Angie's Angoras Rabbitry

long overdue update

2008-05-10T04:05:00.005-09:00

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 .........

2008-03-28T14:20:00.003-09:00

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 !!

2008-03-22T03:24:00.006-09:00

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 :)

2008-03-10T15:14:00.004-09:00

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!!!

2008-03-08T05:51:00.002-09:00

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 :)

2008-02-18T09:00:00.002-09:00

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:)

FOR SALE !

2007-12-29T13:33:00.000-09:00

The following angoras are for sale from my rabbitry.
50 % deposit required to hold each rabbit for a max. of 14 days for pick up. Deposit can be mailed or made through paypal.
Paypal charges me a fee for incoming money, so a paypal payment for a bunny will have 5 % added to the purchase price to cover the fee. I can send you an invoice for a order total and you can pay through the invoice.
All Money's paid are none refundable if customer doesn't show up at the arranged time and day for pick up or delivery.
Next delivery to a show would be 1-12-08 in Perry GA. ( rabbit show at the Fair Grounds ).
Rabbits ordered now to be held for longer then 14 days will occur a boarding fee of $ 10.00 per extra month till the animal is picked up or delivered at a show. For example, Rabbits paid for now for delivery to the Dalton show will occur $20.00 in boarding fees for January and February. This fee will pay for added feed costs and will help me hold on to a sold animal for such a long time.

Giant Angora Doe : AA's Streusel, REW, DOB June 10 2007. Purebred , show quality, has been shown recently as a junior and received nice comments. good density, nice type, very nice ear tassels and facial furnishings. Sweet temperament, outgoing. Selling to make room for Giant litter coming next month. Bloodlines : AA's, Starwist, $125.00 firm

French Angoras :
7AK34
7AK49
Two pointed white French doe's for sale , sisters, DOB June 6 08. Both show quality, good size ( both senior weight and still growing ), one was recently clipped and one is already growing in a second baby coat, will be entered in shows next month. One is a lilac himi, the other is darker, might be chocolate or black himi, hard to tell.
VERY nice density on both does, very nice crimp.
Dam : Grand Champion AA's Calypso, pointed white, Sire: AA's Joshua, pointed white. bloodlines : AA's and Elm Grove.
$90.00 each incl. pedigree

6AK40 AA's Lucie
Sable pearl Doe, DOB 12-20-06, registered, show quality, one GC leg.
Dam : Grand Champion AA's Kate, sable, Sire: Grand Champion AA's Luke, sable pearl. Registration form has red/ white seal of excellence for having 2 generations registered in her pedigree.
Bloodlines include AA's and Glenn's.
$90.00 discounted price due to needing her cage for babies !!!! well worth more, 10.00 LB at time of registration, very large type , large solid bone , nice texture to wool, nice density, very nice color ( color tint to wool, not white).
Clipped down, ivomeced, healthy and ready to breed, can be sold bred to one of my registered bucks for an additional fee of $ 50.00
This doe has great potential to produce a very nice show litter.

Grand Champion SH Halo , 3 year old pointed white doe is ready for retirement at a fiber farm or a loving household looking to adopt a sweet , mellow angora pet bunny. Halo still produces huge amounts of fine quality French Angora wool, she's sweet, very healthy,had a very successful show carrier and produced 3 very nice litters for me. I own her daughter and grand babies, time for Halo to retire in a good home where there is more time for her and I need her cage for babies.
Halo MIGHT still produce a litter, her last litter had 6 babies in it 6 months ago, she's acting like she'd like to be bred again. But, I will not guarantee that she's going to produce more babies for anyone.
Halo is $ 25.00 adoption fee to a pet home without pedigree and all papers..... if you'd like to buy her with papers for possible breeding, she'll be $ 90.00

Still pretty enough to show, Halo is not showing her age at all .... but, I need the cage space :(

End of list till further notice, might have one buck to add by tomorrow, have to check something first before I list him.

Contact me via e-mail , akolifrath@gmail.com

Angie K:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

2007-12-29T12:40:00.000-09:00

Happy New Year wishes for a prosperous and healthy 2008 from the Kolifrath family to all of our friends !!

What's new ?? finished my last day of work in my old job and am officially unemployed for the remainder of the time it takes to get my certification to be a Phlebotomy Technician. I am starting my Internship at the Upson Medical Center in Thomaston GA on 1-7-08, will be a 1 hour drive each way 3 days a week to work 3 shifts per week. Am registered for my last two classes as well for the srping semester. Received my final grades on bannerweb 3 days before x-mas, 3 A's with a 4.0 GPA.
My 2 year old Dell PC broke down for the second time, decided to upgrade to a laptop instead of having the tower fixed again, Monitor on the PC is flickering and causing migraines, will be the next thing to go :( So, all of my files, docs and pics as well as articles for the club newsletter and my website are locked away in my hard drive and I am STILL trying to locate someone OTHER then Geek Squad ( too much money) to rescue the info out of my computer, place it on a flash drive and allow me to upload all the goodies into my new laptop. Once that is done I should be back to full operation mode. While shopping for computer supplies before x-mas, I picked up two flash drives to use from now on to save all info that is vital for hobbies and my personal life, no more locked up info should the laptop break down !!

Rabbitry news include an announcement that JG's Helga did NOT produce babies, a huge case of overactive bowels made me think that I felt babies. I left the nest box with her for 6 extra days, no babies. So, today I bred her to my little baby Giant Buck AA's Verizon, a boy I kept out of my last litter out of AA's Monique and AA's Martin. Helga was very happy to meet up with him for a romp in my master bathroom and Verizon had no problem breeding with her twice. So, I keep my fingers crossed for a Giant litter ( all REW ) to be born third week in January.

Tomorrow I will continue with breeding and AA's Cinnamon, red FA will be bred to her very nice son AA's Aries, red FA, for a 60 %- 70 % red litter. Aries is growing in a nice second baby coat right now and I am trying to keep him in shape for a show coming up down in Perry GA on 1-12-08, I want to get some judge's comments on him and have him registered before his offspring is born and before I have to clip his new coat. Aries is currently in buck row and is an active sprayer due to his age, he's always wet :(....... but, his color helps hide the tint LOL
IF I can keep his coat mat free due to the high humidity here the last few days due to rain every day I can enter him in the show. AA's Stephan, my tort buck is also in full show coat and if he stays nice looking he might come to the show as well, also to be registered and for a good chance to maybe pick up another leg.His coat will be molting come February, so, I hope that I can show him at least once this spring .......
Having huge issues with feed supply, am consdering switching to a different rabbit feed just to be able to get a constant and reliable supply !!!! Here in my neck of the woods most farmer's, hobby and commercial, have sold or culled their live stock due to feed costs. Horse farms are selling out, Llama's can be picked up for free, dairy's are clsoing down and feed lots are closing. So, feed stores are loosing money and business I guess. The ONE feed store within driving distance of my home that was willing to carry Manna Pro pellets for me has done well for me in the last 2 years, but is now lacking business sense and was closed, unannounced and with no warning, all week for x-mas :( I ran low on pellets over the weekend before x-mas, and drove down to Macon to pick up feed on Monday, x-mas eve, main shopping day for many, all stores open as far as I could tell, well, feed store was closed. So, I fed up last crumbs on x-mas day, and drove down again on Wednesday, day after x-mas, to pick up feed, again, all other stores open again, well, feed store still closed, locked up tight and no signs on the gate or door. Phone calls do not help, they NEVER answer their phone, the store help doesn't like to answer phones and just doesn't......so, if I cal the store and no one answers, it could mean that it's still lcosed, or it's open, no way to tell over the phone. Do I feel like dirving down to Macon again to find out when and iF they are open ???? heck no, I already wasted a tank of gas and 3 hours of my time driving there for nothing. I had to pick up a no name brand of overpriced rabbit pellets at my local feed store here in town ( he will " get " me manna pro though a wholesaler for $ 25.00 a bag ROFLOL ) and had to switch my bunnies over to a new feed overnight, to a brand of feed that looks weird, bag has no milling date on it and is very low in protein :( The only ingredients in it are : Alfalfa meal, ground soy bean hulls and molasses plus a few vitamins. very basic :( NO idea how old it is :( BUT, the local feed store is the place to deal with in order to get another name brand rabbit pellet that is advertised in the DR magazine, so, I'll have to talk to the onwer on Monday to see if he'll order the feed for me and how much he'd charge. I did pay $ 12.00 for 50 pounds of the no name brand pellets, I think that my feed store here in town is really overcharging in prices for feed.
I hear of folks being able to buy Purine green bag ( basic rabbit chow ) for $ 9.00 in some states close by, here in town and in my area the same feed sells for $ 15.00 now :(:( WHY is the same feed from the same mill $9.00 in TN and AL and $ 15.00 in GA ???????

Last but not least, next post will be a list of bunnies for sale from my rabbitry, with details about reservation, pick up, delivery etc. Contact me asap if you see anything you need :)
These bunnies are for sale only because I need to make room in my small rabbitry for litters , every cage is full and I need a few empty cages to be able to wean babies before they sell.

Angie K:)

Waiting for Babies :)

2007-12-15T07:38:00.000-09:00

Hi Folks :)
just a quick note to let everyone know that I confirmed pregnancy with my REW Giant Angora Doe Helga :) Helga was honeymooning with an awesome REW Buck owned by Janet Gruber while both attended the Rabbit show in Conyers GA almost a month ago and her due date is 12-18 , in a few days. Helga received a nice clean nesting box today and she's busy checking it out. This will be her first litter and her babies where bred for solid, BIG bodies with excellent type ( both parents have it ! ) and extreme density to the wool ( both parents have it ! ). Helga is currently 11 pounds , 12 months old, and the Sire is at around 11 pounds as well.

Helga is being pampered with daily doses of dandelion, kale and parsley, to stay in top shape and ready for labor. Her appetite is still great :), she hasn't slowed down with pellet consumption, I always start to worry when a pregnant doe wants to go off feed a week to 10 days prior to delivery :(

This is my first litter in 7 months, so I am really looking forward to seeing the babies, I had too many babies to worry about beginning of this last summer and lost the fun in it , one litter at a time is more fun.

If anyone is interested in a baby out of Helga keep an eye on this blog or send me a message , I will keep one maybe ( if they turn out to be of top quality ) and will have to place the rest to stay with the same amount of keepers. I have a very nice Giant Angora doe growing out that I had kept out of my last Giant Angora litter, she will be for sale IF I keep a baby out of Helga's litter, she can be sold along with a buck out of Helga's litter to make a good breeding pair (unrelated animals). The Doe is SQ and has received nice comments at recent shows as a junior.

More news next week after the babies are born .....will post newborn pics
Angie K:)
akolifrath@gmail.com

Sorry !!!

2007-12-13T12:13:00.000-09:00

Hi Folks,
big apologies to all friends that are getting worried about my lack of communication via e-mail and lack of participation on lists ....... Live has been one major roller coaster here the last 3 weeks !!!
Instead of answering each e-mail that is waiting in my inbox one and one, I'll post a note here quickly to update everyone, and hope that this will satisfy the hunger for news till x-mas break .

First off, I am attending my LAST class in Intro to Venipuncture TONIGHT- not a day too soon and I will be so glad when I do not have to attend night classes anymore, 5 hours of lecture and lab from 6 pm till 11 pm is just too much for a morning person :( Eating dinner at 11 : 30 pm is not good for someone that goes into hypoglycemia when skipping a meal :(
I had finals in lab and verbal in this class last week, grade was an A, I ended up supervising class mates for the remainder of the lab ( sticking each other with syringes for venipuncture practise, finger sticks with lancets and urine tests ) to give our instructor time to set up the CPR video.
Tonight we'll pass in our " take home " 200 question final written test, practise test for the national certification test we'll have to take in April, we'll take our CPR test, and we'll meet with our clincial Instructor finally to receive our assignments, times, dates & location for 250 hours of clincials starting in the next semester. I finished finals for Medical Terminology , my GPA in that course is a 96.00 :) Monday morning at 10 am I will attend my last class in Anatomy & Physiology , all we'll have is a final tests with 100 questions over everything we have learned in the last 10 weeks ( 10 weeks of hell I might add ). We received a " study guide " yesterday to take home , 300 questions to look up in the book, 100 out of those 300 will be on the final.
Adding up all of the quizzes and tests, my average right now is a 90.00, which counts for 40% of the total, my mid term was a 98 which is 20 % of the grade and the final will add another 20 % to the grade, the remaining 10 % are reserved for attendance and participation . I, I hope and pray and will work towards a good solid A in A & P as well.
Monday will be the end of this fall semester, Jan. 7 is the beginning of my last semester with 10 weeks of 250 hours of working clinicals ( working as a Phlebotomy student , where I'll find out tonight ) , 240 hours average out to 3 full shifts (8 hours) 3 days a week for those 10 weeks.
To finish up in March, I am also taking my last two courses, Interpersonal relations and professional development , as well as Intro to Microcomputers, both courses mandatory for my line of work and both enrolled in on line :) No more having to drive to Macon for classes, able to attend both courses on my own time & schedule ( hopefully ).

So, I am finishing up with this semester, and I am going back to school and will start to work for my clinical part of my education on Jan.7. 3 weeks of break will go by real quick with all of the house work that is waiting for me :( ( plus got to start writing a resume for job hunt coming up soon ).

In other news, my PC fried again , for the second time this year :( instead of paying more money to have it fixed, I am recovering the data ( have to pay for that ) and have ordered a lap top instead of a PC , it's being mailed to me and I found a good deal on Tiger Direct :)
A lap top will give me a chance to GO to where WiFi is and be able to download stuff much quicker, I'll be able to actually view something on Utube, I'll be able to take my computer with me on a trip ( convention for example ) and still be able to read my e-mail. Since I am on dial up here at home, many things that other's find common to be able to do with their computers I can't do with my PC :(

The second bunny barn, often referred to my " tent barn " was emptied of all woolers and retired buns this week, to cut down further on my feed bill and to lighten the work load for myself. Being the only one that takes care of the animals, I have to do what is right for my schedule and what is fair for the buns. Now I have empty stacking cages and many plastic dropping pans to clean up and decide what to do with. The pans will be scrubbed and put up for sale, some cages need tossing , will cut out good parts of wire to make transport cages and hay racks out of it, some cages look in good condition and might be put up for sale. I will never have the time again to house buns in a second barn, I have 28 cages in the main barn, and that will be the size of my herd, 20 keepers plus 8 cages for weanling's. The tent barn will be turned into a storage shed for garden tools, transport cages, extra feed buckets etc, will be nice to actually have a place to store stuff and keep it out of site and out of the yard :):)
If anyone is interested in plastic dropping pans , 30 x 30 and a few 30 x 36, send me an e-mail, can deliver to some bunny shows coming up in the spring, might be able to attend Perry show in January ??? Will post a list of stuff for sale on the main lists as we get closer to the date.

In bunny news, not much at all to report, I clipped all the remaining show coats after the UARC and DRBA shows , buns enjoy the mild winter weather, have more energy. Still have not bred anyone in the barn, just not enough time, but, I do plan to breed at least two French does maybe this weekend, my REW Grand Champion Denise and my red French Doe Cinnamon ........ Good news is that I do have some babies in the oven :), JG's Helga ( Giant ) was visiting with Samson's Oscar in my van during the Rabbit show in Conyers on 11-17 and I felt babies kicking in her belly ( both sides ) 2 days ago, good, strong kicks !!! Helga is even more loving and relaxed ( if that is even possible ) now and will receive her nest box tomorrow, she's due with babies Monday night, Tuesday morning, Tuesday night ??? Bad news is that temps have been in the upper 50's here at night for the last week and Sunday night and for the nights following that it's supposed to fall below freezing, forecast calls for 25 - 27 degrees for several nights :(, time to maybe pull out the heat lamp and plug it in over her cage, just in case ??? I am NOT going to move her into the house, and I am not going to get up very 30 minutes to run out and check on her, watched water never boils !!!!! , but, in case she doesn't place them in the box or doesn't pull wool, I'd hate to loose this litter due to cold temps :( Will work on making it nice and cozy and comfy for both mom and babies over this weekend.

Well, time to jump into my white scrubs and put up the hair in a bun, time to head out and drive to Macon for my last night class, will post final grades here next week for all 3 courses and info on clinicals, as well as a list of more buns up for adoption ( cut to cut a few seniors to make room for weanling's, every cage in the barn is full at this time :( )

Have a great weekend, hope you all enjoy holiday preparations, I am baking right now ( here and there ) but the decorations haven't left the closet yet, want to clean the house a bit before I pull out the Santa's and the tree. Haven't done and x-mas shopping yet either, but, this year my list is very short and very small due to lack of funds, folks understand ( mainly my daughter ) and we'll go shopping for a few stocking stuffers sometime next week. X-mas is NOT all about spending money one doesn't have for gifts one doesn't really need LOL

Angie K:)

End of show season - Happy Thanksgiving !!

2007-11-20T11:39:00.000-09:00

Hi folks,

well, the big Conyers show is history and what a show day it was !!

I would first like to thank the Decatur Rabbit Breeders Club for a great show well run, special thanks to Bruce Ford to allow the UARC to attach / host an angora specialty show and Thanks to all of the hard working volunteers that made this show run so smooth. Special Thanks go to Becky Whaley for being such a good show secretary :)

This show attracted 1,000 animals with breeders from far and wide, the angora show brought folks from PA, VW, TN, GA and MS to the angora judging table !!!

Angoras where judged in 4 open ARBA shows, a long day for all exhibitors and a lot of stress for all of the buns, but, everyone did fine :)

Sadly some Angora Breeders elected to boycott the entire show day due to the fact that UARC was hosting a specialty angora show, while I still do not understand the reason for the boycott, I can say that we made up for the missing entries and had enough angoras in each breed for class legs :) Turnout for angoras was not as good as we had expected, but, we had a great time, winners got legs and UARC signed up two new members due to the fact that we ran our show well and shared great times with fellow exhibitors.

Many folks stopped by our area to watch the spinning wheels, folks petted on my angora sample vest all day long, bunnies where bought and sold and Judges commented all day long that the quality of animals exhibited at this show was above their expectations.

Judge Alan Ormond ( new to judging in this area ) commented during BIS judging that the quality overall of all entries reminded him of a Convention, he really liked the high quality of rabbits he got to evaluate.

Now to some show reports :

The picture to the left is of JG's Helga, Giant Angora senior Doe, who not only took 4 Best in Breed legs at the show but also brought home a BEST IN SHOW from the UARC Angora Specialty show. Helga was now shown 6 times during 2 show days and garnered 6 leg certificates. Clipped today and bred, she'll hopefully have her first litter on 12-19-07 .

Her clipping yielded 7.10 ounces of prime wool, and 2 ounces of nest box wool ( belly and leg wool that will be cut into tiny pieces and saved to fill the nest box to keep her babies warm).

For some odd reason her coat is a whole lot longer then it looks in this picture, Helga is not a happy camper when she has to pose for pictures, this is the best I got .

This picture is of AA's Gemini , REW French Angora doe 6 1/2 months old. She was shown in all 4 shows still in baby coat, and received one

Best in Breed for one leg, and might have received another leg for a BOV, memory is fuzzy on placements and no comment card where used. Will have to wait 30 days to receive the show reports to be sure. Gemini has two junior legs, so once she's registered she'll become a Grand Champion thanks to her good placements at this show.

Other Placements worth reporting : Janet's Gruber's Giant Angora senior Buck took BOS's and shared the spot with Lauren Water's junior Giant Angora Buck MG's Jericho who also took BOS's.

In French, Lauren Water's Senior Colored Doe Spang's Tasha ( tort ) dominated the table with 4 BOV's , and 2 BOB's. Lauren also took a BOB with her white senior Doe AA's Jake ( yes, Lauren named a Doe: Jake ) , litter mate to AA's Gemini.

French Boys shared the BOS's, Lauren Waters junior colored buck SH John- Luke took BOS in the first show, my own AA's Simplicity, colored junior buck took 2 BOS's, the last one in the angora specialty for a leg. Also in the Angora specialty show, Kathy Taylor took a BOV white with her white senior doe.

Last picture was sent to me by a good friend, Lisa Smith from Tifton GA, showing me busy with grooming my junior colored Buck AA's Simplicity. Lisa is slave to his sister, AA's Smokey.

Happy Thanksgiving Holidays to everyone- stay safe- don't eat too much - watch traffic !!!

I will spend the long weekend clipping down the rest of my coats and making a list of spring shows :)

More pictures to come as they get send to me .........

Angie K:)

Bunny Transport from GA to MS

2007-11-11T14:52:00.000-09:00

Hi Folks,
just a real quick note tonight to let everyone know that a friend of mine from MS is offering rides for bunnies from the Conyers GA show back home to MS. I'll copy her message below, to give you more details and her e-mail is enclosed in her message, to contact her for more details.
If anyone is looking for any angora rabbits, this show might be the place to find them and have them transported, we are expecting all 5 breeds to be represented, and I have heard of several for sale angoras coming. If anyone from the MS area is interested in any of my own for sale bunnies ( list below in the last blog entry), this would be a perfect way to get them from GA to MS or further west for a very low price and stress level.

Here is Brenda's info :

Hi All, I am wanting real bad to go to the shows in Conyers GA, on11-17-07 have just one Angora I am taking to show. But, I live in Vicksburg, MS and gas is real expensive. If anyone in the Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas or Missouri area is wanting any breed rabbits brought from the Conyers shows for pick up here, and will help with gas expenses, I'll tote 'em for you!! I am right off I20 as it crosses from Mississippi into Louisiana. Drive times from here in hours: Shreveport 3, Dallas 6, Baton Rouge 4, Little Rock 4.5, Memphis 4, New Orleans 4, Monroe La 1.5, Houston 6. Please contact me at if we can help each other!Buyers and sellers are responsible for transport cage, food and water containers as well as some feed for each bunny.ONLY healthy Rabbits and babies OVER 8 weeks of age will be accepted for transport.
Brenda bharrower@hotmail.com

New List of available Angoras

2007-11-07T13:34:00.000-09:00

Hi folks,
as promised, I'll list all angora rabbits that I have for sale at this time in this post.
The rabbits are all of nice show quality, if you note the ages, some have just turned senior and have proven weights, as well as have grown out of the ugly stages. The older seniors that I have listed are in very good condition, very healthy and ready to be bred as soon as they arrive at your home, of perfect breeding age and still producing well for me.
The bunnies can be delivered to the DRBA + UARC shows in CONYERS GA on 11-17. Please contact me asap for details if you are interested in any of the listed rabbits since I will not hold any for delivery unless I have a 50 % deposit in hand prior to going to the show. Otherwise, first come - first serve.
GERMAN ANGORA :
GFF's Monika, ruby eyed white 97.4 % German, DOB 10-26-06
VERY sweet doe with very nice, silky texture wool, just turned a year old and is now in need of a breeding IF she's to be used for breeding. Would be a real good prospect to be a wooler pet as well since she does not suffer from hormonal upsets. Good eater, 9 3/4 pounds, has pedigree, $ 100.00 firm ( paid more for her but can't keep her due to cutting down in herd size overall ).

FRENCH ANGORA:
7AK34 and 7 AK 49 , 2 pointed white Does, DOB 6-6-07
Dam : G. C. AA's Calypso, black himi , 9.08 LB registered weight, 6 BOB legs,
Sire : AA's Joshua, lilac himi, 8 LB, 1 leg.
These doe's have matured into some very nice animals, very nice type, very good density. One doe was clipped, is growing back a nice coat with beautiful guard hair, the other doe will be entered into the shows that day and can be picked up after judging, will need wool harvest asap since the coat is now slipping.
11 registered animals in their pedigrees, 5 grand champions. 100.00 each including pedigree, care booklet and switch over feed. a picture of Calypso is on my website, if you'd care to see what mom looks like.

7AK43 , black Doe, DOB 5-21-07
Dam : GC AA's Fantasia, REW, 6 BOB legs, 2 BIS
Sire : AA's Gideon, black, registered, 1 leg.
This doe is the only one left for sale out of Fantasia's litter of 4 bunnies. She's growing into a beautiful type , has excellent density, has received her first clip and is growing in a new coat.Free of any DQ's at this time, she should do very well on the show table come spring. Excellent bloodlines behind this doe. 13 animals in her pedigree registered, 6 Grand Champions.
I have pictures of Fantasia on my website, if you care to look at her.
$120.00 incl. Pedigree, care booklet and switch over feed. A excellent price for a baby out of a BIS winner !!!

6AK40 , AA's Lucie, sable pearl Doe, DOB 12-20-06
for sale only to the right person ..... this doe is ready to be bred, is looking for some babies, is pulling wool and building a nest once in a while right now, so her coat is not looking all it could be. Will most likely be entered into the shows to be judged, to help with numbers on the table. Registered in August at 10 lb, this doe has an awesome type, as well as nice density and excellent color to her wool. Does NOT fade due to summer heat. cream colored wool on her body.
Breed out of black to shaded only, with only black, tort and sable on her pedigree, she should be free of all weird color genes. NICE dark and even toe nail color. Has one leg , first place / BOSV out of 14 in class , is registered. Both parents grand Championed.
Dam: G.C. AA's Kate, sable, 5 BOB legs & 2 BIS
Sire : G.C. AA's Luke, sable pearl, 6 Legs
In total, there are 10 Grand Champions in her 3 generation pedigree, many more if I issue a 4 generation pedigree. Bloodlines : Glenn's and AA's. 13 ancestor's registered.
$200.00 incl. pedigree, registration certificate, 1 leg certificate,
A picture of Lucie, as well as of both of her parents can be found on my website, click on french does and for Luke, on french bucks.

SH 70, Grand Champion Somerhill Halo, black pointed white Doe, DOB 4-8-04
Halo is a wonderful bunny that has given me nothing but joy. She championed for me quickly after I purchased her from Lisa, she retired into the nest box to give me several wonderful litters . AA's Calypso is one of her daughters that also championed in a real hurry getting BOB after BOB. In her first 2 years, Halo had the rounded, smooth butt that I so needed in my rabbitry, time and 5 litters have turned her a bit rocky, but, her offspring has great type . Halo weaned her last litter here 2 months ago, and is still in great shape to have many more litters, but, due to owning children and grand children of her, it's time to find a new home for her.
Halo still grows 5-6 ounces of wool every 5 months, so she would make a perfect wooler pet to the right family, or she could improve some one's himi line in a breeder's herd.
$ 150.00 if sold with pedigree and papers ( reg and GC papers ) to a breeder,
$65.00 if sold to a spinner/ pet owner for retirement without papers.
Halo's picture can be found on my website as well, under French Does.

Last but not least, I MIGHT have a Giant / German Angora hybrid junior doe for sale, REW, she's entered into all 3 shows on 11-17 and I'll make up my mind about a possible sale once I hear some judge's comments. If interested in a junior doe with excellent bloodlines, mostly Giant, contact me ahead of time and see me at the show. No deposit required on her, since I'll make up my mind about keeping her after show 2 or 3.

That's all for the list, again, delivery to Conyers GA on 11-16 and 11-17 possible.

Angie K:)

Midterms !!

2007-11-03T11:14:00.000-09:00

Hi Folks :)
I know, I know, no updates :(

well, college is keeping me even busier then expected, boy am I glad that I down sized my herd before starting school. I am doing mid terms next week, Wednesday and Thursday, and I am so glad that mid terms means that I am half way done with this semester !! 5 more weeks of hell and 10 days before x-mas we'll have our finals. Am doing pretty well in all 3 classes, better now then at the beginning, but, after 28 years of no schooling, that is to be expected, took a while to get into the groove of studying, time management, taking notes, studying, studying .......

I am taking two classes on campus ( Anatomy and Physiology, Venipuncture ) 3 days, and one class on line( medical Terminology) , the one line class I had to push to weekends, in order to fulfill the work requirements for the other two classes and do well in them. Everyone in class is calling me crazy for taking all 3 courses at once, but, who's got the time to turn a 6 months certification course into a 2 year play time ??

OK, back to bunnies :
Am getting geared up for the UARC Specialty show and angora extravaganza in conjunction with the DRBA Double open ARBA show, date is 11-17 ( in two weekends ) in Conyers GA. If you e-mail me privately, I can send you a link to a PDF file that I have of the complete show catalog for all 3 shows. I will be the show secretary for the ARBA & NARBC Angora specialty show with UARC, and I will also be in charge of the Wooler show that we'll hold for all pet angoras, German angoras & hybrids. Entry deadline for all shows is Wednesday, 11- 14 , UARC will have special, angora related Comment cards to give to exhibitors after judging and all of the paperwork for the show is getting done now so that I do not have to deadline a day before the show AND attend class on Thursday night :(
I will not have anything real prime to show, all of the coats in my barn had molted 2 months ago or are molting now. I just finished clipped down one nice senior FA doe that I had hoped to show in 2 weeks ;(
I have 3 Seniors in baby coat that are starting to slip and web, not sure if I can hold on to these coats without major faulting for webbing, we'll just have to see, would be a first for me to attend a show and not have any nice bunnies to enter ;( But, I have to be at the show, since I am going to be in charge of the paperwork.
I plan to bring the last few buns with me that are still for sale, in hopes that they'll find a new, permanent home. I will take some new pictures tomorrow during a 3/4 day spent just grooming and washing cages, so I'll post a complete list of bunnies that are for sale and can be delivered to the show ... easier to follow the list if it is posted separately.

So, e-mail me if you'd like a copy of the show catalog with complete info on hotels, directions, shows, entry schedule and I hope that we'll have a great turn out in all angora entries in all shows, I have already heard of some breeders coming from as far as PA, WV, NC, south GA & MS.
Our judge for the none sanction, fun wooler show will be ARBA Registrar Walter Summers from GA, he will have a special standard issued by UARC to judge the wooler entries by. No separate classes off course by breed, only by sex and color and age. Walter will do his Judge's test in December, and will hopefully be a ARBA Rabbit judge by next year this time. So, he needs all of the exposure to good angoras he can get :) Awards for the wooler show will be in premium form plus a nice certificate, and many placements will be awarded. The premiums where donated by our President and her hubby, the Waters Family.

Some fiber talk : I hear so often that spinners want to purchase white angoras, because they want to be able to dye the finished yarn. Well, I always try to explain to them that one can dye ANY color angora fiber, as long as the dye color works with the natural color. Example above : BLACK French Angora, spun , plied into a fingering weight 2 ply yarn, then dyed with " turkey red " cushings acid dyes. Dried, and fluffed up a bit, the yarn is now in my etsy store. The picture doesn't give credit to the beautiful black/ red color that is created in the yarn, the black tips of the guard hair stayed black, and the light gray area and white areas of each hair took on the dye just beautiful.

So, yes, colored angora CAN be dyed,m since it is not pigmented evenly through the entire hair shaft. dark tips of wool stay the true color, while any light areas take dye and change color.

My favorite dyes to use with black : red, purple, a light blue.

More tomorrow with a list and some pictures of Angoras for sale, happy FALL :)

Angie K:)

Show Day !!

2007-10-07T07:45:00.000-09:00

Hi Folks,

gosh, it's been a long time since I last posted an update, I apologize !

Well, first week of college was hectic and will stay hectic with all of the studying and pre requisite stuff I have to get out of the way this semester to go on to the next semester, shot updates, blood tests, physical, background check, buying supplies and uniforms, all sorts of stuff to take care of. BUT, time is set aside to take care of the bunnies, and I even found time yesterday to attend my first Rabbit show for this fall. The picture above is the only one I managed to take, grooming and judging took up most of our free time. The double open all breed ARBA show was held in Perry GA during the Georgia National Fair. We shared the hall with a LOT of cows entered into a national heffer competition, the noise level was incredible all day :(
In total we had a good turnout in all 4 breeds of angoras, despite the fact that the fair officials dropped sanctions for angoras, no awards, no paybacks :( We had a total of 3 English entered by a very friendly Gentlemen who's name got lost in the noise, we had 1 Satin Angora entered by a new gal " on the block " from Warner Robins , she also brought two French Angoras, a senior buck and senior doe.
Lauren and Rik Waters attended the show with 5 French Angoras and 7 ? Giant Angoras, and last but not least I brought along 7 French Angoras and 1 Giant Angora. Yes, low numbers for some breeders and some areas, but, for OUR area here with the complete lack of angora breeders that both to attend shows, I myself was happy to see some unexpected entries and new faces :)
The picture shows " Angora camp " so to speak, the cages you see are filled with my own buns and show some of Lauren's buns as well. In the background you see breeders and show tables with judges.
Show results :
Show A judged By John Soper , Giant Angora BOB WSD JG's Helga , owned by me. BOS WJB owned by Lauren Waters. French Angora BOB WJD AA's Gemini, owned by me, BOS CJB owned by Lauren Waters.
Show B judged by Peter Herman , Giant Angora BOB and BOS same results as in show A, French Angora BOB went to CJD AA's Madison ( her pictures and info are in my last post) and BOS went to CJB AA's Virgo , both bred and owned by me.
The judges didn't like our senior entries too much yesterday, some coats where super short, some lacked the undercoat yet to be well balanced, the juniors took the day :) FIRST legs for all that won, which is nice too :)
Sadly most of the juniors that showed well yesterday will not be in coat anymore at our next show, in Conyers GA on Nov. 17, it will be slim picking for me to say the least, I might be able to bring ONE of each breed, and will have a lot more time for show Secretary duties as well as doing demo's then I had hoped for. Seniors are clipped down, still growing wool, juniors need to be clipped down now due to molting out the baby coats, what can you do ????
Hope this finds everyone in good spirits and enjoying a nice weekend,
Angie K:)

Bunny Pictures- grooming day

2007-09-09T10:10:00.000-09:00

Hi Folks,
this morning was spent grooming two junior doe's that I have kept out of my spring litters, time to introduce new members of my French Angora herd.
The first bunny is AA's Madison, a black doe out G.C. AA's Kate and AA's Gideon.

This is the first picture I have of Madison, at 6-7 weeks of age. I evaluated her at that age and started to train her for grooming and posing. I liked her texture at that time, as well as her type. Her temperament was very sweet even at that early age, we seemed to get along well:)

These pictures where taken today, Madison is now 4 1/2 months old. 7 1/2 pounds on the scale, still in first baby coat and needing a LOT of grooming at this stage in life. Due to 5 days of rain last week, her soft baby coat matted rather badly, so it took 2 hours of careful brushing with the slicker brush to remove mats and tangles, and get the coat nice looking again. The color of her wool has faded with length, her next coat should have more guard hair and more pigment, better color.
Her type is REAL nice, wide & high shoulders, very broad body and hind quarters, smooth and solid. She has a real nice rise to her body and very smooth hips.
The last picture shows her body in profile, a natural born poser :) Madison didn't mind my grooming for two solid hours, and after receiving her first toenail clipping and a dose of Ivomec she was VERY happy to return to a cleaned cage and to receive a hay cube as a treat. Madison will hopefully keep her coat for ONE show this fall, due to her weight she'll have to go into senior class and compete with true seniors, but, maybe her body will give her some extra points with the judge. Sadly she'll be clipped down and growing a new coat in time for the Conyers show, do NOT think that she can keep a baby coat till 7 months old, plus, I do not think that I can maintain this coat for too much longer.

These are sweet baby pictures of AA's Seneca, she was 24 hours old when I took the pictures. Born to G.C. Spang's Denise (REW) bred to AA's Gideon(black). I had 2 babies in the litter, a blue and a chocolate. Seneca is the blue baby.

This is AA's Seneca now, at 4 1/2 months old. Her color is a clear steel blue, her eyes are a medium gray. Again, this baby coat has faded in color, but, the senior coat will contain so much guard hair that the overall coat color will improve. Seneca also needed a lot of grooming to get her to this stage, I had my doubts and thought about clipping all of the baby wool mess :( A lot of corn starch and gentleness, combined with a patient baby girl saved the day (and the coat). Seneca's wool is very dense, not as dense as Madison's, but close second. Her type is developing nicely, like Madison, she's very wide throughout the entire length of the body, nice high shoulders, wide mid section, smooth Hind quarters, just a lot of body under all of that wool. Currently 8 pounds, Seneca will have to be shown in senior class already while she's holding this baby coat, her real true show value will come to play in spring shows next year, after she's grown in her next coat and can compete with true seniors.

Last but not least, a new picture of my AA's Cinnamon, second generation red French Angora from my red breeding program. Cinnamon had a litter a few months ago, today she received a health check up, toenail clipping and Ivomec.
She's growing in her first, true senior coat, and I love her dark red color. I checked her belly wool color as well, it is a orange fawn, sign of being a true red.
Her eyes are so dark brown that you can not see the black pupil. Her type is awesome, solid, bold and wide with a good rise and very smooth HQ. Her wool is rather short in this picture, but, I hope that it will get longer with time. Got to love the color :) I kept a red son out of her last litter, to breed back to Cinnamon, for my first red to red litter.

I hope you enjoyed the new pictures and introductions, more to come in future issues as time allows.

Angie K:)

My favorite Angora Club

2007-09-08T09:39:00.000-09:00

Hi Folks,

I want to take a minute to introduce my favorite Angora Club , the United Angora Rabbit Club (UARC) to those of you that might be looking for real information and help on the issue of angora rabbits and owning them.

Our Club was formed by some dedicated Angora Rabbit Breeders that felt the need for a Club nation wide that would cater to all aspects of angora ownership; the pet owner, the spinner, the show -person and the breeder. One aspect doesn't exclude all others, many owners combine several reasons for owning one or several angoras, but, some clubs do only seem to cater to the show person.

The first anniversary of the UARC is coming up shortly, and our membership is still small, but, it ranges from one coast to the other, from members from New York to Georgia to Nebraska and in between. We are ARBA chartered and cater to all aspects of showing Angoras, we host our own ARBA and NARBC sanctioned angora shows. Our membership consists of 90 % spinners, most spinning questions can be answered. Our members share ideas and issues on a newly formed Yahoo list ( for club members only) and the files on the list are used to archive articles, newsletters and photos. Our Editor issues a bi monthly newsletter via e-mail to all of our members, full of pictures, articles and news.

Our website, at http://www.unitedangoras.com/ is full of great information on angora breeds, angora care and show info, we are currently moving the website from one host to another and hope that the move will help with getting more updates loaded more quickly to help our visitors that are looking for more current information.

We are planning for our second, HUGE Angora specialty show on Nov. 17 2007 in CONYERS GA, a show for all ARBA breeds along with a double open show hosted by the DRBA. All angoras entered can be shown for ARBA legs 3 times in one day. UARC is also sponsoring a WOOLER show, for all pet angoras, crossbred angoras, German Angoras , angoras with DQ's and unrecognized colors, all angoras that could not be shown in a ARBA show. Last but not least, we plan on angora related demos all day long; grooming demos, blowing ( with a blower to groom a show coat ) demo, hair cut demos, spinning and carding angora on a drum carder demos.

In all we plan for a full, fun filled day and I hope to see a lot of visitors coming to participate in what UARC has to offer to angora owners. WE already have promises of entries from PA, TN, WV, GA, AL:) A link to our show catalog and all info will be posted on our UARC website shortly.

OUR club has something to offer to anyone, and every angora owner , pet owner or spinner or breeder should consider going to our website, clicking on the application, filling it out and mailing it to the Secretary :) Our help on the Yahoo list with daily questions and answers, as well as our 6 newsletters will be of great help to ANY angora owner. Combine that with your membership dues allowing us to continue our website hosting to bring great, free info to the public, you can't go wrong by joining our club for a year and evaluate what you get for your money.

Anyone with more questions and concerns can contact me privately at my e-mail address, akolifrath@gmail.com, I'll gladly discuss any issues you might have.

Have a great weekend,

Angie K:)

Phase two :)

2007-08-29T10:46:00.000-09:00

Hi Folks,
well, a lot of things have happened since I last posted, a quick review of what has been going on here :
My friend Lauren received a total of 15 Angoras a week ago to deliver along her trip to PA and back to GA. ALL bunnies made it to their new owners just fine, and reports have been favorable. I want to thank all of my customers for purchasing the bunnies, I pray that they are all happy ( bunnies and customers). The day after I delivered the bunnies I had to take my ASSET test to register for college, the test results where mailed to me a few days ago: HIGH marks in all categories , I guess my braincells are not as moldy as I had thought. Orientation and registration for Central Georiga Tech. College was yesterday, 3 hours of running around and meeting with advisros, signing up for classes after trying to figure out work schedule and class schedule, Student ID, parking pass and all of that good stuff. Now I have one month to get my shot records updated, a Physcial from my DR., purchsing books and school supplies, cleaning the house top to bottom as well as the Rabbitry, getting ready for 3 classes > 12 credit hours starting October 1.

After the 15 bunnies left the rabbitry, I started a massive cleaning project in the building, removing cages, washing down walls, replacing a A/C unit that died on a day of 106 temperatures, scrubbing each cage, all of the wash out pans, removing thousands of webs and spiders, trying to kill thousands of flies and gnats. Someone that doesn't like in our climate can not appreciate the mess and bother of tiny southern gnats, you have to see it ( and feel it ) to understand it. Well, today I finally broke down and purchased a " Country Vet " aerosol unit that automatically will dispense a bug killer into the rabbitry every 15 minutes, killing all flies, mosquitoes, small moths and yes, gnats !!!!!
I am waiting for a few hours to inspect the rabbitry, and I pray to have an end to the mess by tonight, clean out all of the feed dishes, wash all water bottles and then not have to look at gnat poop again for the rest of the summer. The unit came with 2 months worth of spray, I pray that by then it will be cool enough to not have to worry about the gnats anymore. Dead gnats in all of the angora wool even :(:( YUCK

As far as sales bunnies go, I still have a few nice French angora Juniors for sale, two pet quality does, black and chocolate, each one with a tiny white spot around the mouth. I still have a black and a blue show quality doe for sale, Grand Champion Mom (AA's Fantasia , REW) , registered Dad (AA's Gideon , self black). Out of the same litter I still have two show quality bucks for sale as well, one black, one blue. Pictures of all 4 might be coming here soon, their coats are a mess right now due to our high humidity, I didn't have enough time to keep all 30 babies in show coat. Babies out of Fantasia will be $ 90.00 each incl. pedigree. Last but not least, I have one, maybe two very nice himi ( pointed white) does for sale out of grand champion AA's Calypso bred to my himi buck AA's Joshua. The points are so faded ( from heat ) right now that I do not know what color they are, but, come winter they should color up nicely and show their points. These babies are still very young, but show promising type and wool, nice texture and nice density. Both parents have very nice wool as well.
I still have two very nice Giant Angora babies for sale, REW, show quality, doe for $ 150.00, buck for $125.00 incl. pedigree.

Adults : Still have two grand championed senior does for sale, SF's Halo, a very nice grand championed doe with 6 legs, black himi ( pointed white), is now weaning her son and is ready to move to her next home, $150.00 for a fertile, ready to breed again, very healthy 10 pound French Angora. Can NOT get any closer to perfection : grand championed, proven with 4 litters, JUST came off of a litter, in perfect condition, excellent mother.

I also have one grand championed chocolate agouti doe still for sale, Spang's Shawna, proven with 3 litters, very nice type and wool, still carries excellent density to her wool. Her offspring did very well on the show table, I have kept several nice babies out of her. 9.08 lbs. $150.00

I can make a deal on a breeding pair with the two bucks that I have left out of Fantasia's litter, purchase a adult doe and a junior buck, get $ 20 % off total price, purchase a junior doe and a junior buck get $ 10.00 off the total price.

Well, that about covers all the news for now, phase two is the title of this message as far as cutting down on my herd to a manageable amount, and getting the rabbitry all cleaned up so that I can run on auto pilot once the school starts. I pray that a few coats stay in shape for fall shows, some of my senior doe's are now starting to molt their nice show coats, and the humidity is not kind to the soft baby wool growing on my juniors. I have plans to travel to NC for a show on September 15, but, I might not have any coats left by then if things keep on going like they are :(

Bunny pictures in the next post, Angie K:)

Update to Sales List

2007-08-02T13:20:00.001-09:00

Hi Folks,
a quick update to my sales list- one gal ordered 2 buns and then canceled the sale today - have 2 REW does listed below that are in need of a home.
All other buns that where listed that have been reserved are noted as such ... have a few woolers left, one show quality himi doe left, as well as a good selection of seniors. Please check all 3 posts below.

The new additions to my list are as follows :
Latest addition, posted 8-4 :
SABLE French Angora Doe , SQ SOLD to Bunny
( was sold to be shipped to NYC, Buyer changed his mind on shipping due to costs )
DOB: 5-15-2006
Dam : Grand Champion AA's Eowynn ( black ) , 1 BIS
Sire : Spang's Salem, registered, 2 legs
2 generations registered in this pedigree.
Doe is 8.08 pounds, growing in a new coat right now. Last harvest 5 ounces prime. Nice little doe with good type, texture, density and color. Ready to register and breed, shy but not agressive. Should be a good mom.
$100.00 incl. Pedigree

REW French Doe, DOB May -07 , 7AK46. SOLD to Bunny
Nice little doe out of my red doe AA's Cinnamon and AA's Gideon. Has one lazy ear from heat and humidity, it's now having more control and I find it up at times, and half down at times. Wouldn't be surprised if the ear will be up 100 % by the time Winter comes. Nice density to her wool, nice type, will price her at wooler price just to give another incentive for purchase.
$ 60.00 to the first person that comes along and surely wants this doe !!!

REW French Doe, DOB 12-06 7AK2 STILL available
This doe is awesome, NICE type, extreme density, shy in her cage ( loves to run to the back and hide ) but fine with grooming and clipping. Has had one clip ( baby wool ) and is growing in a nicely textured coat now.
Dam : AA's Q-tip, sable pearl , G.C.
Sire : AA's Simon, REW, 1 BOS leg. ALL 3 generations in her pedigree registered.
ONLY draw back with this doe : too much wool on her front feet. The wool on her feet might eventually fall out, and leave behind clean feet. If bred to a buck with super clean feet, her offspring should have better show quality feet. AS she is, she might be DQ'd by a judge that is picky with the FA standard.
With that said, she's got attributes that are so nice, I wish I could keep her. WAS considered sold, now back on the market due to buyer not being able to meet up with transport. $ 90.00 including pedigree.
-------------------------------
end of late additions , for now. will post any changes here.
Angie K:)