Week 6 'babies and decisions'

Well hello TS bloggers another weeks past (i know I'm late...again but i have lots of excuses lol ) It has been busy not only in the rabbitry but also elsewhere in the Tolton household which does have a knock on effect elsewhere lol. Anyway lets start :) cleaning day was just Saturday as we had a show to go to on the Sunday...i had hoped to get most of the hutches done Friday but that was not meant to be lol. I did get the outside hutches done and we moved a couple of rabbits outside again to allow room in the shed. Surprisingly we had a lot of doorstep visitors over the Friday and Saturday, not just for rabbits either....the best was a lovely Asian family with 3 young children who turned up at 9pm asking if they were to late to visit :) we can never turn a person away lol.
The family have never had pets so were looking for a rabbit or guinea pig, 40 minutes later laden up with info sheets, price lists, book lists as well as 2 and a 1/2 dozen of our eggs they waved good bye :) if only everyone was as lovely....but not as late lol.
Another couple came over wanting to look at (surprisingly) our Siberians....they absolutely love the lilacs and want one reserved :) how can you say no lol so a good result there.
We had 2 new litters in the shed which i am pleased about (Kim more so because of the colours lol) the 1st was from my maiden Golden Glavcot doe....

 'Fanny'

 

Fanny (sorry about the name i was picking old fashioned names lol) was one of our first home bred does, lovely type and colour and was destined for the table...(show table...) anyway her personality and a small dewlap made for a decision to mate her up and we suddenly ended up with 7 babies...3 Glavcots and just as important for our Siberian side of the shed, 4 chocolate (sorry brown Siberians) which we have been waiting for so brilliant news there :)

 

Our second litter was one of our lilac Siberian does who we acquired through a friend of ours Laurel

'Lillie'



 



 

Now Lillie has produced in the past (2 lilac's) but this time again which pleased Kim, Lillie had 3 brown youngsters so we now have 7 choc (or brown lol) Siberians in da house :) so as they get older we will assess them and put pic's up lol.

 

Saturday came round pretty quickly and we had a suprise but very pleasant call from the day before, we had already had an enquiry a couple of months back from a lovely lady who had made the same call to us and offering the same proposition and that was to help out in the shed....which at the time was not what we needed. However another mum rang us (they'd had Parsley from us, one of our original Otter bucks from when we had 1st moved here) well it seems her daughter wants to be a vet or veterinary nurse and wants to do some voluntary work so had contacted an animal shelter in Brentwood, but mum thought she would ask us if maybe we would like her to come to do voluntary  work doing jobs for us such as cleaning out, working with and handling the rabbits, guinea pigs,chickens, dogs ......and bee's? (forgot to tell her about that one lol) anyway Kim loved the idea and after visiting Saturday morning has decided to pop over Saturdays (Kim is even sorting out an NVQ type programme for her) so that's good.

Because of our visitors I had forgotten the BRC AGM up at Harlow by the time i got there i had missed 2 hours but I'm glad i got there as it was really interesting some of the subjects brought up though all the usual subjects were also brought up but i wont bring the subjects up as it will be in the F&F magazine soon....plus i don't want you falling asleep at the computer lol. When i got home i had also brought back with me a guinea pig (thank you Derek & Joyce) which we had bid for in a charity rabbit auction...Kim was pleasantly surprised as it was a very good guinea pig which made me happy as it was me that made her bid for it without seeing it lol.

 

Anyway i digress lol where were we...oh yes the weekend  :) anyway Sunday came about which was show time :) 9 rabbits were originally entered but when it came to prepping them 3 failed the test before they left the shed ...Kim's a stickler for coat and condition...so 2 lops and the Siberian didn't go.

 

The show hall

 

 





 

Judging of the lops in main show

some of the other tables

 

We so enjoyed the day Kim came 3rd in her class with the only lop she brought :) my hulstlanders came 2nd and 6th and i got the CC with one of the Glavcots in the AOV Fur so really happy :)

If you want to see more pictures of the day, there is an album on one of the face book pages you can visit https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.251903558288544.1073741827.153450214800546&type=3 

 

so that was the week that was guys :) before we go, as promised we have another rabbit from the shed to chat about.....

 

This weeks rabbit is Beatrice a Golden Glavcot doe, she was born 1/1/09 and is the oldest of the Glavcots as she originally came with the complete stud we got last year as you can see she looks

 

 

her age but she has been a wonderful breeding doe and mother, she has had 3 kits since she has been with us, generally only having one baby each time....which considering her age is good for her lol

 

Beatrice when we first got her in 2012

We have 2 daughters from her as well as a son so at least the line will carry on within the shed.

 

Ok and finally to end this weeks blog we have the product in the shed, which this week is the feed bin :) i know...i know...whats interesting about a feed bin i hear you groan lol but like the hay rack its the practical side of things. when your feeding rabbits all over the place you need something easy to pull around with you...but a dustbin filled with feed is not practical....unless its on wheels :)

 

 

So purchase your black bin 

 

 next your pot holder

 

wheels are already attached





 

sit dustbin on top

then pull by handle all around the shed with no problems to your back, every so often the wheels need cleaning, but apart from that its so easy to make. We do have another variation with a bin that has slats added to bottom of the bin then casters screwed into the slats, works just as well :) so thats it for this week TSB's have a good week (weathers forecasting cold weather snap brrr) and i will be back after this weekend l8trs people.













 





Week 5 'The sun has got his hat on....'

Welcome back TF's (Tarax followers) :) again my apologies for the late blog but its been a hectic week (again) plus back to work and catching up with things has not made it it easy to sit down and put the blog to bed as they say.
We had the grandchildren stay for most of the week so not much time spent in the shed as i had hoped, which meant all the cleaning and show prep was done on the Saturday :( i did get to look at the youngsters who have all opened their eyes and have come out of the nests and with the sun finally coming out and warming everything...finally...we could put the heat lamps away :).
Princess lost one of her youngsters which I'm not sure why as they all seemed OK but i know there are not always answers to why things happen :( luckily the rest are ok and we still have 4 oranges which is good. Charlies kits are looking good...very plump lol and the silvering looks great already though they are still to young to assess yet (i will put photos up next week).
Saturday as i said was cleaning out which was a little easier with some of our rabbits having moved on to new homes....bramble and the little agouti doe were going to Harlow the next day so that helped again but the hutches in the shed are still pretty full after splitting some of the litters up....but thats a problem for another week lol.
Sunday meant show time and Kim and myself actually went to separate shows; Kim also shows guinea pigs along with her mum, so she went to Canterbury. Because it was just myself going I only took my rabbits 'Cedric' my adult Golden Glavcot who did well at his other show, 2 x Hulstlanders 'Nij' and 'Dillon' and also 2 new rabbits out for their 1st time 'Edward' a 14 week old Glavcot and 'Alfie' our first Lilac Siberian.

                    The Hall before the judging starts
 

 

One of the Dutch judges judging

 

Mr Daren Morris judging the lop rabbits

 It was a lovely day at the show as i love taking pictures as well as chatting and socialising :) and if we get any cards for our rabbits, its always a bonus lol. At this show Cedric got a CC in a class of 6 rabbits which considering what breed he is was very good and Dillon beat his step brother Nij and got his 1st CC :) the little u/5 glavcot beat the u/5 Siberian which was expected as Edward was the better in my eyes lol.

The rest of the day was spent watching the rest of the rabbits being judged my favourite was the continental giants :)

 

 

Our next show which we are both looking forward to is next week and is the Essex Championship Show, we have 9 rabbits entered (the most we have entered lol) but to be honest its the social side that's the biggest part of it. One of the FB pages we belong to (Mini Lops GB) are having a sort of picnic day so every ones making something and getting to know each other...i'll be there with the camera of course and again put a few pic's up lol.

 

Before this weeks blog finishes we had one of our friends who visits with their rabbit suggest that they would like to know more about our rabbits and if we could put it on the blog which sounds a good idea....it allows you to meet our stock, their history, the reasons why we have them etc. so Sam :) here is the first of the rabbits.

 

This is Borage

 





 

Borage is from our original line from which we started back in 1998, the line originated from Daren Morris and Anne Jones and started with a fantastic black otter trio. Borage came about from a black otter mating to a lilac tort mating and was by far the best of 4 in the nest, she is not an old doe being born 11/8/11 but has produced a varied amount of kits in the past 2 years.

 

 

Looking back on her litters she produced 17 kits in total of those because of the dwarfing gene 4 of those unfortunately were peanuts and died. 1 other died out of the nest but of the 12 that survived to leave the nest we certainly had a selection of colours lol

 

4 Black Otters

1Sooty Fawn

1 Lilac Tort

1 Lilac Self

2 Black Self

1 Choc Otter

1 Orange

1 Beige

 

She has been mated up to a black self this week so looking forward to seeing what she produces, especially as the buck is so very typey himself (related to her and a fantastic black otter from Mr Morris). Personality wise she is a very laid back doe, she loves being a mum in fact she does seem to sulk when there are no youngsters in the hutch with her lol, she does pass this trait on to the litters which is always good if any of the young are sold as pets. So that's the first of our rabbits :) next week we will introduce you to another of our breeds but i will let you guess which it will be :)

 

When i suggested to Kim that we would write something up about each of our rabbits she suggested why don't i also put something up about the various items we use within the shed how to save money etc....(great more writing and photos lol) so lastly here is one of the items we use in our shed....when we had a visitor today they actually asked about this so i thought i may as well start with it lol.

 

 

Yes its a bird feeder...it holds the fat blocks in it....you can get them from pound shops and they cost about....a pound lol. Anyway when you have a lot of rabbits you end up needing a lot of items,

 

So the first thing you have to do is remove the chain from the top, and then cut the lid off which as its hinged is quite easy to do.

 

 

Once that has been taken off, use wire cutters to snip a piece off the front at the bottom allowing access to it (i cut 3 squares wide).I do cut a piece from the bottom as well :)

 













Once that is done you need 3 small wood screws, 3 stainless steel washers and with 2 screws at the top and one at the bottom in the middle you fasten it to the inside of the hutch...i normally make it slightly higher than head height so to make the rabbit work for it...but either way you now have a strong easily fillable and very cheap...hay rack :)

 

 

So that's it for this week people, next week we have some more news on some new litters in the shed, the big Essex show and more notes within the shed on our rabbits and the equipment we use so we hope you enjoyed this weeks blog and until then l8trs everyone :)



Week four....a quiet one :)

Well this weeks blog is a lot later than i anticipated due to circumstances beyond my control, last week i was doing jury service so lost out on my first week of the Easter Hols, so although i was hoping to spend a couple of afternoons in the shed it did not come to fruition. Friday and Saturday were our cleaning out days and because of the time its taking to clean out hutches recently (28 hutches Friday and 17 Saturday) Kim said we needed to assess our stock again. Harmony our main Harlequin doe left us for a new home.

 

A really nice lady called Chris who uses one main breeder for her stock took her and seems to be really pleased. We also got to meet Wendy and her to boys (another lopper lol). Once Harmony went Kim decided 2 others needed to move on, the first was  Bramble a sooty fawn we kept., bred through our original lines; as a baby he was absolutely stunning, anyone coming into the shed always reached for him first which looking at his body and colour was understandable. (the ears are another thing lol i think we kept saying he will grow into them)
 

 As you can see he is a high Rufus colour

 

 

and as he has got older his shadings have got darker  but he did grow into his ears finally (as you can see here in his picture taken a year later)

 



 He has the most loving personality but he cant stop moving and when someone comes near he starts dancing he is quite manic lol, we kept running him on and each time we thought of selling him we ended up changing our minds until this weekend when we advertised him.....he is going to a perspective breeder this weekend. Our next rabbit to go is the last of our Harlequin line called Tessa which to be honest surprised me as i really thought she would keep her :)

 

 







Soon as she went up on line she was gone lol, in fact we also sold a choc tort doe of the same age at the same time :) I'm at a show at Harlow this coming weekend and another one of our does will be going then which gives us a bit of room in the shed finally :)

Kim has also suggested that I also need to look at my own stock within the shed as i have my Golden Glavcots, the Hulslanders, the lilac Siberians (and possibly brown Siberians) I have a Perlfee plus some F1's and some agouti F1's and an Argente Creme doe with some F1's so really i need to let one of my breeds to go :( but which one?....the Glavcots which there are not many breeders and their British in origin or the Huls which are established but did help me start back up in the fancy....what do you all think? i will put this off a little longer until i see how the Other breeds do on the table and how they will help our various programmes.....

 

On a different note we are looking forward to some shows coming up the next few months, next week its Harlow but the week after is our main one which is the Essex Championship Show :) so hopefully plenty of pictures....Harlow has our mentor Daren judging the mini lops but Kim is going to a guinea pig show so i am only taking some of my rabbits of which for 2 of them it will be their first time....Edward an u/5 Glavcot and Alfie is our 1st u/5 lilac Sib so getting them ready for the Essex. Anyway I'm going to finish it here so short and sweet lol photos of Harlow show next week and of course for any happenings within the shed :) until then...l8rs people





Week 3 Easter Buns :)

Well i hope everyone has had a good Easter...plenty of chocolate eggs and lots of time with their rabbits :) Here at Tarax stud its been business as usual....cleaning, assessing stock, meeting new people and chatting to old. We had a bit of a sort out in the shed this week with some rabbits being sold so we could split young stock up into their own hutches in the shed. 3 youngsters in particular are staying, Solo a young cinnamon buck who came back when the owner wanted a doe.

 

The other is a lovely orange mantle doe who we got from our doe Harmony (see previous post) she is a lovely colour and will be of help with a new programme we are working on :)

 

 

We will also be keeping her litter sister for the moment, who happens to be a proper Harlie which as in this photo we were hoping to keep together but they decided to fight so have now separated. 

 

 

As usual its cleaning out weekend but as it was a longer weekend we decided to split the cleaning over 3 days so the outside area was done 1st which I'm glad i did lol. I have 2 rabbits out there that are due next week including our new girl the Argente Creme. Kim palpated her and informed me there was definitely movement so i cleaned her out ready for next week....the next morning she had given birth and was still running around with fur in her mouth lol.

 

 

 

 

Compared to the minis she is not the best nest builder....looking at it today you wouldn't even know she has built anything in the corner but we have checked her litter and considering this is her 1st litter and she is so petite she has had 7 babies 3 of which are agouti's and 4 look as though they are orange of which we are really pleased with :) We are hoping there is a doe in there as we have 2 small orange bucks in the shed so hopefully we will be able to progress over the next year with them.

 

Cleaning out is a chore especially with so many animals lol

 

 

But it does give us a chance to look and handle the rabbits on a regular basis especially the youngsters, Our 2nd litter of lilac Siberians were born a month ago and had all left the nest and were running around tormenting mum lol. I'm really pleased with these as they are a true Rawlings to Rawlings mating. The mum is a 2 times London winner so this litter is quite important not only to carry the line on but also for us to establish a good line within the shed (especially with our other Benson line with which we want to cross over with).

 

4 of the 6 babies that 'Lillie' had



 

'Lillie' keeping an eye on me lol

 

one of the babies up close











  

 We do have another doe due next week which is one of our F1's called Charlie again Kim palpated her and said plenty of movement, fingers crossed as she is a first time mum as well :)

 

Being Easter we of course expect visitors but as we only breed for show we don't always have stock (which seems to upset people lol) out of the many people who visited we did have 3 nice couples who under stood and have put their names down for particular colours...and dont mind waiting (always a good sign).

 

Other bits of news is one our followers Charlie (yes we named our rabbit after her) had some good news (not rabbit related) in that she is now a manager of the bar and restaurant at the De Beauvoir pub in Downham so hopefully will be down there to visit one sunny day :)

 

Paul another follower is popping over with his 2 rabbits to have their nails clipped which will be nice as one of them was a little off colour a month back so will be good to see how she is now :) always hate it when animals who leave us become poorly :( but we always advise owners to ring us as soon as soon as they can so we can help over the phone where possible.

 

So that's it really, today is Easter Monday and April Fools day so plan on eating some chocolate and see how my rabbit prank on FB has turned out ;) but that's another story.....until then have a good week people.