A couple of years ago a friend gave me some carriers she was no longer using. I decided I didn't need to keep them as I wasn't using them either! Contacting her let me know that sending them off to a cat rescue was fine with her so off they went!
So once or twice a year i give my storage part of the rabbitry a thorough cleaning. I take it all out, move things around, and try to fit everything in as well as I can. A couple of years ago a friend gave me some carriers she was no longer using. I decided I didn't need to keep them as I wasn't using them either! Contacting her let me know that sending them off to a cat rescue was fine with her so off they went! I had a couple of tops from litter boxes that stray cats have used off and on over the past few winters. I don't want to encourage them to stick around so decided I'd let them go to the rescue as well. I don't need cats around that will fight with, or pick on, my own cats. It is SO nice not to have the stuff clogging up my rabbitry any more! And stray cats.. GO HOME. Do your mousing and what not, but please, don't make my backyard your home!
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Had someone ask me a question the other day. Have I seen improvements in my bunnies over the years. Thinking about it I have to say yes I have. Some types of improvements are easily seen. Like BushTail from SplatterBush. Oh... I had forgotten Splatter was off Bane.... I'll have to breed Bush to one Moss' new babies (hoping for a buck) in about six months. MORE CHOCOLATE!!!! But can you see the improvement over time? Lily was a flat angular rabbit with a decent head. Splatter... I kept her for temperament and colour. :) and she has more bone to her than her momma had. Some improvements are for how the bunny will naturally sit and hold position. Part of it Might by that Light is a more malleable doe than Cinder was. BrightSong (gramma) was a low sitting doe of tight build...couldn't/wouldn't sit up for nothing. Cinder inherited her dad's sweet personality (Song was a bit of a dumpy, don't touch me doe). Light has Cinder's personality AND a better build. Total win in my eyes. Some are not quite as apparent, but Cookie is a smaller, more solid built doe than momma. Posing is NOT her thing to do. A strong improvement over gramma who came as a dutch/lop cross. I'm looking forward to seeing what Cookie will give me. BrookAsh will not hold a pose when I set her up, unlike her daughter Pond. Pond has a flatter face as well so it will be interesting watching her mature. An improvement over gramma as well. Interesting to watch progression eh? I kept Pond back because she sets up nice, had nice ears and is a sweetheart of a bun. Coal sits up better than his mamma, and has more depth to him. I kept him for his personality and colour. He's a step forward. :) He is definitely an improvement over his grandma! I am curious to see what he'll throw crossed with Pond and/or Light.
How much fun would it be if you could train a rabbit to be a search and rescue animal? :) Great publicity stunt though eh?
Check him out here. Tanbridge Beat (surrey Police) Tonight I had fun gathering with a group of youth and their bunnies. We talked showmanship, bunny health, bunny maintenance and more. It was a good evening with the youth. They surprised with a gift card to Tim Horton's.
Sometimes one doesn't have access to an all wire carrier OR you need something that will house a rabbit differently over a few days. Enter in the Rubbermaid Carrier. Rubbermaid carrier are fairly easy to do. You need some decent tools. A sharp knife Wire cutters zipties Rubbermaid container wire Drill with two different sizes bits Jigsaw Measure out where you want your wire to go. Cut your wire to the appropriate size. Hold it up where you are going to place it and trace around the outside with a dark marker. Measure in about 1.5 cm in from the wire edge, this is where you will cut the opening. Use The bigger bit to make a hole big enough for the jigsaw blade to fit through. Use a narrow blade. Go slowly and don't be surprised if you can only do one cut or possibly two, depends on the thickness of your rubbermaid container. Mine were fairly thin, so we made one cut with the jigsaw and cut the rest with a very sharp knife. Once you have the plastic cut, use a drill bit just big enough for your ziptie to go through and drill all around your marked line for the wire. We marked where we drilled with the ziptie, and drill two holes, one on each side of the dark line (where the wire will be placed). Put the wire on the INSIDE of the carrier to prevent rabbit from nibbling on the plastic. Then trim the ziptie ends short. When you are done you will have a carrier that will work as an emergency bunny nesting site in the winter, as a carrier to take to shows or to just transport a rabbit. In this particular case the carrier cost us $6.oo. We already had all the supplies. Fit the rabbit to the box. This rubbermaid carrier will fit a rabbit up to 3 lbs, after that you will be looking into larger rubbermaid containers. You can make them so they open from the side AND the top. If you are confident in your abilities you could wire on two sides. They are stackable if you need to bring in more than one rabbit in the winter.
I made this one to transport a small rabbit that had to sit for a week at a transporters home without having to worry if the carrier didn't come home. BUT with the view in mind of living in southwestern Ontario and occasionally having to bring kindling does in the house during hard cold spells. This could also be used as a guinea pig or other small animal carrier. Change the size of the wire as needed. Someone on facebook put this poem together.. I DO NOT take credit for it.
On the first day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, A Holland Lop with 26 legs On the second day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, 2 Belgian Hares and a Holland Lop with 26 legs On the third day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, 3 French Lops 2 Belgian Hares, and a Holland Lop with 26 legs On the fourth day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, 4 English Spots 3 French Lops, 2 Belgian Hares, and a Holland Lop with 26 legs On the fifth day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, 5 kindling does!!!! 4 English spots, 3 French Lops, 2 Belgian Hares, and a Holland Lop with 26 legs On the sixth day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, 6 Tans a hopping, 5 kindling does!!!, 4 English Spots, 3 French Lops, 2 Belgian Hares, and a Holland Lop with 26 legs On the seventh day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, 7 Bucks a spraying 6 Tans a hopping, 5 kindling does!!!, 4 English Spots, 3 French Lops, 2 Belgian Hares, and a Holland Lop with 26 legs On the eighth day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, 8 Dutch a growling 7 bucks a spraying, 6 Tans a hopping, 5 kindling does!!!, 4 English Spots, 3 French Lops, 2 Belgian Hares, and a Holland Lop with 26 legs On the ninth day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, 9 Havanas posing 8 Dutch a growling, 7 bucks a spraying, 6 Tans a hopping, 5 kindling does!!!, 4 English Spots, 3 French Lops, 2 Belgian Hares, and a Holland Lop with 26 legs On the tenth day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, 10 Silver Martens 9 Havanas posing, 8 Dutch a growling, 7 bucks a spraying, 6 Tans a hopping, 5 kindling does!!!, 4 English Spots, 3 French Lops, 2 Belgian Hares, and a Holland Lop with 26 legs On the eleventh day of Christmas the breeder gave to me, 11 Brits a leaping 10 Silver Martens, 9 Havanas posing, 8 Dutch a growling, 7 bucks a spraying, 6 Tans a hopping, 5 kindling does!!!, 4 English Spots, 3 French Lops, 2 Belgian Hares, and a Holland Lop with 26 legs On the twelfth day of Christmas the breeder gave to me... 12 Checkered Giants 11 Brits a leaping, 10 Silver Martens, 9 Havanas posing, 8 Dutch a growling, 7 bucks a spraying, 6 Tans a hopping, 5 kindling does!!!, 4 English Spots, 3 French Lops, 2 Belgian Hares..... and a Holland Lop with 26 legs! It's a bit of a struggle right? knowing that animals are being used for research, sometimes it seems rather heartless, but other times it seems more helpful and interesting watching how scientists figure things out. In this instance I just happen to think this is rather cool. Using bio-luminescence as a tracker to figure out ways to help people with genetic disorders and diseases. Looks rather freaky though... red and green glowing animals under black light. You can read more about it here and here.
I just think it's neat the creativity in the thinking the scientists must have... to think of using the luminescence of jellyfish as a way of marking genes, so you can track how they are working in a body, so you can help people live better lives. And it's fascinating to me how God created the world in such a way that one part can be useful and helpful to another part. We have to take that seriously. Treating the animals under our care with respect and concern for their overall well-being eh? I've been a email subscriber to Change.org for a quite a while now but am looking at no longer being part of their network Why? Petitions like this: ISLAND farms Dairy By signing this petition you are letting Island farms AND the government of Canada know that you no longer tolerate this cruelty. Stop the abuse. Boycott. Raise awareness.. Rape? Pregnant with milk? Chained down!!What it is, is ill informed people not thinking through the facts of animals in today's world. Statement: Dairy cows on factory farms do not produce milk naturally. These kind creatures are raped in order to be artificial inseminated. Once pregnant, the cows will begin to produce milk, however to get as much product as possible, they are hooked up to machines which painfully pump milk from them each day. There is no escape. Cows are often chained down in order to prevent much movement. This is how they live their entire lives. They never see the light of day. Fact: Cows are NOT raped. Seriously.. rape is the forceful mating that a species does upon another. Its done with malice. Cows are not raped. They are bred when they are in heat (as that's when they will conceive). This is the definition of rape: unlawful sexual activity and usually sexual intercourse carried out forcibly or under threat of injury against the will usually of a female or with a person who is beneath a certain age or incapable of valid consent. Cows.. .not being raped. Bred yes, raped no. Cows DO NOT produce milk when they are bred. They produce milk after their calf has been born. :) Milk machines are NOT painful for cows. In fact cows will bawl in order to be milked. They prefer being milked to having their calves suck their udders because milk machines don't bang or hit them, they simply draw the milk out that the cow lets down. Cows are often chained in their stalls.. particularly during the winter months, and then let out during the rest of the year during the day. Factory farms though tend not to have their cows tied in sanctions as it's simply not cost effective to do so. Cows will live in free stall barns and be brought to a milking parlour to be milked 2-4 times per day. Free stall barns allow cows to move around, rest, and be fed freely. Being given a supplement during milking time to keep them in peak shape. Removal of calves, insane mothers?However it is not only the mother cows who are tormented in the dairy industry. Once the baby is born it naturally needs its mother's milk in order to survive. This is unacceptable to the dairy industry. They can't have babies stealing away all this product! So of course, the newborn calves often have spikes strung through their nose to prevent them from suckling. After a few days, or even hours, workers come to forcefully rip away the little one from its momma. The screaming is unbearable. Unable to protect their young, mother cows often go insane from the grief and begin to scream out in anguish for their young ones. They start to sway side to side in clear distress. Would you ever separate a mother from her beloved child? Sadly, the mother is soon forced into pregnancy again and again, until she no longer produces milk. Then its to the slaughter house, where even more horrors await her. My Response: This is PATENTLY untrue. Calves DO NOT have spikes strung through their nose to prevent them from suckling the cow. A weaned, mature heifer that wants to suck from other heifers might have an anti-sucking halter put on, to teach her not to suck the other heifers (or herself for that matter) but not for calves. Calves are, in the dairy world, removed from their mothers at birth. Most of the time cows don't even notice. Why? Because if the cow only cared for her baby, she would quickly get mastitis from the calf not being able to drink all her milk. Cows are bred to produce milk and can, at this stage in the domestication of them, produce more milk than their calf can drink. Farmers will ensure that the calf gets the colostrum from the cow that it needs for optimal health. :) Cows do not scream for the calves. They will sometimes call for them but they don't scream and as I said previously, they often times don't even really notice. Growing up on a dairy farm I never saw a cow sway from side to side in distress. I've had cows follow me up the barn as I carried their calf. I've seem them once we are in the barn ignore the calf and go to their stall and wait to be milked. I've seen the occasional cow go into the wrong stall when she sees where her calf is. And so you leave her be. Cow gets milked, goes on with her life. Her calf is fed and cared for. As for cows going insane? Sorry.. .but I'd really like to see proof of an insane cow... insane from having her calf removed from her. Cows are NOT people. They deserve good care, but they are indeed cows and shouldn't have human emotions attached to them. Can you see the size of this dairy cows udder? Do you really think that her calf will be able to empty that udder at least twice a day? If it could, it would not be healthy for that calf to have a belly so bloated with milk Murdering calves?But what happens to the calves? It really depends on the factory; many calves are beaten, frozen, or starved to death. Females are usually raised the same as their mothers- to suffer a life time of abuse just for their secretions. Males, on the other hand, are sent off to become veal at only a few weeks old. They are so young, they can barely walk. Would you send a tiny infant to be brutally murdered? My response: I would like to know where they get that sort of information. Calves are worth money... even if you sell day old bull calves to a fellow raising them for the veal market... the calves are well able to walk by then. And they aren't be murdered. Murder is something that a member of a species does to another member of it's species. They aren't being murdered (sensationalist wording that is). Bull calves are worth selling or feeding up for the meat market. Not all calves go for veal. Not all calves are killed when just a baby. They aren't tiny infants!!!!! This petition is aimed at Island FarmsDo they have PROOF that Island Farms is actually doing all the things that they are claiming? The only Island Farms I could find online was a place in Vancouver Island. Do they honestly think that a big company could flaunt laws like this in Canada? Seriously? Milking cows is not animal cruelty.. not milking them would be. Raising the calves, or even selling day old calves is not animal cruelty. So I want to see the proof before a petition like this should even be allowed to fill minds about the cruelty of farmers.
There may be some cruel farmers out there... but they are the exception not the rule. Let's not malign our food providers. T'is that pumpkin carving time of year, and someone on RO was talking about carving their bunny into their pumpkin and I thought, Neat idea.. wonder if anyone else has ever done that, so I took the time to look up some images. |
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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