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Update:
BunnyCam
Bunnycam is out of commission at the moment as I have been
moving the rabbitry,
it's now out
of range so I
am having a
rethink!
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Updates May 7th.
2008
Main and Baby page |
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Keep up to date with what's happening at the stud
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I am terrible at writing stuff down so
thought I would keep a diary on here. This is it's second year 2007. I
will fill it in when I remember :)
Don's Angoras
Stud Diary 2007
Back to 2008 here
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January7th. |
Reading Rabbit Club AGM, |
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January 11th 2007 |
Off to Toronto tomorrow so spent today getting the buns sorted.
Got a good mating with Hermione and the Blue Cream Buck from
Chris Hamilton, "Nimulus", this mating should produce Blues and
Smokes. Finally got a mating to Almond, albeit an assisted
mating, with Turnip. Not convinced assist matings work as
in theory the doe has to be stimulated by the buck to release
eggs... she was more furious than stimulated teehee.. fingers
crossed.. more soon .........
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January 25th. 2007 |
At last I could spend a day in the shed getting things back to
order. I am off to Bradford show tomorrow in Harrogate.
The biggest small livestock show in the UK so had today
off to prepare. Got a good mating from Emerald & Eliab
today although nothing is in the mood for breeding really.
Trying to mate Only, my sooty doe to the Blue Cream buck from
Chris, she was the doe I borrowed him for, she hates him !
wont let him near her.. bares her teeth at him.. surreal ! will
try again next week. |
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January 30th. 2007 |
Back from Harrogate.. had a great time. Really well put together
show and great atmosphere. BOB Angora was a Chin bred by
Chris Hamilton, judge was Sue Fisher.
More Bradford photos click here At
last I got a mating of Only to the Blue Cream buck wahoooo!
fingers crossed for a nest full of sooties :) |
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Feb 3rd. 2007 |
Lovely sunny day, almost Spring like.. was that it for Winter?
Had a good day in the shed tidying things up, clipping bottoms
etc. Got a great mating to Autumn by Truffle, chocolate to
chocolate.. should be nice. Also mated Emily again, she
will never produce I am sure but it keeps the bucks going, used
Eliab. The lops still not interested will keep trying.
Dudley the Frenchie is looking stunning.. such a clean boy, I
may show him a bit this year, he is such a hunk and so sweet
with it.
Sinatra the Hulstlander is looking lovely too, look
forward to showing him this year. Angora wise Diva is
looking ok, still a bit poor from scouring as a baby, also her
brother Goldenlight is picking up a bit, lovely coat but
moulted out his furnishings. Viv still needs to come on a lot
before I can show him too after his moult. Remated Grem
to Turnip.. boy I though rabbit breeding was easy.. it's
been a Winter of discontent... looking forward to a better year.
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Feb 7th. 2007 |
Well obviously Winter was NOT over LOL, so cold here at the moment, -8 last night, first time I have had
water bottles freeze overnight for years. All buns seem to
be handling it well, eating well and good and active.. gave them
all warm water tonight. Snow predicted tomorrow ! |
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Feb 8th 2007 |
Well it's here, woke up to a Winter Wonderland,
view below from my window.. you can see my Hobbit Hole Rabbit
Shed ..
no point going to work today.. so nice day in
the warm :)
My lovely Blue Eyed boy Sinatra in the snow. Sinatra is a
Hulstlander.
Chorlton takes his first steps on snow :) Chorlton is the
silkie that flew from New York as an Egg ! |
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Feb 12th. 2007 |
Well it appears both does missed again... not been a great start
to the year. Will repeat breedings at the weekend. Val
Inglis..if you read this, I replied to your email but it keeps
bouncing back? is your address wrong? thanks for the mail
anyhow :) |
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Feb 16th 2007 |
Finally managed to get a good mating with the English Lops
Butter and Bob. |
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Mar. 4th. 2007 |
Good day in the shed. Got most of them clipped.. boy how
fast do they grow those coats, it seems like yesterday since I
clipped them last. Got a ton of fibre. Goldenlight has
started to pick up, I think I can salvage him for show. He will
be perfect for the May stock show.
Don's Goldenlight
Willowcot Eliab x Don's Only
I woke up to a freak snow storm this morning..
well.. "Ice" the Hulstlander doe from Pat Pryor had a
litter and not only made a nice nest of fur and stuff but
decorated the whole hutch with white fur. Mum and babies
(3 I think ) are doing great .
Ice in her snow storm nursery.
Hopefully she has broken the jinx and I will
have some Angora litters.. Three does are due on Tuesday,
fingers crossed.
Sinatra is such a layed back lad.. he didn't
even wake up when I opened his hutch ! bliss !
Sinatra
Mated Hermione to her son, Truffle. She has
the most amazing coat. hanks and hanks of heavy silk non matting
coat. Something I definitely would like to double up on.
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March 10th. 2007 |
Well not great news. The Hulstlander doe just kept
smothering the babies and I lost two. The other I have taken
away and am just letting her feed it twice a day. He has a
huge belly so is being fed ok, he just gets to sleep in the
house. Autumn had 9 chocolate babies, all even size, all
looked great except they were all dead ! oh dear... back
to the drawing board.
I mated Emily and Hermione again today. And also Only to to
the Blue Cream buck. I guess it's got to happen eventually !
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April 25th 2007 |
Ok Ok ! sorry for no posts for a while. Been madly busy with
work, decorating and socialising ! not enough days in the
week.
Good and Bad news. Good news is that I have 2 lovely
chocolate kits from Hermione bred to her son Truffle. They
are looking great, a boy and a girl, haven't thought about names
as yet. Neither will be available I am afraid.
Emerald lost a litter to scattering, She was a great
Mum with her first litter but has scattered and lost the last
two. I have today remated her to Turnip. I also
mated Emily to Truffle, a weird mating I guess (chocolate to
white) but Emily has never produced a litter yet and I know
Truffle is super fertile producing a litter of 9 from a single
mating to Autumn.. which brings me on to the bad news.
Autumn did not recover from losing her litter and passed away
last week. She was carrying plenty of weight but just seemed to
give up. At least I have a chocolate doe to replace her.
Hermione is doing so well with the 2 babies I decided to
remate her and bred her to the Blue Cream buck from Chris
Hamilton, he has yet to produce for me. Also mated Grem to
her son SirVivor, and Ice (Hulstlander) to Sinatra. Clipped Only
and will also remate her to the Blue Cream tomorrow.
Should get at least one or two from that lot !
More good news is that Paula has a litter from Fantasia, her
magnificent doe going back to Rune a doe I bred. Fantasia was bred back
to her Father Rooney, it is a lovely mating heavily bred on my old
Crusoe line, I am hoping to have a doe back from this litter.
BIG thanks Paula xx
Will take some new photos soon.
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20th. August 2007 |
Well, long time no update ! It's been an awful Summer here
in the UK. Rain rain rain ! Had poor luck with the rabbits, does
missing and lost litters due to scattering. At last I have
a live litter from Diva to Turnip. Also 2 live babies from
Hermione and Truffle but she has rejected them. I have fostered
one to Diva and am assist feeding the other. Looking forward to
the London show and hopefully some better luck. Will update
photos soon and have a general revamp. |
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Sept 2nd/3rd.. 2007 |
The London show is upon us once more. This show, once held in
London is now held in my home town of Reading. It's the 2nd.
largest small livestock show in the country, the biggest is
probably the Bradford show, now held in Harrogate at the
beginning of the year. A grand turnout of Angoras
attended judged by Maureen Embry. There are two sections
one for Adults and one for under five month exhibits.
Sally May with the under five month winner; a
lovely chocolate. The rabbit went best u/5 fancy and 2nd in the
Grand Challenge.
Winner of the adult section; Val Downer's
lovely white.
The winning white with a Sable and a lovely
dark Smoke.
The Adult white class.
This lovely young Brown Grey bred by Sue
Fisher caught my eye.
It was a great weekend. I brought home a
lovely Brown Grey Buck (Don's Alfie) from Paula Pyke, from her
Dutch imports carrying Blue Eyed White. He has beautiful
furnishings and hopefully will produce some interesting results
in the future. I don't mean to breed blue eyed whites but I
would like to improve furnishings in some of my lines. His
breeding line below:
http://home.planet.nl/~zeestrat/Angora/default.htm
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Sept 12th. 2007 |
Just back from Cornwall, had a great time.
The Eden Project in Cornwall.. stunning !
A British Otter at the Tamar Otter Sanctuary.
Had a good day
in the shed today. Ebben the chocolate is looking promising,
from the same lines as Sally's Chocolate above. I was
hoping to show him at the Stock Show in October but apparently I
am judging it ! so I cant show . Looking forward to judging my
first stock show though.
Mated up a few buns, Emily has been
mated again to Eliab, Only to Truffle, Grem to her son Sir Viv,
Fingers crossed.
The babies are looking great. I have a Cream doe, a Smoke
doe, a Brown-Grey buck and a Blue-Grey Buck ! I tried
breeding for Blue Greys a year or so ago but had no luck , this
one popped up unexpectedly in the Turnip x Diva litter.
Turnip is Don's Eternity, a white, so I had no idea what he
carried but I guess I know now. He carries blue AND non
extension. Also means Diva carries blue.. so should prove useful
in the future for Blue Creams. I always thought my Sooty line
carried blue. Incidentally Blue -Grey is Opal in fur
rabbits, basically a Blue Agouti.... the black and gold of
Agouti is changed to Blue and Yellow, it is very attractive in
the Angora with it's long coat, producing target like rings of
yellow and blue in the coat when parted.
I will take some photos of Ebben and the babies when I get a
minute. |
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October 14th. 2007 |
I was lucky enough to be asked to judge the National Angora Club of
the UK's Adult stock show held in Coventry. I had a lovely
entry of over 30 Angoras, quite something for a numerically
small breed ! I had a lovely day, thank you to all fellow
exhibitors for their trust and support.
Photos and details Click Here
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October 21st 2007 |
Reading Show today. My local show.. always a good turn out. I
spend most of the day in the kitchen but still manage to have
fun ! My Chocolate boy Ebben won his class but was up against
tough competition with both the Best in Show winning Chocolate
from the Stock show and the Best White too :)
Don's Ebben in his pen...
More
details of the show Click Here
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2006 diary here.... |
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