I have good news and bad news. As much as I love shouting the happy stuff from the rooftops, I try to be realistic in my posts and today was a little trying if I am being honest with myself.
First, the great news: Tacoma kindled 7 lovely chocolatey kits. They don't have enough fur to say for sure what color they are, but I don't see black or blue. Also glad to see that our buck Vanilla Bear just proved himself finally after all these years of living as bachelors with his brother Chocolate Bear, lol.
Not-so-great news: Kurayami kindled 6 kits. Sadly, she continues to show essentially no mothering instincts beyond the initial nest building. She promptly killed 3 of the 6 by squashing them so she could lay in the nest box. I thought last time she had trouble kindling, but this time I know better because I heard their squeals as I went out to check. Unfortunately, it was too late for half the litter. I moved the box, added more hay for her to lay on, etc. and she was trying to do the same thing while I was still in there watching.
I will tolerate some less-than-perfect characteristics. I don't have great type so I do the best I can. I don't need to have all of my rabbits be kissy-faces, but I just can't tolerate poor mothering skills. Sadly, Kurayami has been added to the cull list. Even more disappointing is that her only two survivors from her last litter are bucks that I don't currently have a need for. I have fostered the 3 newborn survivors onto poor Tacoma, who now has 10 in her box and I will hope and pray that 1 of Kurayami's is a doe that I can keep to replace her.
On a happier note, I weighed and evaluated our 8 week old kits today. The blue doe from Valkyrie with half an ear will be staying here and we hare thrilled to have her. She is cute and has decent type all things considered. She is also very friendly and cuddly. Here are the weights for everyone:
Blue doe: 3lb 9.5oz
Blue buck: 2lb 11.7 oz (still a runt)
Black buck: 3lb 9.8oz (He is really well marked, but I found two white toes! Nooooooooo)
Black buck: 3lb 15.2oz (a lovely porker from Kurayami, so bummed he is a buck)
So that's the latest and greatest. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!
How are you dealing with the white spots? I have read everything from cull the specific rabbit to culling the parents and anything immediately related - which seems a little excessive.
ReplyDeleteI've only ever had a few kits born with white toes or markings, but generally we cull them out. The 1 exception is Pancake- she has few tiny white hairs by her nostril and no where else. I think there is a lot of confusion about Harlie genetics and Dutch spotting genes make it even more complicated because those appear to be across 3 alleles (1 dominant and 2 recessives) and there is no easy way to identify animals passing it down. I think people just have to do the best they can with all the what-ifs in our gene pool. If I had culled parents and everything related then I wouldn't have anything left, lol.
DeleteI understand about bad mothering skills. You can forgive the personality quirks, but if they can't raise kits to maturity then they really have no purpose, for me at least!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are getting some replacements though!
Thank you! Hopefully Tacoma's litter has some nice ones, too.
DeleteSorry about Kurayami. I know that is a tough call to make, but it'll pay off in the end. You are going to have the most amazing line of Harlies, anywhere, when it's all said and done. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you! I hope we do have a good future with Harlies. We are better off than we were a few years ago, but still have a long way to go for sure. :)
Delete