Hare-Riffic!

Here's a quick post that is entirely dedicated to my love of Belgian Hares! (Mostly photos too!)

I've had Belgian Hares for over 2 years now and they are my favorite breed of rabbit by far. They are smart, playful, friendly, completely unique in apperance and so much fun to have around. At the moment my small herd of Belgian Hares has grown significantly, I am still working on decisions on who to sell and who to keep, its tough because I really do love them all.

I plan to have my final decisions made by next weekend on who is for sale and who is staying around.

In the meantime as I work on those difficult herd decisions here are some recent photos of my loves.

Imagination's Valentine, 14 weeks old.

This cutie is for sale, he is $75.00, this was his very first photographed pose, he looks promising and will be a big boy when fully grown.

Next up is Mr. Twist, my brand new BLACK and TAN HARE! Thank you so much to Jess in RI for this handsome fellow and a big thanks to Malena and Kristen in NC for getting him to me.

Mr. Twist:

Handsome face!


So striking, look at shiny coat, he is a HAM.

Mr. Twist is wonderful, so sweet, playful and such a big boy! I am thrilled to have him.

2 of the 14 week old hare gals snuggling during play time.

Some of the month old cutie hare babies.

Another shot of the month old babies

Cupid, Cherub, Amor and Corazon love to be pet, the just melt into the ground, hares have the BEST personalities.

Playtime for the Valentine's Day babies.

The cuteness is overwhelming.

Cupid, Cherub, Amor and Corazon again, its going to be tough to decide who to keep from this litter, they are all beautiful and so sweet!

Taking Some Time Off - Herd Reduction

Keep's Rabbitry made a recent post on her blog about being tired and frustrated in the rabbit hobby.

I think its inevitable in any hobby that you get a little worn out at times, animal hobbies are even more time consuming because of the maintenence involved with their care.

Lately I've been feeling pretty good about the rabbits, but I am so tired from the constant needs of the farm critters. I've been doing alot of thinking and its time to get some balance back in my life, I need to find the happy medium between work, college and farm life. As such I am going to go through the herd over the next week and start a large herd reduction sale. I am going to attempt to make it to the PA Show for East Coast Rhinelander nationals the first weekend in June and also the Blue Ridge Show the following weekend to make delivery available for sale rabbits.

At this time I will have several senior and junior Belgian Hare does and a single junior buck for sale. I will have to sort through the Rhinelanders to see what I will have available.

Senior Hare Does will range between 120-160 depending on type, color, and if they are proven or not.

The junior does are 100

The junior buck is 75

Sales will be on a first come, first serve basis, please be prepared to house any hare purchased on solid floors only.

With everything thats been going on I'm going to be taking a blog break and website break for a while. I will post my sales list with photos at some point this week on both the blog and my website and that will be my last post/website update for a time so I can get things in order and rebalance my life.

Babies on the Farm

Spring is a time of new life in the wild and on the farm.

Here in Virginia on my farm the 3 baby goats are growing up and will be weaned soon. They have so much fun climbing on top of things and playing headbutt! It amazing how fast they have grown up.

My two litters of baby bunnies are getting bigger, they're about 3 weeks old now and starting to explore the world around them. There are 3 chunky belgian hares and 2 marked Rhinelander kits along with 3 charlies and a single runty sport. Jasmine is raising her 3 hares, 2 charlies and the itty bitty sport. Sage is raising her two marked, one false charlies (genetically marked but too few spots to show) and a true charlie. The two best marked in the litter passed away as small babies. The two remaining marked are cluttered, but hopefully their type will be promising. The hares are absolutely adorable!

I also have 20 new baby chicks to raise up, 10 Dominiques, 5 New Hampshires and 5 Campines. Quite the assortment and they are all so cute. If I get some sunlight anytime soon (its been dreary weatherwise..) I will snap some photos of the baby bunnies with the little chicks.

More website updates and photos are in the works.

Life goes on

Time certainly seems to move strangely, seems like yesterday I was down in NC visiting the Keeps and picking up Barley, Ariel and Gem.

Next week I take my two finals for the spring semester, my order of baby chicks will arrive and the following week my first summer class begins.

I received my confirmation from ARBA today that I have fullfilled my requirements to take my Registrar's test. I am trying to figure out a good time to take the exam, maybe this summer between my two summer classes. I will have to crack open my standard and study guide again, hopefully by this time next year I will be registering rabbits!

The baby hares are 12 weeks old now and gorgeous, its time for their first photo shoot now that they're getting the hang of posing. Two of the does in particular are very promising. Jasmine's litter just opened their eyes, I can't wait to watch them grow up, Duke and Jasmine complemented one another very nicely. I only have 2 surviving marked kits out of Sage and I'm not impressed with their markings so far.. she will be re-bred once this litter is weaned and she's recovered hopefully I'll get more marked kits next time.

Its now time to plan out my next crosses for fall juniors, I have an abundance of hare does ready to be bred and a single Rhinelander doe too.. decisions decisions..

If the weather holds this week and its not too hot I will get the hare juniors out for their photo shoots and get some updated pics from the rest of the herd too.

RIP Barley

I am posting this from work, I have many patients in my care tonight but wanted to post a short tribute to Barley in between TPRs and treatments. My LGD puppy Barley battled parvo virus for a week, with some of the most aggressive and intensive treatments I've ever seen for a parvo puppy. Despite going above and beyond, he passed away at midnight this morning.

RIP sweet puppy, I'm sorry that doing absolutely everything wasn't enough to save you.