Introducing my rabbits

[AyaSora]

Well I've been lurking around since I rejoined and just reading here and there. I used to be Blaze_Amita but since both have seriously passed on I rejoined under my rabbitry name.

Anyway, while I do have a Facebook rabbitry page the easiest way to show everyone is my Webs page. http://ayasorarabbitry.webs.com/index.htm

I have also done some rescue work.
Last rabbit, which is what has made me stop doing rescues. I've helped the shelter out with a lot of their rabbits that have come in(I work at a Vets office, I'm an in house trained tech) but one of the rescues that I had come in, I know who the breeder was, but they had sold out when this little doe was young and the lady was giving her away because they couldn't get her bred and she was seriously skittish. Was going to send her to the shelter(not the same one-wrong county) and she was skinny and sat like this:

so I took her into work after about two weeks of getting some weight on her trying to see if that would help first, and x-rayed her:

Lesson learned- broken back that had healed. And I ended that day putting her down. She was happy, sweet and loved attention but was breathing hard because of her chest and we hadn't hit the hottest part of the summer yet. I haven't even thought about doing rabbit rescue since then.

 

[AyaSora]

On my current herd of rabbits there are:

Dutch:
My two old GC girls: Natalie and Connie, 5 and 4 legs respectfully, I don't show alot or else I probably could have gotten more legs on Natalie at least. These two are litter mates and will be 5 years old in January. Connie's on a litter right now- of two a dutch doe and a Velveteen Lop doe. Natalie is a steel and Connie's a black, both do tract back to Amita.
Old lady Clover who is almost 5 (april of next year) she came back to me for retirement but I did manage to get one litter out of her in the spring with a buck I had sold and has done well on the table, Pip, and got 4 lovely little girls and I kept one, Legends.
So Legends is explained, like her momma she's blue. Blues were my first love, Amita was a blue, followed by steels.
Raven is a steel daughter out of Natalie and a blue buck- so carries blue like her momma. She's 3 years old now and will retire with me when she's done with breeding. Nice looking girl, very typie but loves to chew on cage wire and pulled a tooth which was why she never made it to the show table until last year. has a BOV and BOSV win but no legs from lack of competition
Then my boy Chaucer. He's out of a Raven daughter(Natalie granddaughter) and by a Natalie Son but traces back to the first buck i bought sight unseen, Alexus' AB4 Rafik. He looks like Raf in every way except he's a steel and Raf was a blue. Heavily line bred through Natalie and right now has a BOB leg from his first time out. He's now a proven daddy with Connie(baby is also heavily line bred since Natalie and Connie are littermates) baby girl in the nest box.

Velveteen Lops:
CCR's Tobias- a broken black tort buck. still young and unproven but they are my mess around with breed. I've loved them for a long time, sold out and got back into them and have worked hard to get the pair that I've got now(well trio I guess now!) Tobias is my only buck at this time. And I can track right off the edge of his pedigree my first pair of Velveteens Wordy and Shelly.
Desert Flower- aka Flower. My first homebred from starting back up she's a blue tort, by a blue fawn harle and out of a REW. Both I have moved on to other barns.
Baby- She has no name yet. I ended up fostering her into the dutch litter when Connie lost one of her two because it was chilly, So I had a litter of 9 velveteens(I have since Sold the momma, other 8 babies and daddy to a friend) I took one out of and put in the dutch litter. She's a little broken black tort

English Spots:
They are a dream breed for me. I LOVE marked breeds I had a trio before, lilac buck and 2 blue does and after a while I ended up selling them out of state to Ohio and West Virginia because there wasn't anyway to sell the offspring (Now I cull a lot more with the marked breeds) But then told myself that I can have what I want and just enjoy them so I got myself another pair of spots. Eventually I do want a blue doe but I had to settle for a black since I couldn't find a blue
Lilac buck- Willie- he came with that name, he's a gorgeous boy and as sweet as they come.
Black doe- Gigi- She's more standoffish but has started to warm up and LOVES her time out in the xpen. She sees me set it up and then come for her cage she waits to be picked up so she can go romping.

Well thats about everyone here.

 

[majorv]

Hi there, glad to see you back...I remember you under your old name! We still show Tans for right now. I'm getting out of Polish and come Spring we'll be selling most of the Tans. Daughter was just accepted to vet school for August and won't have time for rabbits.

 

[AyaSora]

has it really been that long? I remember seeing all the pictures of the tans! Oh my gosh . . . . Vet school!

 

[RavenousDragon]

Vet school is awesome!! Tell her congrats!

 

[majorv]

Thanks, we're all happy about it. Woahlookitsme (her screen name here) doesn't get on here much so I'll tell her

 

[woahlookitsme]

Hey Amita!! You should definitely post photos of your babies! Thank you for the congratulations everyone!

Glad to see you back on here!

 

[AyaSora]

I know! I come by so little as it is. so many things keep me occupied, I might end up selling out come spring myself. I am going to go down to a trio and two of my older girls. Clover's not doing good now so she'll be going into work with me this week and I'll be letting her go. I hate not being able to keep them going much past 5 years old.

I've got some babies on the ground and it's exciting to have a few babies on the ground and I've got the lady that bred my boy Chaucer that's going to take him to Nationals for me this year. I am having such bad anxiety issues this year, especially without my dog and I wouldn't be able to take her with me so I'm sending him with a friend to show. I think he'll do good. Add that to my job is way too low paying to keep up with keeping a decent herd.

But for some fun, Pictures of my little boy, Chaucer! I am so in love with this little boy!

 

[woahlookitsme]

Oh he looks like the sweetest!!

 

[AyaSora]

Well my first show of the season (April 1st) kind of gave me a minor redirection to go in.

I've gotten down to Natalie and Connie, Legends and Chaucer left for dutch. Legends is due in 8 days for a litter to Chaucer.

BUT I moved GiGi on, kept two of her daughters from Willie, and have added two more Spots.
This is the blue buck. He's out of HMD's I Am Iron Man who has 39 legs on him. I LOVE my blues!

This is his daughter Cricket, I have her bred back to her sire so HOPEFULLY I can get some more blues

Then here's the two daughters I had kept out of Willie x Gigi
Miranda:

Lindsey:

I *almost* picked up a pair of blue Checkered Giants but I refrained. I Don't need anymore rabbits- honestly I don't. But I do like the full arch running breeds and marked breeds.

 

[AyaSora]

I still have Willie and Flower (Velveteen Lop). I haven't had the chance to sell the Velveteen Lop, it's been hard to make that choice to get rid of the one breed.

 

[AyaSora]

So much has happened these past 8/9 months since I was here last. I've given up my Velveteen lops completely it was that or seriously limit what I kept on as show offspring.
Early May last year Cricket (Black english spot doe) was 10 days bred to her blue sire, she shattered her front left leg- on what I am assuming was her hay rack. Brought her into work and Doc amputated her leg- 2.5 weeks later graced me with a big litter of 8 babies. I culled out 2 of them because she was still healing from surgery and ended up keeping the blue marked doe(Mirror) out of the litter, and gave a friend's daughter a marked black doe from the litter (Poppy). Poppy went on as a junior to take Best of Breed at KY state fair. I was ecstatic. Mirror has shown okay for me, but not much competition there.
I did a trade with a lady down in Texas for a blue buck to complement Mirror, and I traded her Miranda (a Willie x GiGi daughter) and got blue buck Trick. I will have a question below for other breeders about Trick. I also got GiGi and Willie back. Right now I have a 3 day litter from Willie and Cricket. I am thrilled with the rainbow of colors. Four marked kits- a black, a blue, a lilac and a chocolate! I also have brought in a pair of tort dutch, Lantis has my old tort lines and not quite as sweet tempered as Chaucer but he's getting there and the friend I gave Poppy to, gave me my tort girl, Jolene. So it's kind of nice to have a full pair of blue dutch (Dutch Willie & Legends) I also have Legend x Chaucer blue daughter Memory.

FOr Dutch:
Natalie and Connie- the old girls are both still kicking, just turned 6!
Legend - blue
Memory - blue
Willie - blue
Chaucer - steel
Lantis - Tort
Jolene - tort

For English Spots:
Trick - Blue buck
Willy Spot- Lilac buck
Cricket- black doe- "amputee doe"
Linds- (GiGi x Willie daughter with a BOB leg from her firs time out)
Mirror- (Cricket x HMD's Blue Boy)
GiGi- she is supposed to go to texas with her daughter Miranda since she carries gray lines.

And I have one owner turnover Heinz 57 rabbit- Gerdy. She looks to be a Nethie & Mini Rex cross. She's older but she's just a little mix that is kinda cute and growing on me, so she'll stick around until she passes. I had 3 owner turnover/ shelter turnover to me in less than 3 months and I got two farmed out as they were New Zealand mixes, to meat breeder homes.

Now for question about Trick- Okay he was from a trade. Good lines. I bred him to Linds and Cricket a month after I got him. Make sure he was clear of anything and integrate into my herd. Linds wasn't proven, but Cricket was. Both does had 2 large DOA kits- 1 marked 1 solid each(that was kinda creepy), I have Mirror due tonight/tomorrow to him and I'm afraid she's going to have 2 large DOA kits- and I have re-bred Linds again and she's due in a month alongside 3 dutch does so I have fosters if I need it. Do you think if he fails to produce live kits with Linds this time around and with Mirror should I just give it up and move him out? Give him another shot with a proven doe? Linds had a litter with HMD's Blue Boy(Mirror's sire) that she didn't take care of- I heard that it was common for the spots to not take care of their first litters(I actually got one fostered to a dutch and he's also living in a youth home). I want to get Linds back onto the table she's got one BOB leg so I'd like to get some more legs on her. I also will be getting Willy on the table too. Sorry this is so long. The lady I got Trick from never used him as a buck so he wasn't proven when I got him.

 

[majorv]

With bucks we would try to breed them to 3 different does, unrelated, before giving up on him. I’d definitely use a proven doe for at least one of the does you try.