Glorious Dwarf Hotot's

Today marks the "coming out" party of the little Dwarf Hotot's. They are 3 weeks today. So absolutely adorable! I've only got 1 HUGE problem with Hubby's choice of breed in this case. Till they are marked it's impossible to tell who is who. Unlike my French who I can almost start telling right away these guys I just can't. The baby in the cup was the first one to pop out of the nestbox last Sunday and within the past few days it's siblings have followed suit. Reverse (Mama) in the foreground is resting, she has done an incredible job. (bottom 2 pictures).

By this Saturday we should have Hershey delivering hopefully a live litter after her terrible single still born last month. She built her nest last night immediately when we placed the nestbox in with her and she is the size of a barn. We are sure she is going to have a whole herd herself, lol. (top 2 pictures are of Hershey. See what we mean, she's huge!)

The "persistant" & only...

Dover Ohio 4/18-

Only the hopeful die hards made it today. My Rabbitry and the Dunstibunny (English Angoras owned by Colleen & Fran) staying for Best of Class 4 then leaving. It was a truly nice show though it was small. I loved the "short" drive of 1 hour and 30 minutes and the folks were warm and inviting. The two youngest boys took advantage of their "quiet" surroundings to catch some Zzzzzzz's (seen above), while hubby and I took time to mingle and discuss/work on the Jersey Wolly part of our herd :-) . Maybe in October there might be more Angora Breeders who are available for this wonderful little sanctioned show, it could prove to be quite a nice developing area for us.

A Tisket, A tasket A Basket full of ...

Bunnies! Oh, WAIT! Shouldn't the bunnies be "carrying" the basket instead of "IN" the basket?! LOL...

As all the babies are getting to that 1 and 2 week mark I think I better get serious about those ever famous "baby" pictures before the chance escapes me. Their eyes are open (except for the Dwarf Hotot's) and they are "popping" of course. Driving mom(s) crazy since they (the FA) can hop right out of their nestboxes. I chose to foster 2 out of Viv's litter to allow a little less of a demand on her and provide Sunny with a little larger litter to help with her 2. Boy, they are all doing wonderful and I'm now sure that when I do breed again it will always be 2 or 3 at a time; unless I am for sure that a single doe will not have any problems. It has worked out very well this time. I just wished I would have bred Selma on the same day I did Viv and Sunny. Maybe those 3 of Selma's would have made it. Possibly her mothering hormones were out of whack, she NEVER even built them a nest! Course it could have been her age as well, but we'll soon see. I'm planning on breeding Sunny, Selma and Phoenix maybe May or early June (but I'm still not 100% sure on that). Anyway, here are couple of the pictures of all the babies. If you want to see more "HOP" on over to my website or email me. Have a "Hoppin'" Great Easter all! Blessings to everyone.

P.s. It was a difficult day for trying to take individual pictures so try to bear with me while I get more done and posted on my website... although MOST of the new additions are added. All but 3 singles got done. Also be sure to check out the new (broken) Lionhead Doe and the (broken) NEW Jersey Wooly doe pictures also.

Lisbon OH pictures

One Chilly day at the shows...

Although the outside temps were chilly most of the day and the indoor temps were not much better. Being around "family" was invitingly warm and pleasant. I was provided the pleasures of meeting a new show exhibitor of both French and Satin Angoras~ Vici. What a true masterpiece she is and I'm positive she will be attending more shows so she can finish her beautiful doe. I hope I get to be there when it happens. I took alot of pictures (I think out last judge was tired of all of the picture taking ;^) since it was the end of the day). I was blessed to get Hopscotch's 2nd Jr. Leg as well as receiving Nibbles first leg as a Jr. Finally, I also got 2 legs for my beautiful black Sr. Buck Owen, thus leaving him with only 1 to go to finish him. However, that will have to wait till fall as he will be getting clipped down very soon! It's definitely clipping season, LOL. As all the Sr's are wanting hair cuts...




Lisa wrote for the first part of the show for the Angoras. She always seems to be the "elected" choice for that... I guess there are down-falls to being "good". ;^) It makes it harder to show your stock when you have to write also. :-( and you don't get to quite hear what the judge is saying about your bunny.



Matthew our youngest son was permitted to learn to write for the judges which was a big (& exhausting) thrill for him. After which he felt the need to "crash" with the newest addition of the family and she (a 1 yr. old Jersey Wooly) didn't seem to mind either (pictured above). Scott was tickled when the judge Matthew wrote for said she'd give the Jersey Wooly a once over for him so he knew for sure what he was getting.






As always, there is plenty of time at a show for spending a "few" (lol) minutes chit-chatting as shown in the distant photo of Lisa and Vici. Surprise girls, you never know "who" is watching...lol






I must say, a "bad" day (being sick) at a bunny show is WAY better than a "good" day being stuck at home. I just hope NO ONE else got sick (since I wasn't so sick when I got there).

Bunnies, Bunnies everywhere

Viv (my fawn french) blessed me with 9! beautiful babies on the 26th of March. Glorious little ones they are. Currently I "believe" I have two brokens and maybe a CREAM!! plus many fawns, but I'm still learning to identify colors so I could be wrong.

On the same day Sunny (my tort) gave me 2 also. Because her litter was so small I chose to foster a couple with her from Viv's litter. That would take a little off of Viv and give Sunny a little more experience. It's worked out wonderfully! She is a good mom!! And the fostering part was a cinch to do because whe has I "believe" 1 tort and maybe a "well I'm not sure" black" tort? Or...? Well it's kinda like dove grey all over no identifing black to see at all yet. I don't know if "black" comes in later or what... like I said still learning color id. ;^) That has made the knowing who belongs to who easier as I gave her a broken and a fawn. (Boy, I hope colors don't "rub" off...;-) )

Unfortunately our rabbitry's oldest Dwarf Hotot gave birth on the same day to a single still born. I believe this may have been partially my fault. I had gotten her out to weight her about 1 week before she was due and she decided she could fly! She lunged out of my tight arms/hands onto the floor. How sad!! She was actually "morning" her loss! I (the day after) thought about fostering a couple of Viv's kits over to her but had to wait on the answers from our groups before I would try it. Scott and I considered it carefully then chose to clean down her hutch, remove her nestbox and rebreed her. We are still so unsure of ourselves when it comes to our little DH's...lol.

So now the wait resumes. Over the next 3 days, we are expecting (really hoping) that Selma, Pheonix (FA's) and Reverse (our newest Dwarf Hotot) deliver successfully at least a couple each, that would be nice.

In the meantime I must get out the camera and get some pictures of these babies...everyone loves to see how they grow! And I love to get their first comments!