Happy New Year!!!!

Happy 2013, everyone!!!!  Have a great evening!  =)

Sad Day :'-(

Well, my 'baby boom' is off to a pretty bad start.  :'-(   Trixi was at 32 days yesterday, and no babies today....so that means, no babies.  =(   Then, while I was doing chores I noticed Princess bleeding.  There were three spots of blood in her tray.  She's 22 days along, due in about a week.  I went out to check on her a little while later and found three or four babies in the pan. :(  They definitely could not have survived and were not developed all the way. :-(  I just hope Princess will be ok. Poor girl. :( 
Hoping things will go better with my remaining two does.

2012 Goals Revisisted

As 2013 is sneaking up on us, it's been really fun to revisit my 2012 goals for the Rabbitry.  These were my main goals I posted on the blog last year in THIS post. 


I am still working on plans and everything, but here are a few things I would like to work on and do this year...

* I would like to have more of my bunnies be from MY lines. Currently I have 6 adults, only 1 is a home grown, Mickey. My main goal is to get some keeper does out of my older does to replace their moms. And maybe keep another buck, we'll see.  - MET!  Out of my eight "keeper" adult rabbits in the barn right now, FOUR are "Hoppin' Hotot's" rabbits. :-D That's a big step up from one - 50%!  I also have had a few other Hoppin' Hotot keeper adults that I sold along the way, too.  This goal was definitely a sucess!

*I'd like to grow my herd more. I'm hoping for 8 to 10  6 does, but we'll see how that goes! That way I don't have to breed them really hard if I have more. - MET!  I changed the number of does from 8-10 to 6 after re-evaluating, and building more cages. That's about my max.  Although I did go over that when I had 7 or 8 of them during the summer/fall.  :)  Now I'm down to 5 due to Haylie dying but will possibly keep another doe baby depending on how 2013 goes.  My herd has REALLY grown from last year - definitely can check off this goal!  *I would love to help at least one person start their own rabbitry with Dwarf Hotots. Right now I'm helping a friend of mine start one, and it has been really fun. :)  - MET!  I think the friend I referred to in that post was JULIA who now has a great rabbitry going, and took BOB with her junior buck out of Ruby and Mickey at the State Convention this fall!  I also helped several other people, youth and adult, get started raising hotots with some quality stock, which was very exciting!  Check check!

*I would love to go to a show this year... I have not yet been to a show! I think that would be really neat, and I would like to get into that.  - MET!  And oh boy was that fun.  I went to TWO shows. The We Be Rabbit Club triple show in Hutchinson, MN in May, and the MN State Convention, which also happened to be in Hutchinson!  Hoppin' Hotot's Mickey took 1st place/BOB in all three shows in May and earned his first 3 legs!  Hoppin' Hotot's Trixi took 2nd place in the jr. doe class at the State Convention, too!  :D  I sure enjoyed going to those shows and meeting a lot of great people.  This was a fun goal to meet!


I think the most important things this year for me, though, are increasing my herd, AND having more bunnies from my lines. I am so excited to see what 2012 brings!!! I'll be doing lots of planning and making lots of goals.  - MET!  agan....already went over these, but I definitely have a much larger herd and a good line going!
 

I'm very pleased with my wonderful buns meeting all my goals this year.  It has been a great year!  I'm not really sure where the rabbitry is headed in 2013.  Now that we are getting into the Great Pyrenees dogs, I don't know what the future looks like for the rabbits.  But no matter what, I'll always love these guys, even if there might be some change for a while.  I'm pretty torn over what to do at this point...but at any rate, it sure has been a great year!  Thank you to all those who made it a success....Debbie McLaughlin (Hidden Habit Rabbitry) is responsible for me having, well, bunnies at all, but especially three very wonderful buns out there - Vinson, Dolly and my latest super doe, Veronica.  And she's been wonderful with putting up with my never ending phone calls with rabbit questions, and answers with great advice.  I have pages of notes from our phone calls. :D   Thank you!  And to LINDSEY who has saved the day so many times, she too has soooo much knowledge about our breed that she has willingly shared.  I've learned a LOT from you, thank you Lindsey!  And of course my family, who put up with crazy me and my rabbits.  Not only puts up, but help and encourage me when things aren't going as great. You're the best. :)  To all my other great rabbit friends, you know who you are, and lots of thank yous to all of ya!

Happy New Year!

~Emily

Great Pyrenees Puppies! (Unrelated to rabbits....:)

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!  We had a great time celebrating the birth of Jesus! 
And....some very ***EXCITING*** news......  some of you may know that we got a pair of Great Pyrenees puppies last year, Princess & Captain.  Well, we've been anxiously waiting for Princess to have her puppies, and she went into labor on Christmas Day!!!  The morning after Christmas, Princess had ELEVEN, yes 11, puppies!!!!!  Best Christmas gifts ever.  :-)   They are just ****darling.***  I've neve seen ANYTHING cuter!  There are six girls and five boys, and mom and pups are doing amazing!  I'm totally in love.  <3  Just had to share....here are some pictures!  

One busy momma and eleven busy babies

sound asleep :)

Pretty Princess

Rolly polly baby

Cat nap (or should I say, dog nap) on mom's leg.  :)

My lil brother Jon with a puppy.  And yes, it's tongue is hanging out!  LOL  They always sleep with their tongues hanging out and making little sucking noises.  *CUTE*

Brother and sister taking a nap together :)

They are hilarious when they sleep!  And they make the cutest baby crying noises.  ;)

Jon snuggling a baby

Sweetness <3

Jon and Pup again

Lil guy snoozin' in the corner

That's a lot of pups.

All eleven scattered around when Princess got up.  A LOT of pups! 

Next to my hand....so tiny!  Yet so big at the same time.  :)

Nursing :)

Boggling numbers of PUPPIES!  :)

SO CUTE!

Can you tell I can't get enough of them?

Absoltely A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E :)

One darling little gal on my lap.  :)

You gotta love her little face!  :)

Picture says it all - darling!

*melt my heart*

I'm smitten!  Way too cute.  :) And cute doesn't even cut it!

Look at that big belly!

Cuties

And.... CUTIES!  :) :) :)  Love 'em to pieces!!!!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Babies on the Way!

I'm happy to announce that four out of my five does are bred and I should hopefully be having a baby boom soon, if everything goes well.  Fingers crossed!  Soon it should be five out of five - Veronica is the one left, and I hope to breed her shortly. 
My mommas:


Trixi:  just looking as lovely as EVER.  She's bred to Vinson and due on the 28th.  First time mom!

Gorgeous.  :)

Veronica: well, had to put a picture of her in even though she's not bred yet - she's sooooo beautiful. :)

 

Pretty face :)

 

 

 

And I apologize for the crooked photo - blame my stubborn laptop!  I rotated it but it just didn't work when I uploaded it.  Oh well! 

 

 

This is Lily, who would NOT hold still for a picture, so here she is, being Lily, jumping around.  Bred to Vinson, too, and due on the 13th next month.  First time mom!

 

 

Blah..... giving me her "I'm-not-posing-I'm-just-going-to-sit-here-with-my-eyes-half-shut-and-stare-at-you" look.    Ah well, she's beautiful (....when she wants to be!!!)

 

 

 

 

 

Two *Very Lovely* ladies visiting with each other.... Trixi on the right, Veronica on the left.

 

 

 

Dolly...also bred to Vinson....(he's been busy! lol) due on the 15th of January.  Let's have a live litter this time, girlie!  Dolly is lovely...mother of a grand champion...what else can I say?  Love!

 

I had another pic of Dolly....that didn't upload either. Ugh!

 

 

 

 

Another crooked picture.  This is Princess.  Also bred to... Vinson(!) and due on the 7th next month. Go Princess!

 

 

 

 

 

This was one of those moments when you snap that "perfect pose" just in time before they move.  Gotcha!  Isn't she BEAUTIFUL??????  *WOW*  Drooling over this one.

 

 

 

 

And this is the guy behind all the trouble.... Vinson!  :)  May I brag a little?  Finally for the first time just about since I got him I got some decent photos of him.  Yay! 

 

GREAT shoulders on him.  LOVE his body!

 

 

 

 Drooling again.....he's compact, small, nicely rounded.....I won't keep going.  The picture says it all!  I only wish his head/ears were a little better.  They aren't awful, but don't compare to Mickey's. But...I'll take the body over the head/ears since most of the head/ears in my barn are pretty fantastic. :)

 

 

 

Love Vinny!  Love 'em all.  :)  And VERY excited to (hopefully!) have some little replicas - only even better - of these lovely ladies and gentleman running around soon. :)  Baby boom, here we come!

 

Introducing.....

Hoppin' Hotot's  LILY!!!

 

 

This is Lily.  :)  The exciting news is.... she's Haylie's DAUGHTER!  From THIS litter!  I have been trying for a while to get a keeper doe out of Haylie and Vinson, but never did, and then Haylie died. :-(  Well, that is for this girl - she was the one that I almost did keep, but then because of a space issue I sold her to my friend Julia.  Now, Julia's family is going on the road, I have space (lots of it, too!) and Julia was so sweet as to sell her back to me. :-)  I'm THRILLED. :)  Thank you Julia!  :)

OK, the pictures do NOT do her justice at ALL. This black fabric I use as a background is super slippery and she kept sliiiiiding way out, so she looked like a pancake.  She's really nice and compact, but looks quite long in these photos! 

 

Here she is.."help!  I'm sliding!"

 

 

 

 

Just a cute pose...

 

 

 

This one is OK....she's still stretched out though.

 

 

 

 

Finally I put her on a towel, so sorry about the lame background but at least she had some grip. :)

 

Lily reminds me so much of her momma, Haylie. <3  She has great shoulders, is built like a brick, and has a cute doe head/ears too.  She is going to make a great brood doe!

 

 

Here she is posed naturally in her pen....now this is what she looks like! :)

 

I'm going to breed her to Vinson hopefully within a week.  She's still getting warmed up to the new home though. :)  She's six and a half months old and will be a first time mom...*shivers!*  I am going to have THREE first time moms kindling in the next month(s)!  Yikes!  That's a "first" for me too.  :-)  LOL  Hope it all goes well with them.  Veronica, Trixi, and Lily, of course.  Go girls!

 

 

 

 

And speaking of girls going, this is my little nameless doe who is still doing great.  :)  (I know, she needs a name.)  She's eating (yay!) and drinking and is overall a sweetie.  And of course she's getting an overdose of attention (if there's any such thing!) since she's my ONLY baby in the barn. :-)  Runs up to the door for attention when she seems me.  Love.  <3

 

Will be busy this afternoon.  I have a total of five does in the barn that will all (Lord willing) be having babies in the next month or two.  Two are bred and I'll hopefully have the next three all bred shortly!  I need to get cages cleaned, pans emptied, and nest boxes scrubbed and ready for the baby boom.  :-)