Cool Links and Babies

I found some great links to sites with grooming equipment for sale recently, and I thought I would post them here today for anyone who might be interested (I posted these to the FA list awhile back, too). Most angora breeders use the Doggy Man slickers because they are good quality and gentle on angora wool, but as you will see from the links below there are COUNTLESS styles of slickers, combs, and other grooming aids available (geared mostly to dog breeders), and some can be found at very decent prices. Here's the list:


http://clover.forest.net/kwcages/index.html
http://www.hubintsecured.co.uk/acatalog/Slicker_Brush.html
http://www.terrificpets.com/pet_supplies/dog/grooming/slicker-brushes/
http://www.petedge.com/catalog/section.jsp?
http://www.groomers.com/index.asp?srccode=GPC0002
http://www.wgroom.com/



In other news around here also, there were 3 beautiful litters born this week!:-). I had hoped for 4 and had bred 4, but I was not altogether surprised that Neva missed because she is an older doe who hadn't been bred in almost a year:(. I will try her again in a week or so too, but for now there are enough babies to deal with and put smiles on our faces this Spring, LOL. Here are a couple of pictures:


First are the 3 litter boxes side by side on March 12th in the living room after I had cleaned them up, labeled them, checked/counted babies, and clipped wool. From the left are litters out of Echo and Pierre, Pascha and Dijon, and Juno and Dijon.



Juno had a beautiful litter of 7 (shown below at two days old). So far it looks like 2 Fawns, 2 Torts, 2 Pearls, and possibly a REW (or another Pearl depending on what happens over the next few days:)). I am positively thrilled about this bunch because Juno is one of the nicest does in the barn right now (her BIS picture is posted in the upper lefthand corner of this blog), and I bred her to Dijon, my best buck. We'll see how things go, but I have high hopes for these little ones:).

This here is a picture of Echo's litter of 9. Echo is my F2/NZ Cross doe who was bred to Dijon last Fall. The babies out of that particular breeding were not as impressive as they should have been, so I tried her with a different buck this time (not worrying overly much about compatible color combinations). In this little pile it looks to be 3 Blues (or possibly Smoke Pearls---I've got to research that color some more to see what produces it), a few more Pearls, and also some REW.

And last of all we have Pascha's litter of 6 (down from 8 originally with 2 stillborn), and in this case there are 2 Blacks, 1 Fawn, and 3 REWs. Pascha was the BIS winner of the second specialty show at the PA Convention last month (unfortunately, I do not have a good picture of her in coat:( ), but I bred her back to her son, Dijon, and am hoping for good results there too:).

So anyway, that is about all there is to report this week:). I have 2 litters due next week from Morwenna/Dijon and Evariste/Dijon, so we'll see how those come out (if they took), and then there will be more breeding a little later in the season. The weather is getting quite warm now at about 50 degrees during the day, and between the daffodils starting to grow and birds singing like crazy everyday, it seems Spring has finally sprung:).

There will be a few more adult pictures to post next week, and I've also got a trip to make with Sadako's babies to a friend of mine who raises Satins nearby. I was on the verge of culling the litter out at 12 weeks but then couldn't decide who to hold onto because they were all so similar. I decided at the last moment that I needed advice from a master of type:-):-).

Anyway, have a GREAT week and best of luck getting ready for the holidays!

Til next time.