AmberLops Rabbitry Journal

[B&B Happy goats]

Ha ha!
The interview was done by the assistant manager, the manager couldn't be there so there are a few unanswered questions....now i'm waiting on a call. It went really well though! After the interview, he walked me through the store and introduced me to everyone. The employees are so nice, it was hard to believe!
The hours are good, it is part-time but I could move up to full-time within a few months.
I'm super happy with how it went and I hope I get the job

You will get the job my friend !

 

[AmberLops]

Say, if I drive to the TSC where you may start working, do you think you could handle a Senile Texas Aggie? If so, then you can handle anything that comes your way!

Ha ha! I think I can handle it

 

[AmberLops]

Baby bunnies are so cute! I am excited for you for the job at TSC! I hope you get it! It's perfect for you. For the heave lifting, by all means take care of yourself. I still use safety I learned in my early 20's, working in a huge welding shop where everything was big and heavy and if it fell on you, you were dead or seriously injured. Squat, don't bend, use your leg muscles to lift up, not your puny back muscles. There is a certain rhythm to lifting, a 50# sack of feed has a "swing" to it as I am sure you know. I'm sure a big company like TSC has safety meetings, they are important.

I will try my best to not get hurt...no guarantees though! But i'll try not to.
Right now i'm lifting 80+ lb dogs by myself, which isn't even supposed to happen. The rules of the clinic are if a dog is over 50lbs, someone has to help you lift it. Not a rule they follow.
TSC has tons of safety meetings, we went over that in the interview. They take very good care of their employees. I have a weak wrist and ankle but that's never stopped me before. Braces will definitely be part of my work attire

 

[AmberLops]

Today was a beautiful day! 57 degrees and sunny, it felt warm!
I got a ton of stuff done today. Went to pick up some more hay, sold 2 rabbits, cleaned all the rabbit trays, scrubbed out all of their cages...which took a lot of 'music cages' for the rabbits!
I had time to rake the yard, mostly around the rabbits so it looks better....guess i'd rather have it look nicer around the rabbits than my own front yard
I tried breeding all of my does today. Had 1 successful breeding which i'm super happy about!
My little Ronnie, who is Betty Sue's daughter, born in March...she bred with John Wayne today. This will be her first litter! I think she'll be an incredible mama, just like Betty.
Ronnie is super calm, she's like a little bowl of Jell-O. She's always been my favorite out of that March litter I kept. Her sister is Aggie, the Siamese Sable. Who i'm hoping is the next to breed....she also had another littermate that I kept but she died for no apparent reason a couple of months ago.
Then there's Sammy-Jo...my gorgeous blue doe who I found out today is a total b**ch!!
I put her in with John Wayne, he did his thing but she wasn't having it.
So i put her in with my newer buck Archie, who is Rye, the blue-eyed LionLop's sire (are ya' with me?) and she completely beat the crap out of him.
I've never seen a doe act like that before. She was like a demon rabbit
She grabbed hold of his back and flipped him over, they were both lying on their sides on the cage floor, and she was kicking him full force with both hind legs while she tore through his skin...that was a nasty battle wound to clean. Poor Archie....he still tried to breed her afterward though, so I think I was more traumatized than he was! After that I double-checked that she was still a 'she' and not a buck, but she's still a doe.
After that I put her back in with Johnny and she didn't try those moves on him. But he's such a dominating buck, something Archie definitely is not! Maybe she just likes the confidant guys? Or maybe it's that John Wayne charm?

I found one of Emma's kits half-alive on the cage floor today, looks like she crushed the poor thing. It had to have happened in a matter of minutes because i just checked on them and did some yard work, then went back to feed her and found the kit. She's such a ditz. I decided to sell all of my Lionheads...they're just too much to handle.

Anyways here are some pictures of Ronnie, i'm really looking forward to her litter...not getting my hopes up though as i know how first litters can be. Hopefully her next breeding can be with Archie, she wasn't interested in him today...everyone wants John Wayne!

The last picture is Paris, who was feeling left out because Ronnie got dinner before she did!

 

[Mini Horses]

A job at TSC comes with discounts on feed!

 

[Baymule]

What's not to like about John Wayne?

 

[AmberLops]

Jessie bred today...with John Wayne. They have the cutest kits together. Jessie didn't have any Fuzzies in her last litter. Maybe she will this time, I still have people on a waiting list for Fuzzies.
Now I have Betty Sue, Ronnie and Jessie bred...Maybe this rabbit strike is over? Sure hope so....

I keep changing my mind as to whether or not i want to keep Luna, my Lionhead.
She's kinda loony (nicknamed her luna-tic) but she's a great mom. She has nice sized litters, around 4-7 per litter. Trying to decide if i should keep her just to sell Lion-Lops...they sold so fast last time and i absolutely cannot sell purebred Lionheads. Nobody wants one. I have Emma's last litter, three 10 week old purebreds and I have them advertised all over and have only gotten 2 replies in the past 2 1/2 weeks and neither one was a serious buyer. But those LionLops sold in just days. I think it'd be worth it to keep Luna just for the LionLops....any opinions?

 

[Baymule]

If LionLops is what sells, it helps to pay the feed bill. I'm for that!

 

[AmberLops]

Update!!

I GOT THE JOB AT TSC!!!
Wednesday is my first day there!! I can't wait!

Today was a beautiful day. 67 degrees and sunny. Spent the day cleaning most of the rabbit cages, will do the others later this week when it warms up again.

I palpated Betty Sue today and she is definitely pregnant! I'm hoping this litter is better than the last one she had when all the kits died after having seizures....But everything is right this time. Betty is not molting anymore, the weather is cooler and I have my fingers crossed.
It's still too early to palpate Ronnie and Jessie. All 3 does were bred to John Wayne so the kit colors are pretty predictable!

There's been a mouse infestation in the rabbitry. I finally got it under control with some mouse poison and a ton of traps. One mouse decided to crawl into the house and die under the bathroom cupboard. The smell is so bad and the whole house is going to smell like a dead mouse soon....guess the joke's on me ?

This arctic blast is hitting tomorrow night....the daytime temp is 59 and rain all day but the low for tomorrow night is 20 and we're supposed to get 1/4 inch of snow! I will take pictures if that happens!
Then Tuesday's daytime high is only 32 degrees...that's too cold for me. The night low is 12 with a wind chill of 2 degrees

Stay warm everyone and have a great night!

 

[Bruce]

Congrats on the job! I bet you will be one of the more informed TSC employees. Seems a lot of them don't know a lot about their products, or even where to find them.