Monday, July 29, 2013

Off to the Fair


We have been having a very busy week exhibiting at the Ingham County Fair.  While we have already finished showing most of our projects, we do still have to show the Lionheads and cavies we took, which will take place on Wednesday.  Feel free to stop by and check out our rabbits and booth!  We are showing in our 4H club, Firestone Farmers.

All our litters have been progressing really nicely.  Lily’s litter has reached the 5 week mark while Freezing Rain & Vanilla Bean’s litter is almost 2 weeks old.  I was able to get some updated pictures of the babies. 

Here is Lily of the Valley’s litter.  They are purebred REW French Angoras.  We will have 1 buck for sale out of this litter once he reaches the 8 week mark.  Others will be for sale later. 

   
Here is Freezing Rain’s lovely litter, also purebred French Angoras.  I still haven’t decided what I want to keep out of this litter of 4 REWs, a sable, a smoke pearl, and a blue-pearl.  I need some more shadeds for my program so I will likely be deciding between the 3 shaded kits.   All the babies are showing extreme promise so it will likely be a difficult decision!    



And here is some pictures of Vanilla Bean’s litter, which are purebred Satins.  They too have been developing nicely. 
 

 

I am currently taking in names for my waiting list for our Satin and French Angora litters.  If you are interested in a kit, please email me your name, contact information, and what you are interested in, and I will add you to the list! 

We will be having a huge Lionhead herd reduction after fair to make room for babies we are retaining!  Please check out our website as we will be posting sale rabbits soon! 
I will be giving a post-fair results update later! 

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Get on the Waiting List for French Angoras!

The Ingham County Fair starts next week!  We have been very busy preparing our projects and our rabbits for this event.  Hopefully it will be another successful year for us in our project areas. 

All of our litters are doing very well.  Lily of the Valley's litter is now 4 weeks old and have grown so much!  Freezing Rain's litter is currently 8 days old, while my Satin doe, Vanilla Bean's litter is a week old today.  I will try to get some updated pics soon to post on here. 

I did want to let everyone know that I am now taking in names for my French Angora litters.  I have plans to retain one to two kits from each litter for my breeding program, and I have yet to decide who will be staying, as it will depend on how they mature.  I also want to put a few of the kits on the show table before they leave to their new homes.  I will likely have some un-shown kits available for sale but if you are willing to wait a few extra weeks so they can hit the show circuit a little then I will have a larger selection available.  Prices will be dependent on quality.  All I need to add you to the list is a name, phone number, email, gender(s) wanted, and color preference (I should have lots of REWs available).  Please email me with the above information.   

I am not currently taking in names for my Satin litter as I want to give her one more week just to make sure but I will likely start taking in names for my Satin litter next week.  There should be bucks and does available in broken black.  I will be retaining 1-2 kits for my breeding program and will be showing a few as well but considering I have 9 kits I think it would be safe to say that I will have some available! 

Please check out our website if you are interested in seeing pictures, sale rabbits, or more information! 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Current Rabbit Litters - Different Breeds!

We have quite a few beautiful litters currently in the rabbitry.  The breeds we currently have litters in are French Angora, Satin, and Lionhead.  I took some of the babies out for a photoshoot yesterday so these pictures are very current.  

Lily of the Valley's litter is doing very well and have already reached the 3 week mark.  I only lost one baby in this litter so it is still a very consistent and large size.  These babies have been growing so well and are maturing beautifully.  It is going to be tough trying to figure out what to keep!  Here are some pictures. 
 
 



 
Blossom Acres' Freezing Rain kindled on the sixteenth of July and gave birth to 9 beautiful babies (two were unfortunately DOA).  I'm thinking there are sables, REWs, and pearls in this litter, but time will tell.  I am so excited especially about the pearls as I have always loved them and never had all the genetics well enough lined up to get them.  Hopefully this time around will.  Here is a picture at one day of age. 
 
 
   
Now for the Satins...
 
I bred Forager Farm's "Vanilla Bean" to SMR's "Equinox" and this first timer kindled on the 17th of July.  So far she is taking excellent care of her large family of 9.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled out 9 youngsters that were all broken black in color!  I am so excited to have broken pattern babies but was hoping for a nice black doe to breed back to her sire to influence certain traits.  The babies are all very different in their markings but extremely consistent.  I am so happy with the coverage.  Their sire is just at the 10% mark for color and I was a bit unsure as to what to expect in the kits but they all surprised me with perfect color!  I even think one of the babies may be just at 50% color.  Kind of funny when you consider the extremes. 
 
 
I will have some of these babies for sale from these litters.  I plan on putting some of the kits on the show table but I will likely have a nice selection of French Angoras and Satins to choose from.
 
We have some current and expecting Lionhead litters.  Blossom Acres' Peppercorn was bred to Blossom Acres Midnight Blizzard and has palpated positive!  We also bred Blossom Acres' La Petite Luna Moth to Blossom Acres Stainless Steel.  Blossom Acres' Sand and Shore (Bred to Blossom Acres Midnight Blizzard) currently has a litter of blues which will be weaned shortly and will be available for sale 2-3 weeks later.  All the babies are blue, 3 does and 2 bucks.  Simone's Paradise was bred to Wood Valley's Cuddlebug Bunny and her Vienna carrying kits will be ready to go in 1-2 weeks.  There will be a blue Vienna marked buck and a sable (VC) buck for sale from this litter.  Later on in the year I will be doing a Lionhead herd reduction to make room for juniors.  I will have a nice selection of show, brood, and pet rabbits available then.
 
 
 
I will keep you updated!   
 

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Lily of the Valley's Litter - 2 Weeks Old

Here are some updated pictures of Lily of the Valley's litter!  They have now reached the 2 week mark today. 




 
I still have 8 babies left (out of a litter of 8) in this litter.  All are Ruby Eyed White, purebred, and fully pedigreed French Angoras.  I wasn't able to tell the genders on them when I checked yesterday so probably one more week! 
 
More litters coming soon!  I will be doing another post in a few days once my does have their next litters!