Closing down notice

Angie's Angoras Rabbitry is closing it's gates after 16 years of being part of the Rabbit world.
Many things have been great and enjoyable, like winning three French Angora BOB's at ARBA Conventions , bringing up hundreds of bunny kits from birth to sell age, showing home bred Angoras to win Best in Show at all breed shows. What has not been enjoyable at all and dangerous to my health at times where the petty reactions from many fellow Angora Breeders across the U.S., things said out of yealousy, rumors started out of mean spite, lies about myself and my rabbitry spread across the nation and the internet, nasty and untrue things said and done to hurt me and my reputation as a reliable and truthful breeder that wants to simply enjoy a hobby. SHAME on those breeders, and know that things you did will come around to bite you some day. I have enjoyed the company of my critters much more then the company of fellow breeders. Advise to all new Angora Breeders out there that have not been around as long as me : beware of "friends" , do not turn your back, the knife is waiting to be plunged into your back when you least expect it.
Now that I am leaving the hobby, I can speak my mind without worrying about what might be said about me at a show or in a club, honestly, I do not care !!! LOL
After years and years fighting these nasty human beings, the joy has been taken out of the hobby, and showing has not been fun in several years. Combine this with the lack of time I have now to maintain a herd of angoras, working full time has rendered my free time to minutes, a few hours each day, not enough time to work with the buns, get feed, attend shows, groom ( and groom ), and have a minute of free time just for myself.
So, my life has come to a cross roads so to speak, and to be fair to myself and my beloved critters, I have come to the decision to spend more time on my home, my garden, friends and maybe some traveling, and place my bunny family in homes where there will be more time spent with them then they currently can get in my home.
So, with all that said, I am going to list all of my buns that I'll sell ( I am keeping 2 as pets, to be housed in my home as pet bunnies) here on this blog and during the next few days.
The list is too long for all buns to be listed in one message, so, I'll start off with babies and a few does, and finish the list with does and all bucks asap.

I will start a waiting list for all inquiries, names and buns wanted. Preference given to UARC members, but, sales are " first come, first serve". Bunnies are to be picked up at my home in central GA, or they can be picked up in Columbia, Sc on May 30-31( southern Pride rabbit show). No shipping due to heat, transport arrangements might be made with a friend of mine in TN, she travels ( trucks ) to CA weekly from TN.

Prices ARE firm, discounts given to multiple purchases, 10% off every purchase after first animal.

Babies for sale :
Still have a German/ Giant REW DOE and REW BUCK for sale out of JG's Helga. Babies are now 4 months old, and looking very promising. Helga has 6 ARBA BOB legs and a BIS.
Doe: $175.00
Buck:$125.00

Litter of excellent looking French Angora babies : now 8 weeks old and weaned, I have a real nice litter of rufus carrying babies. I have a beautiful cream in the litter, a real nice black tort with rufus red body wool, and 3 reds with excellent coloring and very little is any smut. This line was a project of mine to develop true red French Angoras and I hope that these babies go to rabbitries that will continue my hard work over the last 3 years to get this project going. The Dam, Cinnamon, received excellent remarks at a show a few months back for nice type, good density and excellent color. She is a very nice French Angora and her offspring is excellent show quality.
Babies still have to be sexed, will update list of colors and sexes as it becomes available, all babies out of this litter $90.00 each , can be registered with ARBA.

Adult Does: ( all French Angora)

AA's Madison ( black ) 4-25-07 2 BOB legs, needs to be registered. growing in a nice new show coat right now. was clipped 2 months ago. Excellent type, wool, crimp and color. no stray white hairs. Grows wool very evenly all over her body. Dam GC AA's Kate ( sable), Sire AA's Gideon, black. 90 % of 4 generation pedigree registered and championed.
VERY promising animal, $150.00 ( was planning to take her to convention this year for a good chance at a high placing ).

7AK43 (black) 5-21-07 nice black doe out of AA's Fantasia bred to AA's Gideon, not as nice type and wool wise as Madison above, but, I kept her for the bloodlines. Fantasia IS still one of my BEST doe's currently. Great potential to produce nice babies, this doe is free of DQ's, has great bloodlines and is good show potential . Her dam has many legs and 2 all breed BIS.
$100.00

AA's Gemini ( REW ) 4-25-07 EXCELLENT Doe with 2 legs already, needs to be registered, still in coat now but needs to be clipped. Was planning to show her at the Columbia show but, humidity matted up the coat due to my lack of time to groom more often. Current coat is 7 inches long. Grows wool very evenly and fast. Very nice type and density, excellent show animal that should finish championship quick with the right feed and grooming. $200.00

AA's Seneca ( Blue ) 4-25-07 Excellent doe with outstanding, rare density and good color, nice body under all of that wool, BIG doe at 10 pounds, has a light colored toenail and can not be shown. Kept her to breed to a blue buck to enhance the color and to try to clean up the toenail color problem, Blue is a hard color to breed without toenail issues. This doe has great potential to throw some NICE babies. Dam : Champion Spang's Denise ( goes back to my ARBA BOB winners), Sire : AA's Gideon. In dire need of a clipping, current coat is 8 inches long. VERY good health and appetite. $90.00 Will sell as wooler, however, has perky temperament and might intimidate a pet person.

AA's Ziva ( REW) 12-20-06 One of my favorite does, excellent show doe, beautiful type , size, wool, density, everything right about this doe. 9 LB now, registered, has been shown once as a junior, took first place, has not been in show coat for the few shows I did attend in the last year, so, no legs yet. Growing in a new show coat now, legs will be easy to get with this doe if you feed and groom her right. Has had one litter, proven good mother. Excellent temperament,excellent health and appetite, never had wool block, keeps herself very clean. Dam: SH Halo, pointed white, Sire AA's Simon, REW. Ziva might carry the himi gene. $150.00

Grand Champion AA's Connie ( REW ) 5-15-06 5 BOB legs, proven doe that has everything that a good French Angora should have. Clipped down and ready for another litter, this doe is ready for a new home for $200.00

Grand Champion AA's Q-tip (sable pearl) 7 BOB legs & 1 all breed BIS
2-14-05 , proven with 5 litters, ready now for another one. There are a few more nice litters left in this very healthy and easy going doe, many of her offspring has championed since she's been having babies. I have carefully adjusted her diet to maintain her in breeding condition. Excellent type, very broad and heavy bone, a tank of a bunny. EXCELLENT, correct coloring and body wool for a sable pearl. Sad to have to place her, she's yours for $280.00 Her picture is on my website.

Grand Champion AA's Kate ( sable) 5-24-05 2 BIS, many legs. A offspring out of AA's Lady Eowynn, one of my nicest colored does, Kate is an awesome example of what a French angora CAN do. Currently again in a 7 inch show coat, normally gives me 6-8 ounces of prime wool every 4-5 months. Excellent mother with several nice litters, very sweet and healthy doe, never wool blocks, needs very little grooming to grow a show coat. perfect texture, color and density to her wool, VERY nice type. Hate to see her go, one of my very favorite buns, $300.00

MORE Does and all 5 bucks will be listed in the next message, to be written within the next few days.
Contact me at akolifrath@gmail.com for details and purchase,
Angie K:)

long overdue update

Hi folks, a long overdue update today of personal stuff that has been keeping me from updating this blog and answering e-mail as quick as I had done in the past. Since my last post here I managed to total my Montana Van after only owning it for a few short months. The van was hit from the rear by another van on the night of March 30, upon my return from my birthday party in Atlanta that night. I got caught in a 2 feet deep flash flood area on I-75 going south, mt van got stuck in the water and died, and as I called 911 to report the problem a large Van parked itself on the rear seat bench. No one was hurt, but both vehicles where totaled, and the night was spent finding rides back home. I finally got a ride via a Sheriff relay from county to county and returned home cold, wet and tired at 5:45 am. I had to find and purchase a new vehicle in a hurry, as well as take my national exam 5 days after the accident.
Here is a picture of my poor Montana, the last look that I got of it at the yard as I retrieved the personal items from the vehicle before signing it over to the insurance company, I am just glad that I had no passengers sitting in the back seat since they would not have been as lucky as myself regarding the lack of injuries.
The accident was on 3-30, I sat in my national exams for the Phlebotomy certification on 4-4. I received my test results and certification in the mail 2 days ago, I passed the exam with a score of 96 % and have received my certification, my official title now is: CPT :)

I started working full time as a Phlebotomist at Upson Regional Medical Center 4 weeks ago, and am still trying to create a new schedule for my life to fit in work, driving time, chores and hobbies. I have not had time to spin much, I hardly have time to keep up with grooming or with the yard. I am sure that it will all work itself into a schedule in the next few months, going from self employed / part time to full time is a huge change in one's life. I am currently working the first shift for Lab, which means getting up at 3 : 30 am, driving for 50 minutes to work to be clocked in by 5 : 30 am. I get off work no earlier then 2 pm, often have to stay an extra 30 minutes or more to finish work that I started before 2 pm. We also have meeting every 2 weeks that require us to stay an extra hour or two after shift. I often return home no sooner then 4 pm, do the minimum of chores needed and have to go to bed by 8 pm to get the sleep that I need to function at work. Hopefully soon I will be able to switch over to second shift ( for which I was hired to work ), that shift runs from 2 pm to 10 : 30 pm, much better for my life style.

On other news, bunny related, the 2 litters of baby bunnies are growing like weeds. I will try to take some pictures this weekend and will post them here in the next few days.
The litter of 3 babies from my Giant Doe Helga is now all grown up and in the teenage stage, the babies are doing really well and have been separated, they have started with grooming and will go to their first show end of this month. I am keeping Helga's daughter, still have to find a good name for her. I still have one boy for sale out of this litter, will take a picture of him soon and post it here in a new sales list.
Cinnamon's litter of 4 French angoras grew up so fast, need weaning this weekend since Cinnamon has stopped nursing them and is pushing them into cage corner's often to make more room for herself LOL . I have one very nice looking cream baby in the litter, my first cream, no smut on this baby, just very lovely looking light fawn wool, I have a very dark tort in the litter with a black mask and markings, and dark red body wool. I also have 2 very dark rufus red babies in this litter. Needing to be sexed and placed into their own cage, I'll take pics of them soon and post them here with more updates on each baby.
I need to breed a few more FA doe's soon, after I find time to clean and hook up my window A/C in the rabbitry, it's getting humid and warm in the area and buns need some cool air during the day when temps reach 90 degrees now.
Last but not least, a quick update on bunny shows : my club, the UARC, is planning a angora specialty show on 5-31 in conjunction with the double open show ( Southern Pride RC) held in Columbia, SC. The show hall is air conditioned, and I'll be meeting folks there for bunny pick up, as well as show secretary the angora specialty show that day. The show will be day of show entry, bring a filled out ARBA show entry form with $3.00 per angora to be entered. I will have my FA and GA babies at the show to look at and choose from, as well as several adult FA does to sell , a list will be posted in a few days.

Hope to see many of you at the show, plan to bring my wheel for a few minutes of spinning, grooming questions always welcome with possible angora grooming demo's ( while we groom our own entries ) planned during the day. Want to see how to blow an angora coat ?? come to the show and ask a UARC member for a demo.

Happy Mother's Day to all Mom's that read this blog,

Angie K:)

First there where 3 .........

now there are 4!!!
On Wednesday, right on due date, Cinnamon had 3 fat and huge babies in her nest box for me to inspect. Wool was pulled, babies where fed already, all looked fine. I cut up the wool, counted toes, placed babies back into the box and took them and some herbs back to momma. The next morning, Thursday, I check the box again and find baby # 4, a nice addition. Just glad that I brought the box back out to her after an hour of inspecting it and keeping it in the house, would I have kept the box in the house except for nursing once or twice a day, I would have lost baby # 4 due to having to have been born on the wire :( Cinnamon is sore as heck, due to these 4 babies being so big, I am feeding parsley and dandelion to help her heal fast.
All 4 babies look to be reds, all 4 already show nice dark red color develop over the back and on the head.
Below two pictures of the litter, 48 hours old.
Angie K:)

Happy Easter !!

Happy Easter everyone :)
a quick update for everyone, Helga's babies have been weaned and now live in their own cage. All 3 have adjusted well and kept on eating well and explored their new cage. This weekend they will be groomed for the first time, will take more pictures of each baby. So far both boys are still available.

AA's Cinnamon, my red French A. Doe is due with babies in 5 days. I bred her to her red son, AA's Aries. Both buns where judged at a double open show a few weeks ago and both received very good remarks on type and wool from both judges.While not in coat shape to receive first place in rather tough classes with very nice animals to compete against, both received nice placements to let me know that my " red project " is coming along nice when it comes to trying to produce competitive, red French Angoras. Below pictures of both parents of this litter due, litter color should be predominantly red.

AA's Aries, buck above
AA's Cinnamon, doe below
personal items include that I have applied for graduation from college, I have finished my 26 credit hours for my certificate for Phlebotomy Technician and my last class / final was 3 days ago. This last semester was tough with school plus clinical, but, I managed to get a 4.0 GPA again. Grades where posted on Bannerweb last night. Now I am studying for national certification exam on the 4th, the testing will happen on campus in Macon at 9 am.

Besides studying for the exam, I am making good use of the free time by fixing up my home inside and out and making much needed repairs. I am spending at least one hour each day cutting down wild blackberry brambles that are trying to take over my yard again, I am currently painting my wooden ( dark, old looking ) front porch white ( with dark green floor boards eventually to match my shutters ) , I am building a pavilion for a sitting area in the yard to overlook the woods, and I am painting all of my wooden outdoor furniture to look nice again for the upcoming summer. The veggie garden is being weeded and replenished with sifted bunny compost, ready to take summer vegetables after 3-31. For now the veggie bed holds kale, butter crunch lettuce and a huge amount of fast growing parsley and dandelion, only the lettuce is grown for human consumption LOL
Happy Easter egg hunt to everyone with small children, my own daughter is 19 years old now, no more having to hide easter eggs and gifts in the yard in this family, kinda miss it sometimes.
Angie K:)

Finally - pictures of Helga's Litter :)

Here they are- Helga's Babies :)
Pictures taken this afternoon, babies are now 5 weeks and 2 days old.
All 3 are very sweet and love, I mean love to be petted,very sweet and tame guys that do not mind being picked up, turned over and petted :) JUST like mom.
In this litter we have 2 bucks and one doe, bad news for folks that waited on my waiting list for does :( I have to keep the one doe out of this litter, since I only have one doe in the barn right now. If something happens to Helga, I'll be out of Giants. The two bucks are posed left bunny and middle bunny, the doe is on the right , with her bangs brushed into her face :) ANYONE wanting a baby boy Giant Angora, contact me asap.
Mom is JG's Helga, her picture is located to the right under the BIS heading, she's got 6 legs now. Dad of this bunch is AA's Verizon, a Giant Angora buck with good potential, sold him at 8 months of age to Rose in TN to breed and to be shown.

This is a close-up picture of the little doe, have to find a good name for her and all will be weaned in a few more days and get a tattoo. Checked all of them for DQ's today, none where found. Will sell each buck for $ 125.00, incl. pedigree.

Crazy!!!

Hi Folks,
Lots of updates, things have been CRAZY around here with excitement.

• no more bunnies for sale at this time, until further notice and new updates here. I still receive e-mail messages asking about bunnies that I had posted for sale in a previous blog, they all found good, new homes.
  
• my litter of 3 Giant angoras is doing real well, Mom is weaning them right now and I can't place enough food in the cage to keep all of them happy LOL. The babies love to nibble on the Timothy hay cubes that I place in the cage daily, makes me happy to know that all have something to nibble on while I am at work and all of the pellets are gone till the next feeding. I assume that Helga is gaining ponds right now, since she's free fed and must be eating most of the 6 cups of pellets that I place into feed dishes during feeding time. I have yet to find time to take pictures of the babies, due to reasons posted below ( weather mainly) , I will try to bring the litter into the house tomorrow for pictures and sexing and will blog an update reserved just to them :)
  
• Spring has sprung in central GA and color has returned to the landscape : Forsythia bushes are blooming around town and my tulip tree is blooming with the most beautiful magenta / purple colored blossoms. Sadly, spring weather also has brought unpredictable temperatures and weather extremes to our area, we are experiencing severe storms with Tornadoes, temperatures in the mid 70's for only 48 hours and mild, then falling into the mid 40's for a few days with freezing at night. This is not only rough on humans but worse for animals that live outside. My bunnies all started a severe seasonal molt and many had to be clipped down, am busy spinning all of the wonderful 5 inch long fibers. I have maybe 5 French Angoras in the Rabbitry right now that have a new coat growing in and did molt much earlier, I pray that they hold on to their coats so that I have something to show this spring. I just hope that the weather will calm down soon and be more predictable, at this time I need good weather for grooming / blowing on weekends, not severe thunderstorms and 50 mile an hour winds whenever I have a day off. For example, yesterday, while at work at the hospital we experienced 70 degrees outside, I ate lunch outside in the pavilion. By 6 pm heavy rains came in with 20-30 mph winds, it rained all night and all morning. Currently temps fell from 65 overnight to 45 degrees right now, 10 am, and I see snow flurries outside. Tonight we are supposed to go down to 24 degrees, and stay that way for the next few days. Last day of the 7 day forecast - 71 degrees. Is that crazy or what ??
  
• FINALS : Am in the mid of finals for College. One more week and I will be done with my formal education as Phlebotomy Technician, certificate and graduation are applied for. The last 6 months of being a full time student went by so fast - but, I am so glad that it is almost done !!!!! My official graduation date is March 19. My national exam date is set as well, I will have exams in school on April 4 at 9 am. I will be a member of the American Society for Phlebotomy Technicians , who will perform my national exam testing and will be in charge of certifying me. No national certification with an Institution, no chance to get a job as a " certified " Phlebotomist. Like LPN's have to be licensed, and take the licensing exam, Phlebotomists have to be certified and take the certification exam. We also have to re certify each year with continued education to stay updated and within code.
  
• In other exciting news, the Hospital where I am currently completing my clinical / internship has hired me to stay on as a paid member of the Lab staff :):) My 10 week internship off course is done as free labor, you do most of the work other, certified Phlebotomists do, but, it's to learn, not to be paid. My phlebotomy Supervisor and the Lab Manager both wanted me to stay on staff after school, and contacted HR. After receiving the OK to offer the position , I had an interview with the Lab manager on Thursday and got the " thumbs up". I am so relieved to know that I can continue in the same Lab that I have grown to love , made friends with the staff and enjoy working in. The Hospital in itself is a great place to be at, very nice, friendly staff, very friendly patients, a great facility that strives for customer satisfaction. When you walk into the Lobby you think you walked into a large hotel. So, asap I'll be hired on, will receive pay and benefits and I will not have to start looking for a job and pound the pavement with a resume. I might at a later date, due to 1 hour commute each way, but, for now I need something familiar and comfortable to relax for a little while. I will end up working second shift, and will have to rearrange my feeding schedule for the buns to mornings, I am not interested in feeding / watering and doing chores after getting home at midnight after work. I will also be working every other weekend, so my show schedule will change drastically, being able to only attend shows that will fall on my weekend "off".
  
• That covers all of my updates for today, still snowing outside, hoping that I can groom bunnies tomorrow and take pictures of my Giant litter out of Helga :)
  

Angie K:)

Much needed update :)

Dear Readers,
sorry for the long silence, but, as you can imagine, life is so busy around here. No time for blog updates and website work ;(
A quick update about what has been going on around here includes a show report .........
Perry GA , double open all breed show February 2008
French Angora show A & B ( both shows had the same animals and placements, so I am listing all the winnings together, 13 entered, 3 exhibitors ( Lauren and Rik Waters, A. Kolifrath)
BOB twice to AA's Connie, REW, 1 1/2 years old ,granted now with these extra 2 legs.
BOV twice to AA's Meghann, black, 2 years old, granted now with these 2 extra legs ( she just needed one more) since we had 11 colored FA's on the table.
BOS and BOSV twice to AA's Virgo, black buck, 8 months old, 2 legs due to having 5 bucks on the table. his first 2 legs.

Barn news include the sad fact that I am cureently clipping bunnies and harvesting fleece by the pound, seasonal molt ( spring is in the air with temps in the upper 60's, lower 70's ) and a forced switch in feed has forced everyone into a molt :( I do not know what I can save for a few more shows, my show season might just have to wait till May / June and include trips up north then to find some later shows. Other barn news include the happy announcement of a new, long awaited litter of Giant Angora babies, JG's Helga gave me a litter of 4 babies, 3 still around, now 2 1/2 weeks old and growing like weeds. Sire of this litter is AA's Verizon, who now lives with Rose in Tn. All 3 babies are REW off course, some of them might be listed on a for sale list later, once I can determine sex.
Plans are underway to breed a few select French doe's within the next few days, first litter planned will be red bred to red, after Cinnamon gets a haircut first. Her fleece is of nice length now and I am itching to spin it, I took her to the show in Perry with me, her first show, and received very nice comments on her type and density, color, texture...... I was surprised. Guess I am going in the right direction with my red FA project.
All of the bunnies listed in the previous blog entry are meanwhile sold.
Chris and Rose from TN purchased my Giant Angora pair, Streusel and Verizon live on a huge farm now. The French girls where picked up by Pam H. yesterday and moved to Ft. Myers, FL to be used for wool production for her Alpaca farm and to be bred to supply local spinners and FFA with good quality angora bunnies.

On a personal note, I have settled into a routine of working clinicals and studying for two on line courses to finish my schooling. Graduation date is March 19. I was asked by my current clinical supervisor at Upson Regional Medical Center in Thomaston, GA to submit a resume to Human Resources, they have an opening for Phlebotomy Technician open right now for the Lab. Keep your fingers crossed. I would love to stay on at the current Lab, I get along well with the staff and have learned 3/4 of all that there is to do with daily chores, even so it's an hour's drive each way to work, it would mean a foot in the door ( experience ) and a steady paycheck to count on soon. I am taking my national exam for certification sometime mid April, something to start studying for soon, 250 questions to be answered in 2 hours. Exam will be taken at the college, proctored by my adviser, head of lab department.

Will post some pictures of my Giant babies as soon as I can find time to pose them , Helga is very protective her her babies and it is always a dangerous struggle trying to touch one or to get the box in and out of her cage.

Happy Spring to everyone, Angie K:)