Over the past couple days I've been breeding tons of does for summer litters. These babies will be the first ones born in my new shed (*Lord Willing*), and I'm so excited about these crosses. You can see more about each rabbit on my Seniors page. 

On Monday I tried breeding Fern and Maddie but they weren't having it. I did breed Angus to her son Tucker and I'm SO excited for the BONE that will be produced in this pairing! Angie is due 5/31 and she was VERY excited about breeding so I bet she'll have a nice big litter. 

On Tuesday I bred three more does. Miss Heidi was bred to Tucker as well and she is due 6/1. This will be her second litter but her first one was born all DOA so hopefully she has a live litter this time! 

​Butterfly was bred to Finn and she is also due 6/1. I think she'll have a big litter as well because she was very excited about having a date ;) That's an old picture of Finn but you get the idea haha. 

The last doe I bred was Fern! She's also due 6/1. I was going to breed her to Finn but at the last minute I changed my mind and decided on Prince Charming, to get a litter full of chinchillas! 

Since Maddie refused to breed I'll be giving her apple cider vinegar and I'll try again after these babies are born and I know how many kits I'm dealing with. I'll breed her the same day as Sarah, Rosie, and Zuzu. I'm thinking I'll sell Clementine quite soon and Beth is for sale currently. I have so many little does growing up and others that will be born, so older does have to be moved on :( 

After years of hoping, months of saving, and hours of dealing with bank issues, I finally bought my shed!! I still have to wait a couple weeks before it gets delivered and installed, but I'm so excited. On May 13, I'll be buying 7 more rabbit cages. In total, I'll have 21 cages with room to expand, but I like that amount for now. I'll keep my herd even smaller than that but use a lot of the cages for grow outs and weaning culls (rabbits I sell). 
The shed is only 10'x10', but what I've figured so far, is that I can fit 5 stacks of 24"x24" cages on one wall (the right wall), and the remaining cages (about 2 more stacks), on the left wall where my big window will be. In the back, I'll have the feed and hay bins and a water station (my rabbits drink spring or filtered water), and my posing table. The shed also has a loft, which will store carriers, extra hay, extra supplies (like water bottles, feeders), etc. In the back I'll also have shelves or stacks of cubes for storage of medical supplies and everything else. I'll also have a pegboard somewhere for ribbons and pictures. Wherever I can, I'll have a little bunny figurine. I'm so excited to get started and show you the progress! 

My three litters, with 10 babies total, have been super consistent and in AMAZING ways. It makes sense, they all have the same dad! But the tricky part is that soon I have to make decisions about who to keep and who to sell, because I CANNOT keep 10 babies . . . I currently have 2 empty cages and that's just not enough to grow them all out. So around 8-12 weeks I will have to make these hard decisions. And to be honest, ALL these babies are NICE, so far, in one way or another. I evaluated all of them today and I have ideas on who will be staying and who will be sold...but so far, I still want the majority to stay. And because of that I know they all still have lots of growing to do because I need to sell the majority. That's the hard part about having a small rabbitry. I will have to let some super nice babies go. 

But getting this kind of consistency, where all of them are potential keepers and there's no flat-out "pet quality" or disqualifications (and least not right now), is also super exciting. Sarah and Beth's litters are outcrosses, and the face that they are STELLAR means that I have a great buck on my hands! So far I've gotten 4 litters, all from different does, out of Finn, and all the babies in every one have been nice! Some of the babies out of my current litters have faults I don't like, but they still have REALLY good points that make them breeding or show quality. 

Alright, enough chat....let's get on to the pictures and evaluations! 

Let's start with the oldest babies, Franklin, Posie, and Nemo. They are 7 weeks old right now and still looking nice, the uglies definitely have arrived though. My babies, if they're going to go through uglies, typically get it out of the way by 10 weeks surprisingly.

Franklin is Beth's little cream buck. And boy do we love him! He has a super sweet, gentle personality and he loves to snuggle. Super easy to pose and work with too! Like I said, he's in the midst of uglies, and his mom or brother or sister is chewing his fur so it looks terrible right now! Right now I don't like his bone or length of limb...I wouldn't call it "weak ankle" or "flipper feet" but it's definitely long. He didn't have that as a youngster so it might be a phase, we can only wait and see. 

Franklin was the brother I liked best when they are 4-6 weeks and now I like Nemo better haha....he has an awesome round body, great topline, big head and nice ears. He has shorter bone than Franklin does too at this point....we can only wait and see as they mature...hopefully in the right direction! I definitely won't be keeping both brothers, I just don't have the space since I like the bucks from Clementine and Sarah too (haha), so one will definitely be available come 10-12 weeks. 

Right now Posie is super wide and has great ears, but her body....yeesh. Right now it's not looking so hot at all haha. I'm hoping its just uglies because right now it's sloped. Her front limb is also long, and her bone isn't so great. She also has a pretty slipped and possibly tight crown. If she doesn't get a lot better in a week or two, she'll be sold. If you like her, let me know ;) She's cute and she has a great personality!

The other babies are still super little, only 4 weeks, but I like to make my first evaluations at 4 weeks for DQs and overall body type/bone. Sometimes my first evaluations stay true throughout their development, sometimes it doesn't. It'll be interesting to see with these 7 babies. ​

This little chunk Pumpkin is the orange buck in Clementine's litter. So far there is a lot I like about him and not much I don't! He has width, a short body, big head, bone and short front limb, and nice ears! Definitely watching him but honestly, right now I'm liking Bilbo, the solid orange buck from Sarah's litter, even more.

Mimi is Clementine's chestnut doe. I'm liking her a lot! She has some things I'm hoping she grows out of, such as a little long front limb. But she has thick bone, width all around, and a big, round head! I like Sarah's little chestnut doe, Bambi, a little better. 

So excited about BUTTERCUP! She's Clementine's mini-me but even better! She has a slightly tight crown for now but I'm confident her ears will lay down as she matures. Of course they won't be as bad as her mama's! She could have thicker bone has immense width, really nice crown placement, a nice body, and short front legs. I LOVE HER color and I'm hoping she stays nice and keeps looking better, because then she can stay to replace her mom or Sarah. 

Now onto Sarah's babies! If you can't tell, I'm in love with quite a few of them! This litter was a total outcross of a line I haven't worked with before, so I'm so excited to watch these babies mature! 

I'm so excited about Bilbo! Look at that width, head, and teeny tiny ears! His ears still stick straight up most of the time, but that's ok for now because he's still so little AND his ears are TINY! He has short, thick bone, and a cute body. 

Winnie is another little doe I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT!!! She has a perfect crown, it lays down perfectly already and might be the only I have with such perfect placement. I love every single thing about her h/e/c (head/ear/crown), to me, it looks perfect. She has awesome bone and a nice body. I'm excited for a broken chestnut - she'll probably be staying and might replace her mom.

I wish I was more excited about miss Piper! She has a huge head, super round, nice body, width galore, but  possible weak ankles and thin bone. I do love her tiny ears though, although she may have a tight crown. Most likely she'll be available at 8 weeks if she doesn't mature in a better direction. 

Now Bambi gets me excited!! Love that super round head, perfect topline and body, nice ears, and thick bone! She may have a little length of limb and a slipped crown, but that body makes me so happy and she has the width too! 

I hope you enjoyed learning about these little prejuniors and which ones might be coming available in the next few weeks/months. I get tons of questions about what I evaluate for and what I love in my herd and what I don't. I hope this helped clear that up! 

Have a great day everyone :) 

Lately I've been pondering over which does to breed next - I have TEN babies currently and a few I will be watching until they are several months old, so I'll need to postpone breeding for a couple weeks still. But since I have so many open does and lots of bucks that would work well with each of them, it's a hard decision to choose! But so far, here are the planned litters for the next coming months. I'll indicate which ones are coming sooner than later. You can see pics of each rabbit on the My Herd pages. 

Holly's Finn x Holly's Madeline 
Madeline is a first timer and I'm excited to see what she can produce. Especially since she is SO WIDE and Finn has been producing incredible width. Also, they will balance each other out because Finn lacks in his head mount and topline, and Madeline has a very showy head mount (very upright), as well as a stellar topline. And Finn balances Maddie's poor bone width and length. This breeding will be happening by the end of the month, probably within the next week. 

Holly's Tucker x Holly's Heidi
Heidi failed her first litter so she's getting a second chance. I'm excited to see what Tucker could produce with her. The main reason why I chose Tucker to breed her to is because she's full siblings with Holly's Prince Charming and Finn, and I'm selling my other buck Percy. So Tucker is really the only option for  her but I'm not disappointed haha. This one will also be happening very soon. 

Holly's Finn x Holly's Butterfly
I'm excited to see what these two could produce! Butterfly was bred to Finn's full brother Prince Charming last time, and they produced a beautiful chin doe that has been showing well for me, so I'm excited to see what this cross has in store. This will be happening whenever I breed Heidi and Maddie.

Holly's Tucker x LCL's Angus (Angie)
This is a line breeding, since Tucker is Angie's son. And I'm super excited about this cross! Angie produces incredible bone (such as Tucker's), and I'm hoping to get that cemented in my line. However, she also has a tight crown and Tucker has a slight one as well, so we'll see if this is produced heavily in this litter or not. I'm still deciding whether or not this will be with Maddie and Heidi within the next week or at some point next month. 

Holly's Finn x Holly's Zuzu 
This is also a line breeding. I did a line breeding with Zuzu's son Prince Charming last time but it didn't produce the results I wanted. It did reveal that she (and Prince), carry chocolate though! Let's see if Finn does as well. This breeding will likely happen next month. 

Holly's Finn x Holly's Rosemary 
I'm still letting Rosie adjust but I'm excited to see the width and body that will come with this cross!! This breeding will probably be a couple months down the road though. 

Holly's Prince Charming x Holly's Fern 
These are my two chins! I'm SO excited to improve my chin line. However, Fern is not yet 6 months and I'll be showing her in May, so this breeding probably won't be happening until later this summer. 

This is VERY overdue. But hey . . . better late then never, right?!

2016 Goal Review: 

1. SHED - NOT MET. 

2. Thicken bone - MET. I am so happy with the results in bone thickness this year!

3. Produce competitive agoutis - HALF MET. One of my little bucks, Prince Charming, is a chinchilla with a couple legs. My agoutis have done well but of course there's always room for growth in this field. 

4. Attend and show rabbits at 2016 Convention - NOT MET. I wasn't able to go to 2016 convention because it interfered with my school schedule. 

5. Produce at least 11 live litters - MET. This year I produced 14 litters total, and 11 of those were live! 

6. Use all 17 cages that I have - NOT MET. Right now I'm using 15 cages. But it's all I have room for since I don't have my shed. 

7. Improve shoulders - MET. Honestly, my herd improved in every single area this year - in hindquarter, crown placement, width/mass, front leg length and bone thickness, and I am so happy with that. 

8. Sell Typhoon and Wicket - MET. I'm proud of myself for this one. These two boys were hard to sell and are missed everyday, but ultimately it was best for my herd. Many people told me I shouldn't have sold them, that I should try and buy them back, even!! But I knew what was best for my herd and selling them was not a hinderence. I have only been producing better and better stock since I sold them, and each generation just gets better and better. 

9. Produce a nice homegrown broken buck - NOT MET. I didn't produce a single nice broken buck this year. Bummer! Hoping for better results next year. 

10. Produce a nice homegrown solid buck - MET. I produced 4, 2 of which are currently producing awesome sons of their own!

Next, goals for 2017: 

1. SHED 

2. Have more show rabbits than strict "breeding only" rabbits in the rabbitry.

3. Win 2 Best of Breeds (last year I won 1 BOB). 

4. Buy or produce a broken buck good enough to be a broken herd buck. I miss my brokens! 

5. Shorten bone. 

6. Work on ears and crown - more thickness, better furred, rounder and shorter for the ears, and crowns that are wider and allow the ears to lie down fully. 

7. Produce 30 live kits.

8. Finish the year proud of my final year showing as a youth, without thinking, "I wish I would've done better." 

I think 8 goals is good for now. I may add to this. I always do. But since this year will be SO BUSY with school and my new job, I don't want to have a numerable amount of crazy rabbitry goals hanging over me. 

Unfortunately Heidi had a failed litter or else she would get one of these too. She had 5 DOA and some obviously stuck, so she'll be rebred soon for a 2nd try. 

Sarah ended this round of babies on February 21st. She had 6 kits, but sadly with 2 DOA. However, the remaining 4 are doing fantastic! When she gave birth I was gone all day at school and work so my family watched the bunnies again. There's not much to say, since she did such a great job! So far I'm thinking colors are a chestnut, broken chestnut, broken something else and an orange. I can't wait to see this babies grow up! 

It's really interesting to me that Clementine and Sarah had 6 kits. They were both bred to Finn, but Sarah had 5 takes (fall offs from the buck), and Clementine only had 2 - those sure are some fertile does! I'm surprised every doe I bred got pregnant with a fairly sizeable litter. I just wish more kits had survived. But we currently have 10 babies - including Beth's 3 - and that's the most I've ever had, so I'm thankful! 

I'll see you in my next post - most likely about some fun updates, such as news on the shed I'm getting, and my brother's decision to possibly start doing the "rabbit thing" (my mom's words lol), with me! 

This was Clementine's last chance. She has had 2 litters before that failed miserably. Her first litter had 4, all DOA, her second had 5, with 4 DOA and a kit that died a couple days later for a bizarre reason. With both of these litters, she refused to nest inside the box, she constantly moved her nest to the opposite side of the cage where the box was not. And she had both of these litters outside the box. I wasn't super hopeful for a nice litter out of her because she never showed signs of being a good mom.

She started nesting a few days before her due date and I gave her a box right then and there. To my surprise, she actually pulled fur INSIDE the box this time! I started getting hopeful. Maybe she'll finally get it right! 

I was in Oregon over her due date at a show. My mom and youngest brother were in charge of watching preggo does and my current babies - on top of feeding and watering and loving on everyone else. On Saturday, February 19th, my mom texted me with Clementine's birth news! 

I was so happy to hear that she had SIX kits, all in the nestbox!!! One was DOA, my mom said it was big and stretched. Another one was a peanut. However, we have 4 gorgeous, live kits which is more than I expected from Clemmi! She finally figured it out. She loves her babies. Right now, colors are looking to be chestnuts, an orange, and a broken orange! 

Sadly, on day 5, one of the chestnuts passed away. I'm not positive why, but I'm so thankful for the three we have left. 

Way to go Clementine! I can't wait to see this babies grow up. The daddy is Finn and these parents are both crazy (hyper and spastic), but also my most friendly and sweet, so I bet these babies will have amazing personalities. My brother's favorite is Clementine, because she always begs for head pets and will put her head under your hand to get them. She's always at the front of the cage and I'm really hoping to have more rabbits in my herd with this stellar personality! 

By the time you read this, I'll be in OR showing 4 rabbits, Holly's Butterfly, Holly's Prince Charming, Holly's Fern, and Holly's Tucker. This is my first time showing rabbits out of state. I went to Portland OR a couple years ago for the 2015 convention, however, I didn't bring my own rabbits to show. So I'm very excited to see how my Washington bunnies do up against rabbits and breeders I typically don't show against. Besides that, I'll also be showing in open, which brings a new set of challenges because there will be awesome breeders there that have been breeding for 10+ years and have herds of 30+ rabbits, and just getting high in these classes will be an accomplishment for my small herd and breeding history of only 5 years. 

Today I wanted to take some time evaluating each one and giving my thoughts on their strengths and weaknesses. Let's go over each one in the order they are shown in, just for fun! 

​First up is a SSB (solid senior buck), Holly's Prince Charming. He just keeps looking better and better as he grows! I love his body and width in his head and body. I especially love his HUGE head and tiny ears! His biggest fault is thinner bone. He could have more width in his chest too. His crown is a little tight, but I love the thickness and shortness of his ears. 

Holly's Tucker is a SJB (solid junior buck), and very possibly the best I've produced so far! Honestly there is nothing I don't like about this buck. He could have better head width and shorter ears, but both of those things could come with time as his head pops. I love his short, thick bone; smooth, wide body; and that width in his chest! I love how thick his ears are! Overall, this buck just screams "massive"! 

Next is miss Fern, a little SJD (solid junior doe), I'm so excited about! Like Tucker, she is just massive! Prince Charming is her dad (can you see the resemblance?), and her mom is Butterfly (there's resemblance to her too!), and she got great things from both parents. Like Butterfly, she has a wide, smooth body and a little butt skirt developing! Right now her biggest faults are longer front bone a tight crown, which might get better with age. I love her width throughout and I have high hopes for her! 

Last (but not least!), is one of my favorites, Holly's Butterfly, a gorgeous BSD (broken senior doe)! I wasn't really showing Butters anymore, but letting her stay at home and be a mama, but I don't have plans to breed her for a couple weeks and when I took her out to pose her and groom her I couldn't let her stay home. She needs to show off more! She's always shown super well for me and I'm hoping this weekend is no exception. Her biggest faults are a slipped crown and finer bone. But she has a head to die for and incredible width throughout. She's only looking better and better, even after having lots of litters! Did you know that she was 3 weeks pregnant when I showed her last (I swore she wasn't pregnant; but she had 5 babies in there!), and she got a super high placement that day! I believe it was best opposite sex variety, or at least she won her class. I'm so excited to see how she does! Butters is a forever bunny because of her awesome personality and guys....I just love her. She's been with me to quite a few places....a speech I made in college, a retirement/therapy home a few times, and several shows. She makes every one of my days better and I'm excited to have her along for this special trip! 

I hope you guys enjoyed some random thoughts! My next post will be Beth's birth story, and after that....probably details on how the show went!! 

Holly's Beth had her first litter on January 30th and she's been doing a great job! I had no issues with her! She was due on January 29th and built a beautiful nest. I checked on periodically throughout the day but she didn't show any of signs of labor. Usually I'll check up on the does throughout the night if they don't deliver during the day, but I had math class in the morning and needed to get good rest, so I didn't check on her throughout the night. I trusted she would do the right thing or just not have the babies at all until the following day. 

She didn't have them in the morning, so I went to school and when I got back I checked on her once and left her alone. When I went out to see her again, at about 6:30pm, she had delivered! I saw no signs of labor or anything, so I knew it was a quick delivery. One baby was outside the box and cold, so I brought it in and quickly warmed it up. The other 3 were perfectly settled in the nest. 

I brought all the babies inside that night because it was supposed to be cold, and I knew I would sleep better that way. Every night since then I've been bringing the babies inside. I'll continue doing so until they can get back in the box after getting out. They are opening their eyes now and getting SO cute! I have decided on names for them but will release them in a Youtube video later in the week. I don't know genders yet but these names can be used for both. 

She had 4, no peanuts or DOA (dead on arrival), but unfortunately one passed away at about a week old, so we have 3 left now. Originally, there were 2 chestnuts, an orange and a cream, but one of the chestnuts passed away. I'm excited to watch these guys grow because they are going to be cute! 

They are 14 days old now (2 weeks) and have their eyes open! More updates to come as these guys mature. I'm excited to see them grow up! 

As you guys know by now, Beth had her litter 2 weeks ago! We have 3 new little ones to love on! Her birth story is coming later in the week but I wanted to post this first! ​

Our next doe due to kindle is Holly's Clementine, a broken orange doe! Clemmi is due on the 17th and started nesting today. I gave her a nestbox and we'll see if she actually nests in it this time. She has a big belly and I saw some babies wiggling around in there today! Hopefully she'll do everything right this time and we'll have lots of broken-colored babies! 

Sadly I won't be here the weekend she's due, so I'm hoping she gives birth in the morning on the 17th before I leave for the weekend. I'm so thankful my mom doesn't mind watching over her and she knows what to do if things go wrong. Of course, I have to pay one of my brothers to feed and water all the bunnies and bring the babies inside when they come, haha! 

Clementine THANKFULLY is nesting in her box, for the FIRST TIME EVER, so I'm hopeful we'll get live, healthy babies this time!!! 3rd time's a charm, hopefully!

On the 20th, the day I get back, Heidi and Sarah are due! Heidi pulled a little bit of fur a couple days ago and has been digging in the corners of her cage a ton lately. That's a sure sign of pregnancy! She also has a big belly so I'm thinking she has a lot of babies in there! Heidi is a chestnut doe and was bred to my little black buck, Percy. This is Percy's first litter and Heidi was pretty unwilling, so honestly I'm surprised she got pregnant at all! 

The last (but definitely not least), doe due in this round of breedings is M&S Sarah. So far she isn't showing pregnancy signs but that's okay; she was VERY willing during breeding so I'm sure she's pregnant, just hiding it well :) I'll weigh her tomorrow and see if she gains anything this week. 

Once all the does deliver, I'll reevaluate which breedings to do next. I have almost 5 does ready to breed now (Rosemary needs to pass her quarantine first lol), but I can't breed all 5 at the same time; so I'll have to choose who gets to breed right away and who has to wait a little longer. I'll update once I've decided and keep you all in the loop!