The Blue Eyed White Project at Firedove Rabbitry started with Knight’s Boris(above), a BEW Mini Lop buck from Knight Mythic Rabbitry in NY.  Boris was a poor example of the breed, taking 5th out of 6 in the first and only show we brought him to, but his eyes were a clear crystal blue.  We were very excited to get him and thankful to Knight Mythic for allowing us the chance to work with the blue eyed beauty.  He arrived on September 18, 2003.

Boris did not have a full pedigree and some of the rabbits on his pedigree in the second generation were Hollands.  The Hollands had been bred in to achieve the color as the true BEW Mini Lop was almost impossible to find.

On September 22, 2003 we bred Boris to our sable doe St Pierre’s Skye(left).  This breeding resulted in three kits on October 23, 2003 but it was Skye’s first litter and she lost it to exposure by having the kits on the cage wire.  She was still in excellent condition so she was rebred the next day.

September 29, 2003 Boris covered FD’s Mischief(left), a very nice smoke pearl doe.  Mischief kindled five live kits on October 30, 2003.  All 5 were gold tipped steels, one was a Vienna marked kit.  There were four does and one buck.

We kept the buck FD’s Arkadiy(left) and one doe FD’s Zhanna(right).

October 29, 2003 M+M’s Cheddar was bred with Boris resulting in two stillborn kits on November 25, 2003.  She was not bred again for the BEW project.

St. Pierre’s Skye kindled a successful litter of five on November 24, 2003.  Again it was four does and a buck.  We kept the buck, a black Vienna marked, FD’s Spiridon, and a chestnut doe FD’s Nikita for a short time.

In the winter of 2003-04 I took another trip to Knight Mythic Rabbitry in New York.  I picked up Knight’s Natasha(left) who was reluctant to eat at first, but she settled in after a few days.  We also traded FD’s Spiridon for Knight’s R83, an orange Vienna marked buck who became known here as Knight’s Viktor(right).

Knight’s Natasha was bred to Boris on February 2, 2004.  She failed to produce a litter and was bred again on March 14, 2004.

In early March FD’s Nikita was discovered to have malocclusion and was sent to live out her days as a pet.

FD’s Arkadiy achieved two ARBA legs early that March, and Zhanna won her class her second show out.

I took a trip out to the Fulton, NY show in March, 2004 and although we got our hindquarters kicked I picked up two more does for the BEW project.  The first was Knight’s Flitter(left), an orange Vienna carrier, from Knight Mythic Rabbitry.  The second was PRR Elvira(right) from Sandra Chubb in Ontario, Canada.  Elvira had the size, bone, and type that was needed in the BEW herd!  Weighing in at 8 lbs she was the perfect mate for tiny little Boris!

Natasha gave us a litter of 7 BEW babies on April 14, 2004.  One was stillborn and we lost one to unknown causes on April 22, 2004.  The other 5(below center) were healthy happy babies though.  We ended up with 2 of the babies, FD’s Elena(below left) and FD’s Nadezhda(below right).  We had kept a buck named FD’s Felix but due to a tragic injury he had to be put down in July.

On April 28, 2004 PRR Elvira produced a litter of 4, 3 live(below left) and one still born, sired by Knight’s Boris.  We had all three for quite a while, FD’s Sima(below right), a gold tipped steel VM buck, FD’s Eva(below center top), a chestnut VM doe, and FD’s Jackie(below center bottom) a black self steel VM doe.  These three have their mom’s incredible type but are much smaller than she was.  They also have the coolest eyes.  Jackie and Eva have marbled brown and blue eyes and Sima has blue eyes.

FD’s Zhanna, one of our own, was bred to Knight’s Viktor and produced 10 kits on April 30, 2004.  However on May 10, 2004 I entered the rabbitry to find she had killed 7 babies, including the 3 whites, by digging them out of the nest.  The remaining three were fostered into a non-BEW litter being raised by St Pierre’s Skye.  All three went off to pet homes.

May 22, 2004 Knight’s Flitter gave us a litter of six.  Not one turned out to be BEW or Vienna marked.  There were 3 whites in the litter but they all opened their ruby eyes and disappointed us, lol.

Zhanna kindled her second litter in June on the 19th.  This litter was also sired by Knight’s Viktor. There were 3 blacks, a chestnut, a chocolate chestnut, and 4 BEWs.  We kept one BEW doe, FD’s Elizaveta(left), and eventually regained a buck from the litter, FD’s Lyonya(right).  One buck from the litter, FD’s Gennady went to Michigan to start a line of BEWs there.

FD’s Arkadiy was bred with Knight’s Flitter resulting in a litter of 7 live kits.  Again the whites were REWs so the decision was made to pass Flitter on when Elizaveta became old enough to be bred.  One chestnut VM doe stayed from that litter.  We named her FD’s Helina(right).

August 13, 2004 FD’s Arkadiy went to live at our sister rabbitry, Dark Dove Rabbitry, with Knight’s Natasha.

Knight’s Boris and one of his daughter’s FD’s Dominika went to Ruby Acre Rabbitry in Maine owned by Diane Smith.  Unfortunately the BEWs did not work out for her and Boris ended up back in NH in a pet home that later turned into a breeding home.

On August 27, 2004 we bred FD’s Zhanna to Knight’s Clyde, a BEW buck owned by Linda’s Rabbit Hutch and bred by Knight Mythic.  The resulting litter of nine was kindled on September 26, 2004.  We kept two does originally, a chocolate named FD’s Zoya, and a black marked doe named FD’s Alyona.  We had every intention of keeping Zoya and letting Aly go, but the perfect home came up for Zoya and Aly did have the better type.  In the end we let Zoya go but we miss her.  Aly was a nice doe, but just didn’t have the personality that Zoya had.  We eventually decided that we didn't need Aly for the project.

Flitter was passed to another breeder in September.

DD’s Anton, who had become a part of the herd after the loss of Felix, never developed as well as we’d hoped and was replaced by FD’s Lyonya as the BEW stud until a new buck comes along to replace him.

We had four project litters due on April 18, 2005.  FD’s Sima was used to breed FD’s Nadezhda and FD’s Elizaveta.  FD’s Lyonya was bred to FD’s Helina and DD’s Super Nova.  DD’s Super Nova is a broken *possible* Vienna carrier.  We have our fingers crossed that she carries the BEW gene since she has awesome type!  FD’s Jackie, the VM doe has also been bred, but to a non VC buck, DD’s Hakan.

On April 17, 2005 FD's Jackie gave birth to four blacks, an orange VM and a fawn VM sired by DD's Hakan.  We kept the orange VM and named him FD's Vasily(left)

Also on April 17, 2005 FD's Elizaveta kindled a litter of 8,one of which was lost to us.  The remaining 7 are four BEWs, three bucks and one doe,one REW buck, one chestnut VM doe, and one chocolate chestnut VM buck.  We decided to keep one of the BEW bucks, FD's Timosha(left)and the chestnut VM doe whom we named FD's Evgenie(right)

DD's Super Nova had one kit a week late and it was stillborn.

FD's Nadezhda and FD's Helina did not produce litters with this breeding.

May 1, 2005 FD's Helina was rebred to FD's Lyonya and FD's Elena was bred to a non VC silver tipped steel buck St Pierre's Tsume.

On June 1, 2005 FD's Elena kindled 5 kits.  In the litter were a chestnut VM buck, a chestnut VM doe, two orange VM bucks, and a chocolate chestnut VM doe.  FD's Angela(left), the chestnut VM doe, was the keeper from this litter.

FD's Helina kindled on June 2, 2005 resulting in six kits.  She raised 5, 3 BEW does, one chestnut VM buck, and one gold tipped steel VM doe now kept and named FD's Svetlana(right).

Late summer of 2005 one BEW doe from Helina and Lyonya and Lyonya himself went to Laura's Hoppers in Massachusetts

In December 2005 FD's Evgenie and FD's Svetlana were bred to FD's Vasily in hopes of early January litters but they did not come.

FD's Jackie and a BEW doe from the June 2, 2005 litter out of FD's Helina went to a breeder named Kerry in Winchester, NH.  She had Knight's Boris, our original BEW herd buck, and the two does completed a trio for her.  I know we will see more BEWs coming from Kerry's rabbitry in the future.

After repeated breedings in early 2006 we finally got a litter on April 13.  FD's Elizaveta delivered 3 vienna marked kits sired by FD's Vasily.  There are a chestnut VM doe, a chestnut VC doe and one fawn VM doe (litter pictured below).  We decided not to keep any of them since we were breeding Elizaveta again but in the end we kept the chestnut VC doe and named her FD's Klara (pictured below right).

FD's Evgenie, bred to FD's Vasily, kindled a litter on April 20, 2006.  There were 8 kits but two passed away after getting out of the nestbox.  In her litter there are 3 BEWs, two bucks and one doe, 2 chestnut VM does, and one solid chestnut buck.  The two that passed were a chestnut VM and a solid chestnut.  We will be keeping the BEW buck whom we have named FD's Vitali (pictured right).

We bred FD's Svetlana to FD's Sima and Shahan's JYO to FD's Timosha.  They will both be due May 13, 2006.

On May 14, 2006 FD's Svetlana kindled 7 kits.  There is a BEW doe, a chestnut VM doe, a GT steel VM doe, a chocolate GT steel VM buck, a blue doe, an opal doe, and a chocolate GT steel doe.  We will be keeping the BEW doe who we plan to call FD's Katerina (pictured left).

Shahan's JYO had difficulty delivering and lost her litter.

On May 17, 2006 FD's Angela was bred to FD's Timosha.  She kindled 7 kits on June 16, 2006.  There were 3 BEWs but one passed away.  The others are 1 black VM buck, 2 GT steel VM bucks, and one chestnut VM buck.  One of the BEWs is a buck, the other is a doe whom we will be keeping.  Her name is FD's Izabella (pictured right).

June 22, 2006 we bred Shahan's JYO to FD's Timosha again.  She will be due July 23, 2006 and we are keeping our fingers crossed that she has a live litter this time.

We bred for two more litters, FD's Elizaveta was rebred to FD's Vasily on July 3, 2006 and FD's Evgenie was also rebred to FD's Vasily but on July 4, 2006.  Both litters were bred to try to meet the high demand for BEWs this year.

On July 10, 2006 FD's Svetlana went to a new home with a youth who may breed her for BEWs in the future.

Right on time, July 23, 2006, Shahan's JYO delivered 5 healthy kits (pictured below left).  There is 1 chestnut VC, 1 GT black steel VC, 2 GT black steel VMs, and 1 chestnut VM.  We have kept the chestnut VC doe who is now FD's Lacey (pictured below right)

FD's Elizaveta delivered 8 kits on August 3, 2006 but lost 5 of those kits.  The remaining kits are 1 BEW doe, a chestnut VM buck, and an orange VM doe. We didn't really like any of the kits this time and sent them all on their way.

FD's Evgenie delivered 7 kits on August 4, 2006.  There are 3 BEWs, a buck and two does, 2 chestnut VM bucks and two chestnut does which are unmarked.  We decided to keep a BEW doe whom we have named FD's Alisa (pictured right)

BIG NEWS!!!!  On August 5, 2006 at ECR&CBA's Midnight Madness show B FD's Vitali won his solid junior bucks class of 9, earning him a GC leg!  This is the first of my BEWs to accomplish this and I am very proud and excited!  He had gotten 3rd out of 11 in show A.
FD's Katerina was also shown getting 3rd of 9 in show A and 4th of 9 in show B.  This is still very good for a BEW and I am proud of her as well!

After Midnight Madness we aquired a black buck from our friend Alicia Trickett.  LOL's Jacked (pictured right) will be used to improve type in the BEWs.  He has three white toenails so there is a slim possibility that he already carries the gene.

Vitali was shown twice more placing third at the Cumberland Fair and first in his class at Topsfield Fair.  There was not enough competition at Topsfield for a leg.  Katerina was also shown at both shows doing poorly at Cumberland but second in her class at Topsfield.  She was strongly considered for first in that class.

At the Cumberland Fair we purchased a registered grand champion opal doe from our friends at Sunflower Patch Rabbitry.  On September 27, 2006 we bred SFP's Lilly (pictured left) to FD's Timosha.  We probably won't keep anything from this first breeding but Lilly is a year and a half old and has not had a litter yet so we wanted to get her bred as soon as possible.  We will breed her to FD's Vitali next time.

At the Topsfield Fair show we picked up a chestnut doe from our friend Alicia Trickett.  LOL's AWishandAPrayer (pictured right) will also be used to improve type in the BEWs.

SFP's Lilly lost her litter by Timosha on October 23, 2006. We rebred her a week later this time to FD's Vitali. This breeding did not result in a litter.

Also in October FD's Emma, FD's Evgenie, and FD's Vasily went to Archway Rabbitry in Maine.

On December 10, 2006 FD's Elena, FD's Elizaveta, FD's Marianna, and FD's Timosha all went to Joann Harmon, a breeder in Maine.

SFP's Lilly was again bred to FD's Vitali on December 15, 2006. On the same day we bred FD's Klara to LOL's Jacked hoping for some VMs. On December 16, 2006 we bred FD's Katerina to FD's Vitali.

On January 15, 2007 FD's Klara had a litter of 6 live kits. There are two VMs, a gold tipped black steel doe and a black doe. The unmarked kits are two orange bucks, a GT steel buck, and a black buck. To start with we kept one of the unmarked orange bucks and named him FD's Triple Sec. We also held onto FD's Jack Daniels (pictured left) and had planned to sell him until he became nicer than Triple Sec. Now he has stayed and Triple Sec is gone. We don't know if he actually carries the vienna gene but we're keeping our fingers crossed because he is super nice. We also kept the beautiful black VM doe and named her FD's Klavdiya (pictured right). We hadn't planned to keep her originally but decided to keep her in the end. Her hindquarter isn't the best but she has lovely shoulders, width, and depth

On January 16, 2007 FD's Katerina had a litter of 6 live BEW kits, five does and one buck. We kept two does and a buck. We named the buck FD's Tikhon (pictured below left) and the does FD's Taisiya (pictured below center) and FD's Tamara (pictured below right). We decided not to keep Tamara since she didn't develop as well as we had hoped. We reacquired another doe from the litter, FD's Tanya and will be using her for a bit.

Lilly failed to produce a litter and was rebred March 4, 2007

Lilly failed to produce a litter again and was rebred to FD's Vitali April 17, 2007. We also bred FD's Lacey to FD's Vitali on April 18, 2007.

On April 22, 2007 we attended the Bay State RBA show at Taunton, MA. We showed 6 rabbits from the BEW program. Winnings of note, FD's Triple Sec won best of variety, beating FD's Vitali, and FD's Tamara won best opposite sex of variety over FD's Alisa.

On April 23, 2007 we bred FD's Alisa to LOL's Jacked and LOL's AWishandAPrayer to FD's Vitali. That makes 4 does bred for May 2007 litters for the BEW project. Hopefully some, if not all, of those does will give us litters.

On May 18, 2007 SFP's Lilly produced a litter of four but scattered them on the wire and they were all dead on discovery. Lilly was rebred May 19, 2007.

FD's Lacey had her litter by FD's Vitali on May 20, 2007. She had a total of nine kits but only two survivors. There are a BEW buck and a chestnut VC buck. We are keeping the BEW buck for now to see how he develops. His name is FD's Valeriy (pictured right).

LOL's AWishandAPrayer kindled May 24, 2007. She had 7 kits but lost 1. The remaining 6 are 4 orange VM does, one orange VM buck, and one chestnut VM doe. It is a nice litter overall but the two kits we are most impressed with are a pair of orange VM does. We have decide to breed both does when they come of age, they are FD's Liza (pictured left) and FD's Angelina (pictured right).

One kit was born to FD's Alisa on May 27, 2007 but was dead on arrival. She was rebred the same day.

FD's Izabella was bred to grand champion buck LOL's Ben, owned by Land O' Lops Rabbitry, on June 3, 2007.

June 10, 2007 was the Sturbridge, MA double show put on by the New England Show Circuit and Northeast Rabbit & Cavy Inc. It was a beautiful day and a good one for us at Firedove Rabbitry. FD's Taisiya, the doe we almost sold, took first in her class in both shows for two ARBA grand champion legs!!! She will be staying with us now. We plan to show her more this year to try and grand her. FD's Triple Sec took first in his class in show B but there were not enough entries in the class for a leg, FD's Tikhon took second in that same class. FD's Triple Sec also took second in his class in show A.

Shannon Sullivan of Dark Dove Rabbitry took FD's Angela and FD's Yuri on June 11, 2007. Also Gypsy from Stoney Brook Rabbitry bought FD's Sima. She will be working with Shannon on the BEWs. Good luck with them Shannon and Gypsy!

On the evening of June 18, 2007 Lilly kindled 7 kits in the nestbox, cleaned and fed! YAY!!!! It's about time we got a live litter out of this girl! The runt of the litter passed away after a long battle to stay alive, it just wasn't meant to be. Still, there are 2 chestnut VC does, 2 chestnut VM bucks, one orange VM buck, one orange VC doe, and one orange VC buck. We ended up selling this whole litter, they just weren't what we were looking for.

We bred FD's Katerina to FD's Vitali again on June 21, 2007. We are hoping for more great kits from this pairing, especially a nicer buck.

FD's Alisa kindled a live litter on July 1, 2007. This is our second and final litter sired by LOL's Jacked since he has moved on to a new home. There were 8 kits born, 6 of them live. There is a chestnut VC buck, a black VM buck, 1 orange VM buck, 1 orange VM doe, 1 orange VC buck, and an orange VC doe. We are hanging on to the orange VC doe for now. We call her FD's Nina (pictured right).

July 2, 2007 we were graced with a litter of 7 kits from FD's Izabella. There is a black VM buck, a steel VM doe, and 5 chestnut VM bucks. We finally made our pick at the end of October, we are keeping one of the chestnut VM bucks named FD's Anastas (pictured left).

On July 23, 2007 FD's Katerina gave us a second litter from FD's Vitali. There were 5 kits but only 3 lived to weaning. The remaining 3 were 2 BEW does and a BEW buck. We have held onto the buck who is looking very nice so far, he is named FD's Khariton (pictured right).

Midnight Madness 2007 was held on August 4. We showed several rabbits. FD's Taisiya showed for the first time as a senior and was a close second in both shows. FD's Jack Daniels won his class both times for 2 sr ARBA grand champion legs. FD's Valeriy made his first showings and although he was placed low due to lack of development all the comments were great.

FD's Klavdiya was bred for the first time on August 9, 2007. Her mate was FD's Tikhon. She did not end up having a litter and was promptly rebred in September for another miss.

FD's Tanya was bred to FD's Jack Daniels on August 20, 2007. This was the first test breeding to see if JD carries BEW. She had her litter of 8 on September 20, 2007 but there were no survivors. There were also no whites so we are 90% sure that Jack is not a BEW carrier. We rebred Tanya to Jack on the 26th of September, but she did not produce a litter in October.

We attended the Topsfield Fair show on September 30, 2007. Jack Daniels got his third sr ARBA grand champion leg with a BOSB win and will be officially a grand champion soon. The orange VC buck from Alisa's litter with LOL's Jacked won his class for a jr GC leg. FD's Nina, also from Alisa and Jacked, won her class and BOSV for her first jr GC leg. We had shown Taisiya and Valeriy as well but it was obvious that the judge was not a fan of BEWs.

The owners of Star Gazer Hill Rabbitry came and picked up FD's Borya, the orange VC buck from Alisa and LOL's Jacked, to serve as their first herd buck. I wish the young ladies the best of luck with their new venture. They are members of the 4H and hope to begin showing in the youth classes at ARBA shows soon.

On October 12, 2007 we bred LOL's Acorn (pictured left) to FD's Tikhon for a VM litter. She is due November 12, 2007.

October 31, 2007 FD's Tanya was bred to Jack Daniels but she did not produce a litter.

LOL's AWishandAPrayer was bred to FD's Tikhon on November 8, 2007. She is due on December 9, 2007.

On November 11, 2007 LOL's Acorn produced a litter of 8 kits. One passed a few days later but she raised the remaining 7. There was 4 chestnut VM does, one orange VM doe, one chestnut VM buck and one orange VM buck. We decided to keep one of the chestnut VM does. We have named her FD's Raisa (pictured right). She's got a great body on her!

Sunday, December 9, 2007, LOL's AWishandAPrayer kindled 6 kits. All 6 were bucks. There were 5 chestnut VMs and one opal VM. We decided not to keep any from this litter since we really don't need another buck right now!

We bred four does for the BEW project on December 20, 2007. FD's Angelina was bred to FD's Tikhon, FD's Liza was bred to FD's Valeriy, SFP's Lilly was also bred to FD's Valeriy, and finally, FD's Taisiya was bred to FD's Jack Daniels. All 4 does are due on January 20, 2008.

There was some decisions made on January 18, 2008. We decided to sell FD's Tanya and FD's Khariton. Tanya is already gone but we eventually decided to just keep Khariton. We also finally sold FD's Isidora and FD's Matryona. Matryona has gone to Stoney Brook Rabbitry.

Out of the four does bred in December only FD's Angelina gave us a litter. She had 4 kits born January 22, 2008. One, an orange VM, passed away a few hours after birth due to an injury sustained during birthing. The remaining three are a chestnut VM, an opal VM, and a BEW. All three appear to be bucks. We are hoping to sell all three of these kits but it will be tough after their mom clipped off much of their fur, argh!

On January 23, 2008 we again bred four does for the BEW program. SFP's Lilly was bred to FD's Tikhon, FD's Taisiya was bred to FD's Jack Daniels again, FD's Klavdiya was bred to FD's Valeriy (we had intended to breed her to Anastas but he was disinterested), and FD's Nina was also bred to FD's Valeriy. These does will be due February 23, 2008.

February 23, 2008 was a very busy day for us!  All 4 does bred for the BEW program delivered litters!

FD's Nina had 8 live kits! She lost one BEW on April 3. There is 1 BEW buck, 2 orange VM does, 1 orange VC buck, 1 chestnut VC buck, 1 chestnut VM doe, and 1 chestnut VM buck. We have chosen to hand raise the two chestnut VMs to give Nina a break from trying to raise all 8 by herself.

FD's Taisiya had 6 live kits! She lost one steel VM on March 2 and another steel VM on March 19. The remaining 4 kits are a steel VM doe, a steel VC doe, a chestnut VC buck and a chestnut VM buck.

FD's Klavdiya had 5 live kits! There is 1 BEW doe, 1 orange VM buck, 1 chestnut VC doe, 1 "black" VC buck, and 1 steel VC buck. The "black" VC is probably actually a non-extension steel like it's mom.

Finally, SFP's Lilly had 8 live kits! There are 2 chestnut VM does, 3 chestnut VM bucks, 1 chestnut VC buck, 1 opal VM doe, and 1 opal VM buck. The two opals are being raised by LHHR's Booming Peppercini who has a litter of her own with two non-Vienna kits from a colored breeding.

With these litters there has been a battle against nest box eye. This winter has been a horrible one despite complete scrubbing and sanitizing of the nest boxes. Many of the kits recovered quickly with medicated eye drops but 2 chestnuts from Lilly's litter, one kit from Taisiya's litter, and the BEW and "black" from Diya's litter are all still having problems. I will be taking them to get further help with healing today (March 21).

Despite all the effort it looks as though the 5 kits listed above are not going to recover from their eye problems. They will be humanely euthanized.

We put FD's Tikhon up for sale in March after deciding that we have plenty of kits from him and would prefer to keep FD's Khariton and try breeding him now.

After much debate we decided to keep one of Lilly's chestnut VM does. We had originally planned to not keep anything from our February litters and we should have stuck to our plan. Dunya along with the other two that we decided to keep did not develop out well and we put all three back up for sale.

On May 5, 2008 we bred FD's Taisiya back to FD's Jack Daniels and we bred FD's Angelina to FD's Khariton. Both litters will be due on June 5, 2008.

Another doe from the February litters really started to stand out so we decided to grow her out and see how she looks as a senior. She is the steel VC from FD's Taisiya, sired by Jack Daniels. We named her FD's Anja. She did not impress us once she was grown out and was put back up for sale.

Since our plan to keep nothing from February was completely shot already, we decided to grow out the BEW buck from Nina's litter. We named him FD's Vladik. His shoulders never came in and he is not any better than his dad so we put him back up for sale.

On May 5, 2008 we bred FD's Taisiya to FD's Jack Daniels again for a third test breeding litter to see if he carries BEW, she is due June 5, 2008. We also bred FD's Angelina the same day to FD's Khariton, she will also be due on June 5.

On May 18, 2008 at the Sturbridge, MA double show, we got FD's Alisa back to boost our BEW numbers. We really needed BEW does and Michelle was nice enough to trade her back to us.

In April 2008 we bred FD's Liza to FD's Anastas. The resulting litter was born May 24, 2008. There were 8 kits born, 5 chestnut VMs, 1 chestnut unmarked, and two BEWs. One of the chestnut VMs was stillborn, leaving us with 7 healthy kits. 3 kits died on May 27, 2008 including one of the BEWs, the other two were chestnut VMs. We are keeping the surviving BEW doe, her name is FD's Valentina.

On June 5, 2008 FD's Angelina gave birth to 6 live kits. Colors are 2 BEW bucks, one BEW doe, 1 fawn VM buck, one orange VM buck, and one chestnut VM doe. She was also raising two kits from a colored doe's litter in addition to her own 5, so she was raising 8 in total. After a few days we were able to return the colored kits to their mom so Angelina only had to raise 6.

On June 6, 2008 FD's Taisiya gave birth to 5 live kits. Colors are steels and chestnuts, haven't checked to see if they are VMs or VCs. Still no BEWs leading us further to believe that Jack Daniels is not a BEW carrier but the final verdict will come when his son has a litter with FD's Alisa. If there are no BEWs in that litter we will consider the matter a closed case. Taisiya is also raising two kits from a colored doe's litter, so she is raising 7 in total.

On July 10, 2008 we bred two does for the BEW program. FD's Alisa was bred to SGH's Dally for the aforementioned test breeding. FD's Raisa was bred to FD's Valeriy to see if we can correct his narrow shoulders and her lack of depth in their kits. These two does will be due on August 10, 2008.

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