Rabbit of the Year Competition

Received the National Angora Rabbit Breeders Club quarterly newsletter a few days ago.   There is a new competition: "Rabbit of the Year".   It's a mid year report, the current sweepstakes year runs from August , 2018 to July 31, 2019.

It's gratifying to find out that Annisha BC5AQ is at the first place position of the English Angora Rabbit of the Year contest.   This contest only counts BOB and BOS points, BIS and RIS are not counted.  Annisha in addition to the 31 BOB wins since October 2018, she also has 7 all breed BIS, 6 all breed RIS and 2 specialty BIS.   She is still in coat for further competition.  Hopefully she could hold the lead to the end of the sweepstakes year.

For Gifta BCG1FT to be at the first place in the French Angora Rabbit of the Year contest is truly a pleasant surprise.  Though she has 40 BOB, 4 all breed BIS, 3 all breed RIS plus specialty BIS and RIS since 2017, only 15 BOB and 2 all breed BIS were won during the current sweepstakes year.   As matter of fact, she only was in shows during September 2018 to December 2018 that earned her the 15 BOB legs.   I only show one or two French Angora in a show as English Angora is my main breed.    Currently Gifta is on maternity leave,  gave birth and raised 6 babies.   Whether she could hold her position in the competition is yet to be seen.

   

Happy 6th Birthday, William Penn

Born March 28, 2013, today is William Penn's 6th birthday!!!

Exercise helps to keep the old body strong.

Chilling in the yard works wonders.

A close up handsome photo shoot helps to attract lady friends.   William Penn is definitely a ladies guy...

...meet his 8-week-old sons and daughters!

Blue and Opal Color Development

The very left of the bunny is a blue, the ears have solid color just like the rest of its body.   

The bunny on the very right is an opal.   Opal is a name for blue agouti, same color genes as the blue except it's the agouti version.

Blue aaB-C-ddE-

Opal A-B-C-ddE-

The two bunnies are side by side to compare.

At two weeks old, the opal shows tan/beige undercoat, not as crispy blue as the self blue.

At 8 weeks old with the wool growing out, the agouti influence on the blue is more evident comparing to the self blue.

The same two bunnies view from the back, self blue on the left and the opal on the right.

Chocolate and Chocolate Agouti Color Development

When Chocolate and Chocolate Agouti are born, they look very much alike at 3 days old.   The top one is the chocolate agouti and the bottom is the self chocolate.   The little light colored ear gives away the information of an agouti gene.

Agouti gene has the orange/tan undertone, so the color gets lighter when the wool starts to grow at 2 weeks old.

The same two bunnies now have some wool at 8 weeks old, both have lighter wool than at birth but the self chocolate retains darker color face and body wool.

The above 8-week-old from the back side.  The self chocolate on the left and the chocolate agouti on the right.

Spring Time is Bunny Time for Jill

In January Jill debuted her first Fuzzy Lop litter of four with their daddy.    The daddy does well in shows and the babies also do well too.

Mama Fuzzy does not have the luxury of going to shows, she is working hard at home with her second litter of bunnies.

The second litter yields 7 cuties, 5 of them are solid tort and ...

… two are broken tort.

Wild Rabbits Having Fun

Maureen and John in OH had a trail cam installed in their large property.  They routinely catch images of raccoons, coyotes, possums, deer, …   None of those recorded images is as good as this one: wild rabbits having fun right in front of the camera!     There is no human breeder, they made the decision of when love comes into the air. Looking at the date of this photo, their due day is coming soon.     John and Maureen will be seeing more wild rabbits on their property soon.

Hi, World, Here I Am!

My eyes are big and round...

... I am very fluffy...

… and I love you and you love me.