2017 will be my LAST year of showing in youth. December 2nd, 2017 will be my first open show as a 19-year-old. Until then, I'm really hoping my herd gets that "umph" to compete against the big boys and do well. 

I'm sad to see another year end, but excited to see what 2017 has in store. This has been a crazy year and it's the first year where I can truly say almost all of my stock is homegrown. Right now I have 14 rabbits and only 2 of those rabbits were purchased (WHAT?!). My stock has been nice enough to keep and actually build my herd from. And for that, I am so excited. The beginning of the year was hard in terms of litters, I had a lot of DOA litters or kits die for random reasons and didn't make it to 8 weeks. But the end of the year went great, out of a total of 11 kits born in 3 litters, only 4 passed away which is great odds. Also, this year I kept the largest amount of kits, over twice the amount of kits I kept last year. I also did the best this year in the shows than I've ever done before. 

2016 Stats: 
Last year's stats will be in (parentheses)
Babies born: 48  (41)
Babies raised to 8wks: 18 (18)
Babies died: 29  (23)
Babies kept to 6 months or more: 7 (3) (Clementine, Beth, Finn, Prince Charming, Heidi, Perseus, and Madeline). 
# Live Litters: 11  (7) 
# total litters:  14 (10)

New (purchased) additions:
M&S Sarah (need to get her bred!)

New (kept, over 6mos) additions:
Holly's Clementine (hasn't produced live kits yet; almost a year old)
Holly's Beth (need to get her bred!)
Holly's Finn (a daddy!)
Holly's Prince Charming (a daddy!)
Holly's Heidi (need to get her bred!)
Holly's Perseus (5ish months)
Holly's Madeline (5ish months)

Adults Sold: 
Holly's Rosie
Holly's Saige
Holly's Wicket
Bramblehedge's Typhoon

Shows Attended: 6
Major Winnings: BOB, BOS, BOV, BOSV. 
Legs: 6

2016 Expenses/Earnings 
~Spent: $911.70
~Made (on rabbits): $950
~Made (with boarding service): $80
~Total amount Made: $1,030 (barely broke even!)
~Lost: 0
~Gained: $119.30 (which was probably spent on college fees lol). 

This is my 4th year doing this blog series. Which means I've been breeding rabbits for 5 years now if you count the year I started! If you want to see the past years in review, click the links below: 
2015: HERE 
2014: HERE 
2013: HERE and HERE 

I currently have three kits I'm growing out from this last round of litters. And it just so happens, one kit is from each litter. I didn't plan that! Anyway, "grow out" basically just means that the baby is looking super promising right now, so I'm going to wait and see what he or she looks like at 3-4 months. Once they enter the uglies, occasionally the baby won't look so hot for a few weeks, and they can either come out of that better or worse than before. If they come out of it better, or even the same as when they entered the uglies, then the baby will be kept for breeding and showing in a senior class. 

Today I'm going to evaluate the 3 babies I decided to grow out, now that they are 8 weeks old and weaned . I'm so excited about these guys and really hoping for the best. 

The baby I'm most excited for is Holly's Tucker, out of LCL's Angus and Holly's Finn. He's in a crazy molt right now so he's not looking his best on his body. His crown is molting and so is his topline. Still, I don't have any complaints about this buck. Maybe a touch long in the front legs. 

Next is Holly's Clyde, the chocolate chestnut buck from Holly's Zuzu and Holly's Prince Charming. He's a spunky boy and hates to pose, but he's cute, so oh well. He has crazy ears that are just the right size but flying everywhere right now. They are super thick and short, but his crown is a little tight right now. Because of the cold weather, I don't pay attention to crown too much because the colder weather can make the crown tighter due to the body conserving heat by "clenching" or "tightening" certain muscles. Right now, he could be thicker in the bone, obviously have a better crown, and could use shorter front legs. But I'm in love with his body and his short, wide ears, and his big head is awesome. 

This little doe, Fern, has quite an attitude! She's a fun girl. She's super cute and looking awesome right now. She's out of my BOB doe Holly's Butterfly and Holly's Prince Charming. I LOVE her body, smooth and wide from the shoulders to the HQ. She's even and wide throughout, the same width in her chest as in her HQ. She has gorgeous thick bone, which isn't showing very well in the pics. I love her ear shape too, although her crown is a little crazy like her half brother's, but I'm not worrying about that too much yet. 

Hello, friends. Today I want to talk to you a little bit about the changes that I'm expecting will occur this coming year that are starting right now. Well, actually, these things have really started several weeks ago now. 

I have a job now, I'm working at Dutch Bros (which is actually the BEST PLACE TO WORK EVER), but it takes up a lot of my time. I'm no longer available as often as I once was to answer emails and messages, make YouTube videos, or post on Facebook and Instagram. So I have decided to make some changes in the way I'm doing things.

In January I'm starting my winter quarter at EvCC and this year I'm tackling 22 credits (I know, it's insane!). While most of those are online classes, once winter quarter comes, when I'm not working or at school I'll be doing homework. So basically I'll have no free time at all. 

I am planning on breeding 3-4 does at some point this month, or early next month, before I start school. So things, on that front, will continue basically as normal. But I'm going to need to make a schedule of all my rabbit/social media things so I can stay on track with you all, which is really important to me. But at the same time, I can't make that schedule until I know how busy I'm going to be with school. 

But, for now, I will try to post one video on Youtube once a week. I will try to post on my Instagram 3 times a week, and on my Facbeook whenever I have news (like babies being born, does bred, or rabbits for sale) or a bunch of cute pictures. I've pretty much always just blogged whenever I've felt like it, lol, so I'll continue to do that. 

I felt like this was rambly (do I always say that?), and didn't make much sense, but I wanted you guys to be prepared and understand that I'm not ignoring you if I don't anwer your email right away. I'm genuinely extremely busy, and will not have time for the things that I used to be so on top of. I will barely have any time to hang out with friends, which is of course more important than posting on Youtube.

Pretty much all I'll have time for early this coming year is school, work, homework, family and friends, and my rabbits, because those things are way more important than social medias and trying to stay up to date on my Youtube channel. 

Stay tuned for my end-of-the-year blog posts that I always make: my year in review, my yearly goals in review and new goals for 2017. 

Thanks for understanding. Merry Christmas, and enjoy your time with the ones you love most, and I'll see you soon! :) 

Today I put the babies up for sale that weren't exciting me, babies that I will not be keeping for my herd either because they can't be shown, or because they shouldn't be shown, or because I just have limited space. But right now I'm keeping 3 out of the 7 kits to watch and grow out. One doe (and the only doe), Fern, and two bucks, Tucker and Clyde. These guys are only 6 weeks old but I know my lines very well and when a baby excites me (or doesn't), at 6 weeks, they continue to excite me throughout their life. 

Clyde's sister Bonnie passed away last week, which makes me so sad :( But I'm happy he's looking nice enough to keep for a while! I really hope he keeps maturing in the right direction, because he's such a fun color and if I can get type in a color like chocolate, then I want the color chocolate in my herd! 

Clyde's dam is Holly's Zuzu and his sire is Holly's Prince Charming. Right now I'm not loving his weak ankles, which might improve, or his tight crown. But I love his thick bone, short body, width throughout his body, and round, short ears. If his tight crown and weak ankles don't improve I'll probably sell him. We'll wait and see! 

I'm super excited about Miss Fern, from Butterfly and Prince Charming. I've really wanted a chinchilla doe for a long time. I had a chinchilla grow-out from one of Angie's previous litters, but as she grew her body type wasn't something I wanted in my herd so I sold her. I'm excited Fern is looking so typey! 

My favorite things about her so far is her thick bone, her big head, and her wide chest. I like her ear shape and length too. 

But the one I'm most excited about is....Tucker! 

I literally don't have a complaint with him. I love everything. I have a feeling he's going to be absolutely stunning and a show stopper! 

So far I'm pretty sure who I'm keeping and letting go out of the 7 kits (miss Bonnie passed away so we're down to 7 instead of 8), unless anything changes between now and 8 weeks. I'm not putting the babies up for reservation until 7 weeks anyway, even if I know who to sell before then, just because I want to leave room for surprises. 

Let's start with Butterfly's litter. Here's her opal buck, Nova:

Nova is a nice little buck but I don't think he's going to work out for my rabbitry. He has weak ankles, his bone is finer than I would like, and his crown is slipped (it also might be tight). He has a longer midsection causing his topline to slope. He might have been a buck I would watch if Angie's opal bucks weren't so stunning. He might make a good pet or 4-H buck.
​
Next is Butterfly's chinchilla buck, Po:

I also think Po isn't one to keep my eye on. If he weren't missing 2 toes I might, but I don't want to keep a buck right now that I can't show. He has such a big head though, and a nice body. He'll stay small. I do wish his front legs were shorter, because right now they're pretty long and he has weak ankles as well.
​Now, here is Butterfly's little doe (and our only doe), Fern:

I am really pleased with this little miss! She's definitely one I'll be keeping my eye on! I wish she had shorter front legs but I like the thickness in her bone so far. She's not perfect, but she's promising. 

Now onto Zuzu's little buck Clyde:

So far, he doesn't have what I'm specifically looking for in a buck right now, so I don't think I'll be keeping him, even though I love his color. I don't want to keep him just because he's a beautiful color; type is most important to me, and besides that, he's a color I'm not even trying to work with. I'm more hard on my bucks and picky when it comes to them, becuase they have to show well and produce well to be an asset to my herd. 

Now onto Angie's litter. First up, her chestnut buck Pip:

Again, I don't think Pip has what I'm looking for in a keeper. However, I think he'll still show well, since he has a lot of nice parts. If his ears fall, he'll be even nicer and he might catch my eye a little more! He has nice short bone and it's pretty thick too. 
​Next up, Chester:

In the cage, I cannot tell Chester and Tucker apart! I had to pose them up to see who was who. They are very different once they're posed. Tucker is the nicer one. But Chester has the SWEETEST personality EVER! He could cuddle for hours and just wants attention and love. So far, Chester has long bone but it is thick. He also has longer ears that are a little thin and pointed. I like his body, and his HQ is SO wide. He might make a nice brood buck, but he'll be a perfect pet for sure. If he matures well, he might make a nice 4-H or show buck too. 
​And finally, stunning Mr. Tucker: 

He is so THICK, WIDE, AND SHORT! I don't have anything to complain about on him! His ears are a little long but I'll bet his head will grow into them. He has a perfect crown placement, nice crown height (although not shown in the pics), and nice short front legs and thick bone! He's definitely staying here for a while, and I hope he matures in this same awesome direction. 

Hey friends! Long time no see....

It's Christmas season now! Lol just kidding...but that's how I view December! 

​Long story short, in a couple short weeks I have become a very busy little bee. I am still doing full-time college (next quarter I'm taking 22 credits), and now I have a job! I'm working part time at the new Dutch Brothers coffee stand opening in Everett. It's not open yet and so far we're just doing training, but I am so excited to officially get started! 

So there's a basic update. Not much has changed in my life, besides the new job (which is pretty big, honestly). This next year, as I'm doing college and working, I will not be on social media very often and will cut back on Youtube. It's important to me to do well in college and in my work, so I will be cutting back on social media and Youtube. I'm not sure how I'm going to arrange all that yet, but I won't be as active on my social media sites as I have been these past few years. Maybe that dry spell will last a month, maybe it'll last until summer. I don't know. But I ask that you be patient with me. My goal this year is to spend time with people that are important in my life, and do well in whatever I set my mind to. I don't want to cut back on breeding or babies. But with babies, comes a lot of work and sometimes stress. 

The babies are growing and doing well. Little Bonnie (Zuzu's chestnut doe), passed away today. It's pretty sad, she had just got over her wry neck but was suffering from digestive issues I was treating with probiotics. Poor girl was a fighter, but she wasn't thriving. I think she's what most breeders would call a fader. She just couldn't thrive. She was the size of a 2 week old, not really growing at all, and just turned 5 weeks. We'll miss her. 

​This month I plan on breeding Beth, Sarah, Clementine, and Heidi. Since 2 of those does are first timers, and the other 2 haven't been bred in a while (and Clementine hasn't had any babies live past 4 days old so far), I doubt I'll get very many kits. But I might get a lot. Who knows. 

Since I won't be getting my shed for a while, I've figured out a way to have more cages in the space I have available. I literally have no empty cages (besides the extra ones), because I planned on having a shed when Angie's, Butterfly's, and Zuzu's babies were weaned, but that's not going to happen, so I have to make something work. 

Once I'm on winter break from school I'm going to be doing a deep clean of all the rabbit cages and my rabbitry. Having a thoroughly clean rabbitry helps me feel better about life. 

That was all random and kinda weird, but I hope you enjoyed it at least a little bit. I have a bunny show on Saturday and I'm showing Percy and Prince. In my next blog, I'll share my thoughts on how the babies are growing up. I an really enjoying these little guys!