6 Weeks Old

Time for a rabbit update!

I desperately need to take pictures, but only if the rain will ever go away. It is humid, wet, and cold outside this morning. Anyhoo, the youngsters are 6 weeks old now and I took their weights today and vaccinated them as well. Here are their numbers:

Valkyrie's Litter-
Blue doe: 2lb 10oz.

Kurayami's Litter-
Blue buck: 1lb 14oz.
Black buck: 2lb 11.5oz.

Hikari's Litter-
Black buck: 2lb 10oz.

Not too shabby, except for the little blue buck. He hasn't really been thriving like the others. He didn't look like a runt at birth, but with so few kits to compare at kindling, he may very well still be one. Here is a comparison from my previous litters at the same age:

Sunshine's Litter-
1. 1lb 15.4oz (black runty doe)
2. 2lb 9.3oz (black eye patch doe)
3. 2lb 2.9oz (blue shoulder buck)
4. 2lb 4.5oz (lilac banded doe)
5. 2lb 7.1oz (black banded doe)

Tacoma's Litter-
1. 2lb 13.7oz (black doe)
2. 2lb 14.9oz (Jack- black buck)

Some other neat things that come with test breedings: we now know for sure that Valkyrie and Kurayami carry blue genetics. We also know that Spock doesn't carry blue or chocolate and Apollo carries blue and chocolate both. As far as I know, none of my Harlies carry Magpie. At some point, I think we will need to purchase an unrelated herdsire to diversify bloodlines, but I am thrilled to have Jack to step in for the next generation. We have a few other nice bucks as well like Chocolate/Vanilla Bear that were from the late Bonus (who was unrelated to any of my other Harlies at the time). It is exciting to finally feel like I am starting to make some progress on my own lines.

I bred 4 more does back at the end of February, so hopefully we will be expecting some new kits around the end of this month. I must admit that it was sad to only have 4 kits make it to weaning from 3 different does, but I think we will continue to improve as the youngsters replace the elders over time.