Show updates

It has been awhile since my last post and I thought I would update the show results since Longview, TX in June. Summer is quiet here in TX and there really are not any shows.  So September starts up again, once again in Longview.

Longview, TX Labor Day weekend
Americans
Blue Belle - BOSB in Show A and BOB in Show B

Californians
T4- BOB in show B

Cleburne, Sept 27-28
Americans
Jersey Girl -BOB in Show A, BOSB in Show B
Bluebonnet - BOSB in Show C
Princeton - BOSB in Show A

Californians
T4 - 1st in 6/8 class Show A
27 - BOB in Show A

Duncan, OK Oct 11-12
Americans
Jersey Girl - BOB in Show C and BOSB in Show B
BlueBelle 1st in 6/8 class Show B

Californians
27 - BOB in Show C and Show A

Overall the begining of the fall show season has been very successful, plus I have my first litter of broken black New Zealand babies and a couple of American Blues bred.

Stay tuned for all the herd updates! 

New babies!

Haven't had a chance to post lately but thought I would share the latest additions to the rabbitry. Satin my satin/California cross doe (creative name I know) had 9 beautiful babies and they all look like Satins! Very excited about that. The dad is a Satin as well.

Enjoy the pics.

New bunnies

Had my major drive around Texas this past Saturday. Switched a broken agouti/black New Zealand for a broken Red New Zealand, then the breeder gave me a broken black 'charlie' buck. Little guy is cute.

After that stop, off to Driftwood to pick up another American Blue buck. Looking forward to seeing how he develops compared to Slate.

So enjoy the pics of the new rabbits.

Charlie

New broken red New Zealand

New American Blue

Babies!

My black Satin doe had her babies yesterday. A litter of 10, 9 were alive when I got home. So 3 brokens, 4 darker ones an one grey or blue.

Now to wait till the hair comes in and the eyes open in two weeks. Might have one other doe due next week. First timer mom so we will see.

It's official - at least in Texas

Well I got my certificate for my rabbitry from the Texas Rabbit Breeders Association. So now I am the only person with the TRBA that can officially have this name for their rabbitry.

Everything else is fairly calm, the weather is warming up again and I have some cages to refurbish this weekend and a hutch to build.  In another week I will be picking up some more rabbits and hopefully my Indiana bunnies will be here mid August. Next show is Labor Day weekend and then the fall gets into full swing.

Till the next post. Happy hoppin!

Hot HOt HOT!

Well, it has been HOT! Record high of 106F. So when it gets that hot, water bottles, misters and fans almost don't work so for a few days the few that wouldn't fit in the cool room ended up in show carriers in the house.  That was for a few days, then all of a sudden a cool front and it was lows in the mid 60's.  So back outside.
The cool room is now done and can fit 7 rabbits there, plus I have one 24X24 cage with a carrier pan for in the house for doctoring.

Show time!

Well it was a successful trip as you can see in the picture above. There were two shows on Saturday (morning and afternoon.) Slate got Best of Breed in both shows, which means he was considered the best of all the American rabbits there (male and female.) In the second show Misty (my doe) got Best of Opposite Sex Breed. This goes to the best animal of the opposite sex of the Best of Breed. If a female got Best of Breed then the Best of Opposite Sex would go to a male. Just depends.

Red (my red New Zealand buck) got Best of Variety in the second show. This means he was the best of all the Red New Zealands. He didn't get much farther than that. (I am not sure if the Best of Breed went to a white, black or broken New Zealand.) The other two New Zealands didn't fare too well. I was expecting that from my white doe and the broken red doe is just really young and does not like to pose at all.

With my Californians, it was a mixed bag. 27 didn't do well at all with the junior bucks and Cotton was pretty much at the bottom but alot of that was because she was really a junior but too heavy for the class so that bumped her up to a class she really wasn't ready for.  T4 did well and place 2nd out of 9 in the afternoon show.

Overall it was a great experience for my first show and the rabbits were real troppers. Next show isn't until Labor Day so the biggest thing is to try to keep them cool and hopefully the American Blues will shed their baby coats and have some good fur come in. (Fingers crossed.)

On a side note, I did buy another American blue doe (right now her name is Bluebonnet).  And I should be getting a new buck sometime next month as well as a replacement for my broken agouti doe (was supposed to be broken black, just waiting for the litter to get old enough.)  And a replacement REW New Zealand for the one that didn't work out earlier this year. Meanwhile 3 babies left from the spring and two out in the tractor at 4.5 lbs each. Satin has been bred (will see if she takes) and I need to work on getting some more cages for the cool room to move her in and a couple of the bucks that I plan to breed/show early fall.

That is the report this week!

Building stuff

No new rabbit news. But was working on building a table so I can work with my rabbits and it needed to be portable so I could take it to shows.  So I couple of boards and a few screws and stain and you have the item below.

New American Blue bunnies

Here are a few new additions to the rabbitry. (Sorry for the picture quality.)

 

 

This is my new American Blue buck, he is 6 months old and unfortuantely he was next to another buck so he got sprayed on and that is why he has the rust patches. This means he won't be going to the show next week but hopefully I can get him cleaned up for the show in August.

This is my new black American Blue doe, she is young but her mom looked good and she was the only black one of the litter (the rest where white and blue).  She is a little timid but we will work on that. She will probably replace Satin.

Still working on grooming and getting ready for the Longview show in a 1 1/2 weeks. Yikes! Got to get the Cals cleaned up and Red brushed out and we should be ready to go.

Still trying to decide if I will take Slate with me. He was 4.25 lbs yesterday and he needs to be at least 4.5 to qualify for the junior category. I think splitting him from Belle and in his own cage will help.

Meat/mutt rabbits

I have a pair of "meat mutt" rabbits from a rabbitry down by the Brazos river that was selling off the rabbits.  They are Satin/California crosses, at least that is what I was told.  I might be selling them soon to concentrate on the pedigreed rabbits. They have been great rabbits to learn with.

This is Satin. She has a shiny coat and is a great mom/producer. She has had litters of 11,12,9 and 7 this past year and takes care of all her babies well. She can be a bit protective of the babies as well.

This is March (I got him in March) just for some pattern in my bunnies.  He is fairly gentle, but a bit lazy as well. He is the father of Satin's 7 babies.

Here are the seven babies. Four will look like Californian rabbits (they both have californian in their background) and two like March and one is white with grey spots. They are all doing well and will be weaned in June and give mom a break for the summer.

The blues

Here are my three American Blues. Sorry for the picture quality.  There are two does and a buck. The does are Misty and Blue Belle and the buck is Slate.  I might be adding a black doe and another blue buck to the mix as well. These were born early April.

The Californians

Here are my current Californian rabbits:

This is my newest doe from M&L Rabbitry.  She is still getting used to her new home but she is about 5 1/2 months old and 7.1 lbs. Still haven't named her yet.

This is Cotton. She was from a meat pen from a breeder in Brenham, Texas. She is about the same age as the other doe but she is already over 8 lbs.

This is the new buck (not a great picture). No name yet, but from M&L Rabbitry as well. 

I will be taking these three to the rabbit show in Longview, TX to see what the judges think.  Hopefully they will be the start for breeding meat pens for this upcoming year.

Meet some of the New Zealands

I thought I would introduce you to some of my breeders. Some are fairly young but will be ready come the cooler weather in the fall.

Here is my young broken red doe,Princess. She is a bit skittish but has fairly good confirmation and the coloring is a bit light so we will see how she turns out.

This is Red, and he is a Red New Zealand buck. Not a creative name but I just kept calling him Red.  He was skittish at first but now lets me brush him and is getting more friendly.

 

I also have a REW (red eye white) New Zealand, no picture at this time.

The start

I am starting a blog for my rabbitry.  The hope is to introduce the rabbits as well as list those for sale, most likely this fall as the weather here starts to cool down. Plus a record of how the shows go.
Enjoy!