Oak Ridge Rabbitry's Blog

Transparency

2012-02-12T00:23:00.002-05:00

Rabbits are big in the media right now. Agriculture and farming in general are showing up more and more as very biased activist groups try to get legislation changed to basically eradicate animal ownership in general. For this reason, a lot of people are choosing to take the spotlight off of their animal operations by removing their online footprint, drawing away from the animal community, and making their animal projects completely private.

On one hand, this eliminates you as a target. On the other hand, absolutely nothing is going to change if we pull ourselves away from the situation. There is a quote that reminds us to, "Be the change you wish to see in the world". Here is the chance to do it! If animal farmers, breeders, exhibitors, hobbyists, and even pet owners want to keep their right to own animals, we need to speak now before those rights are taken away from us.

The most important way to reach the public is to educate, and one way to do that is through transparency. As a rabbit breeder, be transparent about your breeding program. I often have people ask me how many rabbits I have. I'll answer honestly and say, "Oh, numbers fluctuate based on the number of babies I have at any given time. However, I usually have around 10-15 senior rabbits."

At this point, the individual's eyes usually widen like I just told them I have 100 zebras. Now is a great chance to explain that this is really a small breeding program, compared to the 100+ rabbits that many competitors have. So next, I always offer my reasoning for keeping lower numbers. First and foremost, my rabbits are my pets. Having a smaller number allows me to give them each individual attention throughout the day and ensure that they are cared for properly. I personally feel that individual care does suffer in rabbitries four or five times the size of my own.

I also make sure to explain that my goal is NOT to produce and sell pets, so I don't want to be producing many litters a year. Instead, I choose quality animals that will produce a few litters throughout the year. And hopefully, most of those babies will be kept back and incorporated into the breeding program.

Explaining the process in this educational way helps the general public, or even our own non-rabbit friends, to understand a little bit more about what it means to raise rabbits. We are never going to change the opinion of extreme animal rights activists or the like. However, if we reach those people in the middle, the ones who would otherwise be influenced by biased Youtube videos or Facebook chain posts, we can move people to support agriculture. Which is not only important to the future of our own hobby but to our existence, as well as our animals'. It is very easy for "the other side" to influence people by grabbing their emotions. We have to work a little bit harder since our side is based on knowledge and fact. (I know, when you put it that way, it seems silly that our side is questioned.)

Be transparent about your hobby, and help connect people to agriculture- something we've seemed to move so far away from.

With that in mind, be smart about exactly how much information you provide. Education is a great thing, but remember:

- Do not allow unfamiliar people to visit your rabbitry. Instead, provide pictures of a well-maintained rabbitry setup and answer questions about the equipment used.

- Do not give your rabbitry location to people you don't know, for the same reason that you would not give strangers your home address!

- If you sell animals, meet the buyer at a neutral, public location for your safety and theirs.

EDIT: April added another good point in the comments. It is best to remove your home or rabbitry address from your pedigrees as well. Some programs automatically put this on, but I don't include it on mine. In fact, I also use my cell phone number for rabbitry dealings, rather than my home phone number. Thanks for the reminder, April!

Why I'm Away

2012-02-11T13:13:00.000-05:00

I've had a lot to write about recently, but was brought back to non-blogging earth by a bunny who refuses to eat. He came to me from PaSRBA last weekend and, upon arriving home, just stares at me like I'm crazy.

He has a water bottle and a water crock. He's in the same level of cage (halfway up) as he was at his TWO previous owners' houses. I offered 3 kinds of pellets, oats, calf manna, carrot, lettuce, pineapple, and pumpkin. Normal water and yummy electrolyte formula. Chew toys and a stuffed ball. I am force feeding him what I can out of that selection, and still nothing.

So, blogging is on the backburner as I tend to him, my other daily household chores, and work. Tonight, I may whip us up a steak dinner and see if he is at all enticed since he is clearly not a vegetarian.

Like I said in my last post, there are a great many challenges to raising rabbits.

Why do you raise rabbits?

2012-02-07T22:57:00.000-05:00

Rabbit raising has a great many challenges that come along with it. It's not a hobby for everyone unless you can remove stillborn kits from a nestbox without crying, apply medicine to injuries without passing out, or clean behind stacking cages without a hazmat suit. But the most difficult task, by far, is explaining to "non-rabbit-people" why you raise rabbits. I always feel a little bit like Harry Potter, trying to balance a life between the wizarding world and the muggle world when it comes to this.

I guess it just seems like it's a loaded question: Why do you raise rabbits? It's difficult to put into words because it's more of a feeling than anything else.

The feeling you get when you see a doe collecting fur and hay for her nest.

The feeling you get when you reach into the nest and feeling warm, wiggling bodies.

The feeling you get when a fat little head and big, bright eyeballs pops out of the nestbox for the first time.

The feeling you get when someone compliments a rabbit you worked hard, for generations, to produce.

Raising rabbits is a challenge, just like working your way to the star position on the football team, scoring a good deal after putting together your coupon plan for the week, or finishing a quilt you've been working on for three weeks. It's a competition toward producing an animal that most closely mirrors the Standard of Perfection. Mostly, it's just a feel-good kind of hobby.

And after all that, I still don't feel like I've even cracked the surface of how deeply involved I am in it. That's a hard thing to explain to people. But at the end of the day, it's about the rabbits.

I love the rabbits. It's as simple as that. ;)

PaSRBA

2012-02-06T21:51:00.000-05:00

Another PaSRBA Convention has come and gone! I heard through Facebook that it has grown to be the largest show in the U.S., with the exception of the National ARBA Convention. That just blows my mind, and I am so happy to be so close to and a part of this show.

I had a great, though exhausting weekend. No big wins for me this time, but I really enjoyed meeting up with friends- many of whom, I haven't seen since the show season ended last fall!

I also brought home a few new additions. I have had quite a few of the same rabbits for some time now and am finding myself needing to switch things up a bit and bring in some new blood. It sure is tough letting go of the "oldies but goodies", but the goal is to keep advancing further so I have to keep my eye on that.

Congratulations to everyone on their placements this weekend! Keep up the good work!

Special Things

2012-02-01T12:16:00.000-05:00

I spent some time cleaning up in the rabbitry yesterday. I keep up on cage cleaning of course, but as time goes on, carriers and supplies get thrown here and there, washed dishes sit at the side of the sink for weeks, nestboxes lie in a pile waiting to be disinfected. Like any housework, things get put off between daily cleanings. So yesterday, when the weather hit 60 degrees (in JANUARY!!), I decided that was enough motivation to spend some time out in the rabbitry cleaning and organizing.

I've had rabbits now for 11 years. That seems like a LONG time, since it's half of my lifetime. So sorting through everything brought back a lot of memories, I found a lot of special things!

First was a box of various bandanas and leashes, of all different colors and patterns. I used to take my rabbits along to every single sporting event I attended- my brother's soccer games, baseball games, practices, anything outside. When I was about 12-15, this seemed like a really cool idea. It still seems like a really cool idea, but I eventually came to the realization that at 18+, that might not be appropriate behavior. Plus, there was an age where all the little boys didn't quite think it was cool anymore either. But boy, was that fun! It brought back a lot of memories.

I also have two signs. One is a beautiful wood-burned sign with my rabbitry name and a hand drawn picture of a Holland Lop. Another is a framed painting with my rabbitry name and two little bunnies. These are special to me because they were given to me by two friends. I helped each of them get started into rabbit showing and looking at their gifts in the rabbitry reminds me that helping others is the most important thing!

Finally, a slew of old litterboxes. I ended up throwing them away because they were in need of a good cleaning after sitting in storage for awhile and I just didn't really feel like doing it. Ha! But they reminded me of my early days in rabbits, when all of my furkids were litter trained. Now, I prefer the ease of just dumping drop trays, although our permanent pets still have litterboxes. It just reminds me of my first little rabbitry- 4 shiny new cages lined up along our back porch with lots of toys and treats and litterboxes and freshy groomed bunnies. Of course, I put the same amount of love and time into my bunnies today but the routine is a bit different with 10-15 than with those first 4.

Oh, the memories! I love finding special things stored in the depths of all my rabbit "stuff".

Empress Babies

2012-01-28T16:20:00.000-05:00

I am a bit late to update, but Empress kindled a litter of four healthy kits on January 24th! The first time I checked, there were only three in the nest. So I was very surprised to find a fourth upon my next inspection. Even better, there are no peanuts and one looks like it may be a blue tort! I so rarely end up with Hollands that carry anything exciting, so this is only my (potentially) second blue tort in a litter ever. I am very excited about that!

This will be Empress' last litter for awhile. She has had two litters close together this winter so that she could have a nice long break in the spring. She may go to a show here or there, or may just stay at home and relax.

The other bunnies in the rabbitry are doing well too. Idina will be expecting a litter on February 23rd. No other litters are expected right now, I am just waiting on some of the juniors to grow up and plan to show a lot of the seniors this spring. Rai is just turning senior during the first week of February, so I have been trying to get her bred as well but she is just not having it! I will try once or twice a week until she is more willing- she will be when she is ready.

Hoppin' Circle

2012-01-16T12:32:00.001-05:00

I have some exciting news to share!

There is a new network for rabbit bloggers called the Hoppin' Circle! I am so excited about this because many other groups of people have partnered up to create networks of food blogs, photography blogs, mommy blogs, etc. Now, rabbit breeders who have blogs focused on the happenings in their rabbitries will be able to connect.

Hope on over HERE to check out the Hoppin' Circle's new website. And don't forget to stop HERE at our blog too.

Be sure to join up with the group! I'm looking forward to meeting you.

PaSRBA Preparation

2012-01-16T12:26:00.000-05:00

It is just a few short weeks until the PaSRBA Convention. This is one of my favorite shows because so many exhibitors come from all over. It is really a test to see where you stand against other competitors and also a great opportunity to buy and sell from people that you normally don't see.

This year, I am hoping to show more than I normally do. In past years, I had taken one or two Hollands. Last year, I didn't take any Hollands and only one Wooly. No fun! So this time, I am hoping to take all my Wooly bucks, one senior doe, and two junior does. There is a chance I may even take a Holland junior doe, but that will depend on what her attitude is like by then. We had an eventful posing session yesterday as she lept of the table numerous times and dashed around the yard. That won't really be acceptable on a 5 foot table in a huge showroom.

Anyway, the preparation begins! I'll be working on some grooming this week in hopes of pulling out dead wool that might have a chance at growing back before the show. And then next week we'll start my conditioning mix. Their coats are most of the way there, but I hope to improve flesh condition a bit before the show. This cold weather has thrown off condition a bit more than I had anticipated.

So excited for this one!

Happy 10th Birthday, Maggie!

2012-01-14T23:49:00.000-05:00

Dearest Maggie,

I remember the day we brought you home,

tiny enough to fit in the palm of my hand.

I remember that you were a little ball of fire in your young years. So bouncy, with SO much energy. I'd chase you around for hours and finally slouch, frustrated, against the wall. You'd snicker just a little before hopping right back into your cage.

As the years went on, you finally let me catch up with you. You calmed down, mellowed out, and became the absolute sweetest little girl.

You love head pets and exploring. Craisins and cuddles.

You saw me through 3 graduations and 4 chapters of my life. Getting stuck on a mountain and stuck in my own home. We shared the loss of a mutal friend and conquered my very first rabbit show together. You surprised me with my first litter of beautiful kits, and have seen every litter to be born at Oak Ridge since.

Age has slowed you down, but your spirit hasn't changed. You can still outrun me on your good days and love kicking piles of fresh bedding out of your cage as soon as I put it in.

You have shared a decade of your life with me, sweet girl. 10 of my 23 years. And I am so happy to be able to share many more with you, my friend.

Happy 10th Birthday, Maggie Rylie!

Love, Me

2012 Pennsylvania State Farm Show

2012-01-08T11:59:00.000-05:00

I look forward to this time of year so much, when the PA Farm Show comes around. This show is the largest indoor agricultural exhibition in the country! It's sort of like one HUGE 4-H fair, but with both Youth and Open competitions. There is livestock and produce of every kind which is on display for the week, as well as a bunch of fun vendors. My favorite is of course the big "western" store which has walls and walls of Ariat boots and blinged out belts. Another huge crowd pleaser is the food opportunity- this place has great food! Not the fair food trucks that roll into other ag fairs, but booths set up by beef clubs, dairy clubs, organic foods, etc. Straight from the source!

Friday was the rabbit show and I had a delicious baked potato tray. I also showed rabbits though, which is closer to what I was planning on mentioning...

Keep's Trition took a BOG in the shaded class for his granding leg! Unfortunately this means he has to stay "on display" for the week in the rabbit area, but I have several great friends checking up on him for me. That makes me feel a lot better about leaving him. I will be up to see him a few days throughout the week as well.

Keep's Soot and Oak Ride's Ellis took 3rd and 4th place self senior bucks, respectively. There were 6 or 7 in the class, so about halfway. It appeared to be a NICE class overall and it was fun to see a chocolate take 1st!

Oak Ridge's Gumball was the only shaded junior buck.

Spring Lake Rocky didn't place so well in the broken senior buck HL class. Poor boy- I think I am just cursed because he has shown great under his previous owners!

It was a fun show, but the other exhibits were just moving in on Friday so I look forward to going back throughout the week to take some pictures and see the other animals. Hopefully I can post some of those here!

Keeping Warm

2012-01-05T11:05:00.001-05:00

I mentioned in a post yesterday that the temperature here has been freezing the last few days. Today, the weather finally broke and we are back in the 30's, at least. I wouldn't call that an ideal temperature, but at least I can walk outside and be comfortable in one winter coat instead of four.

As I said, our rabbits are indoors and stay in a generally warm environment, unless the weather dips so far into the 20's and teens like it has the past few days. But for those of you who have rabbitries in cooler environments, you may be looking for ways to keep your rabbits comfortable in the winter.

Here are a few tips I've gathered over the years-

Use crocks if your bottles often freeze. There are a number of reasons for this, but most importantly, the metal nozzles will often freeze before the water does. So your rabbit may have liquid water in it's bottle, but not be able to access it since the nozzle is frozen. On the other hand, heavy ceramic crocks offer free access to water until the water freezes. In addition, winter is hard on bottles and they may crack or break in cold weather, so crocks save you from replacing multiple bottles throughout the winter.

If you use a crock, sprinkling in a touch of salt is said to delay freezing. You can also stick a golf ball in the crock since a bobbing object will delay freezing a bit as well.

If you still prefer to use a bottle, it may help to fill the bottle with warm water and stick it in a heavy wool sock before returning it to the cage.

No matter which method you use, be sure to check your rabbits' water often and replace it at least two, preferably three, times a day. Dehydration is especially dangerous in temperature extremes (very hot or very cold), so it is important to stay on top of it.

If the rabbits are housed outside, a wooden hutch is best. At least three sides of the hutch should be wood to help insulate the cage and protect the rabbit from wind or snow. You may choose to insulate even further by securing a tarp or heavy canvas around the hutch. Just be sure to leave a small window for light and fresh air.

Co-housing rabbits. I heard this suggestion on a forum several years ago. One member chose to house same-sex pairs of rabbits together during the winter. This is nice because it gives the rabbits someone to snuggle with to keep warm, however caution should be taken when introducing adult rabbits to each other. It is best to host a playdate in neutral territory to ensure that the couple will get along without causing each other trouble.

If your rabbits are housed in outdoor hutches, it is usually best to cease breeding during the absolute coldest months of the winter. It's difficult to raise a litter when it's so cold outside and does are less likely to want to pull enough fur for the kits. Of course, this is just a personal preference- some does will do just fine raising a litter in the cold. But because it is more difficult to get them bred during this time and uncomfortable to raise the litter, it may be easier to plan your breedings in the late fall and early spring instead.

Provide your rabbit with lots of straw and a wooden or cardboard box to nest in.

For those of you housing rabbits outside this winter, I hope this gives you some ideas for how to make the coolest months of the year more comfortable for your rabbits. If you have any suggestions to ad to the list, or creative ideas for staying warm, leave them in the comments below!

Some Little Buns

2012-01-04T14:37:00.002-05:00

These two are a brother and sister pair. How cute!

Freezing

2012-01-04T14:06:00.001-05:00

Brrr! It is freezing here! The past two days have been in the high teens and low 20's, a drastic change from the 40's and 50's that it has been so far this winter. I am not loving it. The rabbits seem less affected, but chillier than usual. Their room generally stays in the 40's or higher throughout the year, even on colder days during the winter, which is a pretty nice temperature for them. Even though I'm a bit chilly out there in the evening, the rabbits are often bouncing around like nothing happened. But when it dips down into the teens, the rabbitry starts dropping into the 30's and we are both uncomfortable.

This freezing streak isn't supposed to last, so I'm looking forward to a break in the temperature. Luckily, the water bottles are still not freezing so I have to remind myself that things could always be worse. Their room is insulated, so the day that happens is the day it is officially TOO cold outside!

Upcoming Juniors

2012-01-03T08:36:00.000-05:00

Oak Ridge's Rai

Broken Black Junior Doe

Oak Ridge's Conundrum "Connie"

Solid Tort Junior Doe

Goals for 2012

2012-01-01T11:37:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!

2011 brought a lot of good experiences and made memories that will last a lifetime for me. What stands out most is the day Summer won her 3rd and granding leg. I know that is no new experience for many of you who may be reading this, but I've never put that many legs on a homebred rabbit before. I was on Cloud 9 for weeks after that win! Not to mention when she won legs even after that. Also, the day that she and her son took a BOB and BOSB respectively. The year was full of surprises and I'm excited to see what the new year holds. Here are some of my goals for 2012.

- Decide what to do with the Holland Lops
This is the most important goal I'm setting for myself. I have been up and down with them a lot over the past two years, and more down recently than up. They have taken the back burner to my growing Jersey Wooly project and I just need to decide whether I'm keeping them or not, what I want to focus on, how I will improve.

- Produce more dilute Jersey Woolies
This might seem silly, but I absolutely love dilutes and 2 of the 3 I've produced to date were very broody. I would like to focus on expanding the dilute project and producing more so that I have dilutes to work into my breeding and show herd. Mostly just for fun, and so that I can enjoy the color.

- Win more legs!
It was such a thrill in 2011 to consistently put legs on my woolies.

- Improve the head and depth on my Woolies

- If the Hollands stay, focus on improving the width and length of the bodies

Best wishes to my fellow rabbit enthusiasts for a wonderful New Year!

2011 Goals

2011-12-28T12:25:00.000-05:00

I never make New Year's resolutions. However, at the beginning of each year, I like to set goals for my rabbitry because I think it helps me to stay on track, keep an eye on the future when things get tough, and also reflect on just how far I have come in a year.

Below are the goals I set for myself in 2011 and whether or not I accomplished them. You can see the original post here.

- Go to more shows! Accomplished! I didn't keep an exact number for you, but I definitely made a better effort to attend more shows, as well as stay for the entirety of double and triple shows. Previous to this year, I often showed once and then left, but this year I tried to make the most of each opportunity. I even completed the year with a #15 placement in the NJWRC Sweepstakes for District 9, despite only showing 1-2 woolies at most shows. I was very happy about that! I was also #2 out of 9 people placed in PA.

- Win more legs on homebred rabbits. Accomplished! Weee! Oak Ridge's Endless Summer is up to 4 or 5 legs, and her son Oak Ridge's Ellis has 1 as well (he's only been out twice). I think Oak Ridge's Sea Star also won hers in early 2011. Overall, I really have not been breeding excessively or showing many at a time, so I am happy with that!

- Keep more homebred rabbits. This is a tough one because my herd currently sits about the same as it did last year, around 50/50. I am continuing to produce rabbits that I feel are worth keeping and incorporating into the herd. But like I said, I breed them on a very small scale so progress takes more than a year, really. Although I wouldn't say this is a failed goal, I see room for more improvement in 2012.

- Help at least one breeder get started. Accomplished! This is a goal for every year, and I'm happy to say that several have joined the ranks with Oak Ridge bunnies this year.

- Register and grand at least one rabbit. Failed. Ok, well, you know the drill. To little, too late. Summer is ready to grand in the New Year though, so I'm hoping to get her done by PaSRBA.

- Place in Jersey Wooly sweepstakes. Accomplished! Oops, mentioned this above already. It is difficult to place in sweepstakes among breeders who are working exclusively with Jersey Woolies, and larger herds at that! But I was happy to see my name on the list, about "mid-class" (haha) for D9, which is one of the two largest districts in the NJWRC.

- Produce an orange Jersey Wooly. Failed. As the year developed, my goals changed a bit on this and I decided not to work with the agouti variety because it's just not as compatible as the other. Especially since my main lineup is shaded. However, orange Jersey Woolies failed their presentation at Convention, so I suppose my decision was better off in the long run. Not a good year for the little sunshiney bundles of fuzz though, sheesh!

Well, that's all. Overall, I think it was a great year and I'm looking forward to setting goals soon for the New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T18:12:00.000-05:00

As we head into the weekend, I just want to wish all of our friends a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy the time with your families and friends. This is the best season of them all!

It's here!

2011-12-14T20:43:00.000-05:00

Although this is not related to rabbits, my graduation day is finally approaching! Today I received my final grades for the semester and the commencement ceremony is on Saturday morning. It seems like this has been such a long time coming and I am still not used to the "real world" thing.

Pahket's kits are doing well. I have finally settled into being fairly certain that they are smoke pearls. I'm VERY happy with that because I absolutely love dilutes and was hoping for some in these current breedings. Between Summer's little blue doe and Pahket's babies, I'm very pleased!

About three nights ago and then again tonight, I tried to repeat the Gypsy x Idina (HL) breeding but Idina is just having none of it. So frustrating. Sometimes I am just not sure why I keep the Holland Lops here. I love them and enjoy the breed, but that's what makes them heartbreaking when you're unable to get litters, have things go wrong with litters, end up with unshowable or badly typed kits, etc. It just seems to be the never-ending battle sometimes. Luckily, her daughters will be of breeding age in another month so the battle is not lost, and there should be several Holland litters coming in the new year.

Go Pahket!

2011-12-09T19:32:00.000-05:00

I arrived home this afternoon to find two live, bouncing babies in Pahket's nest! She also had three DOA kits which might indicate that it was a tougher delivery. She is a first time mom and nearly ten months old, so I didn't have a lot of confidence going into this. Luckily she proved me wrong and seems to be doing well with them, they seemed fat and happy.

I'm unsure of colors yet because they appear pink, but not quite light enough to be REW. They almost make me think of tort or sable point right now, but that is only a very far reaching guess and we don't know for sure that the parents carry for that. Although there is no clear indicator that the sire carries dilute either which is my second guess. We will see! It's a surprise litter for sure.

Rabbitry Happenings

2011-12-04T20:27:00.000-05:00

It is December already! Man, time flies. It seems like just yesterday, I was making resolutions for the next year of rabbit shows and breeding. Now, the year is gone and it is almost time to go back and review the ones I achieved, the ones I need to keep working on, and make new ones. I always enjoy that time of the year, to reflect on how much has happened and make goals to improve even further!

Today, I decided to pull all the stackers away from the wall and wash the wall behind them, which often gets sprayed by bucks or statically attracts fur. That went well and the wall is nice and shiny clean again (thanks to the protective plastic, too). It takes a lot of work though and now the stackers are waiting to put back into place as soon as someone arrives home to help me out.

All of the current babies and young juniors are doing well. Pahket is due this week and I absolutely can't wait! I am hoping that she will deliver successfully. She is a first time mom. :)

Update

2011-11-27T22:52:00.000-05:00

Just a quick update, because I don't have too much to say today.

It turns out that Idina didn't take. Shannon palpated her today and no babies were to be found. :(

In better news, Pahket (Jersey Wooly) is due on December 9th and she palpated positive! I can't wait!

Black Friday Eve

2011-11-24T22:48:00.000-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! I had a nice dinner tonight with the family at my grandmother's house. As a kid, I was never very fond of Thanksgiving dinner...I was never much of a turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes type of kid. But I guess that's one of those things you grow to love as you get older. Or, you spend semesters at school eating microwavable meals and grow a greater appreciation for real food. It's hard to say. But whatever the case, I was really looking forward to our meal and stuffed myself full!

Tomorrow we will probably go out shopping for a little while. No one in our family is planning on spending hours waiting for the doors to open at Best Buy, but we like wandering out closer to noon to do some clothes shopping. Even though the door buster deals are over, there are always great deals later in the day too.

Also, Idina has some kits due! I am hoping she is pregnant (never did get that palpating skill down) and hoping for a healthy litter. Last time she was bred to Gypsy, she had a whole litter of DOA's which is very unusual for her. I think it was due to an accident the day before; she fell a few feet onto the floor from her cage. I'm not sure if it wasn't fastened or she wiggled it loose or what! But maybe this time will go better, I think it would be a nice cross.

Star's little boy, Gumball has also started really maturing lately. He is moving out of the gangly stages and starting to look more full and nearly-senior-buck-like. I think he'll always be a smaller, more petite boy, but he is very promising.

Last, but not least, Summer's little ones opened their eyes for the first time this evening. They grow up so fast, and I'm so excited to watch them grow. As much as I love the tiny babies, the 3-4 week age is so much fun and I always look forward to it.

Giving Thanks

2011-11-23T09:41:00.001-05:00

With each passing Thanksgiving, I feel as though I have more and more to be thankful for in regards to my rabbitry. This year is no exception and as tomorrow comes, I'm stumbling over words trying to include each and every thought.

As always, I am most thankful for my family who puts up with this crazy hobby. The long, excited recaps after returning from a show, the ribbons hanging from every crevice of the kitchen and family room, the corner of the garage that now houses a bouncing herd of bunnies. They continue to encourage each and every part of what makes me happy, and there will never be anything greater than their support.

Additionally, my "rabbit friends" (of the human variety), thank you. For listening to hours of debating about breedings, or sale rabbits, or just a bunch of nonsense. For providing my herd with the quality breeding stock that I have, or giving me pointers on how to improve it even further. You all know who you are, and I thank many of you on a regular basis, but please know that I'm not just throwing words around. I mean it.

I'm also happy to celebrate this Thanksgiving with Summer, who I know that all of the aforementioned people are so sick and tired of hearing about. Summer is, to date, my most successful homegrown rabbit, finishing out this year with 4 legs (and only a similar number of shows). As soon as I can get myself in order, I hope to register her as the first Grand Champion from Oak Ridge. This little doe caught my eye even as a junior and she has hit so many milestones with me.

I'm thankful for all of the little babies bouncing around the rabbitry at this time of year.

I'm thankful for a healthy herd.

I'm thankful for the opportunity to travel Pennsylvania (and hopefully show out of state this spring)!

I'm thankful for friends who will transport rabbits for me even when I can't leave PA.

That is so not an exhaustive list. I don't know what I would do or where I would be without this hobby. Things get tough, it's not always fun, but as they say, it is worth it. And during this holiday season, as well as throughout the rest of the year, I am thankful for it.

Facebook "Like" Page

2011-11-17T19:25:00.003-05:00

Oak Ridge Rabbitry has joined the ranks. Come join us on Facebook for updates on new litters, show results, and sale updates!

Rainy Days

2011-11-16T21:34:00.002-05:00

Once in awhile, it's actually kind of fun to have a dark, rainy day. Then they continue and I wish the sun would come out again! Something about ongoing rain makes daily animal chores less appealing. Our rabbitry is attached to the house, so I'm not sure why the weather matters very much. But something about rain makes me SO lazy.

Aside from that, things are going well here. There is not much to update, which is why I have been skipping a few days here and there.

Empress' kits continue to grow and are just so sweet. They are constantly bouncing to the front of the cage to visit with me and like being petted on the forehead. So cute! As usual, I am getting attached to a little broken. Nothing new there, I am fairly certain I will soon have an entirely broken herd against my best efforts to prevent that. ha!

Summer's kits are staying warm in the house. They are SO vocal and squeak whenever I pat the nest. It has been awhile since we've had Jersey Wooly babies, save Star's litter of one, so I am very anxious for these little guys to grow up. Only, I am hoping they are not literally guys. Similar to the way my Hollands are developing into an entirely broken herd, my Woolies are starting to build an entirely buck herd. That could put a damper on the whole breeding idea. :-P

Rainy day ramblings. Thanks for reading! I will try to have something more exciting to say next time.

Babies in the Foyer

2011-11-13T21:11:00.001-05:00

'Tis the season of bunnies in the foyer! Oak Ridge's Endless Summer is set up in her warm indoor cage with a litter of 2 to Oak Ridge's Ellis. It looks like one REW and one siamese sable, or possibly tort. Yay!

Summer was a great mom last time, so I hope she does just as well this time around.

Finally Friday

2011-11-11T20:15:00.000-05:00

Oh, how happy I am that it is Friday! I am suffering serious senioritis right now, mostly because I am currently completing my final (and EXTRA) semester of college, due to switching majors two years back. So I am over my 4 year limit and not handling it so well. Luckily, we only have about 4 weeks of classes left before I can finally walk across the stage and be done! While that is not rabbit related at all, it certainly has been on my mind.

On the rabbit front, Oak Ridge's Endless Summer is (hopefully) pregnant and expecting on Sunday. I had forgotten how hard the last few days of her first pregnancy was. She has been acting similarly this time, laying around and generally rather listless. She is such a good mom that I'm sure she will do just fine though, she has a beautiful nest built.

Empress' kits are getting bigger everyday! They are three weeks old and seem like little rabbits now instead of furry lumps. Their personalities are already coming through and they greet me at the door of the cage every evening for attention! Or food. Probably food, but I like to pretend they love me. Ha

That is about all that's going on in the rabbitry these days. The happy bunnies have been bouncing around and enjoying cooler weather. They sure missed that this summer.

And just like that...

2011-11-04T11:48:00.000-04:00

Each day of convention seemed like it was so far away and everyone was full of anticipation for what would come in the hours ahead. But just as soon as it came, it is over. Although I couldn't be there, it was great getting updates from those who attended and their accomplishments will not be forgotten!

Even more exciting for me was having the opportunity to have a few new rabbits transported to me. Since I am on lunch break for about 20 more minutes, I figure I have time to share them!

First is Keep's Triton, who is a cuuuute siamese sable senior buck. I had been wanting to add a shaded buck to my rabbitry for awhile and I'm happy to have this guy here. He has a great, huge head and tiny little ears! That is what I'm needing to improve a bit in the shadeds so he is a very welcome addition. Here he is:

And secondly (and finally...I restrained myself. ha) Keep's Pahket, a smoke pearl marten senior doe. This doe is absolutely beautiful, I am definitely a sucker for dilute. I'm not sure what I will do if we get a whole litter of little dilute wooly kits running around. <3

She has great depth and such a sweet face.

Thank you to Kristen from Keep's Rabbitry in North Carolina for the new bunnies! As always, I am very happy with them.

ARBA National: Presentation Results

2011-11-01T17:09:00.045-04:00

The presentations of new breeds and varieties has been going on all day! Here is what I have heard so far:

American Fuzzy Lop- Otter- No show @ 2nd try, 1st showing

Britannia Petite- BEW- Pass @ 1st try, 1st showing
Britannia Petite- Broken- Pass @ 1st try, 2nd showing

Dutch- Chin- Pass @ 2nd try, 2nd showing

English Angora- Broken- Fail @ 2nd try, 2nd showing

Holland Lop- Blue Point- No show @ 1st try, 1st showing
Holland Lop- Silver Martin- Fail @ 2nd try, 1st showing

Jersey Wooly- Chocolate Otter- Fail @ 2nd try, 1st showing
Jersey Wooly- Orange- Fail @ 2nd try, 3rd showing
Jersey Wooly- Red- No show @ 1st try, 1st showing

Lionhead- Black- Fail @ 1st try, 2nd showing
Lionhead- REW- Fail @ 1st try, 2nd showing
Lionhead- Tort- Fail @ 1st try, 2nd showing

Mini Rex- Silver Martin- Pass @ 1st try, 3rd showing- Official new variety!
Mini Rex- Smoke Pearl- Pass @ 1st try, 2nd showing

Mini Satin- Black- Fail @ 1st try, 3rd showing
Mini Satin- Blue- Fail @ 1st try, 2nd showing
Mini Satin- Blue Siamese- ? @ 1st try, 1st showing
Mini Satin- Californian- Fail @ 2nd try, 2nd showing
Mini Satin- Chocolate- Pass @ 1st try, 2nd showing
Mini Satin- Lilac- Fail @ 1st try, 1st showing
Mini Satin- Otter- Pass @ 1st try, 2nd showing
Mini Satin- Silver Marten- Fail @ 1st try, 2nd showing
Mini Satin- Smoke Pearl- No show @ 1st try, 1st showing
Mini Satin- Tort- Pass @ 2nd try, 1st showing

Netherland Dwarf- Blue Tort- Pass @ 2nd try, 3rd showing- Official new variety!

Polish- Lilac- Fail @ 1st try, 2nd showing

Rhinelander- Blue- Pass @ 1st try, 3rd showing- Official new variety!

Satin Angora- Broken- Fail @ 2nd try, 1st showing

Silver Fox- Blue- Pass @ 2nd try, 1st showing
Silver Fox- Chocolate- Pass @ 2nd try, 1st showing

ARBA National: How It Feels

2011-11-01T08:07:00.001-04:00

With the BIS judging over, I can never seem to wrap my mind around how it must feel to win. Every year, we all anxiously wait for this one announcement and every year, one person gets to feel what it's like.

There is a lot of excitement, even at local shows, watching your rabbit move further and further toward the top of the class. With only two or three left on the table, the show jitters usually start and you can hardly handle the fourteen seconds it takes the judge to announce a class winner or a BOB. I'd imagine that winning these at Convention would just be incredible and so hard to describe.

Watching your rabbit even make it to the BIS judging table, then to see it win its group, and then be announced as the best rabbit in attendance- whoa! And there is certainly no arguing this win- it has got to be a darn NICE rabbit!

That is a win that everyone wants to experience, but only a few exhibitors have the honor.

But to others, there were also a lot of personal wins happening and going unrecognized. So to those who placed high in your classes, or those who even placed halfway with a homebred or other special bunny, congratulations to you as well! As we said when I ran track- your PR or "personal record" is so very valuable to you as a competitor. Making it one step further than last year, moving up in the ranks just a step, or even just having the opportunity to attend your very first convention is all a personal accomplishment and worthy of recognition!

So tell me...how does it feel?! :)

ARBA National: Best In Show

2011-10-31T21:35:00.004-04:00

Here is a updated list of the Best In Show judging, courtesy of Christy Przybylowski. She updated the group information listed below. I highlighted the winners of each group in red and designated Open and Youth placements.

Open Best In Show goes to Bob Crawford's New Zealand White!

Youth Best In Show goes to Riley and Reagan Crews' Holland Lop!

Congratulations!!!

Winners of the 4 BIS groups, again thank you for the photo updates, Kristina!

You can visit her Facebook page by clicking on her name.

Group 1:

English Angora

English Lop

English Spot

Lilac

Mini Rex- Youth

New Zealand White- Open

Polish

Group 2:

Belgian Hare

Beveren

Champagne de Argent

Florida White

French Lop

Giant Angora

Harlequin

Netherland Dwarf- Open

Palomino

Rex

Satin- Youth

Thrianta

Group 3:

American Chin

American Sable

Blanc de Hotot

Britannia Petite- Open

Californian

Cinnamon

Dwarf Hotot

French Angora

Holland Lop- Youth

Jersey Wooly

Mini Satin

Group 4:

American

American Fuzzy Lop

Dutch

English Spot

Giant Chin

Havana

Mini Lop- Open and Youth

Satin Angora

Silver Fox

Standard Chin

ARBA National: Results

2011-10-31T11:59:00.006-04:00

This post will be edited as I hear of results. Congratulations to all the winners!

Open Dutch
Blue Sr. Buck- Briony Barnes

Open Dwarf Hotot
BOB (Sr. Buck)- Bill Whaley
BOSB (Jr. Doe)- Sharon Toon

Youth Dwarf Hotot
BOB (Sr. Doe)- Ashleigh Budrick
BOSB (Sr. Buck)- Sarah Mugge

Open English Angora
BOB (Colored Sr. Doe)- Marcus of Michigan
BOSB (Colored Sr. Buck)- Marcus of Michigan

Open French Angora
BOB (White Sr. Buck)- Charlotte of Pennsylvania
BOSB (White Sr. Doe)- Charlotte of Pennsylvania

Open Giant Angora
BOB (Intermediate Doe)- Ashley S.
BOSB (Intermediate Buck)- Alex S.

Open Holland Lop
BOB (SSB)- Blackburn/Taylor
BOSB (SSD)- Jenny Poprawski
BJD/BOSV- Judy Macheyne

Youth Holland Lop
BOB (SSB)- Tonya Crews
BOSB (BSD)- Briana Hall

Open Jersey Wooly
BOB (Black Otter Sr. Buck)- Brian Caudill
BOSB (Chestnut Sr. Doe)- Brian Caudill
BOG Self (Chocolate)- Brian Caudill
BOSG Self (Black?)- Kristen Drum

Youth Jersey Wooly
BOB (Broken Sr. Buck)- Nicole Boulier
BOSB (Self Sr. Doe)- Nicole Boulier
BOSG Agouti- Jessica and Taylor Usokowski
1st Agouti Jr. Doe- Katelyn Luch
BOG Tan- Jessica and Taylor Usokowski
Agouti Jr. Buck- Eric Lorensten Chin
Self Jr. Buck (REW)- Eric Lorensten
Self Jr. Doe (REW)- Eric Lorensten
BOG Self (REW)- Eric Lorensten
BOSG Shaded (Sr. Buck)- Katelyn Luch
Shaded Jr. Buck- Melani Fletcher
BOSG Tan (Sr. Doe)- Katelyn Luch
Best of Class (Black Otter Jr. Doe)- Przybylowski's

Open Mini Satin
BOB (White Jr. Doe)- Scott Rudolph

Open Netherland Dwarf
BOB (Otter Jr. Buck)- Allen Messick/Randy Shumaker
BOSB (Chestnut Jr. Doe)- Rite Stelzer/Ruby Rezac
BOSV Chocolate (Jr. Buck)- Leslie Hobbs
Chocolate Sr. Doe- Vicki Weisgerber
BOV Opal (Sr. Buck)- Nikki Seehafer
BOV Fawn (Senior Buck)- Amanda O'Gorman
Chin Jr. Doe- Leslie Hobbs
BOG Shaded (Siamese SableSr. Buck)- Mark Jacobs
BOSG Shaded (Sable Point Jr. Doe)- Nikki Seehafer
BOV Sable Point- Mark Jacobs
BOSV Smoke Pearl: SanDee Northam
Sable Point Sr. Doe- Mark Jacobs
Smoke Pearl Sr. Doe- SanDee Northam
Smoke Pearl Jr. Doe- SanDee Northam
REW Jr. Buck- Cheryl Oney
Himi Sr. Doe- Farrah Stewart

Youth Netherland Dwarf
BOB (Black Jr. Buck)- Cole Simons
BOSB (Black Sr. Doe)- Lyndsey Gilbert
BOV AOV (Steel Sr. Buck)- Mitchell Ross
BOSV AOV (Steel Jr. Doe)- Mitchell Ross
BOV Marten- Mitchell Ross
REW Jr. Doe/BJOV- Lyndsey Gilbert
BOV Blue (Sr. Buck)- Lynsdey Gilbert
BOV Chin (Sr. Buck)- Lynsdey Gilbert
BOSV/BJOV Chin (Jr. Doe)- Lyndsey Gilbert
Squirrel Sr. Buck- Lyndsey Gilbert
Sable Marten Jr. Doe- Lyndsey Gilbert

ARBA National: Presentation Rabbits

2011-10-30T18:46:00.000-04:00

Here is a picture list of some of the presentation breeds and colors at the ARBA Convention this year. These are all animals that are not currently accepted in the ARBA Standard of Perfection, but are waiting to be judged by the committee. I will update later with which presentations passed or failed.

All of these pictures are courtesy of Kristina Ruth at Fuzzy Patch Rabbitry. Visit her Facebook page (linked) for more updates straight from Convention!

Argente Brun

Blue-Eyed-White Britannia Petite

Blue New Zealand

Blue Point Holland Lop

Blue Rhinelander

Blue Mini Satin

Blue Silver Fox

Blue Tort Netherland Dwarf

Broken Britannia Petite

Broken English Angora

Broken Mini Satin

Broken Red Havana

Broken Satin Angora

Californian Mini Satin

Champagne Netherland Dwarf

Chinchilla Dutch

Chocolate Lionhead

Chocolate Otter Jersey Wooly

Chocolate Silver Fox

Gold Tipped Steel Mini Satin

Lilac Mini Satin

Lilac Otter Jersey Wooly

Lilac Polish

Orange Jersey Wooly

Black Otter American Fuzzy Lop

Pointed White Lionhead

Red Havana

Ruby-Eyed-White Lionhead (?)

Seal Lionhead

Siamese Sable Britannia Petite

Silver Martin Mini Rex

Silver Martin Mini Satin

Smoke Pearl Mini Rex

Tortoise Mini Satin

Broken Velveteen Lop

Thanks for keeping us updated, Kristina!

ARBA National: Youth BOB Jersey Wooly

2011-10-30T15:19:00.003-04:00

Update on the Jersey Wooly FB Group from Rob Usakowski:

"In about 15 minutes we will do a live broadcast of the Youth Best of Breed (Jersey Wooly). You can also watch a video replay. It will be on www.ustream.tv search for the channel tllrabbits."

I know I'll be watching!

Update:

Congratulations to Nicole Boulier who won Best of Breed with a Broken Sr. Buck and Best Opposite of Breed with a Self Sr. Doe!

ARBA National: Additional Legs

2011-10-29T21:29:00.000-04:00

Exciting news!

The ARBA Board of Directors has approved the additional issuing of Grand Champion legs for Reserve in Show, Best 4 Class, and Best 6 Class rabbits.

I think this is a great move, as all three of those wins are certainly worthy of a leg!

ARBA National: A Dream Come True

2011-10-29T11:04:00.000-04:00

The National ARBA Convention is a special show for anyone to attend. It is the biggest and most attended rabbit show in the entire country, where the best of the best rabbits compete for top honors in their breed.

For Timothy Chan, his travel from his home in Malaysia all the way to Indianapolis is a dream come true! Timothy is very dedicated to his Holland Lops, as well as educating others about the care and raising of domestic rabbits. The rabbit community appreciates his continued efforts in Malaysia and is excited for him as he gets to experience his first ARBA Convention ever!

You can follow his story from his blog at http://truluvrabbitry.com/.

Have fun in Indy, Tim!

ARBA National: Coming to District 9!

2011-10-28T14:54:00.001-04:00

The Mid-Atlantic Rabbit & Cavy Club (MARCS) got the 2013 National Convention bid! The show will be held at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex & Expo Center in Harrisburg, PA on October 19-23, 2013.

Can't wait!!

Official website: http://www.marcsconvention.com/index.htm

ARBA National: Breed Count

2011-10-27T08:41:00.001-04:00

HERE you can find a breed count for all of the rabbits registered for Convention 2011.
22, 799 rabbits in total!

And...they're off!

2011-10-27T08:22:00.002-04:00

The Race to Indy begins today as exhibitors from across the nation (and owners overseas) travel to the largest rabbit show in the country, the National ARBA Convention.

In the next day or two, everyone will be arriving in Indianapolis, Indiana for five days of friends, fun, and furballs!

I wish everyone good luck with their entries, a safe trip to and from, and most of all a lot of fun! Can't wait to hear updates as we receive them, and I will try to do a "live" update (as current as I can) on here with the newly accepted breeds, colors, winners, etc.

Hope everyone has a GREAT time! And remember...for five days, you don't have to explain to anyone why you raise rabbits!

Fall Photos

2011-10-21T19:13:00.001-04:00

This is ANR's Gypsy. He is a handsome broken tort boy with great mass and bone. Unfortunately, after I cut back a bit on the Hollands, I never got around to breeding him. So I'll be looking forward to some litters from him in the coming months. He has 4 legs.

This little guy is Spring Lake Rocky. He does NOT pose, so I was thrilled that he cooperated enough to get this picture tonight! It still doesn't do him justice. He has around 7 legs and has sired the two junior does below, and has a brand new litter in the nursery!

Here is Oak Ridge's Kerrigan, a junior doe out of Rocky and Idina. She has a killer body and great bone! I also love the shape, length, and thickness to her ear. I'll be happy when she finally stops molting her head and grows that back too. She will be one pretty girl!

This is Oak Ridge's Rai, a junior doe littermate to Kerrigan. She went through "super uglies" the last couple weeks, but has really come around. She looks better and better every day.

ANR's Idina, a beautiful chestnut senior doe and excellent mother. The two junior does above belong to her.

This is Oak Ridge's Ellis, the only wooly that would cooperate today. He is my baby. What a cute little guy! And he won 1 leg his first time out for a Best Opposite of Breed. Not that we are picking favorites.

3 Days In

2011-10-21T11:47:00.000-04:00

The little balls of snuggle are 3 days old now. Empress is doing a fantastic job taking care of them, they are all snuggled in a warm nest with tons of fur. I always think it's so amazing when I pick the box up to check on the babies and feel the warmth radiating from it. Bunny moms truly are the best!

Of course, they are also the most rambunctious little babies EVER and spring out of their warmth as soon as I start moving the bedding around to find them. Once again, I am telling you, this is going to be quite the adventure when their little eyeballs open. Luckily, I've polished my baby-catching reflexes over the years and can now catch babies as they leap out the door without even realizing I'm doing it. The skills you develop as a rabbit breeder are second to none.

Ding ding ding! The buns are ready.

2011-10-18T08:50:00.000-04:00

When I walked into the rabbitry this morning, I found a warm nest full of 6 little wigglers. Empress did a great job and, as usual, go big or go home! She is a tiny little girl and delivered one of the largest litters ever born here.

I am a little worried now about whether the babies will be a blessing that keep her busy or whether she is just pulling forces for destruction together. I may need to come up with an elephant-proof water bottle holder and protective feeding device to prepare for Week 3 when the babies leave the nest. Ha!

Just kidding..hopefully. I am just happy to have a good mom in the rabbitry. This sure beats my struggles with first-timers last spring and summer!

Buns in the Oven

2011-10-13T21:25:00.001-04:00

Empress. Oh, how much that one simple word says. Empress is one of my newer Holland Lop additions to the rabbitry, and she is such a handful! I say that lovingly, but really. For the first 3 weeks we had her, we found her water bottle on the floor of the rabbitry every single day. I tried using a wire holder and that didn't work. I tried using a pipe cleaner to tie and wrap it ten times, that didn't work. I tried a spring holder, that didn't work. I finally had to move her to a larger cage to give her more room to distract herself and a 32 oz. water bottle that I keep filled at all times so that it is too heavy to throw off the cage.

The next morning, there were pellets all over the floor. For the following 5 mornings, there were more pellets all over the floor.

I will admit that I haven't solved that mystery for sure, but I have a guess as to who may be at fault.

So even though it is a day or so early, I gave Empress her nestbox tonight and figured maybe it would distract her a little bit. Now she is FRANTICALLY nesting! Oh, Empress. She is due Monday or Tuesday, I think. I'm excited for more Holland babies, but I'm not sure I can keep up with little mini versions of her. LOL!

I also bred Ellis to Summer this evening. It is a mother to son breeding in hopes of combining their strong body type and also working towards linebreeding a little bit with this line. I think there is a lot of potential in this cross, so I hope it proves to be true! If so, we should have some cute little Jersey Wooly juniors for the spring show season.

Water Bottles

2011-10-10T18:31:00.000-04:00

The past few days have been water bottle madness! I was given two bags of water bottles from a friend that had been in storage for awhile and needed to be cleaned and "tested". Anyone with barns would know that "storage" can get dingy even just by sitting around floating dust, fur, etc. So I set up an assembly line of buckets to get started.

One bucket was a diluted bleach soak, the next was a diluted mild dish soap rinse, and then I put a squirt of dish soap in the bottle, shook it up, and let it sit in the sink for awhile before doing a final warm water rinse. Between the four "stations", the bottles ended up looking like new and surprisingly, 95% of them still work!

Of course, as soon as I finished, I realized that there are still dishes to do from the show this past weekend. It never ends! But at least now we have quite a few water bottles to add to the collection. You never know when one will break or leak, so it's handy to have extras around.

Lebanon, PA 10/9/11

2011-10-09T09:50:00.000-04:00

Another weekend, another show! And sadly, our very last one until January. I know, I'm not sure what I'm going to do either.

Oak Ridge's Endless Summer collected her 4th and 5th legs for BOG and BOSG wins this weekend. Unfortunately, I not only realized that my ARBA registration has expired, but you need your ARBA card with you to register a rabbit. Why is this a problem? Because I was hoping maybe the registrar could send in both forms for me...apparently not.

So our little up and coming GC will probably have to wait until the February show to get registered, since I don't think there is usually a registrar at the January show. Oh well!

Today is another busy day and I have to fit a rabbitry cleaning in there somewhere since we have people coming to measure our garage door tomorrow. Either way, it needs to be cleaned but visitors mean that I need to actually organize and put away all the show stuff and other miscellaneous items that are stacked around the perimeter of the area. So naturally, next time I need it, I won't know where it is.

Donovan's Doings

2011-10-02T21:42:00.000-04:00

For those newer to the blog or who haven't heard of him before, Donovan is our very first Holland Lop herd buck who has been retired as a forever pet here in the rabbitry.

While I was cleaning cages and organizing some supplies this afternoon, I let Donovan out to play. I had piled some dirty towels and the boys' stuffed toys near the door so that I would remember to throw them in the wash tonight. As I cleaned, I watched Donovan pick up each toy individually, carry them across the rabbitry, and lay them in a single file line in front of his cage. LOL! He is such a weirdo.

Once he was done with that, he started following me outside as I dumped trays. For several trays, he would follow me out, wait until I dumped it, and then follow me back in. But apparently after a time or two of that, he had the confidence to DASH off across the yard! I wouldn't be concerned about him running away because he's as loyal as a dog. We live in the woods though, so predators (and neighbors dogs) are a concern. So I went running after him, chased him down, and brought him back in. Luckily, I was done with trays at that point and just needed to sweep up hay and shavings that had fallen during cleaning...

I would surmise that this is how parents feel when they try to rake leaves out of the yard and the kids keep running through it.

He is such a character. It's hard to be mad at a Holland though. ;)

Say carrots!

2011-10-01T21:18:00.000-04:00

I don't know if I've mentioned yet that I have had the opportunity to borrow a lovely Nikon and studio light set from school for a few projects? Of course, I took advantage of the situation and snapped some bunny pictures too! Here are a few favorites from today:

Oak Ridge's Ellis, filling out to be a very handsome buck! He is now just-turned senior.

Oak Ridge's Endless Summer, a splitting image of her mother, Kylie.

ANR's Idina. Oh, I just love her little face. <3

ANR's Empress, the new kid on the block.

Of course I took a TON more pictures. A larger (but still not complete) selection can be seen on the rabbitry Facebook page. I am hoping to get some pictures of a few more of the bunnies tomorrow. This mini photo studio is just too much fun!

Getting back into the swing of things.

2011-09-29T18:29:00.000-04:00

The temperatures are getting cooler, the days are getting shorter, and the apparent signs of fall are here. Exactly the opposite of what we'd consider to be prime breeding season, but I am just getting back into the swing of things as far as breeding goes.

Fall is one of the main breeding seasons here at Oak Ridge. I have one doe (hopefully) bred right now, and several litters following in the near future. After showing at Lebanon in early October, there is a break in shows so we will be expecting a few litters between then and the PA Farm Show in January.

I am excited to have babies on the way again! I'm hoping that breedings will go smoothly and as planned now that everyone here is proven (not new moms this time) and maybe it will be timed right that we'll have some young juniors to show next spring. :)

Big Win, Little Rabbit

2011-09-25T18:37:00.000-04:00

Endless Summer surprised me again today with another Best of Breed win, under Ben Haagen! This is her 3rd leg and I can now have her registered with the ARBA and send in for her Grand Championship.

I know that there are many Grand Champions out there and many breeders have granded multiple rabbits, but this is a very special win for me because Summer will be Oak Ridge's very first homebred Grand Champion. It's been an exciting day, that's for sure!

Show weekend!

2011-09-19T23:31:00.000-04:00

It is only Monday, but I am already looking forward to traveling with the bunnies this coming weekend to our second show of the fall season! Summer and Ellis are still in nicely conditioned coats as of now, and a few of the other woolies are even working on it too so maybe I will add some entries.

I am hoping to see some other wooly exhibitors there, but there are two shows in the area this weekend so I'm not sure exactly who is coming. I'd like to see how my shadeds are coming along in comparison to others in the area though, since that is my main project right now. Shaded numbers have been very low lately so I am really hoping to work on strengthening that group again. We'll see! It will just be fun to get out and spend a day with the bunnies again. The other weekend was a great kick-off after the long summer so hopefully we get some nice comments and suggestions this time too!

Reflections

2011-09-19T23:12:00.000-04:00

I was sitting on the rabbitry floor this evening wiggling every finger on a different bunny's forehead, doing the nightly round of head scratches. This is usually the time I reflect on my hobby, mostly wondering how in the world my life came to this. LOL! Just kidding. But it seriously is that daily relaxation time with the bunnies.

While sitting there glancing back on happy bunny faces, I was kind of mulling over a few Facebook conversations I happened upon this afternoon. Something that stood out in particular to me was a breeder who tends to buy and sell in the search of the perfect show rabbit who will earn them immediate and everlasting praise and attention from the rest of the rabbit world. If a rabbit looses a show or produces anything less than perfect, it's sold. In other words, every rabbit is sold. The hobby mimics a stuffed animal collection in that way, with the buying and selling and trading.

I couldn't tell you whether that is right or wrong, but when I'm sitting in the rabbitry interacting with the fur kids, I can't imagine having a constant flow of unfamiliar rabbits. It seems like it would be impossible to get to know them individually. It's kind of nice having a core of the "main men", you know? Then you can learn the weird little quirks about each one. Like Gypsy, who ducks your offer of pets until you let him sniff your fist first. Then he flattens himself and you can rub away! Or Forest who will falllll out of the cage and loves to literally "hang out" with you, but does not want to actually be touched.

To me, it gives the hobby a little more meaning and makes things more fun to not worry or obsess over the competitive side, but just to enjoy the bunnies. I suppose for some, the whole goal may be more of a competition, and that is okay too. But since I don't do a lot of winning, there has to be something else keeping me around. Rabbits just make great pets, they are fun to be around. For the handful of times I have done well at a show, I really enjoyed that too! But that is only a little portion of what makes this hobby so neat. I can list 16 other reasons I love this "job" and they are all right outside the door in their cages!

Photoshoot

2011-09-18T13:25:00.000-04:00

Today is the day! I have been developing a media proposal for one of my classes this semester that deals with an informational campaign about rabbits. It is aimed at the pet owner, to promote proper care of their pet rabbit. However, it will also include informational media materials for existing rabbit owners as well.

Today is the photoshoot for the professional poster. It is a little too bright right now, but I am waiting for the afternoon sun to die down just a little. Once the yard is illuminated just right we'll be setting up and snapping away!

I will post some of the best photos later. I hope they turn out well!

Oh, just flying around.

2011-09-17T18:22:00.001-04:00

The weather has cooled down and the fall season is in full swing. Today was the perfect day for bunnies to enjoy the outdoor pens, and so they did! About half the bunnies got to run last weekend and the remaining half enjoyed time outside today. Hopefully throughout the next week we can have more of these afternoons before it gets too cold!

Below are some pictures of little Rai darting around the x-pen. I thought these were just hilarious, she's such a character!

Kerrigan even joined in for this one!

Happy Fall!

Cool evening

2011-09-10T20:03:00.001-04:00

This evening was the usual cleaning cages ritual. Since it was getting cooler and the sun was fading a bit, I decided to set up the two play pens and let some bunnies out to run around. Summer seemed to really enjoy sitting in the corner of the play pen munching grass one strand at a time. Next time I looked up, Gypsy had escaped. Luckily, as I approached him, he ran right up to me. I couldn't figure out how he had gotten out, so I put him back in and went about the cage cleaning.

I came out with another pan and saw Gypsy running towards me again. As I was putting him back in for the second time, I noticed a few small holes in the bottom of the wire.

As I was putting him back in for the third, fourth, and fifth times, I was fixing the wire.

Once it was fixed, he stayed in for a bit and then I switched him out and put Sugar inside. All was well until I saw her running through the yard as well. Of course, she didn't run up to me as I approached her but instead sprinted away.

Sigh.

I still have no idea how she got out. All I can figure is that she's small and dwarfy enough to wiggle her way through the wire or something. So cage cleaning took awhile tonight and I just got done as it got dark. I would imagine that experience to be similar to cleaning the house while toddlers are loose in the other room.

New Look

2011-09-08T18:58:00.000-04:00

Well, what do you think? It's just a new Blogger theme, so it's not that exciting. But I figured it was time for a little change and this looks modern and happenin', right? No? Okay.

With fall on it's way and the cool weather fast approaching, my does are not wanting to cooperate for some fall breedings. I will keep trying, but am also enjoying showing a few of them in the meantime. It seems like my ideal rabbitry timeline never works out. Because I can't get the does bred now, I will once again have nothing ready to show at PaSRBA in February. But at the same time, I can't complain because a few bunnies are in nice coats now to show throughout the fall. I guess it's always a toss up, and this kind of thing happens when you're dealing with real life. I am just hoping that Summer and Ellis hold their coats until the shows at the end of this month since they did so well last weekend.

Speaking of, I got their legs in the mail today! This is Summer's second and Ellis' first. I have never received two legs in one show report before. For them to both be Oak Ridge bunnies is quite the milestone! One small step for many rabbitries, but one giant leap for ours. <3

Have fun, Minxy & Kellen!

2011-09-06T20:52:00.000-04:00

Over the past few days, the last of the sale bunnies have traveled to their new homes.

Minxy went to live in Halifax, PA with a very nice couple and their children. She will be helping them get back into breeding and showing. Minxy is such a sweet doe and a great mom, I hope that they will love her as much as I do!

And Kellen left this evening to live in State College, PA with a student who is studying animal science at PSU. I could tell that he will be a very spoiled pet and get lots of attention! Kellen has waited several months for the perfect home to find him and I am so happy that he is finally there.

It's always a little bittersweet to see the bunnies go because I get so used to them being here. But it's a little easier seeing them go to such great homes, and I have no doubts that they will enjoy their time with their new owners too.

This also gives me a bit of a break and frees up a little cage space. I'm glad to have numbers down a little as classes start up again. I'm also really happy with the three juniors we have right now. Not only are they looking very promising, but with so few of them, they will be able to stay and grow up here while we decide who to keep back for breeding or showing.

Why blog?

2011-09-05T17:19:00.000-04:00

Blogs are steadily becoming a more popular way to update people on your rabbitry. Even so, it took me quite a few tries to really get into blogging. I couldn't really see the point since I know not as many people read this blog as they do my website. So for a long time, I focused mostly on updating and designing the website instead. Then more recently got into Facebook updates for the rabbit as well.

Now that I've been regularly blogging for awhile, I've gotten into more of a routine and it's not as difficult to remember to update anymore. Likewise, it gives me an outlet for wanting to talk about rabbits all the time. Ha! But more importantly, I can look back on how far I've come since I started it.

There are posts like this that remind me of some of my first Holland Lop litters.

Then there are posts such as this that make me cringe because I had such a small understanding of simple genetics!

Finally, there was my first national convention, a special bunny visit, and a surprise litter from my retired herd buck.

These are things that, at the time, I would have expected to remember anyway. But as time goes on, the vivid detail of each memory tends to fade and it's always a treat to go back through posts and see what was happening a few months or a few years ago. It's kind of like cleaning your room and finding that painting you did in 1st grade or that journal entry you wrote in middle school. It never gets old finding these little treasures, and now with 3 years of blogging under my belt, I can say that it doesn't matter who reads about these experiences. I'm just happy to have them all here for me!

Juniors

2011-09-05T12:33:00.000-04:00

First up is Oak Ridge's Kerrigan. She is out of my first litter from Spring Lake Rocky and is so promising! I've had my eye on her since she was a little thing because she had such small, round ears.

Next is Kerrigan's sister, Rai. She is such a sweetheart and is the kind of baby who runs to you when you open the cage. She's really massive and has a great head coming in!

And finally, Oak Ridge's Gumball, a junior buck and the only survivor from Sea Star. He is just the cutest little thing! I am really excited about him and hoping that he may be a good addition to the shaded program.

Remember how I said...

2011-09-04T17:16:00.003-04:00

that this hobby was worth it?

That it was worth fighting for?

While hunting quarters and collecting spoons may be exhilarating,

I think we can all agree,

That rabbits may mean more.

Best of Breed JW (Mill Hall, Sept. 4)- Oak Ridge's Endless Summer

Best Opposite of Breed JW (Mill Hall, Sept. 4)- Oak Ridge's Ellis

If you're thoroughly confused right now, maybe you missed this post.

Show Weekend!

2011-09-01T18:56:00.001-04:00

This is it! The first show weekend of the fall. To keep the tradition alive, the rabbits are all simultaneously molting three parts of their body. Which will be beautifully conditioned in February for the PA Convention when all the other parts are falling out. Yes, my bunnies are smarter than your honor roll student.

In all seriousness though, I am excited for shows to start back up again! I really enjoy being back with "bunny friends" and showing the few rabbits I have that don't look like they've contracted fur mites. (ha)

This weekend, Summer & Ellis (JW), and Xavier & Rocky (HL) will be accompanying me to the show. I'm also hoping to sell a few rabbits and pick up one new surprise as well.

For the love of rabbits.

2011-08-31T12:47:00.000-04:00

Everyday when I log onto my rabbitry Facebook, I see one or more statuses ranting about rabbits. "I can't believe he did this!"..."I should've known better!"..."How could she do such a thing!"..."You know what I hate?"..."I don't understand why"..."Why do people have to"...and the list goes on. Always very intense, passive aggressive notes that probably don't belong on Facebook.

I have to agree that people, whether in rabbits or outside of rabbits, often disappoint. I have had rabbits bought out from under me. Someone has bought a rabbit from me and then turned around and sold it for twice what they paid. I have seen adult exhibitors show their rabbits through a youth. Undeserving rabbits have won a class simply because the exhibitor is close with the judge.

These things do happen. At the time, we get so frustrated with the situation that we often consider what it would be like to not have to deal with it. What if I sold out? I don't have to deal with all this, so why do I? And we question whether it is really worth it to get so bent out of shape about rabbits.

To me, it is.

Personally, I think this is a hobby worth fighting for and I feel lucky for having found a hobby that I'm so passionate about. I could just as easily take up metal detecting and go hunt for quarters in the park. I could collect spoons and spend my Saturday afternoons polishing them until I can make faces in the reflection. I could buy junk computer parts and miraculously construct a working operating system. All of those would be fun hobbies. They would keep me content, give me something to do. They'd be comfortable. But comfortable isn't quite what I'm looking for.

I'm in this hobby for the love of rabbits, for better or worse. It has brought me to some of my highest highs with unexpected show wins or some of my lowest lows with, you know...people. But it's all or nothing, and the intensity of my connection with this hobby is what makes it worth fighting for.

If you're still questioning whether it's worth it, maybe quarters and spoons are for you. As for me, I'll be at the show table.

Congratulations!

2011-08-26T21:49:00.000-04:00

I think every breeder loves the feeling of winning a class at one of their shows throughout the year, but I also think it's really cool to hear from other exhibitors who have purchased rabbits from me that have gone on to win for them too!

Tonight, I just want to congratulate two 4-Hers on their wins this summer!

First, to Alison who won Best of Breed with Oak Ridge's Bailey (Jersey Wooly).

And secondly, to Kara who won Best Buck with Oak Ridge's Laszlo (Holland Lop).

Each of these girls show in different counties, so the titles of their wins are a little different. But both won top honors at their fairs, and that was great to hear! Keep up the good work, girls!

Pure Bliss

2011-08-24T22:52:00.000-04:00

Oh, I cannot even begin to explain the happiness.

I debated for weeks about the cage switch-out. Why do I need new cages? Is it really worth the money to have a little more shine? Don't I have better things to put that money toward?

Oh, gosh. Had I known how wonderful they would make me feel, I never would have thought over it twice.

First of all, all of the cage doors now open out and to the side. Originally, I had some that opened out, some that swung in, some that swung down. I realize now what a mess that was because it took 2x longer to do a routine feeding. Uniform, matching cages make it so easy and quick!

Secondly, the cages are new and shiny- much easier to wipe down and clean off than mildly rusty ones. All but two cages also have Duratrays now which dump out and wipe down so easily (again, compared to rusty metal trays). As soon as I can, I plan to outfit those last two cages with Duratrays as well.

All in all, I'm very happy that everything works so well together now, is new and easy to clean off, and feeding only takes a few minutes. Of course, most of the time, I prefer to spend a lot more time out there giving the bunnies attention. But late in the semester, when I am absolutely pinched for every minute of time while I prepare for graduation, this setup will be so stress free while also keeping the bunnies clean and happy.

If you ever have the opportunity to replace older sets of cages or switch to Duratrays, don't hesitate to do it. It took quite a few years for me to take the plunge, but it truly does make the rabbitry a much brighter place for people and bunnies alike!

Probably shouldn't have done that.

2011-08-21T21:13:00.001-04:00

My body was feeling so much better yesterday and this morning so I decided I couldn't wait any longer and started the rabbitry cleaning/remodel. Let me tell you- it's been quite a project.

Thankfully, my family helped me to carry and lift anything heavy or awkward in an effort to continue healing and not injure myself more. It was a valiant effort, but I'm hobbling around a bit tonight again. Probably shouldn't have done that.

Anyway.

The rabbitry looks great! I am so happy to have replaced my older cages and the new ones fit right in perfectly. Everything is a lot more compact and fits together so it is absolutely wonderful to walk into the rabbitry now. Plus, all of my cages are now equipped with their matching dishes and hay racks. Even though I haven't tackled the chore of matching water bottles yet, I do have at least a pair of each kind. So that made it easy to at least match a pair here and a pair there.

I can't wait to show you a picture but for now I need to try and locate my camera battery charger...

P.S. This blog has officially exceeded 200 posts! Here's 201. :D Little landmarks...lol.

A call to action.

2011-08-19T14:51:00.000-04:00

If you're at all involved in the rabbit world, I'm sure you have been staying updated on the Six Bell Rabbits. If you're not involved in the rabbit world, I would question why my blog interests you, but you may read a little background on the story here, or here, or here.

When this story became public, rabbit breeders across the country jumped to Debe's defense. Surely, the animal authorities were criminalizing an innocent, reputable breeder. This wasn't a completely far off assumption because of the influx of uneducated or miseducated animal activists that are trying to shut down agriculture entirely. However, I was still skeptical of exactly what had happened in this case.

A short time later, this article came out with pictures of the above breeder's setup (you can click the photo in the article to view the slideshow).

Opinions vary from person to person on what kind of animal care is acceptable. For example, the acceptable cage size or diet. However, there should be no question that the photos above do not show responsible animal care.

Like I said, I know many of us are recently very worried for the future of our hobby, but we need to be very careful in the kind of animal husbandry we support. Many people prematurely jumped onto the bandwagon and threw money at this case without waiting for real details on the condition of the rabbitry. At any given time, you could walk into my rabbitry and see fur stuck to a cage wall or a few poops on the floor. But never, at any time, have my cages had feces collected through the cage floor, several inches into the cage. It takes more than a few hours for rabbits to empty a heavy ceramic crock and cake the bottom with a thick layer of poo. The tiny cage pictured was clearly not large enough to house three fully grown Lionhead rabbits (not to mention, again, the feces caked to the floor).

Yes, it is very important to support our hobby and encourage fellow breeders across the U.S to do the same. It's very important to band together and stand against law proposals that could dramatically effect the face of agriculture and hobby breeding as we know it. But we have to be careful of the image that we put out there. Be aware of the image that we give ourselves against those who already oppose our practices, and make sure that it is one to be proud of and stand behind.

New Cages

2011-08-19T09:49:00.000-04:00

I've had many names over the years including "cat person", "horse girl", "dog person", "animal person", and more recently, "rabbit rancher". But I don't live in a barn! I love animals, but I love them more when their housing areas are clean and shiny. Call me crazy or call me rabbit rancher, I still love a nice clean house!

Over the last year, I've been remodeling the rabbitry little bits at a time. The first transition I made was switching all the cages over to EZ crocks, which are hard plastic and attach to the side of the cage. They are a little expensive, so I was wary about making the move but I'm so happy I did! There are less rabbit pellets dumped into the trays and it seems like the dishes are too deep for pellet diggers. Some still try, but the pellets are stuck in the dish for the most part. And all the dishes match now- woohoo!

The next move was replacing small water bottles. I had been getting the little tiny Lixit hamster bottles for use when traveling, but they have very narrow little ball nozzles on the end. I finally realized that the small version of the Lixit widemouth bottles had full-size ball nozzles! So I switched entirely to those and now the rabbits are not only more comfortable and hydrated on trips, but I can also use them in a pinch at home when a larger bottle is being washed or needs to be replaced, etc. And once again, everything matches now!

But yesterday was the big one! My brand new, shiny 6-hole stacking unit has arrived! Thank you to my bunny friend April for so kindly delivering it to me. It's a beauty for sure! I had a pretty serious riding accident yesterday so I'm not quite able to clean, rearrange, and get it set up for pictures yet. But I will show you as soon as I can. :)

There is just something about new cages that sends my obsessively clean self into a happy fit! Now I can kick the ol' rusters to the curb. Yeah!

Special

2011-08-15T08:29:00.000-04:00

I never hesitate to tell people how "special" our animals are. It seems that each one has its own quirky tendencies that are very...unique. Here's Fluffy:

Yes, that's right. At the ripe old age of about 3 weeks, it has decided that the relaxed position must include one hind leg sticking straight out. No, the leg isn't broken or injured- it's never the same one. I suppose it's just whichever leg "feels right".

I digress.

I also apologize for the lack of picture quality. This was taken in the evening and we only have a few lamps in the room we were relaxing in. So unfortunately you don't get the full effect of how cute and fuzzy Furry is, or the correct color of our carpet (not mustard yellow). Much changing of contrast was necessary to make Furry show up.

Furry also needs a name! We've been working on it but nothing fits just yet. Any ideas?

It's so FLUFFY!

2011-08-14T20:03:00.000-04:00

Star's little baby is getting so big and fluffy! Every time I see it, it reminds me of this video clip:

It is only about three weeks old, I'm so excited for it to keep growing and see whether we have a new potential herd member on our hands!

Ellis is a little worried about why he is in the market rabbit housing development.

2011-08-10T22:11:00.001-04:00

4-H Fair 2011

2011-08-10T19:30:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to my brother, Kevin, who won Reserve Grand Champion Showman in the Intermediate division! Throughout his years in 4-H, he has worked hard to learn about his rabbits and it is great to see him show so well.

The rabbits are doing great this week since we found them a spot right in the path of the big barn fan. It's always a delicate balance between the absolutely-no-air cages and the plastered-to-the-back-wall-by-the-fan-blast cages. I think they have the perfect spot this year though, they seem to be comfortable temperature wise which helps lower their stress level a bit for the week. As always, it's a bit worrisome leaving the rabbits cooped away from home for the week, but we do our best to ensure that they are happy and healthy.

Speaking of that, Kevin noticed his name on the list for Monday's Good Housekeeping award, which is awarded to 4-Hers who keep their animals' pens clean and filled with fresh food and water. I'm sure the bunnies are proud.

Babies!

2011-08-07T09:41:00.000-04:00

Idina successfully delivered 4 babies two nights ago! Two are happy and healthy, one is a peanut, and one was born with its insides outside. That is something I've never seen before, I have no idea why it would happen. But it looks like there will be two surviving babies, so that's great! If I remember correctly, it is the one darker broken and lighter solid. I will be more sure of color in a few days.

Unearthing a little history.

2011-08-02T21:33:00.000-04:00

Tonight, I started into what will probably be a huge bedroom overhaul. I dislike this kind of event for obvious reasons, but I also really look forward to seeing things that have hidden themselves in the farthest depths of my room long ago.

I do major cleanings a few times a year, so generally, the earliest "artifacts" have been cleared out before I get around to the next overhaul. So most of the time, the oldest things I find are a year or two in the past. Tonight though, I unearthed the little skeleton keys that went to a journal I had from a few years back. It's something I've shoved back several times since I wasn't sure where the keys went or what I had written in it, but today I was able to open it up and see what was inside.

I composed one entry the winter after SugarCookie passed away. I will end up throwing away the used pages in the journal since there isn't much else of interest, but there was a passage in it that I wanted to post here for safe keeping.

Tonight I was, once again, looking around the internet trying to find the perfect bunny. Then I realized I would never find it because I already had. I don't think anything can replace your first pet. Although there were a few before her, SugarCookie was my real first pet. I can't put into words what she meant to me. Cookie taught me a lot about life while she was here. She taught me that if you love unconditionally, you will get love back. That you should love someone not because of how they look or how they act. You should love them because they deserve it, everyone does.

A few passages later, it read-

I've had the new bunnies for a week now. Two Holland Lops- I think I've finally found the closest to perfect that I will ever find!

Holland Lops are a tough breed to be in. Those of you who share this hobby with me know exactly why. I've been through ups and downs over the years and many people have asked me time and again why I keep with it or why not switch to an easier breed. I won't lie, I've considered that myself! But when I am reminded of how deeply rooted my love for this breed is, the answer is easy.

While you're away...

2011-08-02T10:00:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned I'm busy this summer? I'm sure I have, or you've noticed from my sporadic blog updating. Work has been very busy lately and it is very day-by-day. My schedule often changes and I am away from home and the computer for days at a time.

What I probably haven't mentioned is that during the summer, my mom and I share rabbit responsibilities. Aside from myself, she is the person who knows the rabbits the most and how to care for them daily. I am home enough to take care of cage cleaning, but she (with the help of my brother) is the one doing the feeding, watering, and daily upkeep. I am so thankful for their help!

I am even more thankful for coming home last night to clean cages. I was a few days overdue, which can make a huge difference in the rabbitry. But when I walked out to visit with the bunnies, the cages were clean and the rabbitry smelled fresh! How awesome to have caretakers who are so attentive to the furbabies. That is the only way that I am able to maintain this summer job, knowing that the animals are just fine at home.

Just some cute bunnies...

2011-07-29T08:45:00.000-04:00

This is Endless Summer, one of my first homegrown Jersey Wooly does. She is SO sweet and a very good mother, just like her own mom was. Summer is irreplaceable as a brood doe and shows well too!

Here's Keep's Soot, who Kristen brought to PaSRBA for me. At that time, he was in a real funky junior/senior molt so I've been working on his coat and it's finally coming back in really nicely. I love this boy, I think he'll be on his a-game for fall shows! Thank you Kristen. :)

And finally, here is Ellis, a buck out of Summer and Soot. He is an older junior, coming up on the end of 4 maybe 5 months old and looking really nice. I am looking forward to showing him this fall!

Star Update

2011-07-25T21:50:00.000-04:00

Star had a little trouble with her delivery this time too, she struggled with 2 DOA babies. However, there is also one very healthy live baby! I have only had one "singleton" survive over the years, so I will be a nervous wreck the next couple days until I see how this ones fares. The good news was that Star's delivery was quicker this time and she is not nearly as miserable as before, so I am happy for that. She seems nice and calm about her baby too even though she is normally a more worried doe.

The heat finally broke a bit and I was able to clean up the rabbitry today before I go to work for the week. It smells nice in there now and the floor is spotless! Just the way I like it. A clean rabbitry is so much more friendly and inviting. :)

Extreme Heat

2011-07-23T11:37:00.000-04:00

The heat has been BAD everywhere on the east coast for 3-4 days now. With record-setting temperatures in the low 100's, animals lovers have been on their A-game trying to keep the animals cool. I've heard of a lot of losses so far. :(

At the beginning of this summer, I decided not to move the rabbits into our screened porch like I had in previous summers. Or, rather, the rabbits wouldn't FIT this summer. So their permanent home is now in our attached garage which is on the shady side of the house. It has two large windows that stay open for ventilation and I have 2 medium size weather-resistant box fans and one oscillating fan to move the air. I was very happy to check the temperature in the rabbitry in the afternoon recently and see that despite the 95 degrees outside, it stayed 80-85 in the rabbitry. That is still very warm, but the rabbits are handling the heat well.

Harper delivered one normal DOA kit and one alive and healthy peanut. I was excited to see that the peanut was an orange, but of course not happy that it had to be a peanut! Oh well, she is started and proven so we will try again soon. Star is due tomorrow, so I am hoping that her delivery goes easier this time than last. The heat is supposed to break today so at least it will be more comfortable for her.

Plateau

2011-07-14T21:36:00.001-04:00

Have you ever hit a plateau with your breeding program and aren't really sure where to go from there?

Since I started with the woolies, I have always felt that I was in an upward swing. I made efforts to start out well, move forward with my program, and was very happy with where it was all leading. I still am, but I feel as though we've hit a bit of a plateau.

At this time, I have downsized a bit in both breeds to make herd numbers more manageable over the summer as I hold a full-time job. At the same time, the few does that I kept back are young seniors and have had a little difficulty getting started. The one young doe who has had a litter is on standby since my brother has entered her at the fair and her promising young bucks will be chilling at home until the fall show season starts. So everything seems a bit stagnant right now. Not really in a negative way, which is good. It just seems as though things aren't really moving forward at the moment.

Fortunately, the fair will be coming up in a few weeks and Summer can be bred for her second litter after that. I will be looking forward to that litter! And of course, hoping for the best with Harper and Star coming up this next week. It will be nice to take a little leap from our plateau with some new arrivals and young juniors again. :)

Down the Shore

2011-07-13T17:24:00.001-04:00

I am blogging from "down the shore" this week in Southern New Jersey. It has been wonderful to have a break from work and visit with a good friend from college who came to stay for a few days.

I am always worried by leaving my rabbits in someone else's hands for awhile, though. Luckily, I have several good friends from home that help me out each year. It is so nice to know that they are in good hands with other animal lovers, and that I am only a text or a phone call away. I am enjoying our vacation and in no rush to return, but I will also be happy to see the rabbits at the end of the week. I'm sure the babies will seem so big by then!

Plus, Harper and Star are due to have kits next week! Harper is a first timer and Star is on her second try after a few DOA's last time. I hope both girls do well and have healthy litters!

The garden's a'growin!

2011-07-05T19:12:00.001-04:00

You might remember my concerns that I wasn't getting a good garden going for the bunnies this summer. Then, last week, I came across a 50% off herb sale at Walmart. Score!

The bunnies now have buttercrunch lettuce, kale, italian parsley, and basil. Yummy yummy! The plants are doing well and they get at least a once-a-week treat of fresh greens. I've even clipped some grass a few nights for them to nibble on. The bunnies love the variety and it provides some fresh fiber which is great. However, I mainly enjoy feeding greens in the summer to increase their water intake. I find that some of my rabbits drink less in the summer than in the winter! So the greens help make up for it a little bit and of course they think they're getting candy.

Swagbucks and Rabbits

2011-07-01T14:30:00.000-04:00

Have you heard of Swagbucks before? This website was shared with me by a good rabbit friend and it has been so neat! It is essentially a search bar (like Google) where you earn points, called Swagbucks (SB), for searching. The SB can then be turned in for prizes. My favorite thing to cash in for is the $5 Amazon gift card, which costs 450 SB in the Swag store.

How is this relevant to rabbits? Amazon sells everything! It is a great, free way to earn rabbit supplies. I have bought plastic baby links for the rabbits this way, and am about to cash in a few of my gift cards for new box fans for the rabbitry. You can also find rabbit water bottles, food dishes, and cages on Amazon. In a hobby like rabbits, getting little treats for free here and there is certainly nice!

The best part about it is that you can save the gift cards in your Amazon account and then use them all at once- so you can wait until you have a pretty high balance to cash in. Right now, I have about $45 in gift cards waiting for me on my next purchase(s).

You should definitely check it out! If you do, please use my referral link-

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/jsc5117

Once you are signed up, you will get your own referral link and can send it to your family and friends. You will earn SB each time your referrals search, which is a great way to get started!

Definitely check it out, it is worth looking into. This website may also help you get started and learn how to navigate the website and begin your own SB collection-

https://sites.google.com/site/swagfordummies/home

Growing Up

2011-06-30T23:22:00.000-04:00

The babies are growing so fast! Today, I took each one outside for a short posing session. I like to start them young so that they will hopefully be calm, obedient posers in adulthood.

As you can see, some did better than others. That's usually how it works. I have one or two that just do so well, and then a few other busy bodies who are all over the place!

All in all though, they did wonderfully! These babies are just so sweet and quiet, a true joy to have around. I often get frustrated with training babies to pose quietly, but this group is so friendly. It was fun to spend time with them.

This little broken black buck is really going to be a heartbreaker when he grows up!

So that's it! Their first posing lesson. These guys are getting so big and will soon be ready for real posing lessons and critique pictures. It seems like just yesterday they were a little bald group of wiggling babies in the nest. It's hard to imagine them being so small now!

Tragedies

2011-06-23T10:26:00.000-04:00

Unfortunately, Idina kindled two DOA babies several days apart. I'm not sure if that was related to her cage escape, or just my streak of bad luck with litters this spring. She is my only proven Holland doe and had a perfect first two litters. Sigh.

A few days ago, my bunny friend Kristen of Keep's Rabbitry suffered a tragic loss of several rabbits in her herd due to heat stroke. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers over the coming days and weeks as her rabbitry recovers.

Her loss reminds us all of the very real possibility of failed ventilation systems or barn fires in the summer time. Electric comfort is appreciated by both bunnies and their owners alike, but we certainly have to consider whether we are doing the best we can to keep our properties comfortable AND safe. Until recently, I have been using standard box fans in the rabbitry, but am now considering investing in a heavy duty industrial fan with an enclosed motor, to decrease the risk of fire. Even so, accidents happen and when they do, help and encouragement from our closest friends is often the only way through it. So if you're a friend of Kristen or even just an acquaintance, please make your way over to her blog and offer her some support during this tough time.

Hopefully this is the last of depressing blog posts for awhile! In better news, Minxy's little ones have been all over the place lately! The little broken opal is so cute and was bonking its nose into the water bottle for fifteen minutes yesterday. I don't think it had any plans to actually drink water, just wanted to play and see what happened. Ha! I have to say that it is quickly becoming a favorite of mine, not only because I'm a sucker for dilutes, but that personality just takes the cake.

Hurried Blog Post

2011-06-16T09:23:00.000-04:00

I feel like I shouldn't be using the "busy" excuse again because I have had a little bit of downtime, but no internet access. So I guess that changes things up a little. Ha! For those who don't know, I work full-time at Woodward sports camp during the summer, at the horse stables. It is literally a 24-hour job as we have 6+ hour-long rides during the day, an overnight camping trip, an then the whole routine starts at 6:45am the next morning as we saddle all the horses and return the overnight kids for another day at camp. It's exhausting, but I love this job.

So I'm hurrying this blog post. Not because I have somewhere to be, but because I don't have somewhere to be. And I want to enjoy that as long as possible! I'm back on the clock tonight!

This morning at 8:30am (on my sleep-in-day-off), I was awoken by my mother asking whether I had moved a rabbit in the middle stacker. No. Apparently when she was feeding last night, she forgot to latch the door or the door just didn't latch securely and Idina jumped from the second cage in the tier to the floor and was running around who-knows-where, maybe hurt, pregnant, and due in 2 days.

Luckily, crisis averted, I found her only a short time after and was able to grab her little waddling self as she tried to run off again. She seems to be perfectly fine too which is a miracle in and of itself.

Also, Minxy's babies continue to grow. They are 2.5 weeks old but don't move much at all, I suppose because of the heat this summer. But they just snuggle into a little pancake of bunnies in the back of the nestbox and are perfectly content. I hope that kind of laid back personality continues well into their first posing lessons. It seems like that is when they all go nuts!

Well, until next time, adios! I will post as soon as possible about Idina's litter. I am hoping they are all okay in there!

Update on the little ones

2011-06-09T17:27:00.002-04:00

Minxy is doing fabulous with her new young'n. Final count is 5! One chestnut, one broken opal/blue (?), one broken tort, and two broken blacks. Not an even solid/broken split like I originally thought, but 5 healthy, perfect babies and a healthy mom- I couldn't have asked for more!

You go girl!

2011-06-01T17:53:00.000-04:00

Go Minxy! Even in this scorching hot Texas- I mean PA- sun, Minxy delivered a healthy, bouncin' litter of 4!

I found them right after she delivered, so it was difficult for me to tell whether there were any peanuts or what the final verdict would be. But there were four wiggling little bodies, a 50/50 split of broken and solid. So you know I'm HAPPY!

:D

A bit reluctant.

2011-05-31T20:08:00.000-04:00

Minxy is due tomorrow, but I'm a little reluctant to even say that out loud. We went from freezing cold to tornado alley to Death Valley this spring as far as weather and right now we're still in a MAJOR heat wave. The poor girl has been laid out for days panting, even with fans on and a relatively cool, shaded rabbitry. If I remember correctly, the last time she was due, it was during one of our freezing cold streaks. Yay.

I have to say, my hopes are high because she was a great mother last time, just had two peanuts unfortunately instead of healthy kits. So I hope all goes well but we'll see what happens.

In other news though, we made the executive decision to leave the rabbits in the garage this summer. I wasn't sure how that would go since ventilation isn't as good in there as it is on our screened porch, obviously. But we have two large windows open on one side and two fans on the other side allowing for cross ventilation. I also keep the lights off and the floor is cement. So all in all, it has been working out great. It has been 90+ for the last couple of days and even so, the rabbitry has stayed nice and cool. Not A/C cool, of course. But definitely a lot cooler than outside.

Remember.

2011-05-30T11:36:00.001-04:00

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
- Christopher Reeve

Sorry to say...

2011-05-28T23:49:00.000-04:00

I hate to be such a downer lately, but truthfully, that's how things are going.

I was on my way out the door this morning when my mom stopped at the first stacker of rabbits and pointed out Suri, one of Summer's babies, sprawled across the cage. Immediately, my mind flashed back to when I lost SugarCookie in the summer of '03. As I opened the cage and reached in to Suri, I knew she was gone. She is the first and only rabbit I've lost since SugarCookie, with the exception of common newborn baby difficulties. Suri was only about 12 weeks old, so I had barely had time to get to know her. But over the past few weeks, she had really blossomed into an incredibly friendly, social little doe. She was my "keeper" and a beautiful little rabbit that I looked forward to adding to the breeding herd. Just last night, I had her out posing for me and brushing her through. I was sure she would grow into a really pretty little doe.

I'm not sure what happened, as she was perfectly fine and bouncing around only hours before.

Rest in Peace, Suri. You will be missed.

Guess that'd be today...

2011-05-24T23:43:00.000-04:00

I walked into the rabbitry to feed tonight and found one DOA baby on the floor of Chroma's cage.

:(

This litter marks 6 months without any Holland babies. I was actually a little bit hopeful still because Chroma delivered two DOAs before finally delivering one healthy, happy baby for her last litter. But it has been about an hour since the last kit was kindled so I am not anticipating a good ending for the others either. Poor girl, she was so sad to lose that baby last time. I was really hoping for a healthy litter for her this time around.

Driving me insane!

2011-05-24T11:12:00.000-04:00

I made a huge mistake a month ago. Or some time ago. I don't know exactly, and that's the problem!

I bred Chroma but forgot to write down the date that I did it. All I remembered was that it was shortly after I bred another doe who was due on the 19th. So Chroma is due "sometime after the 19th". Well, I also didn't think to write down the date of my realization so now I'm not even sure what the window for kindling is. And it's going on a week now of waiting. And I can't palpate but she feels rather bloated to be not pregnant.

Ugh...this is a lesson learned and word to the wise. Don't forget to write down breeding dates!

Graphic Sale

2011-05-23T17:27:00.000-04:00

I have gotten such a good response on the graphic sale that I am continuing it for another week. Logos cost $10-15 and include 1-2 custom drawn and painted rabbits, a colored or patterned background, and unlimited text. Here are a few of my favorite recent examples:

Please contact me soon if you're interested! I can only take a limited number of requests at one time and spots are filling up fast!

Sweet Deals

2011-05-18T15:44:00.000-04:00

Rabbits are a fun hobby, but keeping any animals is expensive. As the numbers in our rabbitry have grown, I have been learning to "save while spending". It's hard to cut costs with animals since the basics are all needed. But here are a few money-saving ideas for anyone looking to pocket a little more money or save up for an outstanding herd buck.

First of all, the Dollar Tree is my best friend when it comes to the rabbits! Everything in the store is just $1.00 and I get a lot of my supplies there, including:

Vinegar- great for cleaning and neutralizing odors
Scrub brushes and brillo pads
Rubber gloves
Large garden trash bags for cleaning trays
Plastic shower curtains- perfect for saving the walls behind your cages!
Wiffle balls and other toys in bulk
Bungee cords for added security on stacking cages or for stabilizing stacks of carriers in the car
All-purpose spray cleaner
Mild dish soap for water bottles and dishes
Air fresheners
Brooms

That is by no means an exhaustive list! But the bottom line is that I get a LOT of my supplies there.

If you are in 4-H, ask your feed stores about whether they offer any 4-H specials or discounts. We have been lucky because for a good number of years, one of our local feed stores offered $10 gift certificates to each 4-H member who participated in the county fair. This was great because between my brother, sister, and I, we would have $30 to spend on food dishes and water bottles. A majority of that equipment for our rabbitry has been gifted to us by the feed store through that program.

Like I mentioned above, I do get trash bags from the dollar store for cleaning cages. However, be sure to keep your old feed or shavings bags to use for trash too. And even better, you can also use litter for compost or fertilizer if you have room to do so.

For more expensive items like carriers, cages, etc., a great place to look is your local livestock auction (if you have one). I often find cages and carriers in like new or brand new shape for $5-15. I also usually ask my rabbit friends who live close if they have equipment they'd like to sell or trade if I am looking for something specific. Trading around or buying used is a great way to save money and most rabbit equipment still has years left in it.

Those are just a few ways to save! I'm sure I will think of and add more another time.

A garden of sorts.

2011-05-16T09:49:00.001-04:00

I've always dreamed of a huge vegetable garden, overflowing with more produce than we can eat! Unfortunately, our rocky, dry soil isn't exactly miracle grow and I really haven't the slightest idea how to improve the soil and keep all the wildlife from eating my hard work.

So instead, I settle for a potted garden. In the summer, it is nice to be able to give the bunnies some fresh foods. The hot summer months always worry me with the threat of heat stroke or dehydration, but feeding greens is not only a fun treat, but also provides some extra water and fiber. Sometimes on especially hot days, I even dip the greens in water before feeding them and the bunnies go crazy for this!

This year, I found one little sprout of romaine lettuce and one little sprout of buttercrunch lettuce at Walmart that looked good. Then I picked up quite a bit of kale from a farmer who was selling some wonderful looking plants at the local weekly auction. Tomorrow, my mom and I are headed to a greenhouse just across town. Her for flowers, me for veggies. I'm really looking forward to this and hoping to add some various parsley plants and other tasty herbs. I'd also like to add to the romaine and buttercrunch, if the opportunity arises.

Xavier

2011-05-15T16:56:00.000-04:00

Wagner's Xavier is the new guy in town! He is the son of Idina, our (Shannon, April, and I) co-owned chestnut doe.

Isn't he a cutie? He is 10 weeks old right now. I've never had a 10 week old look this good!

Leesport, PA

2011-05-14T21:30:00.000-04:00

Oak Ridge's Endless Summer takes another BOG! Unfortunately, we were just 1 rabbit short of a leg but I was still excited for her win! I am not excited about the number of shadeds around here lately though. It seems like I am the only one actively breeding for them and that a few other people seem to have one here or there but not really focus on the group. Not cool! They are my favorite and I want more people to share the competition with. :)

That being said, my self juniors are looking fab. Ha! Way to hold up my end of the bargain, I know. But there is one little shaded doe in there so no worries.

In other news, Spring Lake's Rocky also showed and placed 3rd BSB! Any top 3 win in Hollands is pretty exciting (and unfamiliar) to me, so that was neat. I have some breedings planned for this spring that I am very excited about so I am hoping to have better luck in the upcoming month with that. I have been so down on the Hollands lately because of how tough it's been to get live litters. But here's to another try and hoping for the best! Maybe it will be worth my wait and some cute little show bunnies will end up in the nestbox.

Off to Leesport we go!

2011-05-13T23:05:00.000-04:00

We are off to Leesport in the morning! Wish us luck!

I am showing Harper, Endless Summer, Rocky, Minxy, and Sugar.

It's a no-go.

2011-05-10T21:13:00.000-04:00

Star has kindled 2 babies DOA over the past two days. Judging by the condition of the babies, I think she had or is having a rough time delivering. I'm not sure if there are anymore in there, but ugh.

I am happy that she was able to pass the kits and is okay. But it's sure discouraging to be going through such a rough patch in the prime breeding season.

Star

2011-05-03T23:14:00.001-04:00

Star is due May 8th- Mother's Day babies! I actually didn't plan for that, it just happened like that.

She has been nesting since about week 2, which made me think she might be having a false pregnancy. But Shannon confirmed that there were some babies in there for me, so I am getting excited to see what she has! Her mom was always a very good mother so I'm hoping that Star follows in her footsteps. I think the early nesting is a good sign- she even pulled a little tuft of fur tonight! <3

The other does have been in cycles of breeding and not taking or failing litters since early February. Frustrating! A few are on their last chances, so I am hoping for the best. I only HAVE a few does, so replacing them would mean re-working a large majority of the herd. Back around PaSRBA time, I did a major herd reduction to make room for upcoming spring babies so it sure would be nice to see some spring babies before...summer. Pretty soon, my "junior" wooly doe Harper will even be ready to breed too so we'll then be up to 6 does and 1 currently with a litter. Not very good odds...come on girls!

Nothing

2011-04-30T07:54:00.000-04:00

No updates from the rabbitry.

We have a few litters due in May though. :) Hoping for the best this time!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T11:06:00.000-04:00

I hope you all have a wonderful day with your family and friends!

Happy Easter

from all of us at Oak Ridge Rabbitry!