The Fluff Tips

The following are a compiled list of tips that can be found in Spring's issue of The Fluff. If you are a member of the National Jersey Wooly Club, you may have seen these! Either way, here they are in one list. You know, just in case you misplace your copy.

Disclaimer: This is word-for-word exactly what it says in the newsletter. None of these tips are my own, property owned by The Fluff and written by Angel LeSage and Timmy Bauer.

Spring 2012

• Saving a doe's show coat - Save the collected wool for those pregnant does who have nice show coats. By placing the wool in the cage around 28 days (not in the box) it may encourage her to use that wool instead of plucking her own. Pg. 3
• Provide a distraction - For a buck that licks his rear legs bare give a hay ball stuffed in a cardboard tube, or other toys to keep him busy. Pg. 4
• Chewing wool - For a rabbit with wool chewing problems give cut up chunks of sweet potatoes, or yams. Pg. 4
• Successful Matings - Always breed your does 4 or more times throughout the course of the day for optimum success. It is usually not recommended to breed over several days. Wait 2 weeks and palpate, if not pregnant breed again. Pg. 13
• When fur flies - While grooming and blowing collect the wool, and store it in an old kleenex box. This works great at shows to keep it from flying everywhere. Pg. 16
• Successful Palpation - Practice palpation on a non-pregnant rabbit so that you can identify a pregnant rabbit. Palpation is most successful at 12-14 days. The babies at that stage feel like medium sized grapes. Support the rabbit with the right hand while you use your left to gently squeeze the lower abdomen. Pg. 25
• Due dates made easy - Plan ahead when breeding to make sure you are home. A fast way to calculate due dates is to count 4 weeks form the day you bred, and add 3 days. For example; breeding on Saturday, count the next 4 Saturday and then add 4 more days. So the due date would be on a Tuesday. Pg. 27
• Keeping bottoms clean - Apply cornmeal to a poopy bottom to soak everything up. Brush it out when dry. Pg. 29

Where are we headed?

In a great direction, I hope.

  Often I find myself disappointed in the direction my herd went. My homegrowns were subpar, even for newbie standards. I had either nice bodies, or nice heads. Never both. Also the amount of DOAs my does kept having would drive anyone into madness.

  Keep in mind I used the words "went" and "were". This was before I took the time to evaluate two of 2012s litters. I don't know if it was luck, or the perfect pairing, but I am extremely pleased with Emma and Tea Cup's litters. The balance is excellent, the bodies are lovely, and the personalities are something I hope to keep! Such naturally curious and sweet babies those two does had. Makes me smile so much!


Well, that's fantastic! What about the varieties?
  Right now, I am focusing on my Agoutis. I'm off to a great start with the Opals. It took me a while to actually get Agoutis. Why? Well, all the bucks I had were Shaded, or carried Shaded. When I bred my doe to my REW, I got Sables. I waited, and I waited, and I FINALLY got an Opal buck. The rest, you know if you follow the blog (or read this post fully). Now I need to get that dominant gene in the mix. That is where Tea Cup comes in. My hope is that she will provide my buck with the genes he needs to give me Chestnuts. I will probably introduce a new buck in the mix at some point, but right now I'm focusing on what I have.

*sizzle* - little doe that is promised to a new home

But, what about the Otters?
  Psh. Otters are easy! It took me one breeding to get those things, also a shocker litter, and there is noooo way they are leaving. Especially since I now have 2 Otter does, and one buck.  All are homebreds, mind you. I do plan on getting another Otter in the mix. Buck, or doe, I'm not sure. All of mine have the same father, and I need to figure out what their faults are, and bring in a new bun to fix that issue.

Mister "I'm not as long as I look"

You have a fawn, does this mean you're working on Oranges?
  Possibly. I love her personality (Gemma's the name), and I am keeping my Tort in hopes to throw some dominant into that non-extension gene bringing out the Orange within her! I will be taking my time on this, and certainly wont start an orange project until they get closer to being recognized. For now she will stay with her sister (my POL from Emma's litter) until I decide to breed her.

Brat refuses to pose!

So, those Shadeds of yours, still working on Shadeds?
  I was thinking about continuing to breed her while I still had Espresso (Sable Martin), but with her passing I don't really want to deal with them, especially with my Agoutis. My Siamese Sable buck will be for sale when I clean him up (I just... don't even want to go there), and my Smoke Pearl is in retirement. Tortie will stay for reasons listed above, and other than that I am DONE with Shadeds for a loooooooong time. I like my Agoutis too much to risk them being "tampered" with. Sable chin... *shudders*.

Shows?
Well, I intend on keeping my showing days strictly for juniors only for a bit. Even with Convention, I may only send one or two 2012 homegrowns with a friend to be shown. I just don't have the want to show my older/"bought" stock. Time to move on, and show my own, ya know? Plus my coats have been something less than gorgeous lately.. That kind of helps too, I suppose.

Here I am, I'm not completely horrible!
  Overall I think my herd is heading in a positive direction, and I hope to bring some nice juniors to the show table, as well as selling more show rabbits and getting my name out there more.

Ok folks, thats basically all the happenings, and future happenings here at the Fuzzy Patch. I hope you have a great day, and a fantastic time with your own herd. ☺

Opal updates

Talk about Smexy! If the head stays as nice as it looks, this may be the best homegrown as of yet. This means that my show "freeze" isn't in vain! I am showing this weekend, 2 buns. I'm mainly going to try and sell some babies. Hopefully some will go to nice homes. I just need to decide which of Tea Cup's babies I want to keep. Decisions!!! This little guy (or gal) is looking like my POL from Emma and OPI's litter. Both look really nice though. It's just so tough to decide.

Moo: Sample Business Cards!

Of course the actual cards (not the free sample) will not have the "moo.com" stamp. Other than that, this is basically what mine will look like! I may switch up the pictures a bit.

Moo

Oh Moo, how you make me laugh. With their witty comments, and sense of humor, the people at Moo.com have won my heart over. After the misery vistaprint put me through, I was quickly in search for a new printing company. That company, is now Moo.

First off, I ordered a free sample pack to check the quality, and see what their products were like. This is what I saw when I opened the packet: (click any picture to enlarge)

Everything that Moo has to offer is completely customizable. You even have the option of choosing different backs to your cards! I love this option.

Quick look at the actual business cards (with their prices on the back, so convenient!).

First off are their Luxe cards. They feel like cardboard sandwich. The sides of the card are split in half, with a piece of thick (in this case red) cardboard in the middle. They feel really sturdy.

The next one are the classic style rounded corner cards. This is what my actual business cards will be printed on. The paper is really nice! They weren't kidding when they said it was a high quality paper. The actual feel of the card is a satin finish. Not to shiny, but not to matte. Perfect mix.

The first one is the classic style without the rounded corners.

Second are the "Moo Green" stock. 100% recycled, and 100% recyclable. To me, it feels like another cardboard business card, but not cardboard at the same time. This one is hard to explain. Definitely doesn't feel cheap, and is also more sturdy than the average business card walking around.

I was so skeptical about the Mini cards. The sample pack came with two, and I used them to compare to the average size of a business card. The ones i got were printed on the classic paper, same quality, small size. The actual width of the image wont be altered, but you will loose some of the height in the image (which you can view when you upload the image). Above are comparisons for you.

 The post card is on top, and it is printed on photo paper, and the card on the bottom feels like the green stock. I probably wont use these, but they're still nice.

Then the stickers. There are plane stickers, and return labels. All customizable.



I do agree that Moo is a little bit pricey, but compared to what Vistaprint is/did, it's worth it. From the quality, to the humor, I will invest the money. I also want to add, no I am not being paid to do this (I wish). I got the sample pack for free at Moo.com. I think that's everything. I received the sample business cards I made in the male today, and I will make a blog post about those tomorrow!!