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:)