Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Bunnies for sale

SOLD
*Hamilton's Amor~Sable Point Senior Buck born 11/22/09....$80 with pedigree
Amor has mostly LOV's bloodlines with a dash of THF Saynora
(Amor is Hamilton's Minnie's sire and also sire to the Sable Point jr buck at the bottom of this list)
Amor has 1 leg & placed well at the OH mini convention '10.  He is a great breeder & produces nicely.  He hasn't been shown recently due to having a pee stained coat  :/
*******************************************************************
SOLD

*Hamilton's Holly~Broken Tort Senior Doe, Proven & great mom. Born 7/23/09....$60 with pedigree
Holly has LOV & Camelot bloodlines, has produced sable points, blue tort & blue point

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SOLD

*Hamilton's Peaches~Tort Senior Doe, Proven & great mom. Born 2/19/10....$50 with pedigree
Peaches has LOV & Camelot bloodlines, has produced Blue Torts
(Peaches is mom to the blue tort doe posted below~Hamilton's Deb & and also the blue tort buck in the bunny playtime video, in a previous blog post)
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SOLD

*Hamilton's Lightning Bug~Tort Jr Buck, born 8/2/10....$60 with pedigree/$40 without pedigree
Lightning bug is mostly LOV lines
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-Malena

bunny playtime :)

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Getting burned out??

Well, I've always heard of people getting burned out and losing interest in bunnies....now, I'm starting to wonder if I'm headed down that path  :/

Right now, I dont get a lot of time to spend with the bunnies and going down to feed & water is about all I do these days and its becoming a chore that just doesnt seem to be fun anymore~which is sad.  Maybe I shouldnt have taken on 2 jobs, but we really need the extra money.  And taking care of the family and paying bills seems to be more important than raising a bunch of bunnies and trying to take time off work to go to shows.  I would love to downsize and sell a few bunnies but no one seems to be interested in buying any right now....the only inquires I've gotten lately are from people wanting babies~and I dont have any available right now.

-Malena

Friday, November 19, 2010

Herd Reduction

I need to downsize my herd of Holland Lops....with babysitting & working I just dont have a whole lot of time to spend with the bunnies anymore  :(   I get to go down to the barn once a day for feeding & watering while the baby is napping, and thats pretty much it  :/ 
I will have several nice bunnies available....I dont have a whole lot of time to take pictures, but most are pictured on my website already.  Here's a short list of available bunnies & prices....please contact me if you are interested:  hopnlops @ bellsouth.net  (remove spaces)

*Hamilton's Amor~Sable Point Senior Buck born 11/22/09....$80 with pedigree
Amor has mostly LOV's bloodlines with a dash of THF Saynora

*Hamilton's Holly~Broken Tort Senior Doe, Proven & great mom.  Born 7/23/09....$60 with pedigree
Holly has LOV & Camelot bloodlines, has produced sable points, blue tort & blue point

*Hamilton's Peaches~Tort Senior Doe, Proven & great mom.  Born 2/19/10....$50 with pedigree
Peaches has LOV & Camelot bloodlines, has produced Blue Torts

*Hamilton's Lightning Bug~Tort Jr Buck, born 8/2/10....$60 with pedigree/$40 without pedigree
Lightning bug is mostly LOV lines

Pepper & Cynabun will be going back to Janice, thanks so much for letting me borrow them....hopefully I'll see you soon  ;)

Check back....I might have a few others to add to the list, I have a couple Does that I am trying to decide if I want to keep or sell them

-Malena

Saturday, November 13, 2010

still available...

Just wanted to update my list of for sale bunnies, these guys are still available....please email me if you are interested or have any questions.  Email address:  hopnlops @ bellsouth.net  (remove spaces)
#1
Tort Buck, just turned 8 weeks old on Nov. 2nd
now reduced to $30 without pedigree
SOLD
***********************************************************

#2
Broken Sable Point Buck, just turned 8 weeks on Nov. 2nd
$50 without pedigree/$60 with pedigree
SOLD
************************************************************


#3
Harold is a 2 year old Black Otter Netherland Dwarf. He was very spoiled by a little girl, who later developed allergies and could no longer keep him. He is litter box trained and comes with outdoor hutch, food, hay, litter box, water bottle, crock & hide away house~which he loves to sit on top of.


He is very sweet and LOVES to be petted :)

-Malena

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

So cool!

Just wanted to share this neat little story:  I was at Best Buy today, buying the newest Lil Wayne CD...and thru a series of events something really cool happened.
There were 2 other people in line ahead of me, an employee walks over and says, customer service is open if you'd like to check out quicker.  The guy behind me left and went over there but I stayed in line, it was almost my turn when another employee walks up to the register next to us and starts to ring me up when he says "I like your shirt, I have a Holland Lop"  (I was wearing my HLRSC shirt, I dont get too many comments about it so I was sort of surprised) lol   I told him I raised & showed Holland Lops.  He asked, where I was located & I said Leicester....curious, I asked where he got his bunny from.  He says from someone near Weaverville~Hamilton's Hoppin' Lops or something like that....my mouth dropped to the floor and I was like, oh my gawd thats us!  How cool!  He went on to tell me how much he loved his bunny & how the bunny and his dog get along so well....it was great to hear that he was enjoying the bunny he got from us.  That is so awesome!  :)

-Malena

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Available bunnies....

Here are some bunnies that will be available soon.  They will be sold on a first come, first serve basis....a deposit is required to place a bunny on hold.  Please email me to inquire about any of the bunnies listed below.  Email: hopnlops @ bellsouth.net   (remove spaces)

These guys will be ready on Nov 2nd:
#1
Broken Tort Buck~$50 without pedigree/$60 with pedigree
SOLD
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#2
Broken Sable Point Buck~$50 without pedigree/$60 with pedigree
*********************************************************


#3
Tort Buck~$40 without pedigree
**********************************************************

These guys will be on Nov. 9th:
#4
Tort Buck~$40 without pedigree
SOLD
************************************************************

#5
Broken Tort Buck~$40 without pedigree
SOLD
********************************************************

Also available:
Fuzzy Holland Lop Doe~$40 without pedigree
SOLD
*************************************************************

We are still looking for a home for Harold:

Harold is a 2 year old Black Otter Netherland Dwarf. He was very spoiled by a little girl, who later developed allergies and could no longer keep him. He is litter box trained and comes with outdoor hutch, food, hay, litter box, water bottle, crock & hide away house~which he loves to sit on top of.
He is very sweet and LOVES to be petted  :)



Please contact me, for more info. An adoption fee is required, to ensure that he goes to a good home.

-Malena

Friday, October 22, 2010

Fuzzy Holland Doe 4-Sale

I have a really cute Fuzzy Holland Lop Doe available for sale....she just turned 8 weeks old and is ready to go to a new home.  $40 without pedigree.  Comes with care guide, health guarantee & a baggie of feed.


SOLD


-Malena



Friday, October 15, 2010

Fairview NC rabbit show 10/16/10

Tomorrow is our local rabbit club~Blue Ridge Rabbit & Cavy Breeders Association's 1st show in about 6 years.  Its a Double Open & a Double Youth show & a Double Cavy show too.  Here's a link for the show catalog, put together by Nathan Leckie of Leckie Lops in SC....he did a great job putting it together, its one of the best show catalogs I've seen....very easy to read & well organized!  :)

So tomorrow I've gotta get up early and drive down and help set up and get things ready for the show, I haven't been assigned a certain job but I look forward to helping out and visiting with all my bunny buddies.

My husbands work (Coca~Cola) donated 8 cases of drinks to help raise money for the NCRBA Youth kids so they can go to the ARBA Convention....it feels great to be able to help the kids out.  I wish them lots of luck, I'm sure they'll have a blast in Minnesota!  :)

-Malena

Thursday, October 14, 2010

a little disappointed....lol

Yesterday, I waited all day for Hattie to have her first litter of babies, she was bred to Maestro so I was super excited.  After work last night I checked on her again, I walked into the barn & flipped on the light and was pleasantly surprised to see a perfect nest with lots and lots of fur!  I took the nestbox out and checked over the babies.....here comes the bad news! lol  She had 4 babies, but 3 of them were peanuts!  >.<
But on the bright side, she did a great job and I am very proud of her  :)   Hopefully next time we wont end up with so many peanuts  lol

Cynabun is due in  a couple days....she is bred to Amor.  I'm excited, I cant wait to see what she has. 

-Malena

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

2010 ARBA Convention

Well, I've got bad news....I decided not to attend the ARBA Convention this year.  I am just starting a new job and I dont think I would be able to take a week off from work so soon after just starting.  And I've also already made commitments to babysitting our neighbors little boy in addition to working a full time job.

*sigh*  maybe next year...


I've been meaning to update my website but we are having trouble with Site Builder :/  
So, look for updates listed here instead until we can get things figured out.

-Malena

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

:(

I lost 2 little baby Hollands the other day....they just turned 4 weeks old, this is the hardest time for little bunnies~just transitioning from mommas milk to eating and drinking on their own.  Some babies just dont transition very well  :(

One of the babies, was a broken black doe out of Kelly & Thunder....it was the only survivor and was fostered to Holly's litter.  Kelly has been a slow starter, so I was excited to finally get a live baby from her. 
It was doing great, but then one day I went out to the rabbitry and I could just tell by looking at her, she wasnt doing very well....she just lost all interest in eating :/  I tried giving her some benebac, but didnt have any luck this time. 

The other baby was a broken sable point buck out of Holly & Amor...I believe he was a fader.  Its a shame cuz he was super cute.  I still have 3 of his brothers, and so far they all seem to be doing well.

In other news, Peaches babies are doing great and looking cute....they just recently turned 3 weeks old. There are 2 blue torts, a broken blue tort, a tort & a broken tort.  Hopefully they all transition well...fingers & toes crossed

-Malena

Friday, October 1, 2010

Harold needs a home...

For Adoption:


Harold is a 2 year old Black Otter Netherland Dwarf.  He was very spoiled by a little girl, who later developed allergies and could no longer keep him.  He is litter box trained and comes with outdoor hutch, food, hay, litter box, water bottle, crock & hide away house~which he loves to sit on top!  :)

Please contact me, for more info.  An adoption fee is required, to ensure that he goes to a good home.

-Malena

Our NEW Bunny Barn....

Here are a couple pics of the new bunny barn, enjoy!  :)

This is the view as you walk into the door....Holland Lops are in the 2 stackers on the left and Netherland Dwarfs are in the 2 stacker on the right.



This is a closer pic of the stacker on the back left



Pic of the front stacker near the door on the left



Pic of the front stacker on the right & grooming table area


Pic of the back stacker on the right & grooming area again


I must admit, at first when I thought about moving the bunnies and having to redo the rabbitry I was very upset and worried I wouldnt like the new set up.  But, now that its all finished I love it!  :)
It was definitely a LOT of work but it was well worth it....thanks to my son, Brendan and all his hard work helping me put this together.  He helped put down the flooring & plastic on the walls, and lets not forget helping me bring the stackers over to the new house & cleaning them and putting them into the new bunny barn too!

-Malena

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Fun at the Fair...

We had a great time at the fair this year....although we started off on the wrong foot! lol  5:30 am we had the car packed, bunnies and kids ready to go, I jumped in and the car & it wouldnt start!  Turns out the battery went dead, so my husband who had just left for work a few minutes beforehand came back home and gave us a jump.  We made it to the fair with no other problems, although I spent the whole day worrying that the car probably wouldnt start again when we were ready to leave....we brought the jumper cables just in case, but it turns out we didnt need them~thank goodness! lol

Here's our show results:
Brendan's Nethies...
Yogi won BOB
Audi won BOS
Yogi went on to win Best In Show!!!

My Hollands (I only ended up taking Minnie, and she was in the middle of a molt)
She placed 1st SJD in show A and ended up winning BOS in
show B.....YAY Minnie!!!  :)

Over all, it was a great show  :)

-Malena

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

No visitors...

As of right now, we are closing the rabbitry to visitors.....if you would like to pick up a rabbit, arrangements can be made to meet at a location nearby.   With the big move, the rabbitry is very disorganized at the moment.  I'd like to wait until things get moved in at the new place, and things get back to normal again.

Also, pretty soon I may not have access to my email....we still need to call and get the internet service switched over to the new house.  And knowing how things go with AT&T, it'll probably be a week or so before it gets turned on!  >.<

So if you dont hear from me.....thats why! lol

-Malena

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Moving soon

Next month we will be moving into a new place....a bigger house down the street, in the same neighborhood. lol  I'm excited but also a little sad.  I'm excited because the house is gorgeous and has plenty enough room for all the kids...it was starting to get a little cramped here.  I'm sad because, I love my current rabbitry set up, its nice having space in the basement for stackers and a large deck to hang cages under.  The new house has a slightly smaller deck, but I think we still might be able to fit about 24 cages underneath but we need to change the layout.  The new house has a finished basement (carpet & drywall) so putting rabbits down there is out of the question.  So, we have been searching for a bunny barn to put the bunnies in.  As soon as we find the right one and its in place, I will post a pic of the new set up.

-Malena

Thursday, August 19, 2010

♥ I'm in love....



I just wanna say:  I am head over heels in love with Minnie, she is the sweetest and most adorable Holland Lop....she is by far my most favorite bunny I have ever raised, hands down.  Minnie has a very calm, yet playful personality and she loooooves to be petted  :)
I cant wait to take her with me to the ARBA Convention this November.

Minnie's mom, Willow Walker Pepper has another litter of babies right now that are 4 weeks old....they are looking so cute.  I think I might need to keep Pepper around a little longer.  Her babies are super cute and have the best temperaments. 

Minnie's dad, Hamilton's Amor...I must say, I'm alittle disappointed in him right now~he's still a sweetheart and cute as can be but he is very much urine stained and needs to molt  :/   Gotta love the boys and their hormones! *rolls eyes*   LOL

-Malena

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Mountain State Fair

Well, I sent in my entries for the Mountain State Fair the other day.  Sending in entries & money a month before the show kind of stinks cuz you never know what condition they will be in by the time the show rolls around....I hope these bunnies finish molting before the show! lol 

The great thing about this show is, its the closest one in our area....it takes about 30 to 40 minutes to get there.  Not too bad considering the next closest is about 1 hour and a half away.  Thank goodness its close because Brendan has a band concert/BBQ we need to attend later that evening.

Brendan & I will have quite a few bunnies available at the fair so stop by and take a look, if you're interested.  The show is held on Saturday, Sept. 11th.  Show starts at 9am.....hope to see you there!  :)

-Malena

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Been awhile...

Its been awhile since I last posted....I dont know, I guess I kinda ran out of fun & exciting things to talk about! lol 
Please excuse my blog right now, we are trying to find a better background  :/  In the process of trying to find another background, I managed to screw up the whole layout/template  :P  I got so frustrated, I almost deleted my whole blog! lol   Hopefully things will be fixed soon.

-Malena

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Fireworks & bunnies....

Every 4th of July, I worry about the bunnies getting scared....fireworks are really loud! 
This year, I have a bunch of young babies inside the basement so we plan on turning on a radio to hopefully help drowned out some of the noise from the fireworks outside.  Hopefully, they wont stress out.

Hope everyone has a safe & happy 4th tomorrow!!!

-Malena

Monday, June 28, 2010

Introducing Minnie...

Hamilton's Minnie

Minnie got her name because she's my 1st Minneapolis MN (2010 ARBA Convention) hopeful. 
She is out of Hamilton's Amor~(my Sable Point Buck) and Willow Walker Pepper~(a Broken Black doe I got from Janice)

Right now, I have a few litters born & due soon.....I'm hoping I'll have a few nice Jrs. to take and show at Convention.  Most of these litters are being sired my LOV's Maestro, a new buck I pick up at the Ohio mini convention.  Hope his babies turn out nice! lol

-Malena

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Bunny Talk

Sure, bunnies can't really talk but they sure have cute ways of telling what they want or need.....for example, when I go out to feed & water if someones out of water they start rattling the water bottle nozzle as if to say:  Hey, I need some water! lol   I've got one rabbit that is such a character, her name is Holly....when its feeding time, she knows it and if you watch her closely she will look at you and hop over to the food bowl, put her head in it and hops back over and look at you again....and if you've already fed her neighbor, she'll look over there and then look back at you and stick her head in the bowl.  lol
Another thing Holly did the other night,  I was sleeping downstairs on the otherside of the rabbit room wall and I could hear someone digging and digging away at the cage....which doesnt usually happen so of course it caught my attention.  I went in the bunny room and found out it was Holly, and guess what she was trying to tell me this time??  I forgot to put in her nestbox, she was supposed to be due the next day and with it being summer and all the kids home from school, I've totally lost track of what day it was!  >.< 
But thanks to Holly's reminder, I was able to get the nestbox in on time and she had a litter of babies last night  :)

-Malena

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

HUGE Summer Sale!!!

I have great news, Brendan was able to fix our main computer!  :)
So late last night I took pictures and updated my website, we are having a huge Summer Sale....I reduced prices on all the bunnies that will be available soon.  We need to make room for upcoming jrs & litters that are due soon.  Please feel free to check out my for sale page....We have Holland Lops & Netherlands Dwarfs available!  :)

www.hamiltonshoppinlops.com/ForSale.html

I am so happy the computer is working again, I cant wait to print up some pedigrees & mess around on my Evans Software again!  =)

-Malena

Monday, June 21, 2010

>.< Dogs!

Yesterday our neighbor was putting together a swingset for his young son, they had a friend over that was helping....the friend brought his dog.  We live in a fairly new neighborhood, not many people have fences yet.  Our yard is too big & it would be too expensive too fence in, all the way around.  When we first moved here, we had an incident with loose dogs....I had just recently gotten my first pair of pedigree Holland Lops, and 2 dogs wandered into our yard and came across the bunnies under the deck,  they were jumping up & down barking and snapping at the bottom of the hanging cages.  In the end, after I chased them off, I noticed my Doe named Punkin ended up braking a back leg.  She later had to be put down, because the break was so severe  :(
After that happened, I begged my husband to buy some fencing to go around the the deck to help keep the rabbits safe.  I am VERY protective over my rabbits and freak out anytime I see a dog off leash in the neighborhood and really freak out when I see the stray dogs wandering around, and going thru our yard.  The Animal Control here is pretty much useless!  I've called them several times about the stray dogs, and guess what??~the dogs are STILL here! 

Anyway, back to the neighbor & his friends dog....they werent paying much attention, and his dog wandered right up to the rabbit fence.  I of course freaked out and ran down stairs and stepped outside and stomped my foot and quietly yelled GET! in a mean sort of voice....the kids were up on the deck watching and said, what'd you do....hit that poor thing?? cuz he ran back next door whimpering & whining! lol

I wish more people would be more responsible when it comes to owning dogs.....if you own a dog, keep it in your own yard, dont let it wander!

Sorry for the rant! lol

-Malena

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Flies

With warm weather, comes flies and lots other bugs....Yuck!
You really got to keep an eye on things during the summertime, to make sure things dont get out of hand...its possible for bunnies to get fly strike.  I personally never had this happen, thank goodness.  But, I hear its pretty bad, a fly can lay eggs on a rabbits bottom, the eggs hatch and you then have maggots & the maggots burrow into the skin and wreak havoc.  Make sure your rabbits bottoms are kept clean and dry, this will decrease your chances of fly strike.

In the indoor part of our rabbitry we have an automatic sprayer, that sprays every 15 minutes.  It works great, I highly recommend it.  Its a Country Vet Sprayer, that we bought from Tractor Supply.  It really keeps the flies down, and kills any other bugs that may also be in the rabbitry.  And whats best, is that its safe to use around the rabbits.  I prefer a spayer over using sticky fly strips.....although they work, they arent very attractive and if you arent careful they can get get stuck in your hair :P

The outdoor part of our rabbitry has lots of airflow, which is great but its almost impossible to keep flies away.  One thing we do is, sprinkle lime on the manuer beds to help keep the smell down~which helps keep the fly problem down.  So far we havent had a problem.....*knock on wood* lol

-Malena

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Looks like the fuzzy fairy paid us a visit! lol

Uh oh, looks like 3 of Marie's babies are gonna be fuzzy Hollands.....they are sooooooo adorable!  Boy is it tempting to keep some and start raising fuzzies! lol  But, I gotta keep reminding myself we dont have enough cage space for 3 different breeds.

If anyones interested a Fuzzy Holland, she has 3 broken torts~(I'm pretty sure they are gonna go fuzzy)
One is a doe, and the other 2 are bucks.....I really had my eye on one of the bucks but wont be able to keep him if he's a fuzzy.  They will be ready July 21st.

-Malena

Monday, June 14, 2010

HOT!!!

Whew!  The past couple days have been really hot around here, up in the 90's!  So, I've been taking out frozen bottles to the rabbits to help keep them cool.  Here is a pic of Marie, enjoying her frozen bottle! lol  I put in a couple frozen bottles for her and her babies.....I tried to bring them in the basement yesterday, where its cooler but they really freaked out so, I thought it was best to just keep them outside since that is what they are used to. 


During the hot summer months you really got to keep an eye on your rabbits, so they dont overheat and die.  The outside part of our rabbitry is in a nice shady spot~we have hanging cages underneath our deck.  Shady spots are best, if a rabbit is kept outdoors.
Here are some signs of overheating:
*panting heavily & wetness around the nose & mouth
If you see any of these sign, act quickly.....you can mist the rabbit with water, or put water on their ears~this will help cool them down. 

-Malena

Friday, June 11, 2010

Wowza!

This morning, I went down to feed the basment bunnies....which are mostly moms & babies or moms to be.  Today I have 2 Holland Lop Does that are due to have babies~ Cynabun & Charlotte.  Cynabun was a very early nester, about a week and a half before her due date she started plucking fur and stuffing it in a back corner of the cage.  As soon as I saw that, I was a little concerned because it was so early but went ahead and put in a nestbox anyways.  Of course, she dug right in and plucked a bunch of fur.....at this point I thought maybe she was having a false pregnancy.  But boy did she surprise me this morning!  She had a litter of EIGHT!!! (only one was DOA)  We havent had a litter this big a long time!  They are sired by LOV's Maestro, this is our first litter of Maestro babies....I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Charlotte is also due today, so far not too much progress.  She's got the nest hollowed out and ready but no fur plucking yet.....she's just kind of resting right now.  She is also bred to Maestro  :)
As soon as she has babies, I will update.

***UPDATE***
around 2pm Charlotte had 4 babies sired by Maestro  :)
-Malena

Monday, June 7, 2010

On baby watch tonight....

As I write this, I am sitting in the basement~the indoor part of the rabbitry.....watching Spazz plucking fur!  I'm trying to keep a close eye on her, to make sure things go okay.  Last time, Spazz had 2 babies~one was dead on the wire and the other one, I found freshly born but not breathing.  With a little work, I was able to get the little baby to breathe....he is known as our "miracle baby"  After he was born, I went ahead and rebred Spazz and the little miracle baby was fostered to one of my Holland Lops.  He is doing great, by the way  :)
This time, I made sure to breed a couple other Does the same time as Spazz, but neither of them took :/
So, we'll have to wait and see how things go.  My good friend Nita~from Birdtown Bunnies in Cherokee has a couple Lionhead Does due around the same time, so if we need to foster thats always an option.  I'm kind of curious if Spazz would do a good job by herself....she's kind of hyper and runs really fast in circles but has seemed to calm down abit since having babies last time.

I'll keep you guys posted on how things go....update coming soon so check back!  ;)
*keep your fingers & toes crossed for some live babies!

-Malena

***UPDATE!!!***
Spazz had 5 babies total, 2 were DOA but there are 3 live ones.  Looks like 2 Black Otter & 1 Black.  The 2 DOA's were, 1 Black & 1 Blue.....I tried to revive them but didnt have any luck this time  :/

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Taylorsville show

Yesterday was the Taylorsville show....I have good news and some really bad news  :(
There werent very many rabbits on the table for both of our breeds.....in the Netherland Dwarf youth show there were only 4 Netherlands, and Brendan had 2 of them! lol   And this is hard to believe but on the Open Holland table there were only 5 rabbits total!  And that was because I late entered 2 of them when we got there! lol

Okay first, the good news:  Brendan won BOB with Yogi & BOS with Bug in show A....Yogi went on to win Best in Show!  In show B, Brendan won BOB with Yogi & BOS with Bug....Yogi went on to win Best Reserve In Show!  In Open Show A, my Holland Lop doe named Holly won BOS.
In other good news, we brought home another 6-hole stacker from Charles Bryant....that will give us alittle more room to grow out some juniors.

And now for the bad news  :(   While I was waiting for the Hollands to go up for the second show, I get a phone call from my daughter saying that one of my rabbits died!  She was freaking out, it took a while to figure out which rabbit she was talking about but when I found out, I lost the one rabbit I would most hate to lose right now  :(   it was LOV's Wrigley  :*(
Losing her is especially hard because I was so excited to add her to my rabbitry, I looked forward to seeing her babies~she was bred to LOV's Lars too so that makes me really sad.  I am so upset  :(
But, I am so thankful that Krys was nice enough to give me Wrigley's daughter, Kelly.....I just hope we can get some babies and continue the line.

-Malena

Friday, May 28, 2010

sad day :(

I went out to feed & water this morning and found BBC's Baby dead in her cage  :(
We had a really bad thunder/lightning storm last night, I'm wondering if it might have scared her?? 
She was perfectly fine otherwise, eating & drinking just fine and never had a messy bottom.....so I was shocked to find her dead.  Baby was given to me as a gift, by Sydney & Harley Butler at the OH mini convention.  Baby Girl~as I affectionately called her, was a Dietrich's Babu daughter.....Babu was the 1st place BSB at the '09 Holland Lop Nationals in Youth.  I absolutely loved Baby, she was beautiful little doe.  She had a gorgeous head/ear/crown & the chubbiest cheeks ever and bone to die for.  I'm really gonna miss her, she was such a sweetheart too.

RIP Baby girl  :(

-Malena

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

YAY! Got my wish!!! :)

Twyla decided to have her babies today, she did an excellent job...I am very proud of her.  She had 6 babies, only one was a peanut.  She had TWO Broken Blacks...YAY, I got my wish!!!!  :)  She also had 1 solid black, 1 tort, and 1 ?~(I'm not quite sure yet)....I can tell its a broken but its pretty light in color, and I'm not sure if Jeremy carries Sable Point or not....guess we'll have to wait and find out.  Watch it just end up being a broken tort! lol

Speaking of Jeremy....I have had him available for a while now, one only person has shown interest in him but she is too far away  :/  So, I am pondering the thought of putting him on the raffle table.....I have too many bucks right now and need to  free up some cage space to grow out some upcoming jrs.
I think I might also put Jacoby on the raffle table too, he's a really nice buck~he was shown as a jr and has one leg to his name.  Bad thing is, for some reason he chews his fur, which I think makes him harder to sell.  He is molting very badly at the moment so he doesnt look that great right now but boy does he need to molt!  Seems like a long time since he last molted....he's gonna look much better when he finishes.

I will bring a couple young jr brood does to sell at the Taylorsville show, so if you are in need of a doe stop by and see me....both are out of LOV lines. 

....if anyones interested in Jacoby or Jeremy, stop by and see me before the show and make an offer before I put them on the raffle table.....no reasonable offer will be refused.

-Malena

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Holland babies :)

Willow Walker Pepper, a broken black doe I got from Janice was due to have babies yesterday.....when I put in her nestbox a couple days ago, she made a mess of it~ pulling out almost all the hay. lol  I put the hay back in and moved it to the other corner, I guess that made her happy cuz she left it alone.  This afternoon, I was down in the basement and saw her plucking tons & tons of fur!  I went and did some couple chores and came back and found 5 little babies, sired by Amor!  Only bad news is, 3 of them were peanuts so it looks like we only have 2 healthy ones, and they both look like torts.  I tell ya, between my 2 broken black does~Pepper & Janessa, I just cant seem to get any broken black babies this time around! lol  Maybe I need to start wishing for torts, maybe then I'll get some broken blacks! lol  Janessa had 3 solid blacks & 3 broken torts!  :P

Other baby news, we lost 2 of Marie's babies.....they just didnt seem to thrive, so now we are down to 4 out of her & McLovin.  We lost 2 solid torts, so now she has 3 broken torts & 1 solid tort in the nestbox.

My black doe, Twyla is due in a couple more days, she is bred to Jeremy.....again, here I go~hoping for broken black babies! lol  Lets see if Twyla can grant my wish.....I'll keep ya posted  ;)

-Malena

Monday, May 24, 2010

For Sale Update....

Since I cannot update my website right now because of our main computer not working, here is a list of what is available:

Holland Lops
*3 Tort Does, ready now~just turned 8 weeks old....$30 without pedigree
*Tort Buck, will be ready May 30th....$40 without pedigree
*Broken Tort Doe, ready May 30th....$40 without pedigree/$60 with pedigree
*Tort Buck, ready May 31st....$40 without pedigree/$75 with pedigree
*Broken Tort Buck, ready May 31st....$40 without pedigree

I can send pictures via text on my cell phone.  Just send me an email, leave me your cell number and let me know which bunny you are interested in.  email:  hopnlops @ bellsouth.net  
[remove spaces]

*All pet bunnies come with care guide, health guarantee & baggie of transition feed

-Malena

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Big Congrats!!!

I wanna say Congratulations to Desiree Fisher, from Fisher Farms Rabbitry in SC.....she won Best In Show in Youth, yesterday at the Columbia SC show with Hamilton's Bentley~Black Otter Netherland Dwarf buck!!!  We are thrilled that he did so well at the show for her.....we are so happy for you Desiree!  :)

-Malena

Friday, May 21, 2010

...eyes are now open

Okay, I finally figured out how to add a pic using this laptop, so here's an updated picture of our little miracle baby:

(please excuse the poor quality....it was taken with my cell phone) lol

...told ya he was adorable!  :)   My husband says he looks like a little mouse! lol

-Malena

Rainy day babies

Well, this morning I went out to feed real quick before it started to rain....didnt quite make it though, it had already started raining before I got out there! lol  Willow Walker Marie was bred to McLovin and was due to have babies today.  I usually bring mommas inside to have their litters but since it hasnt been very cold out lately, I decided to go ahead and leave Marie outside and give her a nestbox.....she's kind of a nervous doe anyways and I didnt want to stress her out by moving her.
As I was feeding, I noticed a bit of fur on the ground that had fallen through the wire under her cage.....I got excited, yay more baby Hollands!  I took out the nestbox and to my surprise, Marie had SIX babies~all tucked nicely in a well furred nest  :)   This is her first litter, she did a great job! 

For Sale page updates:
Tort doe #6 & #4 have both been sold.
I also sold Jorja, who was bred to Tristan.....they went to live in SC with the Fisher Family~at Fisher Farms Rabbitry.  I wish you guys the best of with them  :)

Some exciting news....our little miracle baby has its eyes open, and oh my gosh....it is the cutest little thing I have ever seen!  So adorable <3

-Malena

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

craziness...

Our main computer stopped working properly a couple days ago, not sure whats wrong with it....but I'm totally freaking out with out my Evans software, and being able to print up pedigrees or update my website and post pictures!  :/ 
I'm having to use a lap top, that my brother gave us when we went down to GA to visit earlier this year.....thank goodness he was so nice to give us a laptop because atleast we still have some sort of way to get online to check emails and such.  If I'm a little slow responding to emails, please forgive me...I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Since I can not update my for sales page, I will just post updates here.....so check back soon  :)

Other news, Brendan's Netherland Dwarf doe, Audi had a litter of babies last night....she had 4 total, one was a max factor and looks like one *might* be a peanut and two healthy ones.  This is her first litter and so far, Audi's being a great mom.  Brendan has lots of Nethies that will be available in a couple months....he hasnt had this many baby Nethies in a long time.  I'm hoping to pick up another stacker soon, that should help with cage space and our baby boom! lol

Oh yeah, almost forgot our little miracle baby Nethie is doing great.....wish I could post pictures of him  :(
He's adorble <3
-Malena

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

more baby Nethies....

Well, Lexus had her babies today.  She had 2 max factors-1 of which was dead, and 3 healthy babies.  I went ahead and removed the 2 max factors, they are born with their eyes open and they end up being blind.  They also have clubbed back feet, so it would be harder to maneuver around and in my opinion (and I know some people might disagree) but I feel they wont really live a quality, happy life.  Upon closer examination, I noticed that the max factor had an extra digit on the back feet-a little further down and off to the side, almost like having an extra thumb.....very strange, I've never noticed that before.  : /

-Malena

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

late night babies

Brendan has a couple Netherland Dwarfs due, Lexus & Mercedes both got nestboxes a couple days ago....Lexus built a nest and started plucking fur right away, but so far hasn't had any babies.  Mercedes, didn't do much when I first gave her the nestbox, but then I saw her arranging the nest and plucking fur yesterday.  I waited and waited, and no babies.  Then, I saw her plucking more fur again tonight.....so I went down and checked on her several times.  This last trip downstairs, I saw movement in the nestbox!!!  :)   Mercedes had 4 babies...one was a DOA peanut, the other 3 are nice and healthy.  I did have to remove the placenta from one baby, since it was still attached.  But other than that, she did a great job.  
Now, we're just waiting to see if Lexus has babies too~keep your fingers crossed!  lol
Brendan's herd buck, Yogi makes gorgeous babies so Brendan & I are both really excited about the newest batch of babies.  In a few more days, Audi is due to have a litter.  Its kind of early but I saw her plucking a small bit of fur this morning so I went ahead and gave her a nestbox just in case.

-Malena

Saturday, May 8, 2010

our little miracle baby ♥

Here's a picture of our little miracle baby...
Its doing great so far, and is very active.  I thought it might be a blue otter, but in this picture you don't see pink in the insides of the ears, so now I'm not sure....I'll have to check again next time I get him out.  I thought it had a pink belly??  ...now I'm not sure! lol  Who knows, maybe its a blue?? 

-Malena

Friday, May 7, 2010

Spazz

Brendan has a REW Netherland Dwarf Doe named Spazz, that I got for him last year at the OH mini convention.  We named her Spazz because everytime you open the door to her cage and reach in, she runs really fast round & round in circles...she's really hard to catch! lol  She recently just turned 1yr & 3 months old....when she turned senior, we tried and tried to get her bred but she just wasn't interested~until last month!  We finally got her to breed, and Brendan & I were both so excited and couldn't wait to see some babies.  She was bred to Yogi, Brendan's herd buck....they both have LOTS of Coin/Nelson in their background so that made the breeding even more exciting.  Well, this morning I went downstairs to wake up the girls for school and feed the basement bunnies, when I noticed Spazz pulling fur!  Since I didn't really know what to expect because this was her first time having babies, I sat nearby and waited.  After she jumped out of the nestbox, I found one lifeless baby.  It was freshly born, still warm and wet but not breathing....I held it and started massaging it, to see if maybe I could get it to start breathing.  I also started swinging it in a downward motion between my legs and to my surprise the little booger started gasping for air.  I kept working with him, and he seemed to be coming around.....I took him upstairs and wrapped him up in a towel and warmed him up with the blow dryer on low heat to keep him warm.  After he started breathing better, I took him back downstairs and put him in with a litter of Hollands that was also born this morning.  I made sure to breed one of my Hollands the same day as Spazz just in case we needed to foster....I pretty much planned on fostering them anyway just because of how spazzy she is, we were kind of afraid she might hurt the babies running in circles like that.  After I put the baby in with the litter of Hollands, I checked on Spazz again and found another baby on the wire, but this one was too far gone....I wasn't able to revive it  :( 

If this one continues to live and thrive....it will be our little miracle baby  :)
I'll keep you posted on the little guy.

As soon as I have another open Holland doe to breed, I will go ahead and rebreed Spazz.  Maybe things will go better next time.

-Malena

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Some new stuff....

Before I left for Ohio this past weekend, I got something new in the mail:
Darlene Head, who makes custom signs made me this lovely new rabbitry sign.  I absolutely love her work and have wanted to get a sign for a while now, but never knew what to put on it until one day it dawned on me to use the picture that Kristen Drum gave me as a gift.  She had Lauren Nicholas from Lil Bun Designs draw me a bunny family portrait, which I loved so much~it was the inspiration for my website design and business cards and now my new rabbitry sign.  Please visit Custom Sign by Darlene if you are interested in seeing her work or would like to get a sign.

Something else new...
While I was up in OH, at the mini convention, I picked up a bunny buggy.....I've wanted one of these for a really long time but never thought I would actually get one! lol  Theres no need to unstack carriers and spread them out on the showroom floor, it can stay stacked and rolled around because it has side opening doors...which is a great feature, I think.  It has 18 holes total, which is plenty enough for us.

More new stuff....I picked up a couple new bunnies at the OH mini convention.
LOV's Wrigley~a tort senior doe:
 
LOV's Maestro~tort senior buck:

Spring Lake Kelly~black senior doe:

I also picked up 2 juniors from Sydney Butler.....I will post pics of them soon.  Thunder is molting his head, and Baby has been given a haircut by one of her siblings.  So, as soon as they are looking pretty I'll take some pics  ;)

-Malena

Monday, May 3, 2010

OH Mini Convention

This past weekend was the big Ohio Mini Convention up in Columbus, OH.  We had so much fun and I have a LOT of exciting news to share!!!  My good friend Keniethea Roy won BOB at the Lionhead Nationals with her Pointed White Jr Buck named Roy's Dyson!  I am so happy for her, she really deserves it, she's got some of the prettiest Lionheads I've ever seen.  Here is a pic of her and her BOB bunny, Roy's Dyson:

Way to go Nita!!!!  :)

Another good friend, Brenda Foriska had a really cute tort Lionhead doe that placed 2nd....named Busy B' Dumpling.  Congrats Brenda.....she's beautiful  :)

I ended up only taking one Holland to show, but did very well considering.....Amor placed 3rd out of 44 SJB's in the OHLRF Specialty show judged by Robert Frizzell.  And then Amor placed 5th out of 43 SJB's in the HLHH Specialty show judged by Jay Jriez.  I'm pretty happy with that.   :)

A few of our bunnies went to new homes this past weekend.  Camelot's Dokie, Camelot's Sweet Pea, Hamilton's Lainey & Hamilton's Gidget all went to WI to live with Jared Smith.  And Hamilton's Zayna went to WV to live with Ronda Bragg.  I wish them both the best, and hope they get nice some babies  :)  Hamilton's Yona went to MO to live with a 4-H'er.....I'm gonna miss that cute lil' guy.  I'm keeping one of his daughters so that makes things easier.

I brought back a few new Hollands to add to the herd, I will be posting pics as soon as I can.  I got LOV's Wrigley from Ashlee Richards, Spring Lake Kelly-a LOV's Wrigley daughter from Krys Kolivras, LOV's Maestro from Jared Smith, BBC's Thunder & BBC's Baby from Sydney Butler.

I bought a really nice "bunny buggy"-as Nita calls hers.  I'll have to take a pic of it.  It has 3 levels, with side opening doors, 18 holes in all-6 holes each level.  Its really nice.  Since we now have the bunny buggy, we will be selling some of our carriers that we used to use.  I'll post them on my for sale page soon.

I know I was only gone a few days but Holly's sable point babies are looking sooooooooo cute!  Their eyes are now open....that was great surprise to come back to.  Charlotte's babies are all still looking really cute too ♥

-Malena

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Freaking out! lol

There's a big show this weekend, and I am freaking out!  I thought I had perfect timing with some of my juniors, I thought I'd have several to choose from to bring but guess what happend?? Most of them are molting-very badly >.<  and one buck I was really excited about, Captain Caveman hurt one of his back legs :(   It doesnt look too bad, I think it will heal up just fine, but in the meantime I am keeping a close eye on him.  I think the big cleaning day might have spooked him, and somehow he got hurt....maybe while in the carrier??  I'm not sure  :/   Another buck that I was looking forward to showing decided all of the sudden to go off feed, so I'm having to nurse him back....he's getting better, especially since I moved him back indoors.  So yeah, its been one thing after another *rolls eyes* lol   Oh well, maybe next year will go better...

So, the only bunny that looks pretty good is Amor.....hopefully he'll stay that way! lol  I really wanted to show Tristan too, but he just turned senior today so yeah, I dont think he will be able to compete with the big boys so he's gonna stay home.

One thing I'm really excited about is, I will be bringing home a few new bunnies to add to my herd.....I will write about them when I get back  ;)

-Malena

Sunday, April 25, 2010

nice & clean!


 Today ended up being a pretty nice day, so Brendan helped me clean and rearrange the indoor part of the rabbitry.  We pulled out all the cages, scrubbed them down, put up plastic along the back wall, bleached all the toys, nestboxes and water bottles, took out an old shelf and rearranged a new one, and moved some stuff around.....it took us almost all day but its nice and clean now and boy does it feel great!  I usually like to do a big cleaning twice a year, in the Spring and again in the Fall.

-Malena

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Maybe next time....

Well, it looks like Twyla's first attempt at having babies was a bust.....sometimes that happens  :/
I was a little concerned that she didnt do much nesting beforehand, she kind of waited until the last minute.  But she dug a hole in the nest, plucked fur and had 2 dead babies, and 1 live peanut  :(  Good thing was, they were all in the nestbox and not on the wire.  She keeps getting in and out of the nestbox, so I'm not sure if she's finished yet.....so, I'll keep checking.

Looks like we might have to try again....

-Malena

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Herd Reduction

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up....I will be having a herd reduction soon, I need to make room for upcoming juniors that I want to keep and grow out.  A list of available bunnies will be posted soon.  If there is a certain bunny that you like, feel free to inquire--who knows I might be willing to part with it.  ;)


-Malena

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

My wish came true....

I just checked Holly's babies again, and it looks like the 2 lighter ones are Sable Points.....thats awesome, I was really hoping they would be Sable Points!  :)   So it turns out, she has 1 Tort, 1 Broken Tort with a really nice, big blanket of color on its back, and 2 Sable Points ♥  
Holly is being such a great mom, I am very proud of her.....I cant wait to watch these babies grow up.

My Black Doe out of Kenzie & Toro, named Twyla is due in a couple days.  She's a first timer....I hope things go well, and we have a nestbox full of nice healthy babies.  *fingers & toes crossed*  lol   I'm hoping she has some Broken Blacks, I'd really love it if I got a really nice Broken Black Buck.....thats a tall order, guess we'll have to wait and see if this wish will come true also. lol

-Malena

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

okay.....maybe not! lol

Another baby boom??  Hmmmm....maybe not! lol   Today, I took out the Does that were supposed to be due in the next couple days and it looks like only a couple will have babies, not all of them took.  Holly already had her litter, and I'm pretty sure Twyla is full of babies.  I didn't feel any babies in Pepper, Cynabun or Marie so I tried rebreeding them.  I was able to rebred Cynabun & Marie but Pepper wasn't quite in the mood! lol
So now, I gotta update my nursery page again.

Okay, this might sound weird but I'm gonna give it a try.....I've heard that its possible to tell the gender of newborn baby bunnies just a couple days after birth.  When you flip them over, if you see rows of nipples-its a Doe and if you dont see any-its a Buck.  I took a look at Holly's babies, and if this works I am pretty sure she has 4 little Does.  As soon as they are old enough, I will check and see if I'm right or not.  I'll keep you guys posted  ;)

OH mini Convention is soon, and of course my juniors are molting on their heads!  >.<  Great timing, if you ask me! lol  Oh well, thats just my luck.  If they dont look too terribly bad, I'll bring a couple to show.....either way I'll be there!  I am bringing back a couple really nice Hollands to add to  my herd.....I'll post more about them when they arrive.

-Malena

Monday, April 19, 2010

More babies!

Well, we're on our next baby boom in the rabbitry! lol  Holly had a litter of babies yesterday sired by Toro....there were 5 but one was a peanut, so we have 4 healthy babies in the nestbox.  She had 3 solids & 1 Broken, not 100% sure on colors right now but they are probably all Tort & Broken Tort--although 2 of the solids are a little bit lighter in color, guess I'll have to wait a few days to know for sure.  If I'm lucky, maybe they'll end up being my favorite color--Sable Point ♥ 
I'll keep you guys posted  ;)

I have a few more Does due the next couple days, a lot of them are first timers except Cynabun.  Holly was a first timer, and did a great job.  Hopefully thing will go well with these girls too  :)

-Malena

Saturday, April 17, 2010

2010 Holland Lop Nationals

This weekend in Loveland, Colorado they are holding the 2010 Holland Lop Nationals.  Unfortunately I am unable to attend, so here I am sitting at home waiting to hear results.  I will try my best to post results as they come in....so, check back throughout the weekend as I update.  Best of luck to everyone that is attending, I hope to see lots of pics on Facebook  :)

....the 2011 Holland Lop Nationals will be held in Columbus OH--I am almost 100% sure I will be attending.  I've never been to Nationals before, so I am really excited about next year  :)

-Malena

Updated...
Here are the results I've heard so far:

Open
SSB-Dwayne Scott
SSD-Sam & Shari Albrect
SJB-Stephanie Valentine
SJD-Allan & Becky Ormond
BOV-Ormonds
BOSV-Stephanie Valentine

BSB-Linda Jinings
BSD-Rachael Roehe
BJB-Rachel Roehe
BJD-Sharon Pelham
BOV-Linda Jinings
BOSV-?

BOB went to Linda Jinings with her Broken Senior Buck
BOS went to the Ormonds with their Solid Jr Doe
Congratulations to everyone!!!

Youth
SSB-Philip Ediger
SSD-Ty Gordon
SJB-Ty Gordon
SJD-Kel Swanson
BOV-Philip Ediger
BOSV-Ty Gordon

BSB-Katherine Lewis
BSD-Karrina Yoder
BJB-Kylie Donovan
BJD-Harley Butler
BOV-Kylie Donovan
BOSV-Harley Butler

BOB-Kylie Donovan
BOS-Ty Gordon

Congratulations to all the youth breeders!!!

-Malena


Thursday, April 15, 2010

Surprises are great!

I went out to check the mail today and found our show reports from the show this past weekend.  I opened the envelope and saw a wad of legs, and said out loud to myself:  Geez, how many legs did Brendan win?!  Upon further inspection, I was baffled when I saw "holland lop" on one of the legs.....I was so confused! lol  I didnt think there were enough Hollands on the table to win legs, so I wasnt expecting anything but it turns out Amor won a leg for his BOV win!!!!  What a great surpise!  :)

-Malena

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Taylorsville show

Today we went to the Taylorsville show....not too many people were there, seems like most people were attending either Jersey Wooly nationals in KY or Netherland Dwarf nationals in KS.  Holland Lop nationals is right around the corner so there weren't very many Holland people either.

Here are our show results:
Brendan won Best of Breed in show A & show B with Yogi.  He also won Best Opposite Sex in show A & B with Audi.  Yogi went on to win Best Reserve in Show in show A and Best in Show in show B!!!

There werent very many hollands, I took Tristan & Amor.....Tristan placed 1st BJB in show A and 2nd BJB in show B.  Amor placed 1st SJB in both show A & show B.
Here are a few pics of Yogi & Audi with their trophies....

pictured above....Audi and her 2 BOS trophies.

pictured above.....Yogi and his 2 BOB trophies, and his BRIS & BIS trophies

We had a lot of fun....Congrats to all the winners!  :)

-Malena

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Finally!

Some of Brendan's Netherland Dwarf Does seem to be late bloomers, we usually try to breed them soon after they turn senior-(6 months old) but some of them are not interested at all, and are very stubborn.  Last year at the OH mini convention, I picked up 2 Nethies for Brendan.....Yogi & a REW doe, we named Spazz! lol  If you ever see her, you'll know why we named her that! lol  She flips out and runs really fast circles in her cage, and is very hard to catch.  Spazz is one of those late bloomers, we tried several times to get her bred-with no luck.  She turned 1 year old Jan 27th.  Since Spring is in the air, I took her out yesterday to check her and noticed her vent was bright red-which is an indicator that she is ready to breed.  Since she runs in circles, we decided to try table breeding.  Table Breeding worked, and we were able to get her bred several times!  YAY, finally!!!! 

Hopefully things will go well, but I also made sure to breed one of my Hollands....just in case we need to foster.

-Malena

Monday, April 5, 2010

Blah, blah, blah

No too much exciting going on around here.  This past weekend we had a neighborhood Easter egg hunt at our house, for all the little kids.  It was a lot of fun.  I took a kiddie pool down and put a couple bunnies in it for the kids to pet.  It started out cloudy, but warm.....after a while, I noticed 2 of the 4 bunnies I took down were getting too warm, so I took them back up to the rabbitry.  We put up a big umbrella for shade, and took a couple ice packs down to help keep them cool, I also rubbed cool water on their ears-that seemed to help. 
You really gotta keep an eye on bunnies during the warmer weather, they can overheat very quickly!

I checked Charlotte's babies to see what colors she had, turns out she has....1 Tort, 2 Broken Torts & 1 Broken Sable Point.  And Janessa has 3 Torts & 1 Broken Tort.  In the rabbitry, I am overflowing with solids!  So, I am glad I have a couple young brokens in the nestbox to choose from.

-Malena

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Good morning! :)

Charlotte kept me waiting all night, I checked her around midnight before I went to bed and she still didn't have any babies.  I was hoping she'd have them before I went to bed, just in case something went wrong....that way I could be there to help.  But she had other plans! lol  I woke up this morning to feed the basement bunnies, and found her nestbox full of fur!  I took it out and checked, she had 7 babies total.....but 2 of them were peanuts that were already dead.  So, we have 5 healthy babies.....not sure on colors yet, I'll check again later.  Looks like a few of them are pretty light in color, maybe we'll have some more Sable Points ♥

I'll keep ya posted  ;)

-Malena
Edited.....oopps!  looks like I must have counted wrong this morning! lol  Charlotte has 4 babies in the nestbox.  I took them out this afternoon to take a pic and found only 4, I checked around to make sure one didnt sneak out of the box or got lost somewhere in the nestbox-didnt find one anywhere  :/
It was early, so I'm guessing I just counted wrong! lol

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The waiting game...

Well, both Janessa & Charlotte are due to have babies today.  So far, Janessa had hers....she had 4 babies, she did a great job for a first time mommy--I am so proud of her.  When I checked the babies, they were snuggled together in a nest full of fur and their tummies were full of milk!  Good job, Janessa!  :)  Looks like she had 3 solid torts & 1 broken tort.  I'll check again later, to make sure I guessed right.  lol

Still waiting on Charlotte, she's huge!  Poor girl has been laying around resting all day.  She's already hollowed out a nest so hopefully she's have them soon.  I'll update as soon as she has them.
It took awhile to get her started (she was 10 months old when she had her 1st live litter), but she did great last time.  *fingers & toes crossed*  hopefully things will go okay this time around too.

-Malena

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Nestboxes are in!

Today I put nestboxes in for Janessa & Charlotte, they are both due on the 30th.  This will be Janessa's first litter, which is one reason I decided to breed Charlotte the same day since she is an experienced mom.....just in case something goes wrong and I need to foster babies.  Both girls dug right in and made good hollowed out holes.  Keep your fingers crossed, I hope all goes well.  Janessa is bred to Lars, and Charlotte is bred to Top Hat.  I'm hoping for some nice brokens, I've been overflowing with solids lately so it'll be nice to have some brokens to choose from again. lol

-Malena

Friday, March 26, 2010

Crazy weather

We got a lot of snow & cold weather this winter, and now that its officially Spring I'm waiting for it to warm up and stop being so on & off all the time.  One day its cold and windy, and a few days later its nice and sunny, then it'll get cold again and start raining.....it never seems to stay nice for too long  :/

During the winter time, I put up a big tarp along the backside of the rabbitry.  If I dont put up the tarp, it gets very windy down there.  The wind always seems to blow in that same direction...I call it the wind tunnel.  lol
I cant wait for some kind of constant nice weather so I can take the tarp back down.

Update on the Yona babies.....I did end up loosing one baby yesterday, so we're down to 5.  Its hard to tell but it looked like it might have gotten smooshed  :(    Gidget's a bigger girl so I'm not surprised, things like that happen from time to time.  Hopefully we wont lose any others.

-Malena

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Yona babies!!!


 Gotta love when a first time Doe does a good job, today Hamilton's Gidget-(a brood doe out of Camelot's Sweet Pea & Camelot's Gumby) had a litter of 6, sired by Yona!!!  Sometimes you never know what to expect with first time Does, but Gidget did everything perfectly....she built a beautiful nest, plucked lots of fur and had all her babies in the nestbox....I am very proud of her.  Gidget is going to live with another breeder in WI in a couple months.  Since she just recently turned senior, I went ahead and bred her to get her started for her new owner.  Sometimes, if you don't breed a Doe soon after they turn Senior-(which is 6 months old) its harder to get babies out of them.

-Malena

Monday, March 22, 2010

The Boys...

I am so proud of my 2 boys, Tristan & Amor......I still cant believe how well they did at the NC State Convention! I think I'm still in shock! lol  They didnt win BOB, BOS or even Best In Show but I was really pleased with their placements.

Here are some new updated pics of them:

This is Tristan, my Broken Sable Point Jr. Buck.....he place 1st out of 6 in the first show-(he also won BOSV) & in the second show he placed 2nd out of 6.  I almost didn't even take this guy, he was sort of a last minute decision!  Tristan has a great background story....when he was about 10 weeks old, I moved him from the basement where he was born to outside, he was not happy at all--he refused to eat, I almost lost him.  Then, at one point I almost sold him as a pet but decided not to because I really needed a Broken Buck in my breeding program, boy am I glad I hung on to him! lol

And this is Amor, my Sable Point Jr. Buck....he placed 3rd out of 9 in the first show and 5th out of 9 in the second show.  I absolutely LOVE this guy! ♥  

I am very proud of them both  :)

Here's a cute pic of Amor, just for fun.....
Showing rabbits can be a lot like riding a roller coaster.....one minute you're on top of the world, and next thing you know you're feeling down and bawling your eyes out!-(that was me at the last Mocksville show)  Right now, I'm feeling up but don't want to get my hopes up too much cuz you never know how things will go at the next show.  If I could hit some kind of plateau, I think I would be happy.

Some exciting news.....I have a really pretty LOV doe that will be joining us soon, more detail coming soon  ;)

-Malena