So now, all but two of those Convention juniors have turned senior. Let's take a moment to see how things have shaken out thus far. I bred these pairs with the following outcomes:
- Bear x Belle - 1 stillborn
- Bear x Chica - 2 peanuts, 2 viable
- Bear x Duckie - 2 stillborns
- Rio x Estella - miss
- Boris x Gina - 2 stillborns, 3 viable
- Mars x Gypsy - 1 peanut, 4 viable
- Navaro x Hilary - 1 peanut, 4 viable
- Franz x Jo-Jo, 3 peanuts, 3 viable
- Leo x Kimmie, 2 stillborn
- Boris x Lexus, 2 stillborn, 1 viable
- Leo x Markie, 1 stillborn, 3 viable, but 1 died in nesting
- Java x Mercedes, 1 peanut, 5 viable
- Mars x Roxie, 2 peanuts, 2 viable
- Camelot's Merlin x Spice, 3 peanuts, 3 viable (May 4 & 5 wave ends here)
- Camelot's Merlin x Styles Stella, miss (May 13 ripple begins here)
- Franz x Autumn, miss
- Rio x Celeste, 1 stillborn, 2 viable
- Camelot's Merlin x Charade, miss
- Java x Pandora, 1 stillborn, 3 viable (May 13 ripple ends here)
- Bear x Duckie, miss (June 14 due date begins here)
- Leo x Estella, miss
- Franz x Jo-Jo, miss
- Boris x Kathryn, miss
- Rio x Kimmie, 2 viable
- Java x May, 5 viable, but 1 died in nesting
- Navaro x Piccolo, 1 stillborn, 5 viable, but 2 died in nesting
- Boris x Purdy, 1 peanut, 2 stillborn
To sum up, I bred 27 pairs for Convention. I ended up with 43 viable kits. That sounds like a lot, but let's take out the false dwarfs, fuzzies, and runts, and see what we have. That left me with 33 kits. I also produced two non-showable colors. One was a fuzzy, so that just takes me down one. That's 32 kits. But there was some pet quality in there occasionally, too. So this is what I ended up with as my pool of Convention hopefuls:
- June (Java x May)
- Javelin (Java x May)
- April (Java x May)
- Arabica (Java x May)
- Kwai (Rio x Celeste)
- Beauty (Java x Pandora)
- Millicent (Franz x Jo-Jo)
- Mistoffelees (Franz x Jo-Jo)
- Quinten (Franz x Jo-Jo)
- Rumpleteezer (Navaro x Hilary)
- McCartney (Navaro x Hilary)
- Miss Muffet (Navaro x Hilary)
- Glynis (Navaro x Hilary)
- Demetrius (Leo x Markie)
- Hunnicutt (Mars x Roxie)
- Zeppo (Boris x Gina)
- Azera (Java x Mercedes)
- Corvette (Java x Mercedes)
- Jaguar (Java x Mercedes)
- Bustopher (Camelot's Merlin x Spice)
- Prescott (Camelot's Merlin x Spice)
Do you notice what I notice? All of these kits come from just ten litters. That seems like a relatively few considering I bred 27 pairs. But remember, only 15 of the 27 produced viable offspring. So really, 2/3 of the breeding produced something worth looking at.
Here are the bucks that produced Convention hopefuls: Java, Rio, Franz, Navaro, Leo, Mars, Boris, and Camelot's Merlin. Of these, Java and Leo are Boris sons and Mars is Boris' half-brother. Navaro is a Merlin son. I no longer own Navaro or Mars, so I don't need to consider them further.
Here are the does that produced Convention hopefuls: May, Celeste (Rio's sister), Pandora, Jo-Jo, Hilary, Markie, Roxie, Gina, Mercedes, and Spice. I've sold Celeste, Pandora, Gina, and Spice.
Now let's look at the A list and see what I did with each of them:
- June - sold
- Javelin - sold
- April - kept, came in 16th of 100 broken junior does
- Arabica - kept, has 2 legs so far
- Kwai - sold
- Beauty - kept, has 1 leg and some other nice placements
- Millicent - kept, has 2 legs and was 4th out of 161 solid junior does
- Mistoffelees - kept, has 2 legs, missed Convention because of poor table manners
- Quinten - kept, granded at just 6 months old, 18th place broken junior buck at Convention
- Rumpleteezer - sold
- McCartney - kept, has 3 legs
- Miss Muffet - sold, but maybe shouldn't have
- Glynis - sold, but maybe shouldn't have - has already granded, had 2 legs when sold
- Demetrius - kept, has 2 legs
- Hunnicutt - kept, has 3 legs
- Zeppo - kept, has 1 BOB, and was 12th broken junior buck at Convention
- Azera - sold
- Corvette - sold, 1 leg
- Jaguar - is for sale
- Bustopher - sold, 1 leg
- Prescott - sold, but maybe should not have
So, out of 27 breedings, I produced 43 kits, which turned into 21 possibilities, and 10 keepers, at least for the time being. Let's see who produced the keepers:
- April (Java x May)
- Arabica (Java x May)
- Beauty (Java x Pandora)
- Millicent (Franz x Jo-Jo)
- Mistoffelees (Franz x Jo-Jo)
- Quinten (Franz x Jo-Jo)
- McCartney (Navaro x Hilary)
- Demetrius (Leo x Markie)
- Hunnicutt (Mars x Roxie)
- Zeppo (Boris x Gina)
So we have Java, Franz, Navaro, Leo, Mars, and Boris as sires. Of those, I still own Java, Leo, and Boris. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Maybe I jumped the gun selling Franz? Luckily, I have two more young litters with Franz and Jo-Jo with three kits each. And, yes, they look good so far.
My producing gals are May, Pandora, Jo-Jo, Hilary, Markie, Roxie, and Gina. I still have May, Jo-Jo, Hilary, Markie, and Roxie. So I'm good there, I think.
So what next? I put this information into my pipe and smoke it. (What the heck does that mean anyway?) First, I may revisit the May x Java breeding in the future, but right now, I'm repeating the breeding that produced her Nationals 2006 placing rabbits. In the long run, that breeding is probably the better one anyway.
I have nine Franz x Jo-Jo offspring in the barn. I've already bred Jo-Jo, but next time, I will breed Quinten back to his mother. Jo-Jo is every bit as good or even maybe better than Franz, so I'm fortunate to be able to go that way with the line breeding. You can be sure I'll be working that line and refining it.
I'll be trying to grand these bunnies in the next few months. I'll especially be interested in granding the does so I can get them into production. I'll check the bucks again at 12 months and 18 months to see if they get to stay.
I notice that six of these rabbits are the result of grand champion to grand champion breedings. We should be able to add one to that number because I do believe that Navaro will grand. He's already come in second once for his new owners. That gives me confidence to go forward with my grand-champion-only breedings .
I had another wave of kits born in early August. In a few months, I'll be able to analyze that wave, too, to see what I can learn from it. Have you evaluated a wave?
Laurie Stroupe
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