Mini Lop Kits

Just thought I'd post a couple pictures of my last Mini Lop litter. They were sired by Hulk and Serenity is their mother. After all those litters where I wanted does, now that I am moving out of the breed these both appear to be nicely typed does, lol.

Agouti side view:

Agouti head view:

I'm pretty sure the kit above is a shaded agouti (shagouti), but she is definitely a blue chinchilla regardless.

Here is the smoke pearl doe:

And a head view:

I actually like the agouti the best right now, too bad she probably isn't showable if that is shading on her ears/muzzle. They are from a smoke pearl X blue silver-tipped steel pairing.

They are both available for sale along with the last of my Mini Lops- two senior does and a senior chocolate buck. 

Thanks for looking!

Breeding Plans

I had only planned a handful of breedings before the bucks and does have the summer off. For whatever reason though, there hasn't been a lot of cooperation. So far the only successful breeding was between Bonus and Tacoma last week and finally Kari and Apollo tonight. I try to time the breedings so that multiple does can kindle together, but it just wasn't meant to be this time around. No other pairings have been successful this Spring, so fingers crossed that these two will have nice litters as we won't have anything else planned until Fall.

Spring

I normally like the transition from a chilly Winter to a breezy Spring. But not this year.

Don't get me wrong, the flowers have arrived and it is very pretty out. This is one of the Japanese cherry blossom trees that I planted years ago starting to bloom this past week:

And here it is now:

They look great, but what you can't tell from this picture is how hot and humid it has been. Or how my white car is now yellow from pollen:

As much as I love this, I am already officially ready for Fall again:

Just thought I'd share.

Bonus!

Do you think he knows he is handsome? I do.

"I can't help it if I am studly." ~Bonus

Looking left:

Looking right:

Looking right at cha!:

It was nasty outside yesterday (at least to Bonus and I) at 85 and humid, so we had to make it a short photo shoot for both of our sakes. He was still glad to show off his handsome mug obviously. :o)

Bonus also has a great personality and is very laid-back. He was bred successfully to Tacoma yesterday a few hours before picture-time. Hopefully she took and all goes well. Little Bonus babies would be absolutely fabulous! I also think that if I could get a few keeper does anything like their parents that they would be very complimentary to Apollo and Helo in particular. Fingers crossed!

Last Roadtrip Post

In the last post about the trip, I was talking about how pretty the Bradford pear trees are all along the road in Elijay, GA. Here is another picture of it further down:

As Blue Ridge nears, all these cute little farms start popping up in the valleys:

I wouldn't mind that pasture one bit. :oP

Blue Ridge! This is the turn to the old town section where the scenic railway is obviously:

Blue Ridge was pretty much centered around the railroad back in the day:

I'm just going to post a series of pictures from the town. It is so cute:

 

 Finally left Blue Ridge and continued onward. This time we went to Blairsville, then up through Young Harris and beyond. What a beautiful area:

All I can say is that it is a beautiful place and I wish I could live there. Thanks for coming on the trip with me- I hope you enjoyed the ride. :o)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

May your blessings outnumber

The shamrocks that grow,

And may trouble avoid you

Wherever you go.

~Irish Blessing

Have a great day!

Roadtrip Continued

Sorry for the roadtrip interruption as I have been busy with school. (Note: another NON-rabbit post, sorry.)

We were in Atlanta last time. Did you know that Georgia Tech overlooks beautiful I-75? I didn't either until I drove past it: 

Pretty school, but terrible location in my humble opinion. Same with Georgia State University right next door. One of my fellow nursing students was recently car-jacked on campus and the perpetrators broke her arm. Although both of these schools have excellent reputations, I hope I can attend another school away from downtown Atlanta for my continued nursing education for obvious safety and location concerns.

Anyway, let's get out of Atlanta finally and keep heading north:

One of the nice things about the Atlanta area is that once you leave the perimeter, it doesn't take long for the city to change to suburbs towards Marietta and then to even some rural areas. One of my favorite "transition" areas is Woodstock/Canton that we are passing through as I-75 turns into I-575. As you can see some rolling hills appear and all of a sudden there is grass and trees again:

 

A completely different view from the city finally:

Here is the deranged driver (me). If you ever wanted to put a face with the crazy bunny lady that posts online, here's your chance:

  

Back to what is outside the car. We start crossing various creeks, streams, and even a river or two as we continue. I wanted to get some better pictures, but there wasn't really anywhere to pull over for most of them. The drive north of Canton and into the Blue Ridge mountains has a lot of scenic areas, but very few viewing areas or even a wide shoulder. The people are generally driving by at 70mph +:

Can you see a hint of the Blue Ridge mountains in the distance? We are passing Jasper by:

I was very fortunate because as we made our way into Ellijay, all of the Bradford Pear trees were blooming:

I probably should end this before it takes too long to load for slower connections. I hope to finish the trip pictures with the next post on the borders of Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Thanks for reading!

Hoppin' Circle February Wrap Up

Oak Ridge Rabbitry shows us the imporatance of being transparent in our rabbitry.

At Home Pets tells us how she breeds for health in her rabbitry.

The Kelfla Project shows us how they stay organized with a animal management application.

Fisher Farms Rabbitry shows us their set up for taking sassy pictures of their adorable buns.

Hendricks Hearth tackles a very important topic in The Hay Post.

Rabbit Smarties introduces us to the breed; Silver.

October Grace Rabbitry shares with us some of their dreams for their barn.

Mini Roadtrip

I've been away traveling the past few days by car. I thought I'd take ya'll on a tour through parts of Georgia as I make my way north. For the record, this post has nothing to do with rabbits whatsoever. Might want to stop reading if random travel pictures are not your cup o' tea. :)

If you are still here, then let's go ahead down the road leading away from the house. Everything is so green already!

 ..and onto the interstate. This is I-20 for those that don't live around here. It is a is a major east–west highway in the Southern United States that goes all the way from South Carolina to Texas:

 Now we are approaching Atlanta. As you can see, there is another major interstate called I-285. It is known around here as the perimeter of the city and basically makes a huge loop around it. We are going to pass right by so we can head to the city directly.

Just a hint for travelers that are coming through this area. The best time to travel is either at night or when everyone is at work. This means you do NOT want to head this direction during any rush hour time on week days or you should plan to bring something entertaining because you will be stuck, potentially for hours. It can get really, really packed. Here is a beautiful flowing example of why it is best to go when very few people are on the road:

 

At this point I am inside the perimeter, aka coming up on downtown Atlanta proper. There is very little traffic and it is a beautiful day. As you can see, the city is divided by two more huge interstates, I-75 and I-85:

 

And this is when things get weird. I wanted to go northeast, so I hopped on I-75N and apparently that includes a free trip down into darkness:

Yes, they send the drivers immediately into tunnels, several of them actually. I'd also like to take this time to point out that Atlanta is a city of BLING!

We don't even like regular colored buildings. They have to be topped in gold and circled in lipstick red. We also like to remind everyone ever (topped in gold again!) that we once held the Olympics here:

 Lego buildings are another popular fashion in this area:

A city made of legos?

 Just thought I'd share the preferences of Atlantians.

More to come from the mini roadtrip later. Thanks for reading!

Rabbitry Updates

I have some time today, so I just thought I post the latest news from around here. Not that there is must to say though - its been pretty quiet and it will probably stay that way for a while. 

There will be a very sparse Spring/Summer breeding schedule for one thing. I've never been one to produce litters en masse, but this time around I am not even planning more than a handful until Fall. I haven't had a lot of extra time as I am trying to finish my last semester of school and I don't see the point in raising a litter if I can't handle them like I want to. I also just don't have many adult does these days, which is limiting in its own right.

In other news, we are continuing to downsize our Mini Lops. I have just one buck left from our original male group that is a homebred chocolate. It's hard to say goodbye to a breed I love so much, but I will have so much more space and focus for the Harlequins. They need it so much more.

An example of this is one of the female Harlie kits is turning out to have splayed legs in the hindquarter. I don't feel that this provides a good quality of life for the future, but it is also yet another potential genetic issue to add to the laundry list. I am not freaking out because this was the runt of the litter and is only half the size of her siblings. This was also already a repeat breeding and no other kits from either litter have any musculoskeletal difficulties. Still, something to be watched for and culled, culled, culled if I see anything like it again.

The weather has been very warm for the most part. And stormy. Last night was the first cool weather we've had in a few weeks it seems like after line after line of severe weather and general muggy-ness. All of the Spring bulbs have bloomed and I hope to start planting a portion of the garden once I am confident that we will not have another freeze of three. Not to say I wouldn't mind the cold weather- I miss winter already!

I think that's about it for updates. Just in a holding pattern of sorts while I get the herd sorted and graduate from school hopefully. :o)