I am in love with my current juniors! I have two little bucks, Hershey (chocolate chin), Howie (black), Cinderella (chin), Rory (opal) and Cleo (chestnut). I love how they're all different colors, haha! I also have a couple 4-week old babies that will most likely be staying here a while and pictures of them are included below. In another post, I'll talk about my recent seniors, such as Dwight (now a daddy!), Pickle, and Shiloh! 

​Let's start with the boys! 

I GOT SO LUCKY to have a chocolate chin that is as nice as Hershey! He is amazing! He has short thick bone, a huge head, and a great body. His biggest faults are a tight crown and lack of width in his chest. But since the biggest things (head and body), are so nice, I can work with everything else! I'm in love with his color. One of the things I've been reminding myself lately to do with "colored" rabbits is to ask myself: would I keep this baby if it were a tort? In this case, I totally would. He's a nice buck regardless of his color. This breeding was a father x daughter pairing. Hershey just turned 4 months. 
Sire: Holly's Prince Charming (chin)
​Dam: Holly's Fern (chin)

Howie is an outcross, and he's nicer than I was expecting! He is massive! He has such a wide chest, thick bone, nice head and ears. His biggest fault is a weak HQ. Typically I would not keep any rabbits with this fault, but because he has a very strong loin, which almost all my other rabbits lack (including these juniors) the HQ doesn't bug me. I have some big broody does that can fix the HQ! Howie just turned 4 months. 

​Now onto the does...

Cinderella is nice, not the best doe but I'll be keeping her for a while to grow out. She has a great short body, nice head and nice curvature. I'm mostly keeping her for that short body, which a lot of my does lack. She does have longer front bone but it's not terrible. Also, a line breeding and this doe is a full sister to Hershey so has the potential of carrying chocolate! Cinderella just turned 4 months. 
Sire: Holly's Prince Charming (chin)
​Dam: Holly's Fern (chin)

Rory is gorgeous, a massive doe in a tiny package. I knew I was keeping a baby from Angie's litter no matter what (as long as they weren't fuzzy), because she passed away when her babies were only 3 days old. I didn't want to lose her line and I didn't have any does out of her. Thankfully, Rory is not a fuzzy but I thought she was until she was 5ish weeks old because she was just so fluffy! I named her Chai as a baby but changed her name to Rory once I knew she was staying. She still is a "fluffier" rabbit, but so is her daddy. Rory has a very tight crown, and won't be a show bunny, but she incredible width, awesome short thick bone, and a nice body. She reminds me SO MUCH of her dad, but her dad has a perfect crown and Rory has the better size. I can't wait to line breed those two in a few months! Rory is an outcross. Rory will be 5 months on the 4th of April. 
​Sire: Holly's Tucker (opal)
​Dam: LCL's Angus (black)

Cleo just turned 6 months TODAY! I can't believe how fast time has gone, these past few months have flown by! I'm not actually loving her type currently, but she's in an awkward just-turned-senior phase so I'll give her another couple weeks before deciding whether to sell her or not. She has amazing width and a nice short body so maybe I'll breed her a couple times before selling her. Her biggest faults are a tight crown, and she could have thicker bone. 

Tinkerbell is 4 weeks old, and looking AMAZING! These two does actually look so much better than I was expecting! She has a great head/ear/crown, and awesome bone. 
​Sire: Holly's Dwight (orange)
​Dam: Holly's Buttercup (broken orange)

Sienna, also almost 5 weeks old, is looking great! She has a tighter crown than her sister, but is still young so only time will tell. She has a big head and short body. 
Sire: Holly's Dwight (orange)
​Dam: Holly's Buttercup (broken orange)

LOTS of babies in the rabbitry currently, and it's not the end of our baby boom yet! I still have 3 does due to kindle next week (the day after Easter), and a couple more to breed. 

​As you know, Buttercup has her litter of 2 from Dwight, and they are doing great! They are so cute and fluffy at 4 weeks old now! I want to get some posed pictures of them soon. They are looking NICE! There is a solid and broken orange, named Sienna (solid), and Tinkerbell (broken). 

Mimi had SEVEN babies on the 23rd! All alive, healthy and wiggly! They are 3 days old today and doing fantastic. So far it looks like they are all getting an even amount of milk. They aren't fat but they are definitely well-fed. There are 2 broken chestnuts, a broken orange, and 4 broken chestnuts. The chestnuts may start looking more like opals or possibly chins as they mature, so only time will tell. Since mom is a solid chestnut and daddy is a broken chestnut, I was expecting primarily chestnut. ​

Next to kindle are Fern, Butterfly, and Zuzu. Fern has been bred to Finn, Butterfly has been bred to Dwight, and Zuzu has been bred to Tucker. All of these pairings are first-time crosses. Some of them are line breedings, and some are outcrosses, and none of the rabbits are first timers themselves, but I haven't bred these crosses together yet. I'm excited to see what I get! 

Today's post is not exactly a fun one. 

A deadly virus has been detected in European rabbits in Canada. These rabbits are assumed to be domesticated rabbits gone feral. It can transmit easily to domestic rabbits, since all of our most common and typical breeds are European by blood. The disease started on Vancouver Island but has spread throughout BC. Due to the fact that here in WA I am so close to Canada and many Canadian exhibitors show their rabbits here, I will not be attending shows for the safety of my herd until this disease seems to be contained or eliminated. 

​If you want more info on the disease and stay updated on its whereabouts, check out THIS BLOG and THIS FACEBOOK PAGE. 

​I am pretty bummed that I won't be going to shows for the foreseeable future. Of course there's a huge chance that there is nothing to worry about, but I really can't risk it. If the disease is eliminated or contained soon, I may be showing in May at the next Monroe show. However, it looks like it won't be. So I might not be showing all summer. 

​My current juniors are really, really nice. I'm super excited about them. But I'll do another post about how they're doing and looking at type. I just wanted to share a quick post on my show news, since I know a couple people have asked when my next shows will be.