I'm running out of blog ideas!

Not much new to report on the Jersey aspect in the barn, so I am running out of blog ideas. I am always repeating myself and it is boring me lol!

Fantasy has 6 kits, none ended up being peanuts!! and all are doing well- smoke pearls mainly but looks like a couple of blue points (non-showable) as well.

We have 2 more Jerseys due today and tomorrow- Foxy Lady and Hot Flashez.

I have 6 other does bred as well.

Champagne litter is doing great, getting big. Can't wait to see them develop!

If anyone has any ideas of what I can blog about please let me know!!

I will try to write another interesting blog tonight!

98 bottles of beer on the wall!

Well, okay, not beer but babies.. We currently have 98 babies between all the litters- we had 42 babies born yesterday in our breedings that were due that survived(more that didn't survive from first time Jersey litters). You just can't seem to count on dwarf breeds! With our older babies, plus these new ones it makes 98!! Plus we have 3 more mini lops bred, 2 more to breed, 6 or 7 Jerseys bred, 2 more to breed. And 2 more Champagnes to breed in about 2 weeks.

Spring has sprung here!

We are expecting a calf this summer as well that I am personally looking forward too.

So Jersey litter wise.. The only doe that came through was Fantasy with 6 babies, of which 4 may be peanuts. Sophia had 3 DOA, and Sierra had 2 DOA. I will rebreed both does in a few days. Sophia pulled just a tuff of fur, and Sierra pulled a little more then that. Fantasy (my favorite girl now lol) pulled a box of fur, built a beautiful nest and is a terrific mom. Right now she has 2 mini lops in her box as well... Ack! We had to do a bunch of fostering because mini lops had HUGE litters!

New litters, updates etc

I can't believe it has been 4 days since my last blog...

I had a couple new Jersey litters to report today. Leapin Fantasy X Leapin' Cowboy had 6 kits- first litter! 4 MAY be peanuts, though with 2 for sure that are regular size.

And Leapin' Sierra X Leapin' Cowboy had 2 DOA huge kits. I will rebreed her this weekend, unless we need to foster something off to her. We still have 2 more JW's to go, still waiting on my Champagne D' Argent to deliver, and then numerous mini lops. Then more JW's next week.

I can't wait for the Champagne litter. They are a super fun breed of rabbit! Very sweet, inquisitive, and good eaters! I think they will make excellent pets from what I am seeing (the bucks) as both our bucks are very easy going. We got new pics of the 2 young does today, but didn't like the pics of the younger of the 2. However, new pic of the older doe.

All is well with all the bunnies. Tomorrow we are having Easter dinner at the house here. Andrea and her mom are coming, along with our Grandma and one uncle, my friend Starr and her daughter Tiffany, and then the 4 of us. Plus 7 cats, and likely 5 dogs because if we are feeding rabbits a bit early I can't tie Harley up that early (Harley the farm dog, but you have to tie him up at night because of his last fiasco with chasing wild rabbits and getting lost!). Anyway, he will probably come home for Easter dinner too : )

We are stuck on our emotions right now. In one way we are looking forward to Andrea's dwarf hotots coming to the farm. It will be fun to play around with them for a year, while she is gone. And in another it will be hard to say goodbye and not see her for another FULL YEAR! We are really happy for her, and can't wait to hear about her adventures and hearing if she finds any rabbitries over there! But, it will be a hard time saying good bye for sure. We've all really grown close over the last 2 years and it will be like losing a family member for sure ( she IS family)

Tomorrow, I have to go shopping for a baby gift (year old birthday) for our Cousin Aliyah. Then a birthday gift for a friend, and an easter gift for Cristina, Mom and Norm (just a chocolate bunny each or something) we don't go extravagant in this house for easter.

We cancelled homemakers for our grandma( who needs help with cooking/meals etc) for tomorrow, so Cristina and I will be at her place bright and early for breakfast, at the barn to check on the does due and then running around. Then back to the house by 3pm to work on dinner and tidying house, and figuring out how to entertain dogs while all the company is here : ) Probably take them for a long run and wear them out. That always works!

I have 16 Jerseys to keep, and 17 holes.. So expect to see more Jerseys for sale before Summer, as I need to keep empty holes for babies. : ) Can't wait to see how a few of these very nice Mini lops develop, they are looking VERY nice! And I really like how these couple Jersey babies we are keeping are developing. Showing improvement already, that is always a good thing!

Another Busy weekend

Weekends around here are always brim full! Saturday we spent most of the day working around the farm. Saturday night we brought Harley the Rottweiller home for a "sleepover" and a long walk with the other 4 dogs. That all went well, and Sunday morning we all went back to the farm together (Harley, Cristina and I).

Andrea, Tammi and Coleton came down for a visit, and we spent most of the afternoon in the barn going through mainly Mini lops, although a few Jersey woolies and we looked at one Champagne as well. We also ran to the raptor centre, and out for coffee. Lunch at our Grandmas as well. Today we did a bunch of running around in town, and put boxes in for the does. We also, decided on our cage space in the breeds:

We have 88 holes in the barn exactly, so we were figuring out what we wanted to allow for each breed. We need lists, boundaries, and limitations in our life(okay I've been watching Cesar Millan videos, and those words are embedded in my head. Anyway, we do really need boundaries and lists and limatations though. Why? Well, we've decide to allow 59 holes of those 88 to just the Mini lops(we've had 43) that is 16 MORE holes just for the Mini lops. This will really help! 38 holes are for Senior bucks and does(all at least 24 by 30), the other 21 holes are 24 by 24 junior cages.

17 holes will be for the Jersey woolies, and 12 holes for the Champagne D' Argents. That is our so called list and our boundaries. We can't go over 88 holes, neither of us will allow stackers in the middle of that barn now, so that is all we have room for! That is our limiations- we are limited space wise in the barn now, and can not have more holes : )

We are gearing up for many new litters over the next few weeks. We have something like 14 upcoming litters, and after palpating yesterday(Thanks Tammi and Andrea for double checking) all the Mini lops except 1(which is a maybe) came through, and all the Jerseys except 1(who was just bred a week ago) are too soon to tell as well. The rest are packed full!

Well, that is about all that is new around here : ) The spell check on Blogger is not working, so if my spelling is not accurate you know why!!

Posey's Built to Last

This is Hero's placement, a beautiful blue junior buck! Nicer ear then dad, but his dads awesome body and head as well : ) He is out of Jentle's Hero GC X Jentle's Tikki : )

I did some rebreeds today, trying to get a bunch of does bred to Hero and Rock N Roll before they leave. I decided to keep a few does for another litter, so I could breed them to just those 2 bucks for now. I do still have 4 animals available.. I am debating about keeping Snookums as well- I am so bad!

I have 4 animals available that would go very well as a group. GC RH's Tonka, Leapin Maggie May 1 leg (smoke pearl), Leapin' Mara (smoke pearl) and Leapin' Honky Tonk. All would be great in a marten (smoke pearl marten) project. I would like $200 for the 4, way lower then these animals are worth. But, I'm not working on martens!

I also checked some does that I bred a few weeks ago. And Confirmed are:

Leapin' Hot Flashez X Leapin' Snookums- expecting blue torts
Leapin' Fantasy X Leapin' Cowboy- expecting smoke pearl, sable point, blue point?
Leapin' Foxy Lady X Leapin' Cowboy- sable point and REW
Leapin' Miss Sierra X Leapin' Rock N Roll- sable points and torts
M an M's Sophia- (pointed white) X Jentle's Hero

Does bred today and yesterday:

Leapin' Panache X GC Jentle's Hero

Schultz's Secret Weapon X Leapin Munchkin (rebreed of Fantasy) she did not take last month.

All is well around here. We had 6 dogs in our care today ( I think I should send my dogs to people who can't keep dogs and get paid for lending my dogs out lol). On top of our 5 dogs( 1 farm dog (Harley) and 4 dogs here in Chemainus. Lucky our cousins dog was at the farm.. Lucky eats cats, we have 4 barn cats. So in the 2 1/2 hrs Lucky was at the farm (tied up) so we had complete control, she was a perfect angel and she loved playing with Harley again they lived together for 4 years. Anyway, in that time frame we barely got anything accomplished because we were worried that the cats would go out there and "try" to be friends.. They tried, but Lucky was just fine and we were right there. Our cats are too used to dogs, they don't know a good one from a bad one. That is the only scary part. But all was fine, and Lucky is back at her house now. And we are back down to just 5 ... JUST 5. Sarcastically murmurs!!

Show Juniors

I have a few nice babies coming up that I will be keeping back as show juniors. I am super picky, as most people already know, so of my 20 babies some of them are really nice but not colors I want to pursue, and others don't meet my criteria.

I do have 3 so far that are definite keepers...

Leapin' Foxy Lady X Leapin' Rock N Roll- Sable point Junior doe- awesome body! Posey's Hardly an Angel

Leapin' Rock N Roll X Leapin' Chantilly Lace- Blue cream ? Junior doe- awesome doe, if she is a blue cream not a showable color but I am keeping regardless for breeding! Will see! Posey's Escapade

And GC Jentle's Hero X Jentle's Tikki- Blue Junior buck- Posey's Built To Last

So far just those 3, but, I have more litters to go through. Leapin' Ginger Rogers X Leapin' Rock N Roll have 2 dark sable points, and a dark tort( I think 2 does, and a buck )
Jetta X Hero have 2 blues. I just rebred Secret Weapon to Munchkin for a rebreed Fantasy litter. I have 3-4 more does bred as well.. I need to breed a bunch more this week.
Maggie and Mara both had litters yesterday- Maggie had 6, but unfortunetly none made it (and she is proven not sure what happened?) and Mara had 3 Fetal Giants (also proven) Mom to Panache. If they don't sell I will rebreed both. I hope to have as many babies in the box next month as I do now, for animals to show in August/September. I doubt we will go to any shows in the US this year due to the cost of gas and feed, animal food, groceries etc. Someone was saying it is going up to $1.50 a litre up here this summer(around $1.15 right now)
The dog food is over $60 a bag and we are going through it easily every 2 1/2 weeks with 5 dogs ( but they don't do well on any other kinds ) I've been trying everything. Ben lost so much weight on another brand, and they don't like the other brands.. Cat food is almost $40 a bag now..
Sigh!!!

:- )

Baby pic, and last sale buns

Here's a pic of Posey's Escapade Smoke pearl? Jr doe
Out of Leapin' Rock N Roll X Leapin' Chantilly Lace

Super cute little doe with a great body, head and good ear! She is not posed in this shot, more of a "cutesy shot". I was going for barn pics today(battery was almost dead as we forgot it on.. oops ;) So, just one shot of her. Definite keeper!

Also, I just have a few sale buns and really want to get them moved out...

Leapin' Snookums blue tort senior buck- REG- I had this guy at $140, reduced to $100. I would be willing to sell him, Maggie, Panache or Mara as a trio for $200 for the trio(instead of $220, already reduced from $275). Great deal, nice rabbits- all 3 are registered, entire line is basically all registered and most are granded... I just want to cut back to what I am keeping, and building my own line.

Leapin' Panache- Smoke pearl senior doe- $50

Leapin' Mara- Smoke pearl senior doe $55

Leapin' Hot Flashez- Blue tort senior doe $85

Leapin' Maggie Mae- Smoke pearl senior doe- $70

Leapin' Foxy Lady- REW Senior doe- $40

GC RH's Tonka- Smoke pearl marten senior buck, $100 was $125

Leapin' Black Prince, and Leapin' Honky Tonk- both $40 each.. I will make a great deal for someone who wants more then 2-3 : )

The South Island 4-H club came up to the farm today, I think they were happy. We taught them about Coccidosis treatment, and why they should treat. Also deworming, and various other lessons. Density and Texture of coat, and type of the various rabbits.

I got 3 new Champagnes from Jolynn Wagner. A Massive senior buck, and 2 nice senior does. I am giving them a few days to settle in before I get pics. But the buck is a sweetheart!

Same old, same old

I really don't have much to talk about. I am just not a topic type person. I don't have anything ever clever to write about (well occasionally) lol.

So I will just babble some more :- )

Animals are all fine. Harley was being a brat today, so he got locked out of the barn for 40 mins. He came back in and was a perfect gentlemen after that : ) (160lb Rottweiller)
I can seriously say the with 5 breeds of dogs. My favorite is Rottweiller, Shih Ztu, and Flat Coated Retriever. I love Luke, and Ben(my parents Yellow Lab) are nice dogs. But I wouldn't have another of those breeds(Golden Retriever and Yellow Lab). Star has some German Shepherd in her so it makes her aggressive towards strangers which I don't like. We all joke that if we walk Star and Harley, people move around us because of Harley when it is really Star they should be worried about (lol). I am really not a small dog person-- not that I have anything against small dogs I think they are adorable. BUT! I find small dogs I have to worry about more(around the cows) and at least ours hates the outside/cold/rain. Whereas the big dogs will lay outside in the snow and rain(not because they have to but because they like to) and they can just handle it more. I guess I'm just a big dog person. However, I will always have a small dog, and probably always a shih ztu. Next favorite would be a Pomeranian but the Shih tzu seems a bit less fu-fu lol!

Anyway onto rabbits. They are all fine. We got the middle of the barn organized this morning. We just have to sweep tomorrow morning, and we did regular cleaning. Ranger(Jersey wooly) found a great pet home with a really nice family. I think he will be very happy!

I just have a few more JErseys to sell, and I am willing to negotiate on price... And make package deals.... : )

Champagnes are doing fantastic. Really a fun breed of rabbit. We have a litter coming around the 18th that we are both looking forward too. Nice sweet rabbits! Good eaters too ( sarcastically mutters at those Jerseys for being picky eaters!). The rabbits that are good eaters are in excellent flesh condition, rabbits that are not good eaters are in poor flesh condition it makes sense, and it drives me nuts! It is not that they don't like the feed they just aren't big eaters. This last batch of feed was bagged the day before we bought it! Super fresh! However, Jerseys eat what Jerseys want. So some will clean 1/2 a cup of pellets, others barely 1/4.

Tomorrow we have the 4-H club coming, Stan and Kathy are bringing our trio of Champagnes, Andrea is likely coming to the farm, and possibly Jody as well.. It is going to be one heck of a busy day! Maybe they will all take rabbits home with them ;) hint, hint guys!!

Nice to be getting spring cleaning done!

It is so nice to be getting this spring cleaning done. We are actually done all the stackers and hanging cages. We just need to put the barn back together. The cages/rabbits are back together but the middle of the barn looks like a bomb hit it (lol).

All the carriers that we used our in the middle, plus feed bags as we had to buy feed yesterday and we spent 8 1/2 hours powerwashing 44 cages yesterday(stackers), pans, and putting them back together(some of them have legs and come off in twos) so by the time we took one 2 part out, then the other 2 part etc. We usually did 3-4 stackers at a time. But it is still a lot of work. By the time we fed and watered everyone it was after 7:00 last night and we were exhausted! We had even gone to check on a boat we are taking care of(making sure it doesnt take on water) and then picked up feed as well.

We did treat ourselves to Tim Hortins for lunch though :- )

Today we were going to take all the scrap metal but we may work in the barn instead and get it re-organized. I'm really not sure. It sounds like it is going to be a hectic day so we will have to see.

If we do work in the barn it will be nice to get it back to being re-organized, and maybe we can get a few pictures as well. We shall see!

Day one complete as Cristina said

I won't go into details as Cristina's blog has what we got done but I am very pleased with what we did get done(we are well over half way done powerwashing) and tomorrow is just stackers and a few odds and ends : ) Really nice to get this all done now instead of May or June like we normally do. We are well ahead now! We have shows in April, May, June, July(if we want to go), August, September... So it is nice to get this type of thing done now. I doubt we will go to that many shows. Actually we have a show October as well, and then November if our club decides to hold another one that may be the month or early December.. I think we will miss some shows though(we will be showed out!)

I did get a few pics done today that I thought I would share.. I really liked how they turned out(sorry no barn pics quite yet). I do have pics of the barn as it was last spring it changed quite a bit since then and today it changed MUCH More : )

The one pic attached is of Harley, our new "farm" dog. A 160lb Rottweiller(a big lush!)



Then Star my dog. Star will be 10 this year, like Harley. Although more grey around her muzzle she isn't quite as slow moving as Harley(has way more energy) and wanted to play with Harley all morning. Once he realized "Hey, I can still play" she was tired of waiting and had gone off to do her own thing. The one pic of her is her covered in shavings(she promptly laid on the clean barn floor) : )



Then a pic of both dogs. I don't know what Star was doing but she managed to get her tongue sticking out.




Then a pic of the fields around the farm

And finally a pic of the corner of the hay barn, an old tool shed on the farm, and a bit of the fields/sunset etc.



It was a great day in the sunshine!

Started spring cleaning

Today is pretty wet and windy out, so I don't think we are going to do anymore power washing. I am debating about taking a load of scrap steel to the metal yard in Cassidy though. We've been cleaning the yard here at the house(or mom has). Cristina and I are rarely outside our yard here at the house(1/2 an acre) because we take the dogs up to the Lake to play(about 40 acres) and if we aren't doing that, we are at the farm with the rabbits, Harley, cats and cows. : )

Anyway, yesterday we tried out the new power washer at the farm! We got one 4 hole stacker completely power washed, vanodined, dishes vanodined(had done feeders already) and set back up with the rabbits back inside. Except, we switched some of the rabbits : )
A couple of the rabbits were those annoying ones (lol) that were constantly getting hair on the wire in spots, and you know how some rabbits are more prone to having their poop hang off the cage wire? Well 3 of those 4 rabbits had that problem and I was always wire brushing! So.. we switched that : ) We moved Ranger, Cowboy and kept Rock N Roll in that stacker(moved Ranger and Cowboy) into that stacker. And moved Ginger Rogers and her litter onto a solid bottom stacker(they used to be cavy stacker's(not our new ones but our 3 older stacker's) we replaced the trays a couple of years ago(Cristina did) and they are way too nice to get rid of. So, we use those for the Jerseys. They work great for them, and no hangy poops on the wire! :- )
Anyway Ginger Rogers, Munchkin and Too Hot 4 U all got moved into solid bottom cages. That leaves one empty hole in the 4 hole stacker we got power washed for someone else. Not sure who yet.

Sometime next week I will be shipping out 5 Jerseys so that will be good to get those guys moved out. I still have I think 4 empty cages but once these guys all go I will have lots more. We have about 10 holes empty in the barn right now. We are trying to keep holes cleared for all the jrs we have. We checked out the mini lop litters and their are some VERY nice babies in those litters! It looks like lots of keepers. 2nd Glance and Burke seem to click and it is a very nice litter thus far. They are just coming into the cute stage but I like posing early(lol)

Well I should decide what I am doing today.. I really should take that scrap metal.. It is just going to be one heck of a job(some of it weighs 200lbs a piece...)ugh... Since not working at Shar Kare I've lost some of my muscles... (lol) it is going to feel like 400lbs I'm sure. (No I can't pick up 200lbs by myself) Cristina will help with about 1/4 of that weight, and then a dolly and myself and we can heave it into the truck :- )

I will have quite a few Jerseys for sale at the April 5th show. If not seniors and juniors... I would love to move all those tan patterns and any selfs that are left out, and a couple of those does.. so I will probably make a bit of a better deal if someone wanted more then a couple....