Clark's Critters

Wow haven't blogged in ages.

2008-09-20T21:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, I haven't blogged for ages. There tons of new things that are going to happen or have happened. Well this summer I did great on the tables. I attended VIEX, and Duncan with the rabbits, I didn't have any cavies to show. As I cut way back and wasn't breeding anything. But for rabbits I had lots to show.
At the VIEX double show I showed all the breeds I have in the rabbitry. My Mini Rex either got BOV or BOSV. Nothing great, I was the only exhibitors in the varieties I showed. The Netherlands got BOG. But were beat by some killer ND's from the states. The Dwarf Hotots did as i expected. No BOB but i think that i did get BOSB? But I am unsure. Congrats to all who won for there breeds and to the BIS and RIS winners. Overall a great show.

At the Duncan Show I only attended one day. I showed the exact same that I did at VIEX. Everyone did pretty much the same but i did get BOB and BOSB Netherlands. My jr DH doe also got BOSB. I was very pleased as it was one of my homebreds. I really enjoyed that show too.

Now the show season is over for the year. I can relax and breed hard for next show circuit. I hope to attend convention in California and most Washington shows. We are moving back to Powell River, at the end of October. We own 12 1/2 acres there. We will be going back and forth getting it ready for the big move. I will take pictures of the new rabbitry and Caviary when we are settled. When we are settled I am going to talk my dad into putting on a addition to the barn so i can add some more cages. lol. Then me and Caitlyn G from Squeaks rabbitry are going to bring some stock up to improve our herds. I wouldnt mind bring some cavies in to. I think I have decided I like the americans again. So I will be cutting down in the peruvian numbers to about 5. Then getting into solid americans( Golden and Silver solids, blacks,tsw and r/w) but we will see. The new cavy shed in double the size i am in now. lol so I have room to expand. Well I need to go and feed and water my animals. I will try and keep up with my blogs.

April 5th show results! and a sad goodbye.

2008-04-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

Well, my weekend began on Friday night when I got picked up in Whiskey creek by Caitlyn and we loaded all the animals up into her vehicle(it was PACKED!). So we drove back to her place and unloaded the animals into her basement for the night and headed of to her goats. We cleaned the barn and played with the dog for a bit and back to her house. We fed and watered all the animals and loaded up rabbits into carriers that were outside(most of her rabbits are in outdoor hutches) so we wouldn't have to go outside and unlock cages at 5 am! But the rabbits that were in her rabbitry got to stay in until morning.
Next morning we woke up at 4 am and got ready and loaded all the animals up and with her animals it was even more packed with just mine. We could barely move! So we left her place at 5:30am and headed to the show, oh we stopped at Tim Hortons along the way. We got to the show at 7:15 and unloaded the animals and said hello to everyone and helped Andrea and her Mom set up there tables and I got the tea set Andrea made for my 4-H leader. Paid for our entry fees and waited for the show to start.
I am not positive on how my Mini Rex did because I was table writing most of the time most of the time and so was Caitlyn. But my REW Netherland Dwarf took BOV(only one in class). Me and Caitlyn are working on getting more REW's and Himi's out there! Caitlyn did well also taking BOB with her jr. Steel dutch buck. And Congrats to everyone who showed and to BIS and RBIS show A&B! I know Stan and Kathy took BIS with there beautiful broken opal Mini Rex for show A but I didn't see who took RBIS. And show B Kate King took BIS with her Sandy Flemish Doe!
Anywho.. During the show I got Kim&Christina Posey to look over my Junior Mini Rex and I Kept one Jr. Castor buck and Sold another really nice buck to Tammi. Also Caitlyn and I took a trip over to the Raptor Center to drop off some rabbits. Nice to have some empty cage space!
Caitlyn got her Flemish Giant from Kate and well I wasn't expecting to leave with another rabbit but I got talked into (lol) getting a really nice sandy Flemish doe from John Burton. Oh and I also dropped off 6 cavies to Kathy who is shipping them to Janine for me. Thanks!!
After the show we headed to Andrea's and Wally's to pick up Indy the Checkered Giant that Andrea had given Caitlyn.
And as most of the rabbit breeders know, Andrea McAvoy is moving to Ireland for a year and it was the last time to see her for me:( We will miss you Andrea!
That wraps up this blog
Dillon:)

Lots to write, and April 5th show entries!

2008-04-02T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't written anything in awhile. So here it goes!
For the rabbits, everything is good. All the litters are doing good. I have fallen in love with my baby Opal Mini Rex so she gets to be my mascot:).
The Netherlands are also doing good. I have my eye on one of the kits from my latest litter but I am going to get a second opinion from some friends. I also re bred all my Dwarf Hotots in hopes to get some live litters.
Now for my Cavies. I have sold all my TSWs to Janine Hudson and now I am going to get some blacks from Eliza(Equinox Caviary). I am excited about getting those. I got my brand new cages that Wally Holden made for me=) They are very nicely made cages and I would recommend him.
This weekend is the Rabbits BC show so I have been getting ready for that(setting up carriers, preparing everything etc.). I am going to get picked up in Coombs by Caitlyn on Friday night and we are going to spend the weekend at her house. Well, most of the weekend lol. After I get picked up we are going out to her aunts place were her goats are living and clean and look after them and also play with the dog for a bit:-). Early Saturday morning we are heading to Cowichan to the show. We will be leaving around 5:30-6:00am. Not bad compared to some shows haha. Well, I guess I should say what I am showing.

Netherland Dwarfs

Squeak's Tiny-Senior REW doe.
DAD's Dew It Once-Senior Himi-black doe
Squeak's Rose-Mary-Senior himi-black doe

Mini Rex

Hangtown's Fireball,4legs-Senior Red buck
Posey's Inferno-jr. Castor buck

Dwarf Hotot

Clark's Andrea 1leg-jr. doe

Thats what I am showing. I will also have some for sale animals there to. So come and take a look! After the show Caitlyn and I are heading over to the Raptor Center to drop off some rabbits there. I don't like to "cull" rabbits but this is a good way to help the birds of prey. And after a long fun day, we will go back to Caitlyn's and well...sleep! Sunday we are going to go to her grandfathers farm. Its fun out there, lots of things to do. And before I have to leave Sunday we are going to look after the cows. This is going to be a busy weekend!
Dillon=)

Getting a little crowded, for sale!

2008-02-28T18:22:00.000-08:00

Well the Rabbitry/Caviary is getting a little crowded so I have to part with some of these animals. I will also post what Caitlyn and I have available for Netherlands.

Mini Rex-
I have Several Babies that will be available at the April 5th show in Cowichan. I am not sure of the sexes yet but there will be some Reds, Castors and An Opal.

Netherland Dwarfs-

Manley's Miracle (Tort)
Senior, Doe
Miracle is now to old to be in our breeding program so she is pet quality. She is very friendly and loves her food:) $20

Fleet Mt's Ice Moon, 1 jr. leg ( Himalayan-Black)
Senior, Doe
Ice Moon is also to old to be in breeding so she is also for sale as a pet. Ice Moon is very sweet but can be grumpy. $20

Squeak's ------ (Red eyed white)
Jr. Buck
This buck is pet Quality only. He has the nice head but thats all. He is very quiet and friendly. He would make an excellent 4-H animal or just a pet. $20

Squeak's Have A Little Hope ( Seal? Or dark Siamese Sable)
(young) Sr. Doe
Pet/Brood.
This is a nice doe. She does need more in the HQ though. She is very friendly and gets along very nicely with the pigs;)

Well, I think thats all for now.

Dillon=)

My goals and plans for 2008 in the rabbity.

2008-02-27T21:48:00.000-08:00

Well after reading both Jody's and Kim's blogs I thought I should say what my goals are in my rabbitry in 2008.

The first thing I would like to get done in the rabbitry is get a proper rabbitry built, as right now I only have a tarped car tent. It works good for the rabbits but in the winter when the winds come they really rattle the sides and roof and it scares the rabbits, so I hope to get a metal roof an then maybe get some millfelt as sides. I would also like to try and save money and have all stackers in the barn. which would give me about 50 holes.

Now to breed goals:

Dwarf Hotot's

I must first say a big thanks to Andrea McAvoy for selling me my first beautiful Dwarf Hotots. So for my Dwarf Hotot project I am hoping to breed closest to the standard as I can. I haven't had much luck with the first few Dwarf Hotot litters. Soprano didn't take twice and Mystery had 3 perfect kits 2 DOA and Misty Mt. Hop had 2 and one died later on and the last surviving kit was taken by a dang rat. So I only have one Dwarf Hotot kit that has survived but is doing good so far on the show tables for her first show taking BOV for her first leg. Something I am really going to work on is eye bands, and type.

Mini Rex

Now for my Mini Rex I must thank Kim Posey for selling me 9 Mini Rex for the start of my herd. I am mostly going to be working on the Castor's, broken castor's and red. I have two Tri color mini rex Andrea so kindly sold me aswell:) I will eventually also get more into the Tri's but right now my focus is on the other three colors.

Netherland Dwarfs

Well my friend Caitlyn Groeneveld of Squeaks Rabbitry and I are working on Netherlands together. We are focusing on Himalayan, REW, and Siamese Sable. We hope to eventually add some other colors but we would like to perfect what we have now. With our Netherlands we are looking to breed for buns' with nice type and big thick heads.

Well, I will post later what my Cavy goals are.
Dillon:)

TSW American's are going and Black Americans coming.

2008-02-22T17:25:00.000-08:00

Well I have decided I wanted some change in the americans.So I have decided to sell ALL my TSW americans and get into Black's. I have the TSW's sold but am trying to find a way for them to leave now. But by the looks of it they will be sticking around till April 1st when Air Canada starts shipping live animals again.I can't wait to have them gone but I know I will miss having the challenge getting the markings perfect. But I do plan on getting back into the Variety down the road again. I have been priviledged enough to be getting whole herd of stunning black's from Eliza Passingham (Equinox caviary), as she wants to work harder on getting her Silver Soilid Satins.So now in Americans I will be doing Black's,Silver solids,golden solids(might be getting a sow) and then some r/ws as a side project.I can' wait to get started with the black's:)

Well I better go and feed my animals and start getting my stuff ready as I am going out to see the sheep tomorrow and staying the night out there.

My new 4-h project.

2008-02-19T21:19:00.001-08:00

Well ever since I started 4-H I did cavies and chickens. But the last 2 years I have decided to try something new other then the small animals. So last year I tried goats, So I leased a purebred Saanen from my awesome 4-H leader. I had fun for the first part but when it came to the show season I just wasnt having the fun I wanted to have. So this year I decided to try something else. I am going to do Sheep:) I know its gonna be a very hard project but I know it will be fun becouse I am in a great club with great people. The members are really nice and outgoing and the leader is really laid back. I am going to be leasing 2 sheep from my leader. They breed Border Cheviots and Dorsets. I will be using both a border cheviot and a dorset. So most weekend I am out at the farm helping with chores and just learning about sheep and stuff. I have had tons of fun. I had stayed there last weekend and I was hoping one of the dorsets "Sara" was going to lamb, as we have been waiting for like a month for her too lamb and it was also my leader's Birthday which was Sunday. I had noticed in the morning she was quite restless so durning the day I kept an eye on her. Well I went to check on her and she wa laying down in a corrner and she was pushing so I yelled at claire and she was like well does she have any fluids or and water bags coming out and I said no and shes like well shes not going to lamb. I was like okay. So I started cleaning the path in the barn and then Sara was really pushing so I got claire to go and look at her and sure enough there was a lambs head sticking out of her. So claire quickly came over and got the lamb out and she was like freaking out becouse shes been waiting for like a month for these lambs as they were going to be her show lambs. So all in all I had a great weekend out at the farm. Will post some pictures of them when I take some.

VIRBA -show results and new additions

2008-02-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

Well as I couldn't go to VIRBA, I wasnt going to show anything but Andrea.M talked me into showing something and she would get it up on the tables for me.
So I entered 1 Sr REW netherland and a jr Dwarf hotot doe.
I didnt think they would do great but I was wrong. The Netherland got BOV but was the only one in the class.LOL But my Jr Hotot got BOS which was a surprise. So she has her first leg and was the first homebred Hotot of mine:)
So thank you Andrea for talking me into entering them and getting them up to the table:)
I also ended up getting 3 pigs at the show. I got a Sr silver solid american sow from Eliza to breed to my lonely Sr solid boar who I got in August. So I am hoping to have some Silver Solid babies soon:D I also got a really nice r/w american boar from Sheryl Newland who is massive and only 3 months old. Thanks Sheryl for him. I also got a nice Jr r/w peruvian sow from Amanda Swan. But all in all it was a good weekend.

VIRBA

2008-02-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

Well I just found I cant go to VIRBA as I get my Wisdom teeth pulled out :(
Its not that I had anything special to show but I had acouple Jr's I wanted to get coments on. But I am sending down my REW netherland dwarf to get bred by Sarah's Mccrea's REW buck she is getting from Oregon. He has like 6 legs so I am crossing my fingers for some nice babies:)
I am also getting a TSW silkie boar from Kelly Gilmore. I cant wait to get him.
In other news I think I have had 2 more cavy litters.
Well thats all the news thats been happening around hear the last couple days:)

I Finally Got A website

2008-02-08T19:30:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Well after 3 year of breeding animals, I FINALLY have a great website that my great friend caitlyn(squeaks rabbitry) built. In my blog I will be covering many things such as new and expecting litters, show results,for sale animals and just regular updates on animals and my other critters:)

In cavy news......

We have had our baby boom and have lots of nice healthy babies.I am still waiting on a couple more sows to have there babies.Right now my number is about 35 senior animals and about 8 juniors. I am only breeding peruvians,and americans with a couple silkies. I wanted to get down in breeds because I was finding that I wasnt inproving my herd. But now that I am down in numbers and I am focusing on two main breeds I have been really improving my herd. Thats about it in cavy news for now, take a look at the cavy pages.

Now into rabbit news...

Well have decided to do 2 breeds and a Co-op. My two main breeds will be Mini Rexes and Dwarf Hotots. I have been very fortunate to get some really nice Mini Rexes from Kim Posey when she sold out. I also got two nice tri color mini rex from Andrea McAvoy. I will be focusing on the reds and castors with a few tri's and brokens. Now to the Dwarf Hotots, I am going to work very hard with this breed and try to improve my herd. Now to the Co-op, I have decided to do a

co-op with caitlyn of squeaks rabbitry in Netherland dwarfs. We will be specializing in REW, Himi, Siamese Sables, Black and possibly other colors down the road.

I think thats all the news for now. But check Back often because I am going to try to write blog everyday.And please give me feed back on things I should change or things that should be added to my site.

Thanks Dillon