Lila's 2 week old Holland lop kits!!!

[iLuvMyLilBuns]

Hey everyone!! Here's some pics of my beautiful kits! The littlebun opened his/her eyes on October 15th when he/she was 13 days old and the bigger kit had one eye open on October 15th so I helped him/her open the other eye with a washcloth. They are getting soo big!! The little kit has soo much fur!! Like crazy!! The bigger kit doesn't have as much fur They haven't started coming out of the nest yet and they haven't starting nibbling on Lila's food but they should soon When they were 14 days old they went in the grass for the first time!! It was soo fun They explored a little but made sure tostay close to each other Also, I am planning on selling one of the kits. I'm thinking about selling the larger kit because I don't think he/she got the dwarf gene. I'm keeping the bun with the best show qualities. Which bun do you guys think has better show qualities? Also one of the buns will belooking for a home soPM me if you're interested Here's a few pics of the twins!!

Big size difference! Smaller kit is on the right.

Sleepy babies

Bigger kit

Smaller kit is soo fluffy

First time in the grass!! Bigger kit.

Little bun has airplane ears lol

Little bun a show bunny?

Bigger bun a show bunny?

Cuddly!!

Sleepy hehe

Streeeetch

Lovin the grass!

Little bun!

Big bunny in my hand!

Little bunny in my hand!

Big bunny is a little chubby!

Posing for me

The grass is soo soft

Cuties!

My baby girl isn't a baby anymore She looks soo big next to her kits

Hope you all enjoyed the pics of my babies Wich one do you think is a show bunny?

 

[iLuvMyLilBuns]

Also, I can't believe the little kits ears are already flopped!! I thought they usually flopped a lot later? I got Lila when she was 5 weeks andone her ears still hadn't flopped!

 

[Apebull]

Ah cuteness overload :surrender I surrender!!

 

[KittyKatMe]

I have heard that usually the smaller Holland Lops make better show bunnies. Do you show the parents?

 

[iLuvMyLilBuns]

Kat: Yes I do show the parents.

This is Lila, the mama:

The things judges and myself have noticed that are bad about her in showing are that she doesn't fill at the base of her hind quarters, has a long head, and her ears are creased and long. Also she is a pretty big, she weights about 4lbs.. I got her under 4lbs for a while before I bred her The only good quality she has is her crown, it has great placement I've only shown my rabbits in 4-H shows and the fair and she has gotten blue at all the shows and got Grand Champion at the fair.

This is the daddy Charlie:

Bad things about him in showing are his shoulders are a touch long and his cown is slipped which is soo sad He has a terrible crown! He has a lot of great qualities though. His head is great, his ears are perfect length, and he weighs only 3lbs which is great He also has only gotten blue and he got Grand Champion at the fair. He's a greaat show bunny Can anybodyguess who the babies take after?

 

[KittyKatMe]

Just curious, are you going to have any more litters?

 

[iLuvMyLilBuns]

I might breed her again this springifeverything isstable around here... hopefully I find a home for thebigger kit

 

[ldoerr]

SOOO very cute!!! I know nothing about lops though so can not help you with them.

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

The pictures of your babies are great! What a cute bunch of bunnies.

As far as evaluating them for show qualities, you will have to wait a bit longer. Usually around 4 weeks of age I start working with my kits on posing. Then by 6-8 weeks, they are typically posing well enough to do your first evaluation. At that time, it's usually recommended that you just cull for major DQs. (Cull just means remove from herd.) So you would be looking for things like missing toenails, mismatched toenails, extremely long ears...that kind of thing.

By 10-12 weeks, you can typically see which kits will be more broody. Meaning too big to show, longer ears, longer bodies, etc. In a large litter, you might cull the least promising type from the litter at this point. With only two kits, if your goal is breeding, you would probably still want to keep both around.

Then it's usually best to let them grow up for awhile. At about 4 months old, the kits begin to fill out and get more of their adult characteristics. That's usually when you have a better idea of how they can be used in your herd. Even if a rabbit is not show quality, it may have strong characteristics that would be desirable in a breeding rabbit. Or, you might find that some are looking particularly promising for show and decide to hold them back.

Since the photos of your adult rabbits are not posed, I can't get an overall idea of type. However, some things to watch for in your babies are crown and length of body. I noticed that both Lila and Charlie have slipped crowns. So if you're keeping a rabbit to eventually linebreed back to the parents, you will want to watch for which kit has the better crown. Ideally, the crown sits on top of the head so that the ear falls right behind the eye. It looks like Lila has a good finger or two width of space between her eye and where her crown starts. Charlie is pulling his ears forward a bit in the picture, but you could probably see the same thing with him in person when his ears are relaxed.

And length of body is important to keep an eye on because it's a very common fault in Hollands. If Charlie has a long shoulder, it's something to watch for because it will likely show up in the kits.

Anyway, this is getting a little long! But hopefully this helps a little bit and gives you an idea of what to look for. Larger kits, even if they are not showy, typically have lots of mass and width. So give it some time...you may find that keeping the less showy kit to breed back to the parents could give you nicer babies down the road. Or, you may find that the smaller kit already turns out to be an improvement over the parents. Hollands are very difficult and inconsistent to breed, so sometimes it takes several generations to get a truly show quality rabbit. Show quality doesn't just mean it's free of DQs. Show quality refers to a rabbit that's a good example of the breed and could hold its own in a competitive class of rabbits. That's a challenging thing to achieve! But the journey is fun.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

How can a bunny possibly BE so cute?! Much to adorable! If it wern't for lack of space & knowing that so many buns out there need homes, I'd love to breed Hollands! I'm their biggest fan!

 

[Hyatt101]

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

 

[Missy]

Beautiful Beautiful Beautiful Babies :inlove:

 

[Nancy McClelland]

:inlove: