Champagne Dutch?

I was a bit surprised yesterday when going through all my 2 week old litters... I came across this very oddly colored baby. It's coloring is just like what you'd find on a Champagne D'Argent. Champagne's are born all black, and get all of their silvering as they mature, with the head being the last to silver. This one is a lot more silvered over the back, than what a Champagne would be at the same age. The back is very evenly colored. However on the face, it's still patchy with black, and the belly is more black. Makes me wonder if it'll silver in these areas as it matures.

It's not an agouti (no ring color), and not any kind of Steel. It's out of two Blacks, with nothing but Blacks and Blues in it's background for 20 generations. We're thinking it has to be some kind of mutation.

Will be interesting to see how this little one developes. I'm planning on keeping it to experiment with breeding it. Will post more pics of it here and on my facebook as it grows up.

Davenport Show

Double Dutch's Casanova

Last weekend was the Davenport show. It was my first time going to an Inland Empire show, and my dad and I enjoyed it. It was a long drive (4 1/2 hours), but was in a different part of the state that I haven't been to before. Basically nothing but crops for over an hour of driving.
Friday night in the specialty, Lisa won BOB with her Gray buck. Rogue won BOS for her 5th leg. Casanova was beaten by Jan's senior buck, as the judge said he was still a bit young. However when he has something really promising, he likes to nickname them. Casanova was one of two Dutch nicknamed that night, the judge called him "Sharp". Jan's Blue jr doe was the other one that got a nickname.
In show A on Saturday, I think Rogue was BOSV... (hard to know the results when you're judging!). If so, that is leg 6. Casanova again got promising comments, but was said that he was too young. BOB went Jan's Black buck that's done quite a bit of winning these last few months! BOS was Jean's Best in Show winning Tort doe.
In show B, Casanova won Best of Breed! BOS went to a cute little Tort jr doe of Vicki's (different one than what's been winning for her). Her Tort doe went on to be Best of the Best Opposites!
For the fun of it, I stuck Casanova in the Breeders Choice competition during lunch. He end up winning it!
At the end of the show, my dad and I were talking, of the three shows-- 3 BOB's and 3 BOS's, it was 6 different rabbits to win, owned by 5 different breeders. State Convention next month is going to be extremely competitive!

NWRB Show

Last weekend was the NWRB show. I had two Black jr bucks who made their showing debut. They are both just 11 weeks old. Both are nice, but one of them I've been very excited about. That one, Casanova was Best Opposite breed in both shows! In the first show, under Cliff, he ranted and raved over him. During a break in my judging, I had gone over to the Dutch table, and it was funny, cause he was telling me to go and look at his BOV Black. Had to keep a straight face, so he wouldn't know it was my rabbit.
BOB in show A went to Jean's gorgeous Tort doe, who went on to win BEST IN SHOW! Very nice rabbit!
Show B, Vicki's nice Tort doe that's been winning lately was BOB. Torts have really been doing great lately in this area!
In the Silver Martens, Coal was BOS in show A, with Arson being BOB in show B. Scott won the other BOB and BOS.
Next show is Davenport in two weeks. We'll be leaving early Friday morning, as there is a Dutch meeting that night, and a Dutch specialty. Then Saturday, I will be judging. I'll be showing the same 5 Dutch as last weekend (Maverick, Rogue, Jewel, Casanova, and another Black jr buck), and then Arson and Coal for the Martens.
That will be the last show until State Convention, in June.

Bremerton Show

Last weekend was the Bremerton show. It was a very small show, with only enough rabbits in both my breeds for just BOB to get a leg.
Show A, Rogue won BOS, but there were not enough does for a leg. In show B she was BOV Black, which there *might* have been enough Blacks for her to win her 4th leg, but I won't know for sure until the show report comes.
In show A, Jan was BOB with a Black buck. In show B, Cassy was BOB with a Blue buck (whose dam is Double Dutch's Revlon) and Jan was BOS with her little Steel doe.
For the Martens, Arson was BOS in both shows, with Scott winning both BOB's.
I sold a very nice little Black jr buck to a Kitsap county 4-H kid. This is her second rabbit from me. I'm sure I'll regret selling him, but I have two other Black bucks the same age (one from the same litter) that I like just a bit better.
Nicole and I have two new Marten litters! Arson is the sire of both. Maddy had 7- 4 Blacks, and 3 Blues. Pyro had 6- 3 Blacks and 3 Blues. We've already had people putting in requests for these guys, before they were even born! These will be our young seniors for ARBA convention next Fall.
Phoenix will be going to her last show this Saturday, as I just bred her to Arson yesterday. These will be our older juniors for ARBA Convention! Nicole will be attending it, as she has a break in school that week, so we're hoping to do really well with our Martens!
I currently have about 4 Dutch litters, with another 7 due next week, and 5 more due in 3 weeks.
Ash is going to go live with 4-Her Dayna for a few months, so Dayna can experience having a litter. Ash will come back to me after weaning her litter, and Dayna will have a litter to keep. Dayna's family has a long history with mine. Her grandfather is best friends with my dad, I've known him since I was 4 years old. What started as him getting Dayna a "Easter rabbit" has turned into a 4-H project, with her coming back to me to get more rabbits to show. This will be her first time having a litter. They will be about 3 months old for the King County Fair this summer for her.
This weekend is Monroe. The entries are really down for it. Several breed nationals are going on this weekend. Nicole and I are showing 3 Martens (Arson, Phoenix, and Coal). Then I'll have 5 Dutch (Maverick, Rogue, Jewel, and the two little jr Black bucks, which this will be their first show).
My website is out of date. Not sure when I'll be able to update it, as we recently changed internet providers, which makes it hard for me to get online with my laptop (which is what my website is stored on). Also need to get a new virus protector on the laptop before going online with it again...

YVRB Show

Yakima show was a couple of weeks ago. We had about 47 Dutch there. Rogue won a BOV and BOSV Black. There were only enough rabbits for her to get one leg, for the BOV. This is her 3rd leg, which makes her a Grand Champion!
Show A BOB went to Vicki's gorgeous Tort doe, that should have won at the Yelm show!
BOS was Jan's Black buck.
Show B BOB went to Jean's Chocolate doe, with Jan getting BOS again with her Black buck.
For Silver Martens, Arson won BOS in show A, but got panned in show B. In both shows, Scott won BOB with two different does, both of which were Arson daughters!
Have a lot of shows coming up, Bremerton is this weekend, with Monroe the following week, and Davenport two weeks later (which we're having a Dutch specialty at). I will be judging at all three.
Have a few litters around 3 weeks old right now, and another 6 litters due in a few weeks. I need to get quite a few rebred still.
Already have people reserving rabbits to buy at State Convention. I have four that will be going up to Canada. He already has a few of my does that he got from a breeder who sold out of Dutch down here. He'll be getting Ladybug, Diesel, Maverick, and one more Black brood doe that I haven't decided on yet. This gives me a couple of months to breed both Maverick and Diesel to all of my does before they leave!

ERBA Show

Just realized I never put my results on here. The ERBA show had to be moved at last minute, because the stable was double booked. The show end up being in an open arena. It was a very cold show! Luckily the sun was out, it could have been even colder (last year it snowed at this show...). I was really happy with how the rabbits did. I only took five Dutch with me, and three Silver Martens.

Dutch Results:
Show A
Rogue (Black jr doe)- Best of Breed (2nd leg)
Maverick (Black jr buck)- Best Opposite Sex (1st leg)

Show B
Jewel (Black jr doe)- Best Opposite Sex (1st leg and 1st show!)
Maverick- Best Opposite Sex Variety (not enough for a leg :(

Silver Marten Results:
Show A
Arson (Black sr buck)- Best of Breed (14th leg)

Show B
Arson- Best Opposite Sex (15th leg!)


Currently have 5 litters, and 6 more due next week. One of my litters reaches weaning age this weekend, but sadly there are no keepers in it. I have a gorgeous little Black doe in it but her undercut just barely touches her elbow. Made the mistake of looking at her type when Nicole was over yesterday... My other litters look to have some nice ones coming up luckily.
Nicole took Arson yesterday, and brought me Ember and Cinder. We decided to sell Ember (Black buck), as he just can't beat his dad. Nicole has a breeder whose able to transport rabbits to some shows for her, so we're hoping Arson might be able to make it to both Yakima and Davenport. Not that he needs any more legs... ;)
Next show for me is the Yakima show on April 10th. Will be judging at it.

Updates

Been awhile since I've updated this. Been busy, and not to mention my laptop had two really bad viruses on it, so was unable to use it for a month. Luckily my uncle and cousin were able to fix it, without me losing everything on it (I'm really bad about backing up Evans, has been a year...).
Have been to one show since the last post, the Saint Helens, OR show. Dutch did so-so. It was the last show for three of my does. I was hoping to grand Gemma, and she came really close, winning a first, but sadly there were only 4 in her class. Diamond picked up her first leg for a BOSV.
For Martens, Arson was BOB both shows, and now has 13 legs. He will be going to his last show for awhile next week, as next month he'll be going to live with Nicole to be bred to Pyro. As Nicole is starting clinics (in vet school), she won't be able to make it to as many shows, so all our juniors will be living with me.
Currently, I have 5 litters, ranging from a few days old to two weeks old. Haven't really looked through them yet, but the few I've seen look really nice! These will be my state convention juniors.
I bred five does last week, and will be breeding a few more today.
Currently, I have four brood does available. I have way too many of them, so had to make some cuts. I made the really hard decision to move both Zoe and Jill's Wild Blue Venus on. These two have been the best producers in my barn, but are just getting older. Them, along with Trelawn Ruby D, are all around 4-5 years old, and are harder to get bred, and have been having smaller litters. I figure it's time to let them go, and work in someone else's barn while they're still capable of having litters. They still throw really super rabbits. Ladybug is also for sale.
The next few months are full of shows. This month has both Yelm and Kennewick. I was going to go to both, but decided I had too many shows lined up, so have decided to not go to Kennewick. I will be at Yelm though. Then Nicole will be showing two of our Martens at Kennewick. In April, I'll be at both Yakima and Bremerton. I will be judging at both of these. Then in May I have Monroe and Davenport. This will be my first time going to Davenport. I'm secretaring a Dutch specialty at it on Friday night.