In The Dead Of A Wisconsin Winter

Lordy, I just plain hate winter.  I am not a winter person; there is nothing fun about being outside, especially when your nose freezes shut or your finger tips drop off from lack of blood.  I especially love it when you smack your frozen finger on a cage door or between the ceramic crock you are trying to de-ice, and the bucket.

I just showed some of my Polish last weekend – only a few, and it was their first show.  Of course they acted up on the show table and wouldn’t pose well – they practically screamed out evidence that their owner hates winter and doesn’t like practicing posing rabbits when it is zero out.   They are right, I’m out there to do my chores twice a day and that takes a fairly long time already – posing rabbits is not on my list when the weather is as cold as its been!

And I don’t even have it that bad!  My building is insulated – in fact, I’ve only had frozen water cups in some of the bottom cages this winter. 

My tales of winter misery and misfortune pale in comparison to my friends’.

Imagine working out in an unheated building for several hours when it is below zero – chipping out frozen water cups two and three times a day, feeding, cleaning cages and trimming nails.  The worst part is that you need your finger dexterity for so much of the work, but of course the gloves don’t allow for it.

Throughout it all, the rabbits laugh at you for being so wimpy!  They are full of vinegar in this weather – their thick fur coats are excellent insulators.  Even so, night has got to be brutally cold and we have all been stuffing cages with hay, straw and boxes to give our beloved bunnies some warmth.

In light of all the pre-speculation about this winter’s weather, I had decided to wait and see what Mother Nature would bring us before deciding to breed any rabbits for winter litters.  I am glad I didn’t breed any, but this also means I don’t have any show juniors for Polish Nationals this coming April.

Almost time for chores again….

Oh, be sure to visit my friend’s new website, we are adding cool things almost daily – Reilly’s Rabbits of Wisconsin.

Don Neumeier WI Polish RC Show 1/12/08

The first show of 2008 for me, and the first time I’ve attended this specialty show for Polish rabbits. 

Held in the Richfield Fire Station, which is between West Bend and Sussex, I began the drive worried about the forcasted snow flurries.  The snow did come during the show day, but melted as it hit the ground so my hour-and-a-half drive was not treacherous as I thought it might be.

The building was heated, and had a nice kitchen and showroom area – everyone brings their own batch of chili which is all combined in one large cooker and sold by the bowl at lunchtime, along with other goodies.   There was a nice raffle which the kids always like, and Roger Moeller’s rabbit equipment was there to offer just about anything you needed for your rabbitry.

I only brought 5 Polish rabbits to show – I have more, but since I am only in week 7 of recovery from my surgery, I didn’t want to carry and handle a whole lot just yet.  

There were a lot of Polish there!  Many of the senior classes had more than 10-12 rabbits in each, which is plenty for Polish!  My black senior buck didn’t do well in his huge class, being out of condition compared to the other nice rabbits there.  My broken does only had each other to  compete against in their class – and the judge did not pick the one I thought would do well at this show!

My chocolate doe who just turned senior, won her large class and then won Best of Breed!  I was surprised by this one – she’s got a very nice body and nice coat to her, but to me, her head is not as nice as my pretty little brokens’ heads.  But I am not a judge……and I am fairly new to this breed.

Funny thing about this doe is that twice she was not going to be shown:  I originally planned to take my black senior doe to this show, but she seemed a little ‘off’ in the morning, so I grabbed this chocolate doe instead, and the second time was when I became so tired around 1 pm, that I came close to scratching my chocolate doe so I could leave for home……… but I stayed and this is the doe that won!

The Polish breeders here in Wisconsin are the best I’ve met.  Every single one has been so nice and helpful – and I noticed so many of them offering assistance, advice and encouragement to the youth that participated in yesterday’s show.  This in itself is very refreshing to me- everyone works as a true team to better the Polish in our area!  

If you are pondering what breed to begin with, you can’t go wrong with the Polish – this small breed is delightful to handle and breed, and in Wisconsin you can get quality stock readily and plenty of good advice to go along with!  You will only encounter encouragement showing against the other Polish breeders around here – the Polish are just a very nice breed of rabbit!

Cathy

Misty Hill’s Fall Frolic

I am hoping to go to the Misty Hill’s Fall Frolic rabbit show tomorrow.  Everything will depend upon whether or not I get all my other chores done today or not – you know…the fun stuff like laundry, cleaning and food shopping…aaarrgghhh.

My small show string of only one Holland and three Polish are all molting, of course, so I can’t expect to be there for any reason other than to increase class sizes so others can win legs. 

It will be good for my Holland doe – she acted so crazy at her first show despite me working with her a lot at home.  I am hoping she gets used to the show routine so I can send her to convention this October. 

This show is held in Dodgeville, WI at the Harris Pavilion (name?); the drive is less than an hour long, making it one of the closest rabbit shows for me.  At less than 5 years old, this building is very large and offers exhibitors a lot of room to spread out and get comfy- I don’t have to rush there just to get a spot, like at some croweded shows. 

What crazy weather around here!  Frost warnings last night, very windy and chilly – reminicent of late fall, and the weather forcast for next week jumps us back into the +80’s.  Only in Wisconsin – heat and air conditioning within a day’s span!  Impossible to expect good rabbit fur right now.

Hope to see you there, signing off to start all the fun stuff……

Cathy

Finally – Polish babies!

The two Polish does I bred last month each had their litters over the past few days!  Finally I’ll have some Polish babies – I am so excited!  I was worried that the one doe could have some lilac babies with the coloring in both her and the buck’s backgrounds, but the kits are all black. 

Sweety doe, Jody’s Holland, also had her litter.  She had 5 babies, but crushed two of them and one looks like it was pulled apart at birth (perhaps she had trouble delivering this last one, it looked abnormal) but the two remaining are doing fine.  We should of bred more Hollands along with her, but I wanted to treat all the other rabbits for coccidia last month so no others were bred.

Kelly hasn’t wanted to rebreed any more French Lops.  I truly think she is easing back on her rabbits – and already has a lot of them to care for.  I can’t fault her – she seems to know when she is nearing her limit of animals to care for and refuses to breed more.  She’s got the last two litters still; none of them have been shown yet because we haven’t been able to get to any rabbit shows in April! 

Well I am just excited to actually have my own Polish babies – I’ve always wanted my own rabbits to show myself.  Soon I’ll be able to attend rabbit shows, even when the kids can’t go! 

I suppose I can bring a few Hollands along to show also, since Jody and I ‘merged’ all our Holland stock at the beginning of the year.  Jody and I are now just one ‘open exhibitor’ as far as the Hollands go.  Jody hasn’t much interest in showing anymore, but does not want to give up his funny Hollands – he still cares for them every day without fail.  I have to say, the Hollands are the funniest and most personable rabbits I’ve ever seen – they captivate us daily with new antics. 

Each rabbit has a distinct personally and is so different from the next one; Little Bear is so spastic and never stops running back and forth for attention – if you listen closely to him, you can hear him humming loudly and blowing air out of his open mouth – while he runs back and forth in front of you!  “Prairie Dog”, a younger buck out of Shorty, is always sitting up on his hindlegs while he eats his hay every night, and of course, Wire, or ‘Musso’ as Jody calls him has to have a fresh piece of cardboard every night and he’s specific about it – the cardboard must be approximately 4″ square and we must put a small hole in the center so he has a ‘handle’.  In response to anyone talking to him, Wire picks up his carboard piece and carries it around his cage, whirling in small intricate circles, all the while making sure his audience is watching him.  He is truly insulted if we give him a too-large piece of cardboard, or an awkward-shaped piece and admonishes us by stuffing it in his water bowl instead of carrying it around. 

Litters Due this Week!

We are very excited – Kelly has two French Lop litters due this week, although she isn’t sure one of her bucks was quite old enough to produce a litter, so we’ll have to just see if the doe has any.

Jody and I bred 4 Hollands who are all due this week – keeping our fingers crossed – especially since two will be first-time moms.

And of course,  most importantly (hehehe) I have a couple of my new Polish does bred for this week too – I can’t wait for my own Polish bunnies!

If the weather would cooperate here – been pretty cold, blowing wind, temps in the teens all week……

Litters Expected in December

Last night I bred several of our does:  I bred three of my newer Polish does, two chocolates and one black.  I can’t tell you how excited I am about this breed.  Not only are they the perfect size for both our rabbitry and for me, but I find them to be quite funny little rabbits.  I am really looking forward to these litters and showing my own Polish rabbits in 2007!

We also bred some of Jody’s Holland does.  We bred Shorty to Candycane and the Narragon ’sweety’ doe, and bred Muggins to the doe that Tina Zabler gave us at the last show – this should be a nice cross, with Muggin’s exceptional crown, ears and bone! 

We also bred a doe to Kelly’s only Holland Lop, Zack – he’s not a showable color and he’s about a ounce over the top weight limit for Hollands, but he’s got just an awesome body, ears and head, plus an outstanding personality.  The doe we chose to breed to him produces tiny rabbits, so we are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping we don’t create a mess of strange Hollands with this cross.

Last month we went through all our Holland Lops.  We did need to step back and take a serious look at our Hollands and decide which ones can contribute exceptional qualities to our herd. 

It can be difficult to cull with the lines we have – almost all are very slow developers and many don’t mature until they are well into adulthood.  As an example – YRA Shorty;  we got him from Eric Henning when Shorty was just a little guy – probably 3-4 months old at the most.  Other than his obviously short body, he was quite an ugly Holland with major airplane ears and just a plain underdeveloped type to him.  Eric kept promising he’d turn out nice, “be patient” (there’s that evil word again – Patience, this word haunts many Holland breeders)

Well two years after we got Shorty, this rabbit placed 2nd senior broken buck at the 2005 ARBA Convention!  He deserved it too – he is an absolutely gorgeous Holland Lop, but he spent his earlier days as quite a strange looking creature. 

Well I am certain I’ll need another dose of patience for our youngsters and upcoming litters.

Back to work -

Cathy