Babies from Lane and Sabi

Lane and Sabi's babies are really growing now.  They are looking nice!  We have 4 solid torts.  Nick named this litter - Apples, Cherry, Raz, and Berry.  Apples is Nick's little girl.  She is the smallest baby.  But she makes up for her size with her energy.  Berry is Philip's boy.  He has a huge head.  Cherry is fairly quiet.  Raz is an another active baby.  We are very excited about the potential of this litter. 

Selling???

The barn is full and overflowing.  So Philip and I took pictures today.  The point of taking pictures is to post more Hollands on our for sale page.  However, as the weeks have passed some of the babies have really developed.  So the babies we planned to sell look good now.  So who do we sell?  That is a good dilemma to have.  Three years ago it was obvious which bunnies needed to be sold.  Now we can't decide which ones to sell.  It is great to see that much improvement in our breeding program.  So now we need to learn to cull harder.  (While we were taking pictures we decided to get a picture of Philip's new doe, Raven.  What are the chances of snapping of picture when she is sticking out her tongue?)  Thanks to JoAnn Snodgrass for Raven.

Babies from Gracie and Ash

We were able to play with Gracie's and Ash's babies today.  After a little bit of running on the couch they tuckered out.  We are still trying to figure out the color of Ash's baby.  Our best guess is blue otter - white tummy, brown accents with fawn and blue coloring.  We will just need to wait and see.  Whatever color the bunny is he or she has a wonderful head and great bone.  Gracie's babies have great heads, too.  In another few weeks we should have a good clue about their type. 

Dixie and Sabi's babies are growing fast. They have full bodies already.  Their eyes should be opening  this week.  Every last baby is a tort.  So it will be easier to just look at type with them.  We are just glad to have babies from Lane. 

Kansas State Fair

We only took 4 rabbits to the State Fair this year - 1 fuzzy and 3 Hollands.  We are hoping to sell our fuzzy.  He is pretty.  But we just don't have time to keep him brushed out.  Today we arrived at the fair right at the end of the Holland Lop judging.  Moose took 2nd place in class.  We are not sure where T-Bone placed.  But Khufu went up for Best of Breed.  Vic Vogts spent a lot of time looking at Khufu and the solid buck.  The solid buck had the edge today.  We were really pleased that Khufu placed well again.  He has earned two legs in the last week.  He is a promising young buck. 

Gracie's Babies

Gracie's 3 babies opened their eyes today.  They are so cute.  They are starting to run circles in their nestbox.  In a few days we will be able to bring them inside and play with them.  Here is a picture of them on Sunday.  When we start playing with them then we can choose names. 

We tattooed 3 litters of weaned babies on Wednesday.  We found a few surprises.  We try to tell if they are does or bucks when we start playing with the bunnies.  Then we name them.  We thought Scooby (our broken fawn from Eden's litter) was a buck.  Turns out Scooby is a doe.  That is great.  Philip has another doe to work with and Scooby can keep her name.   However, Lily (our broken tort from Zoe's litter) turned out to be a buck.  I don't think we can keep that name.  Philip is thinking about changing Lily's name to George.  We always thought Lily was extra friendly for a doe.  Now that we know he is a buck that explains his friendly personality. 

Seal Marten

We had an inquiry about black silver martens last week.  Ash had babies last week.  But the potential colored babies were peanuts and died.  At the Duncan show last weekend Lops of Enchantment had a seal marten buck for sale.  He came from two black silver martens.  So we purchased him hoping his color would be close enough for the family who inquired.  Alas, they bought another rabbit already.  So now we have this darling little seal marten in our barn.  Philip named him Remy.  He is a sweetheart.  Philip would like to keep him.  But we just don't have room.  So we posted him on our sale page.  He actually has nice type and would work well for an otter project.  I hope that I don't get too attached to him before we sell him.  It would be easy to do since he is a sweetheart.  Starting an otter project is too much of a temptation for a small rabbitry.

Expo & Pearl

Expo had 3 babies on Sunday.  We will lose two of them because they are peanuts.  But one is a healthy broken tort.  Philip is excited because this is RJ's first live baby.  If RJ produces like his father (Nacho), this baby should be nice. 

Pearl had one huge baby.  I felt so bad for her.  But at least her labor is over.  So we will try again in a week or so. 

In two weeks it is time to start breeding for Holland Lop Nationals.   They are being hosted by the Hollands & Friends club in Loveland, Colorado.  April seems like a long time away right now.  But it will be here before we know it.  We will definitely breed Dosie and Pearl to have juniors for Nationals.  But we need to decide who else to breed on 9/21.  We would really like to breed Zoe and Cammie.  But we are planning to take them to San Diego in November.  So their breedings will need to wait until the end of October.  Sometimes this rabbit business is more complicated than we expected. 

Duncan Show

Philip and I went to the triple show in Duncan, Oklahoma this weekend.  It was a 5 hour trip one way for us.  That is the longest we have traveled for a rabbit show.  It was great to see our friends again.  As usual our friends were gracious and very helpful.  They helped us evaluate our rabbits and answered questions about new situations we have encountered with our rabbits. We came home with a few new does.  Thanks JoAnn and Melanie!

The shows were successful. Philip's rabbits earned 8 legs this weekend.  He was able to grand Frazier, his little blue tort buck.  That was great.  Khufu, our broken tort junior, took Best of Breed in the second show.  He is pictured here.  Yoshi, one of Sampson's daughters, took BOS in the third show.  Overall, it was a very good show. 

Dixie

Dixie had her litter today.  Her poor belly was stretched as far as possible the last several days.  I was afraid she was carrying one large baby.  In the past she has only had one or two babies per litter.  She had 6 babies today!  One is a peanut.  But the rest are normal size babies.  No wonder she was so big.  Lane is the sire.  He was also the sire of Sabi's babies.  Normally, she only has two babies also.  She had 5 this time.  So I guess Lane is very good at his fathering duties.  Now we hope that those little babies look like Lane.  Only time will tell.  In the meantime, we are very grateful to Melanie and LeAnne for our new herd buck.

Sabi

Sabi had 5 babies today.  One is a peanut.  But we only expected her to give birth to 2.  The best part is that Lane is the father.  So we have our first babies from Lane.  We are really excited!!!

ARBA Convention

Has anyone seen the Convention show catalog?  All I can say is WOW!  It is terrific.  Even my non-rabbit friends are impressed.  The catalog has helped educate them about the great variety of breeds and how big our hobby really is. Thanks to all of the California breeders for your hard work!  We appreciate your efforts. 

I can't believe that Convention is only two months away and that I am actually going.  This should be an incredible experience.  It will be my first ARBA Convention.  I hope to bring my laptop so that I can update my blog daily.  Then I can stay in touch with my rabbit friends that aren't able to attend.  Philip is not happy that he has to stay home and attend school.  But I will feel better that I am there to take care of our Hollands.  Now we just need to start choosing which Hollands will be going to San Diego.