January 1, 2012
Well, starting off the New Year with attending the annual Antique Show at the Armory. Bought an old children's book to use some illustrations of bunnies for crafts. Also found a horse fiction book from the 1950's.
As for the Rabbit World part of the New Year, bred up a bunch of does with rabbit buddy, Barry. So hopefully by Groundhog's Day there will be a lot of kit "shadows" in the nestboxes.
January 2, 2012
We finally have had to replace the rabbitry furnace. Guess we can't kick as it was about 35 years old. Amazing it lasted that long but considering it was set to kick on at only 47 degrees, was serviced regularly and filter changed, it was still due. Ex-rabbiteers the "Jacks" located a good used one and replaced the burner. We picked it up the day after Christmas and also went out to lunch at Anglers Restaurant while visiting with them. One good thing to offset the furnace purchase is that it should be more fuel efficient. At least I'll tell myself that till the newer one is paid off. Having a heated rabbitry is almost a must when you raise HL's, otherwise you will get more "winter ears" than you want to deal with. A cold rabbitry is a good excuse for poor ear carriage/weak crown though, hmmmmm,...
January 4, 2012
Time to assign ear numbers to the weanlings and get them input in Evans Pedigree program. Thank goodness for that software, makes record keeping so much easier. At Blackberry Farm, we assign even numbers to the does and odd numbers to the bucks. Also use a letter designated to the sire, usually the first initial of his name but different if there are duplicate first initial bucks.
January 5, 2012
Went to see the movie "War Horse" and it was good. A good job by Spielberg not to show all the gory details when characters got killed. Almost like Hitchcock, still a bit scary and you knew what was going to happen but didn't have to see it. It certainly didn't take from the dramatic effects.
Went to Michael's crafts to get some ideas and supplies. I've started doing some memory boxes for clubs to use for rabbit show awards. I'll post photos of the completed ones here soon. Folks seem to like getting something decorative instead of plastic gold trophies to collect dust.
January 6, 2012
Did a preliminary check on some rabbits to come up with possibles for next week's show entry deadline. There is a triple show the 15th, so will have to be frugal on not over-entering as each entry fee will be tripled.
January 7, 2012 - HINT
I'll try to put rabbit keeping hints in this blog here and there, so keep checking back. I'll put HINT beside the date. Today's hint is a recycling use for those wooden tangerine (Cuties) crates. They come in handy when cleaning a nestbox. You can "corral" the babies in it while you replace soiled bedding with clean.
January 11, 2012
Well have sent in a small entry of 8 for this weekend's show. There are quite a few HL exhibitors attending, so should be one of the top breeds shown. It's been a couple of months since the last Maine show. It'll be fun to see everyone and get to talk rabbits, though it'll be a busy day showing 3 times. Caught up on inputting weanlings on the pedigree software. For now, they are BBF's and an ear #, the names will come later when they start to look like "somebody". I have a list of names I'd like to use but they have to fit the rabbit. Reading a book about Thoroughbred racehorses and its a good source for neat names.
January 12, 2012
Bred up 3 does earlier this week, had planned to do more, you know how that goes. We are getting snow, it was nice to have bare ground but inevitably it wasn't going to last. Sunday is supposed to be very cold. I feel bad for the rabbits that will come into a warm showroom and have to go back out to a very cold rabbitry. Hope everyone does the best they can for their rabbits. It isn't worth a ribbon or quality point to put their health and comfort in question.
January 15, 2012
Sent out this web site URL to a bunch of rabbit friends and have gotten great feedback and some suggestions. Thanks all for your input!
Well, today's show ran pretty smooth and was happy to get home early after the state's first triple show with a big turnout. The temperatures were not kind though as I was loading rabbits (thank God for a heated rabbitry) shortly before 6 a.m. at MINUS 8 degrees (that's -8 as in 8 BELOW ZERO). When I got home about 5PM it was only 6 above. BRRRRR..... putting them back in their holes their fur felt cold just in the time it takes to pop the back and unload 3 carriers. The showroom was a bit tight but do-able. If only folks would either leave their chairs folded up out of the way when not sitting in them, it would be easier to manuever the aisles. And if a cage dealer didn't run a power saw inside the showroom when exhibitors are trying to hear judge's comments, that would help too. The Hollands can be high strung enough without that added loud whine. Yes, I'm talking about the power saw's whine - not the irritated exhibitors shouting at him to stop!
The two jrs were pretty much too young to show. But with just only one January, one February, no March show and a too late April show (when they turn senior the day of), they can be shown only twice in their junior careers, so they went. Then being judged 3 times in one day sure was a hair-raising experience for them, not to mention the power saw! Was pleasantly surprised to have the jr doe do as well as she did in a class of 16, she placed 5th, 6th, 7th. The jr buck faired as expected near the bottom but with good comments and 'young for the class' comment. One comment on the latter that was greatly appreciated was about his tremendous bone. Because after all, great bone does not go away with age, it only gets more pronounced and is worth a lot of points. Plus I don't think you'll ever see a senior HL that has huge bone and a pin size head. Big bone goes with a Big Head.
The four SSB's held their own by staying in the Top Ten. The two BSB's were in the Top Five 4 times, one winning the class and Best Broken (Chester). Some "oh so close" second places always get the ticker going. Both mine and the rabbits. By the third show you could tell most had had enough for the day.
Though we were showing for most of the day, I did get to catch up with a few rabbiteers, always fun! Good rabbit fun day.
January 16, 2012 - HINT
Make some hanging dividers between rows of cages and between individual stackable cages to protect against spraying bucks. Cut a small board the depth of the cage and attach a metal cup hook at the top of either end. Cut a piece of heavy clear plastic (the kind used to cover basement windows for insulating factor during wintertime) the length of the cage height. Staplegun plastic to the top outside of the board. Hang on the side of the cage. When dirty, they can be hosed and reused many times.
January 18, 2012
Read a quote that reminded of how you feel when you first start out with rabbits and how you feel years later, not necessarily an "expert" as in the quote but an experienced person. Here it is: "In the beginner's mind there are many possibities but in the experts mind there are few". Shunryu Suzuki
When you first get into rabbits and see all that are for sale and want all that are for sale and think of all the possibilities there would be if you had them all. But after some years of breeding this inconsistant breed, you really start to narrow down the possibilities when you look to buy something new.
January 19, 2012
Hope springs eternal... 2 does are lugging for their Feb. 1st due dates. Which reminds me, some rabbitries may have Feb. 29th babies - Leap Year! Jan Hancock sent me a really good rabbit keeping hint which will get posted here soon. Anyone with an idea, send it in and see if it hits this blog.
January 23, 2012 - HINTS
Update, 4 does lugging now, yeah! Got this great tip from Jan Hancock to put in the blog, thanks Jan! This is what she had to share. " I reuse mismatched flat sheets by turning them into hay bags. You just fold the long sides together and stitch them on the sewing maching and you have a nice pillowcase for hauling bales of hay. You just slip the hay inside and tie the opposing sides together for a nice soft handle. Keeps the hay contained so you don't have to pick it out of the carpet for the next month." I'd like to add to this - it would work great too for opened shavings bales. Another related hint - Buy one of those cheap vinyl tablecloths to put in the back of your bunnymobile before transporting the buns. Be sure to air the tablecloths out beforehand as they sometimes have stinky plastic emissions. You don't want the bunnies inhaling those smells so close to sensitive noses. Did you know rabbits' sense of smell is 10 times ours? The buns are happy to provide their own aroma to the tablecloths. The vinyl tablecloths work great when bringing bunnies into hotel rooms, no mess behind for the housekeepers or next hotel guests.