Final Show of the Year

We kicked off the show season well once again!  Last Saturday we attended the Fall Michigan State Rabbit Breeders Association Fall Convention held in East Lansing.  It was a very well attended show which represented a large variety of breeds.  

We took some of our Lionheads and French Angoras for exhibition.  Both classes were very large!  I was excited to see that the French Angoras were a really big class this year.  There were many new faces as well as regulars so it was really nice catching up with everyone and talking about this wonderful breed.  Here is the rundown of the placings:

SHOW A:

French Angoras

·         Best Wool - Blossom Acres’ Forget Me Not – Blue Sr. Buck

Lionheads -

·         BOB - Blossom Acres’ Red Sky in Morning - Tort JR. Doe

·         BOV - Blossom Acres’ Red Sky in Morning - Tort JR. Doe

·         BOSV - Blossom Acres’ Polar Vortex - REW JR. Buck

·         BOV - Blossom Acres’ Ebony - Black SR. Doe

·         BOSV - Blossom Acres’ Mach III - Black SR. Buck

·         BOV - Blossom Acres’ Cornelius - Chocolate SR. Buck

·         BOV - Blossom Acres’ Delphinium - Blue SR. Doe

SHOW B: 

French Angoras

·         Best Wool - Blossom Acres’ Forget Me Not – Blue Sr. Buck

Lionheads -

·         BOSB - Blossom Acres’ Freshwater Fury - REW JR. Buck

·         BOSV - Blossom Acres’ Freshwater Fury - REW JR. Buck

·         BOV - Blossom Acres’ Red Sky in Morning - Tort JR. Doe

·         BOV - Blossom Acres’ Ebony - Black SR. Doe

·         BOSV - Blossom Acres’ Orion - Black SR. Buck

·         BOV - Blossom Acres’ Cornelius - Chocolate SR. Buck

·         BOV - Blossom Acres’ Delphinium - Blue SR. Doe

I also entered Forget-Me-Not and Butterflyweed in their breed class and both placed high up there in both shows.  I was really surprised with Butterflyweed especially as she had just come off a litter but she was in good body flesh and had a long enough coat so I decided to show her.  I am getting really excited about what next year’s show season will bring and am looking forward to putting some of my babies I have now on the show table soon.  

As a side note, we are breeding more French Angora and Lionhead does for availability for next year.  We also currently have a nice selection of Lionhead, French Angora, and English/French Hybrid angoras for sale on our website, so please check it out!  

Hope everyone has an enjoyable Thanksgiving! 

Mouse's Litter One Month Old!

It is amazing how fast rabbits grow!  It has been a while since I posted some updated picture of Mouse's first litter, born September 25th.  They are now one month old!  It is looking like there are mostly bucks in the litter.  I am really happy with the way this litter has turned out, so it is going to make retaining for my program ever more difficult.  The kits are growing very nicely.  

Here are some pictures of individual shots of the French Angora babies.  They were very timid with the camera and are one of the few litters I have ever had that held relatively still for photography!   

The chestnut boys...

A blue baby...

The opal and black kit...

The opal...

Group shot!

I am taking in names for my waiting list for this litter, so if interested please email me and ask to be placed on the waiting list. 

Hope everyone in the mid-Michigan area is enjoying this warmer weather swing!  I know I am!

Baby French Angoras Again

It has certainly been a while since I last posted on this blog.  Summer was very busy for us and autumn has begun.  I am back in school and have been very busy with my studies. 

Last month I was privileged to obtain some beautiful French Angora rabbits from a friend.  She was a past customer of mine and asked me if I would be interested in the remaining of her small herd.  I happily acquired 2 bucks and 2 French Angora does from her.  One of the bucks is one I had bred and one of the does is a daughter of another buck I had sold her. 

I was able to breed Blossom Acres' Forget-Me-Not to Mouse, as well as Forget-Me-Not to a broken chestnut doe.  Mouse has in the past given me an extremely hard time and has never taken when I bred her.  I guess Forget-Me-Not did the trick because 31 days later she gave me this beautiful litter:

It looks like I have 1 black, 2 chestnut, and 3 blues.  I was very surprised as I did not know she carried the dilution gene!  This is her very first litter and so far she has been a good mom.  I can't wait to watch these kits mature as I think they will be competitive on the show table. 

I have another doe bred to Forget-Me-Not and she is due in a few days, so please check the website for updates!

While I went north to pick these guys up, I also acquired a few purebred Narragansett turkey poults.  If all goes as planned, I will be offering some purebred poults and breeding stock in the near future! 

Thank you all for your patience in my blog absence.  I will try to continue posting more frequently so please visiting our blog for updates! 

Have a great weekend!

New Additions to the French Angora Herd

As I had previously mentioned I had to downsize my herd in the fall/spring semester era due to my inability to keep up with the upkeep.  Although it seemed like a necessary move at the time, I have since regretted it somewhat as I had to move on some very nice lines and genetics.  As all the readers of my blog know, I recently bred two of my beautiful does from my own line to an outcross buck and both have litters on the ground, with the hopes of building up my herd again and working on my line. 

Lily of the Valley's litter of REWs has shown an incredible amount of promise for me.  Words cannot describe how amazing these kits are in the body and wool!  I have been very happy with how they have been filling out and am definitely going to do this breeding again.  I am currently debating what I should keep out of this litter.  There are 2 bucks and 1 doe that seem to have what I am looking for for my breeding program.  I am planning on putting both boys on the show table and seeing how they place and the judges comments.  Unfortunately the doe got one of her eyes injured from her mom at birth so she is blind in that eye, so she will not be able to compete with her brothers.  I ideally would like a buck and a doe from this litter for my breeding program and for show but am unsure if I want to keep Galaxy "Helen" (the doe) for my breeding program as I want to try to only retain registerable stock.  I will see how she fills out and make my decision later on. 

Freezing Rain's litter is turning out to be amazing as well.  There are a total of 6 babies currently in this litter:  3 Ruby Eyed White does, 1 Ruby Eyed White buck, 1 sable buck, and 1 smoke pearl buck.  I am pretty sure I am going to retain 1 of the REW does and 1 of the shaded bucks for my shaded breeding program.  These babies will also hit the show tables so I can get a feel of how my line is progressing. 

Because I am going to specialize in reds, shadeds, and REWs and keep my herd relatively small, I am going to try to limit my breeding stock and yet outcross enough so that I can establish a nice line for each of my color specializations.  Lily of the Valley's current REW litter will work for all 3 of my color specializations, making it an ideal option to retain from.  Freezing Rain's litter will work exclusively for my shaded and REW programs. 

I recently acquired some new breeding stock for my herd.  The first rabbit is Chester - straight from my red line.  I was very happy to be able to obtain him from the breeder I sold him to as I did not retain anything from that cross and had lost that line.  Chester is an amazing chestnut.  He has a super commercial body and a very nice, long, well colored, dense rufusy coat.  I can't wait to incorporate him again into my herd.  Unfortunately he will not be hitting the show circuit as he had gotten into a buck fight as a baby and now has a little tear in his ear; this certainly will not affect his ability to produce for me in the barn!

The other addition is a baby broken black buck.  He has nice depth and width to his body and appears to have promising density to his coat.  His sire is out of my line as well.  It will obviously be a while before I can use him in my line but in the meantime I plan on showing him and watching how he develops.  He will be used in both my shaded and red breeding program.

Please check out our website to see our current French Angora herd.  I will also be offering French Angora kits on a limited basis so please continue checking out the "Angoras for Sale" page!          

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! 

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!

French Angora Litter!!!

We are pleased to announce that we are expecting our first French Angora litter in a long time!  I bred Blossom Acres' Freezing Rain (smoke pearl) to my newest buck, C.B.'s Moonbeam (REW).  She palpated positive and is due the 6th of April.  I am expecting sables and REWs, but other colors are possible. 

Here is a pic of the buck to give you an idea of his density... Note that he is upside down.  I will have to get a stud pic of him soon. 

I will have some babies for sale from this litter, but as to when I am still uncertain.  I would like to show some of the kits but would be open to the possibility of moving them out before then.  I will be retaining a kit or two (gender to be determined) from this litter, but the remaining kits should be for sale either at 8 weeks or after showing. 

I will be breeding this doe's mom (REW) to the same buck (REW) tomorrow, and this litter will produce all REWs.  I should have most of the kits from this litter for sale.  

I'll keep up the updates!  Have a great weekend! 

Missy's Litter

Missy, my red/orange French Angora, currently has 1 litter of 6 (7 born) in the nestbox. This litter is currently 3 weeks old. Below is a picture of her litter.

This litter is one of the most unique litters I have ever had. What makes it different is that, in the litter of 6, every baby is a different color. I have never really had this before. Usually I will get a bunch of different colors in a litter, but with repeats. Or, in the case of the New Zealands, I will get a whole litter of whites. But this litter has definitely topped them off.

Since I got so many different colors, I will briefly describe each color in this litter and include a picture of what it looks like at 3 weeks of age.

Here is a black kit. A black kit is born looking blackish colored. If you flip it over, it’s stomach will be a dark gray- black color. This baby is a very nice, rich colored black. It is probably going to have pretty dark, non-faded wool color.

This is a blue kit. The blues can look very similar to the blacks at birth. Sometimes you have to compare a black next to a blue to tell the difference. The blues look like a very dark, rich smokey blue color.

  

This kit is a sable.  I actually originally thought this baby was a blue steel due to it's ticked appearance (this is why the photo says blue steel instead of sable).  This kit was born looking blue and later developed a silver ticking on it.  It's belly is a light brownish color and the ticking seems to be leaving.  This little doe will soon turn into a rich brownish color as it develops.   

This cutie is a chestnut. Chestnuts are born looking dark grayish-black, but if you flip them over you will find that they have pink bellies, underside of legs, underside of tail, and underside the chin. Chestnuts are an agouti. They are tan and slate banded with black tipping. This girl has a lot more rufus (reddish coloring) than you are average chestnut because it is out of a red parent.

This kit is an opal. An opal is the dilute form of a chestnut. Opals are blue and tan banded with blue guard hairs. They are born looking bluish colored with a pink stomach, underside of legs and tail, and underside of chin.

The last kit is a smoke pearl agouti. This is not a recognized color in the angoras, so it is unshowable. It is grayish colored and has the same darker shading on its face, but it an agouti, so it has a white stomach, underside of tail, chin, and legs. This kit was born looking gray, but its stomach also looked pink. This hinted to me that it was in fact an agouti.

So far this litter is maturing well. The largest babies in the litter are the black, chestnut, opal, and blue steel; however, the other kits are very nicely sized. This is probably going to be Missy’s last litter. She is getting older so I want to retire her. This doe has been an amazing foundation animal for me and has provided me with many beautiful litters.  Missy as my very first breeding doe.  She is going to stay here as a companion animal and fiber producer.   

This whole litter is spoken for. I have quite a few interested people waiting for their babies out of her, and I am half debating if I should keep another baby out of her.  The chestnut is sooo nice…  but, I do have a chestnut that is a full sibling to this litter. Do I really need another chestnut? She is very beautiful but you can’t keep everything.

Lots more litters of the various breeds coming frequently! We are being showered with many beautiful litters.  I will be breeding my French Angoras again this August, so look for some more quality babies available later in the year!  

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