The Dream Rabbitry

Back entrance wide enough to drive through.

Nice high ceilings.

Very cute with the grooming porch.

Isn't it perfect?

Last year when I went to the York rabbit show on the wrong day and stayed over rather then drive all the way home again, I went exploring. There was a flea market down the road and they had an Amish made shed company at the entrance. I had nothing else to do so I toured all the sheds. Next thing I knew, it was love at first sight when I saw the perfect Rabbit Shepherd rabbit shed. It had a front porch perfect for outside grooming or a rocking chair on hot summer evenings. There were double doors at the back for drive up loading even in bad weather. It was wide enough for 4 rows of cages, two down each wall and a double row down the middle. There were windows for cross ventilation and high ceiling to keep it cool. Pass through the front door and there was a nice recessed area for food storage, carry cages and supplies. I could even build a small hay loft over this area to store bales off the ground. The only problem was they were asking $7,000 plus delivery. It was a little out of my price range. Maybe with the economy being what it is, this year maybe they might be having a sale. I can only dream.

Cold January Days

Light dusting of snow.

Doesn't it look cold?

Time to take down the decorations.

Out the car window.

Winter is truly a time to hibernate in my opinion. All I want to do is go to bed but sadly, I have to go to work. At least it is warm there. It has been a very cold winter in New Jersey this year and I guess we were due for one. I live in an old house first built in 1889 and it is never really warm except for one downstairs bathroom that somehow ended up with 2 radiators. I have 2 very old cats that live in there, one at each radiator. I sometimes go in there just to warm up. The bunnies love the cold weather and run around the cages throwing toys around. I do keep 2 oil filled heaters in the barn to keep the bottles from freezing but it had a hard time keeping up at 9 degrees. That means giving a warm bottle or a bowl of water a couple of times a day. It is bad when we think of 30 degrees as a heat wave. I can dream of a fully heated and air conditioned barn. There is one that I have even picked out that I will post photos of later. I just need to come up with $7,000.

Bunnies For Sale

Tort Buck

Tort Buck

Tort Buck

Blue Tort Doe

These are some of the junior English Angora bunnies that I will have for sale at the Pa. Convention from two of my litters. They are from show winning lines. The tort bucks are from my sable pearl doe and will pass the pearl gene on to most REW, self color or tort that you breed them to. If you want more information, please e-mail me at Rabbitshep@comcast.net. I don't take deposits so it is first come, first serve. I may also have some senior rabbits for sale and hope to add some photos later.

Winter Blues

Handsome G.C. BIS Sullivan

Beautiful G.C. Andi

The happy arrivals, 3 REW and 1 little black

There is nothing that keeps my mind off the cold than a new litter of baby bunnies. I am so happy to announce the arrival of Andi's litter. We had tried to breed her at Convention with a handsome white buck that Collin owns without success. I think Convention is not the place for romance with bunnies. Andi moved out to the barn and was not happy about it, having spent most of her life spoiled in my laundry room. So, I bred her to Sullivan and it really didn't seem to take but I brought her in anyway. She was so happy that she presented me with 4 beautiful babies right in her nestbox making a great "Carvel" of wool placed just so. Each time I check them, they have full bellies and are covered up, nice and warm.

There is something to be said about good bunny mothers that have their babies in the nestbox, clean them up and cover them with wool. They take care of their babies, feed them and show them the ropes. This isn't always the case with bunny mothers and sometimes it is tragedy for one or two litters until they get the hang of it. Some never get it and the babies have to be fostered to another doe. This is not a trait that I want to pass along and don't breed this doe again. I am glad that Andi is doing so well as the foster bunny didn't have a litter and they would have had to go to a mom with a two week old litter. Although this would work, it wouldn't have been easy. Andi is doing a great job.

Christmas Recovery

The "King of All's" babies

They grow up so fast.

Wiggly new Christmas babies.

So shiny and soft.

Little pinkies and one black.

Well, there is nothing like a batch of Christmas babies to help me get over my upper respitory infection, bronchitis and hives. Very run down after being so busy and working so much, my body finally said enough. The three litters of babies were what got me out of bed each day. I had to check and see if they were being fed and had not gotten tangled up in wool. After so many years raising angoras, I almost can predict what colors will be born. This time two of the moms sure fooled me.

I bred rew G.C. Pearly Mae to tort G.C. BIS Wyatt thinking that I would get many whites as Pearly has so much white in her background. Not one white! ( Black, chocolate tort and blue tort) Then I bred tort G.C. Pandimonium to rew G.C. BIS Sullivan thinking that I would get lots of black as he had thrown black before and she has a black mom and black brothers. She ends up with five whites and one blue tort! The last litter was to a black buck, Wander and a rew G.C. BIS and they did have black and tort. She seemed a little worse for the wear after her litter and I fostered them over to Pandimonium.

I am truly enjoying the jersey wooly litter and they are growning up so fast. They are much more high strung then the angora babies and try to launch themselves out of you hand after they are picked up. They are really tiny and slippery so I have to really watch them and get a good grip or they might end up in outer space. They look so calm in the photo but looks can fool you. They will have to have lessons on how to behave on the show table, just like their dad.

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year. I personally slept right through it.