Hail!

Thank you to those that emailed and phoned to make sure we made it thru the storm!

We're all OK!

The large hail made quite a noise on the tin barn but the rabbits weathered just fine, no one stressed or freaked out. Cheyenne kindled 3 healthy babies in the midst of it all. She's still very grouchy and growly, but I think she'll be fine in a day or two.

Melanie =)

Blue Tort Race.

I just realized I have 3 (three) upcoming blue tort bucks! All worth growing out IMO. All 3 are bred different. All 3 have their own look.

SwaggerLee. What a sweet heart! Zalia's kits are the most personable! Strengths: head, bone, short body, PERSONALITY. Weaknesses: ears, very small, personality - yes, he has a hard time focusing

Un-named Cheyenne buck. He's just now starting to look like something worth hanging on to. I don't think we've had a youngster with this short of ears at the height of uglies. Usually they are below jawline, his aren't. Strengths: poses well, ears, promising head, promising body. Weaknesses: to young to really know, at this stage maybe needs more bone

Un-named Laramie kid. Strengths: major cute factor. Weaknesses: way to young to tell, but did I mention he's oh so cute

Time will tell who makes the cut, but for now I'll enjoy watching them grow and hope for the best. That's part of the fun, seeing who blossoms into the next winner.

Melanie

BUDs

I love a good brood doe! I think they are probably the most under rated essential item in a good rabbitry.

My personal preference is to buy brood stock and try and make our own show rabbits. From the email requests I get it seems it's about a 60/40 split between people wanting a 'good show doe' versus a quality brood doe.

IMO even a brood doe should have her good qualities, so not every doe in our barn is labeled as 'brood' and either put into production or sold as such.

Our best producing holland doe would have to be, THF Saynora's Rosita. Man, I love that doe. Her offspring have done awesome for us on the show tables and I'm hoping that her kids will step up and do us proud in producing the next generation of LBF bunnies. Cheyenne will technically be the first. Cheyenne's first litter was a single, a blue tort buck [pictured in post below]. So far I like him but he's only 9 weeks old. I talk about Rosita a lot, so here she is.

THF Saynora's Rosita [pictured on a litter of 4]

Even with um a few litters under her belt her strengths are evident in these pictures. She has a good natural pose, depth of body and short bone. Rosita will retire here with us ;)

It's always important to remember 'where you came from'. Everyone had to start somewhere and the start you get IMO makes or breaks new breeders. Do your research and choose wisely.

Melanie

Uglies.

Our line of hollands definitely goes thru a gangly awkward stage. It usually starts at around 6 weeks and lasts until 9-10 weeks and then they start to pop. Once narrow faces start to get cheeks and foreheads. They become chunky again. I know quite a few breeders who cull when they wean, we couldn't do that. We have to have a bit of patience and a few empty cages on the bottom row.

Case in point, Cheyenne's first baby. Man was he a cute baby! Something happened at around 4 weeks, it's like he got beat with the ugly stick. *How bad was he? Bad bad. His once cute loppy ears went straight up. And wow his face. It was so narrow and uuugly. Poor Cheyenne, I didn't have the heart to tell her.

Because he was Cheyenne's first and Rory's only, he got weaned and put in a bottom cage. A week later while feeding I discovered he was starting 'the change'.

His cheeks popped and his ears dropped again. I'd forgotten how cute his ears were while they were sticking straight up!

Mom keeps telling me I need to take pictures while they are at this stage, and she's right. Most people wouldn't believe me if I told them what 'so and so' looked like at that stage. I really need to do that with our next ugly duckling.

If you're just starting out in rabbits it's important to learn how your line develops! Don't be in a hurry to cull out your first litters. Some lines mature slowly and only get better with age. Others seem to peak at 4-5 months and go downhill from there.

*3 bonus points or a gold star to those who recognize this quote and where it came from

Melanie

More Babies.

Two of our new does from Katie kindled yesterday/last night, two more to go! They both had very nice sized litters, 4 and 5 all very healthy. The 4 are our first THF Saynora's Zayden babies, who I need to try and get pictures of. Wonder how his molt is coming?

Unfortunately we lost one of Dilemma's kits =( She still has one and two foster babies. With it being mid-winter, it could have been a lot worse.

Dilemma - getting ready for babies

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Saki's babies are growing and getting fur, so exciting! I can't wait until these babies are out of the box and running around!

Saki's two and a foster baby

I'm really wanting to get some black silver marten dwarfs. If you have or know of someone that will have a few nice ones for sale, I'd love to hear from you. We will be attending a few local shows, ND Nationals and Ohio Mini Convention/JW Nationals.

Melanie

Stats.

Here are our current litter stats:

Holland:
confirmed bred - 7
on litter - 9
due - 5

Netherland Dwarf:
confirmed bred - 2
on litter - 4
due - 2

Jersey Wooly:
on litter - 3
- I only have 3 does!

Baby Counts:
holland - 29
dwarf - 28
wooly - 6

All this is from memory so I may be off a tad. And yes, this means our barn is very full right now!
We might be selling a couple proven does and/or juniors as cage space is needed.

I made our reservations for Dwarf Nationals and JW Nationals, how exciting!
Melanie

Cute, I has it.

Wow is all I can say about Dilemma's upcoming buck. Hot Fuzz is the name I've given him.

Another upcoming cutie! He's out of Laramie and THF Saynora's Zebrina. He's one of 4 bucks in the litter, thanks Zebrina! I hope he continues to impress me as he matures and develops.

An upcoming REW doe.

Dilemma just kindled 2 healthy babies. Rosita had 4. J1 had 3, pretty good for a first time doe! Tamara is nesting now. =D I love new babies and all the excitement they bring as the grow and develop!

Melanie