Barn Cleaning Days are Here Again, Part 1

Betty has arranged all her carriers in their 3-car garage.

View from another angle.

The next morning, Betty's English Angora filled the carriers.

There isn't a rabbit show going on, the reason why Betty's rabbits are staying in their carriers is for their barn and condo units to go through the big annual cleaning.

Though Betty cleans the cages and trays twice a week, the dust, wool, spider web, hay, ... can still do the job of messing up the barn.

All stacks of cages are taken out of the barn.

The cages are flamed and power-washed.

When the power wash is done, the cages sit in the sun to dry.

The trays are showing signs of wear and tear but they are washed thoroughly.

The entire barn is power-washed, now waiting to be dry enough for the stacks to be returned.



Bunnies Explore the New World

 

 

 



Where are we?

 



This smells strange, it's not our nestbox.

 

You stay here, I'm going to look for our mom.

 

We better stay together.






 

 

What Scissors for Cutting Angora Wool?

Betty says,

I get asked often about what kind of scissors are the best for cutting Angora wool.  Here is my recommendation: Fiskars "Spring-Assist" scissors.    These scissors allow me to use my entire hand to control the handles.   One can buy these scissors from most of the fabric stores, I bought mine at JoAnn Fabrics.  The listed price is around $20, but with coupons that are regularly available, one can get 40-50% off.    I've spent as much as $79 for high end scissors but none worked as well as these.


 

The pair on the left is the same model as in the first photo; needless to say that I have many pairs of similar ones.   My favorite is the pair on the right, my first pair that I bought in 1995, almost 20 years old.  The spring was replaced, the nob that shut off the blades broke off as well but the blades are still as sharp as the first day that I bought the pair.    This old pair was made in Finland; Fiskars still has a factory in Finland but no longer makes this model.


 

I can still find Finland-made Fiskars; there are several different models that has orange handles.  The blades are very nice but they are thicker than the spring-assist model thus harder to insert into a dense coat.   In addition, I find it harder to use two fingers to control the wool-cutting.  Though I like the fact that this model is still made in Finland and the blades are sharp, I very seldom use this pair for wool harvesting.  

 

The blades have the information of where the scissors are made.  






 

Black vs. Blue

Black is a self color with color genetic make up of:

aaB-C-D-E-
 

Blue is a self color with color genetic make up of:

aaB-C-ddE-

Comparing the two, the difference is in the d location.   The black has D that stands for "dense" color and the blue has dd that stands for dilute color.  Blue is the dilute of black.      Both black and blue carry E, thus the black/blue color are extended to the rest of the body.



 

Blue vs. Blue Tort

 

 

 

Blue is a self color, the color genetic make up is

aaB-C-ddE-

Blue tort is also a self color, the color genetic make up is

aaB-C-ddee

If one compares the two colors, the only different is that the blue has E that allows the blue gray color to be extended to the rest of the body, the blue tort has ee which indicates non-extension.   The non-extension gene limits the blue color to the extremities only, the wool color is tan/beige.

The relationship between blue vs. blue tort is analogous to black vs. tort.

 

 

French Angora Brother and Sister

 

 

 

 

Brother and Sister Fair N Square and Fair Lady are side by side.


Their parents are HGF Ben Franklin and HGF Meara, they look more like mom than dad as dad is REW and mom is a Chestnut, the same color as the siblings.










 

From Cutie to Handsome

 

 

 

Mackie is a handsome buck, his coat is doe-like.


 

It's hard to imagine that a little cutie pie could grow into the handsome Mackie.