in a litter with a blue little brother and a REW big sister.  His mom is WeeOne's Cocoa and his dad is Grand Champion Blossom Acres' Arcturus.  His paternal grandfather is Grand Champion Blossom Acres' Midnight Blizzard, making him a third generation Grand Champion.  He also has Grand Champion Blossom Acres' Ice Storm as an uncle.
 

 Watch him grow! 

River Rapids not only is a Grand Champion with 5 GC Legs and counting, but he is also a Reserve in Show all-breed show winner and the 2015 NALRC Lionhead National show Best Opposite Sex of Breed winner!  He also won Best White Fur at Nationals in addition to many Best of Breed and Best Opposite Sex of Breed wins at local shows. 

Here he is with his 2015 Lionhead National Show wins:

He already has sired his first litter and I look forward to seeing the next winners that he produces.  I have no doubt that he will be the sire of a fourth generation Grand Champion in the future! 

Have a happy New Year everybody!
Barbara

Introducing Our Latest Grand Champion!

I am pleased to announce our latest official Grand Champion, Blossom Acres' Ice Storm!

Ice Storm was super cute as a baby with a ton of personality.  Unfortunately, he broke a toenail at a young age which appeared to have ended the promising show career that he had ahead of him.  Thankfully, it grew back, and he and his brother, Grand Champion Blossom Acres' Arcturus, were hard to beat.  The judges loved the two matching brothers and it was always a guess which one would place higher.  

Watch him grow!

Ice Storm's sire is Grand Champion Blossom Acres' Midnight Blizzard and his dam is Blossom Acres' Milky Way.  I am excited to add him to the family line of Grand Champions and can't wait to see the next winners that he produces.

Have a great week everybody!

Barbara

www.blossomacresrabbitry.webs.com

Another Grand Champion in the Rabbitry!

The paperwork finally came back and we are pleased to announce our latest Grand Champion, Blossom Acres' Midnight Blizzard!  Midnight Blizzard is a favorite in the rabbitry and a main herdsire here, having produced many winners including our first ever Grand Champion, Blossom Acres' Arcturus.

Midnight Blizzard showed extremely well and would have been a Grand Champion years ago, but the Lionhead breed's recognition status kept him from earning legs for his many wins.  Once Lionheads became a recognized breed with the ARBA, Midnight Blizzard hit the show tables again and won all over again for his title.

 

Many winners go back to this buck, one most recently being his grandson, Blossom Acres' River Rapids, who was the 2015 Best Opposite Sex of Breed at the Lionhead National Show.  

I look forward to seeing the next winners produced by this sweet buck.

Lionhead National Show Pictures and Results!

We had a grand time at our first Lionhead National Show in Columbus Ohio!  It was wonderful to meet breeders from all over the nation and exhibit my own Lionheads.  Below are some pictures of our experience as well as show results!

 Crossing from Michigan into Ohio.  The traffic was extremely heavy and lots of road work made a 4 hour trip into 5 hours.  

 

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 A fireworks show from the road!

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Columbus Skyscrapers!

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The building where the Lionhead National Show was held in conjunction with the OSRBA Mini Convention. 

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Many rows of beautiful Lionheads from all over the nation!

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And the show begins!

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Judging Lionheads

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Best of Breed and Best Opposite both went to two of my favorite homebred Lionheads!  Best of Breed is Blossom Acres' Goldenrod, a Tort-Black Jr. Doe, and Opposite is Blossom Acres' River Rapids, a REW Jr. Buck!

Pictured are the winners with their lovely awards.

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All of my entered rabbits did very well and below are the full show results!

REWs:
1st place REW Sr. Buck - GC Blossom Acres’ Arcturus
3rd place REW Sr. Buck - Blossom Acres’ Ice Storm
1st place REW Sr. Doe - Blossom Acres’ Frostnip
3rd place REW Sr. Doe - Blossom Acres’ Lake Effect
1st place REW Jr. Buck - Blossom Acres’ River Rapids
2nd place REW Jr. Buck - Blossom Acres’ Nor’easter
2nd place REW Jr. Doe - Blossom Acres’ Windchill
3rd place REW Jr. Doe - Blossom Acres’ Snowcap
BOV - Blossom Acres’ River Rapids
BOSV - Blossom Acres’ Frostnip

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Torts:
1st place Tort Jr. Doe - Blossom Acres’ Goldenrod
2nd place Tort Jr. Doe - Blossom Acres’ Tiger Lily
BOV - Blossom Acres’ Goldenrod

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Chocolates:
1st place Chocolate Jr. Doe - Blossom Acres’ English Toffee
BOV - Blossom Acres’ English Toffee

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Best White Fur - Blossom Acres’ River Rapids

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Best of Breed - Blossom Acres’ Goldenrod
Best Opposite Sex of Breed - Blossom Acres’ River Rapids

 I hope all our readers have a great week and enjoy this beautiful spring weather we have been having!

- Barbara

Retained Lionhead Juniors

I wanted to share three beautiful Lionhead juniors that I retained out of some of my last breedings in 2014.  What a great way to cap off the year with these three stunning lions!

Blossom Acres' Solar Flare

Tort-Black Jr. Buck

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 Blossom Acres' Frostnip

REW Jr. Doe

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 Blossom Acres' Lunar Eclipse

Tort-Black Jr. Doe

First Grand Champion Lionhead!

I am very happy to announce that Blossom Acres' Arcturus, my Ruby Eyed White Sr. Lionhead buck, is now a Grand Champion!  He has 5 GC legs and counting!

In previous years, Lionheads were not been able to be registered, earn GC legs, or become Grand Champions, until February of this year when they became an official ARBA recognized breed.  So although they could show and win BOB, no matter how large the class was or the number of exhibitors, they could not work towards their Grand Championships until breed recognition.  

Arcturus was born on the 7th of February, so while the rabbit show season was just picking up and Lionheads all over the country were hitting the show tables, Arcturus was busy growing with his brother and two sisters at home.  His parents are both from my own lines: Blossom Acres' Midnight Blizzard and Blossom Acres' Milky Way, and he has grandparents from my lines including Blossom Acres' Royal Blue who was the first buck that I ever retained from my own breeding. 

Arcturus always stands out on the show table with his massive mane and natural stance.  He never needs to be posed because he is always posing on his own.  The judges love him and I am very excited to start incorporating this buck in my Lionhead breeding program. 

 

GC Blossom Acres' Arcturus

Grand Champion Certificate 

Arcturus as a Baby

Lionhead Babies!

Spring is in the air with lots of Lionhead bunnies born and more on the way!  We currently have 22 Lionhead kits out of 7 moms.  We have 5 REWs, 1 Tort-Blue, 1 Tort-Black, 4 BEWs, 1 Broken Blue Silver Martin VC, 1 Broken Black VC, 8 Blacks (4 are VCs), and 1 Blue. 

Here are two of my little black does out of Peppercorn's litter.  They are cute as can be!

There are many very promising babies this spring and will be going up on the Lionheads for Sale page on our website soon. 

I have one little REW doe available right now.  I think she is a Teddy, but she may shed out.  She has really nice type and carries herself well and would be excellent bred to a buck that needs more mane.  She is 8 weeks old and $50.

We exhibited our Lionheads at the Great Lakes Rabbit & Cavy Show in Mason and took BOB Lionhead on show A with Lynette and BOS on show B.  Cornelius took BOV on both shows as well and the judges loved him.  Hopefully in a few years chocolate Lionheads can take BOB too.

Have a great week!

Lionhead Breeding Program

With the wonderful news of Lionheads becoming an official ARBA recognized breed, we have been planning our fall/winter breeding program to focus more on the new fully-recognized colors, ruby eyed white and tort.  We will continue to breed chocolates, shadeds, and blue eyed whites, which have COVs with the ARBA.

There are many little Lionheads in the nesting boxes right now and they are looking very promising.  Milky Way X Hoppin' John - 2 REWs, 1 black, 1 chocolate, and 1 lilac.  Rain Dance X Le Petit Prince - 1 REW, 1 siamese sable, and 1 seal.  Cocoa X Royal Blue -1 REW.  Francesca Rose X Royal Blue - 3 REWs and 1 chocolate.

We also have two Lionheads available for sale.  One is a beautiful show quality REW junior buck out of Milky Way to Midnight Blizzard - $50.  The other is a sweet little lilac junior doe for $30 out of Peppercorn to Midnight Blizzard.  Lilac doesn't currently have a COV, so it is not showable, but she would do very well in a chocolate, black, or tort breeding program. 

We also have a sweet pet Dutch doe available for adoption.  She has a wonderful personality and is litter box trained. 

Winter is fast-approaching and the air is getting sharp already.  Thankfully, we can continue to breed our does throughout the season and everyone can stay warm indoors.  

Have a great week!  
www.blossomacresrabbitry.webs.com

French Angora Kits at Last!

We got our first French Angora litter today that we've had in quite a while here at Blossom Acres Rabbitry.  Lily of the Valley kindled today and had 7 beautiful little REW babies. All the babies look so healthy and chubby.  I can't wait to watch these kits grow as they should be some very nice show prospects!

As a side note, I palpated Freezing Rain (smoke pearl FA doe) and Vanilla Bean (black Satin doe) today and both palpated positive!   The two of them are due July 16th.  I am so excited about both of these litters and the pairings were very nice so I am expecting some amazing babies!  I am hoping to get some of these on the show table so I can hopefully begin and continue showing once again.  Vanilla Bean was paired with a black buck so I should get blacks and broken blacks, while Freezing Rain was paired with a REW so I am guaranteed sable and REW.  Since I do not know what color Moonbeam is underneath other colors are certainly possible but the two I mentioned are the only ones that are guaranteed. 

I am going to most likely be breeding my last French Angora doe, Tangerine, sometime late July or in August.  And then the cycle begins again!  I am looking forward to all these babies but sure am not looking forward to going through a lot of food again!  Guess it comes with the package...

Please stay tuned as I will be updating frequently with pictures and info as the babies develop!

New Lionhead Babies & Show Results

Our rabbitry is full of little baby Lionheads and there are some gorgeous show prospects in the nesting boxes!  We have 3 blacks, 3 blues, 2 REWs, 1 chocolate, 1 lilac, and 1 shaded.  I plan on keeping the chocolate and one out of Cocoa's litter, and will be watching them develop. 

We exhibited our Lionheads at this show and did very well.  This was our first time showing with this club and I would love to go again next year!  There were beautiful rabbits there and great turnout in the Lionheads!

 

Heart of Michigan Rabbit Club

May 11, 2013

Show A –

BOB – Blossom Acres’ Midnight Blizzard (REW Lionhead Buck)

BOS - Blossom Acres' Frostbite (REW Lionhead Doe)

BOV – Blossom Acres’ Midnight Blizzard (REW Lionhead Buck)

BOSV – Blossom Acres’ Frostbite (REW Lionhead Doe)

BOV – Blossom Acres' La Petite Luna Moth (Sable Point Lionhead Doe)

BOV – Simone's Paradise (BEW Lionhead Doe)

BOV – Blossom Acres’ Royal Blue (Blue Lionhead Buck)

 

Show B –

BOS - Blossom Acres' Milky Way (REW Lionhead Doe)

BOV – Blossom Acres’ Midnight Blizzard (REW Lionhead Buck)

BOSV – Blossom Acres’ Milky Way (REW Lionhead Doe)

BOV – Blossom Acres' La Petite Luna Moth (Sable Point Lionhead Doe)

BOV – Simone's Paradise (BEW Lionhead Doe)

BOV – Weber's Jerome (Siamese Sable Lionhead Buck)

BOV – Blossom Acres’ Royal Blue (Blue Lionhead Buck)

BOV - Leo 9's Thunderhead (Seal Lionhead Buck)

Have a great week!