Sold these kids on Friday I think it was? It was earlier than I was going to but freezing rain, long drive, I let the folks come early. Guinea pigs are pretty easy to transition and move so I wasn't too worried. :)
i expected Miss Marie here to kindle yesterday, though in reality I really didn't expect her to. She hadn't shown any signs of pregnancy or nestbox desires. She hadn't appeared to gain weight either. She was just a regular old eating machine. This morning I walked into the rabbitry to discover massive amounts of blood under her cage. She acted fine other than being aggressive with her cage neighbour (out of character for this calm lass)..but she was wanting food and pets and water and seemed happy otherwise. I kept an eye on her all through chores and thought I'd watch her throughout the morning. After breakfast I found her in the process of kindling. She had six kits. Four are massive (one of those four was dead) and two normal sized kits. One was barely breathing so we snuggled him into a warm nest. 5 minutes later he was looking much better, we'll see what he's like in the morning. And here's why you keep fur...any clean fur you can. Marie did not pull a wick of fur for her kits. I bundled them up in fur from other rabbits...some from Sarge as well as he moults heavily and requires brushing out. Watch Me GrowI brought Miss Logos into the house last night as I've been having ill luck in getting kits born. Seven kits born. FOUR on the wire (I was very annoyed but also they were quite bruised)... three in a superbly warm nestbox full of fur. :) She'll be fostering Biscuits runt if it's still alive this morning. Watch Me Grow Crossed into my view tonight, both which I found bothersome. One was a horrifying video about angora's in China and then with a counterpoint of angora's being done well in New Zealand. The second about some animals seized in Indiana. I was going to Link to the video from the angora's in China, but since I don't know all who reads this blog and I wouldn't want my lad seeing the video I'm not going to risk letting children see it. Suffice it to say that animals SHOULD NOT BE treated like that. If you are an adult go look look it up on youtube WITHOUT your children being around. Seriously. BUT I will link to the counterpoint. I can't say that I'm highly comfortable with this method, but given that it's 10 minutes out of day every 3-4 months, the animal doesn't struggle or scream or even remotely look distressed I have a hard time saying it's a no go. My thoughts are all human based. Would I want that done to me? NO.. but neither would I want a leash tied around my neck and be taken for a walk... and it's fine to do that with dogs. I'm not an animal. I'm a person and I can't be putting my feelings onto them. I really can't. Indiana
200+ Animals confiscated. 200+ rabbits,a goat and some turtles taken. The video has me a bit concerned.. it shows built up feces in a CARRIER. It shows me healthy looking rabbits that aren't stained or discoloured. Granted one can't determine health without putting hands on the rabbits, but via the video they looked good. Clean eyes and feet. Unstained/unmatted fur. Showing energy and desire to move around. So one can't think that the rabbits were in THAT horrible of a situation. A fuss is made about the unheated garage... Big whoop. Rabbits have fur coats. What they need is blockage from the wind and they do just fine. So I don't understand that emphasis. The owner "willingly" gave them up. From what I understand the way the law is written it's either give them up or face atrocious boarding fees. I'd be giving them up too (unless I was fabulously wealthy). Two sides to every story that I know full well. Don't go reading the comments. I know from past experience that all you get is "hey you defend the owner so YOU go sit in a cold cage in feces" to the "give me proof that something bad happened here". It's a back and forth argument that solves nothing. These two kits (both girls) are off Pepper. They are polish. Polish are a dwarf sized breed, much like the Netherland dwarf without the attitude problems. :) These girls are both chocolate and colour and should be showable. Next local show is end of June in Komoka.
Miss Biscuit gave one bouncing babies this morning, and other DOA. Nine kits in all. Born on a cold snowy night when all was quite. :) Dad is Tommy Tit/Peter. Watch Me GrowThree young animals off to the pet store today. :) I had lots of interest in the darker guinea pig but no takers and the pet store had zero guinea pigs for sale so these two boys should find homes quickly this week. The young doe they took since they had no young stock in rabbits and she's cute and would be better for a pet home rather than a breeding home.
Things to consider 1. don't give fleece or carpet to rabbits unless you know they aren't going to chew or eat them. 2. this gal has a fully fenced back yard, make sure your set up is predator proof. Things to consider 1. what kind of flooring do you want your rabbits on? Hardware cloth (as used here) has sharp pricky edges... not particularly good for bunny feet. Highly effective at keeping predators out though. 2. how easy is it to clean out? things to consider 1. chicken wire is easy for rabbits to dig or chew through. 2. chicken wire is NOT an effective deterrent for most any kind of predator 3. if it works, do you mind what it looks like? I really like how they work to litter train their rabbits. :)
things to consider 1. mesh tends not to be easy on rabbits feet. 2. as long as rabbits on the top level are litter trained and go where they should, the rabbits below should stay clean. 3. rabbits do like to chew wood. what they say in this video is so true. Don't look so much at the breed as at the individual rabbit. There are pros and cons to size and weight and type of rabbit, what you want to do is look at the rabbit itself. You do need to consider your time commitment and the space you have. If you have a tiny apartment, a flemish might not be the best mix, but I"ve known people with tiny apartments who have great danes, so don't let size be a deterrent. But you may wish to consider hair length. if you don't like to sit around brushing a rabbit, an angora or well-furred breed might not be in your (or the rabbits) best interest.
But for the most part... go for personality not looks. Janine's Rabbit Jumping. A small website to teach and show rabbit jumping. Here's one of her videos. |
AuthorI have been breeding rabbits for a quite a few years. I thoroughly enjoy them as animals and think they make great pets. I also like to take some of them to rabbit shows to see how they measure up to the standards. For the BEST rabbit forum I've ever found. Go to Rabbittalk.com. Good for the pet rabbit owner as well as the breeder for meat or show.
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