New Page Added

We added current pictures of Snowball's kits today, along with sex and weight info and the price of each kit. 

There are a few factors in determining what price we ask for each kit.  One factor is sex.  Does are in greater demand than bucks.  That's life.

Another factor is color.  Some colors are more desirable than others.  Most everything is more desirable than REW.  Too many people saw Monty Python and the Holy Grail.  In the movie, a REW rabbit attacks some guy and bites him in the neck.  My oldest daughter saw the movie and refuses to own a REW.

Having a good show body is a third factor.  Wool is the most important factor in showing rabbits, but many judges still have a hard time recognizing that when judging angoras.  So a good show body is important as well. 

And, as mentioned above, wool is an important factor--density, texture, and crimp.  Unfortunately, this is the hardest factor to judge in young rabbits who still have a baby coat. 

This is why there is a range of prices set on the kits.  After their first ARBA show, the price of those who were awarded legs will increase. 

History of French Angora Rabbits

The name angora comes from the Turkish city of Angora, now Ankara, where angora rabbits were first spotted.  This is where angora cats and angora goats first came from.

In 1708 Mortimer described the long haired rabbit in England and called it the "white shock Turkey rabbit."  The word shock was used because of how long the wool was. 

Angora is one of the oldest domesticated rabbits.  Angora rabbits were one of the French nobility's favorite animals during the mid-18th century. 

In 1944, ARBA officially separated angora rabbits into two breeds--English angora and French angora. 

Angoras are bred for their wool, which is removed by shearing, combing or plucking. 

No Blogpost Today Because ...

I created a new page about the kits for sale!  So click on the "Pages" button  and take a look!

4-H Christmas Party

For our 4-H Christmas party, we went bowling at the Grand Sierra Resort.  Our best friends, who are also in our 4-H group, joined us.  Our 4-H group paid for everything, including dinner of pizza and soda.  In addition to bowling, we had a few contests--craziest hair, craziest socks, and ugliest sweater, all of which we did not participate in. 

We were all allowed to play two games.  It was our six-year-old friend's first time bowling, so we were planning to have the bumpers put up..  Unfortunately, the bumpers did not work in that lane.  We hoped to trade lanes for the second game, but we had a late start, and everyone else started their second games before we finished our first, so we could not trade. 

At the end of the bowling party, trophies were awarded for highest score, most strikes, most casually dressed, most gutter balls, and lowest score.  Our six year old friend won the trophy for the most gutter balls.  I won the trophy for the lowest score--20 points--which, of course, I was not aiming for. 

 

 

Photobomber

My kits are adorable. 

As I was gathering up my kits for picture day, I noticed an escapee... Anna. I saw that she had some blood around her shoulder area, so I brought her inside to investigate.  She had scraped herself in her escape from her cage.  I cleaned her up but could not actually find the scrape itself. 

Seeing as I already had my kits inside and was too lazy to take Anna back out, I decided to let her run around while I took pictures of my kits for today's blog post.  As I was setting up shots and taking the pictures, Anna photobombed almost every one.

One of the few good pictures

Stealth photobomber

Clueless photobomber

Shameless, brazen photobomber

I thought Snowball would have raised her better.

New and Improved Rabbit Chow

As the mom and administrator of Black Diamond Rabbitry, it is my job to try to make things easier here when I can. 

Pretty early on (as in, when making our rabbit chow for the first time), I decided the recipe was ridiculously difficult.  Of course, we got the recipe from a much larger scale breeder.  So it stands to reason that it's going to make a lot of feed. 

But this blog is for youth raising French angoras, and most of these youth are not feeding dozens of rabbits.  The larger scale breeders can mix their feed in horse troughs or massive barrels.  The rest of us have to deal with what we have on hand generally.  For us, that means Rubbermaid totes and four-gallon buckets from the donut shop. 

So, using the same recipe, I broke it down into more manageable quantities.  Life is much better now.

Here's the updated formula:

15    lbs 18% Purina Show
10    lbs 15% Bar Ale
2.5   lbs wheat
3.75 lbs barley
3.75 lbs oats groats (whole grain oats)
1.25 lbs black oil sunflower seeds
1.25 lbs calf manna

We also made some slight changes.  You'll notice we changed to Bar Ale for the 15% feed due to something we learned at the Gridley show from the angora ladies there.  Our friends forgot to bring food for their rabbits.  We were in a panic to find the right feed for them, and it was going to be a 45 minute drive, one way.  Not good.  The angora ladies said it wasn't such a serious matter to change the feed, as long as what we used was from the same manufacturer.  Our friends were using Purina Complete, and the nice angora ladies had some Purina Show, which they gladly shared with our friends. 

Because of supply issues (our local store never has the Bar Ale in stock that the banner outside their store advertises--grrrrr), we had a longer distance to drive to get it.  And because of that and what I perceive to be a collapsing economy and problems with JIT delivery, we thought it would be a good idea for our bunnies to have their pellets from two different manufacturers.  That way, if one suddenly becomes unavailable it will not be such a serious change in their diets. 

Being a Midwife Is a Lot of Work

While Becky was at school yesterday, her does Duchess and Blue were kindling.  Blue built a beautiful nest for her three kits, only one of which, a REW, survived.  Thankfully, I was there when Duchess also kindled--four plump kits--on the wire cage bottom.  I quickly moved them into the nesting box in her cage.  She still needed to clean them, but seemed to be a little tired and wasn't going to finish cleaning the last one.  So I gave it to Blue to clean, and she did a fine job.  I believe that Blue will be the better mother, even if two of her kits did not survive. 

I thought Blue showed some signs of still having kits to deliver, so I went out to the bunny barn to massage Blue's tummy every ten minutes to help, if there were any more coming.  Blue quickly tired of this and took to trying to bite me and then outright refused to be handled in such a manner.  Fortunately, Becky came home. 

The reason I was very thankful that Duchess also had kits (we weren't ever sure if she was pregnant) is because one kit cannot keep warm alone, especially in the High Sierra desert in December.  Even two kits may not produce enough heat to keep warm.  So we decided to keep all five kits in one nesting box in the house by the fire.  Duchess will feed the kits in the morning, and Blue will feed in the evening.  This way they will get double the milk.  Hopefully they will grow nice and fat quickly.