Little Things

I think I mentioned that we ended up purchasing a triple stack of the huge Dura-trays online a few weeks ago after being unable to get them anywhere locally. They came from BunnyRabbit.com and although these kinds of trays are expensive and shipping is costly, I was happy with my overall experience. They were quick to respond to my questions, shipped immediately, and the whole experience had a little personal touch, which is always nice. Here are the beastly things (now in my grow-out pens):

A few nice unexpected extras I found taped inside the trays:

Here is a random vendor run-down in case anyone is interested: I would buy from BunnyRabbit.com again.. maybe next time I'll try one of their cages. I purchased before from KW Cages and unfortunately the floor wire has held up poorly despite being kept indoors and shipping from California is shocking. I have Klubertanz cages that have lasted forever and are the best quality I have seen, but I understand the lead time on orders is now months out. Who can't wait months when they place a supply order? My Pointer Hill cages rusted quickly (within a year while kept INDOORS) and they never even responded to my complaint. My TSC cages are flimsy, but I honestly didn't expect much and they were cheap for 30" X 30" so I'm not upset about it. My favorite local vendor is Trammel Trail and most of my carriers are built by them, which I love. I've also bought a whole bunch of supplies with no issues at the shows. I've never ordered from Bass Equipment.

In other news, the younger kits are all still fat and happy. Eyes are opening and they seem to be doing fantastic overall. This is the black Japanese from Kurayami that was fostered to Kari and then to Valkyrie and now kinda-sorta back to Kari:

I glanced at gender on them all this morning and it looks like mostly bucks, but I'll actually write my findings down later today or tomorrow so I know what's what. The blue Japanese from Valkyrie's litter is the fussiest and squeakiest kit I've ever seen. I think it is a doe, haha. I just laugh whenever I'm checking on them and "she" is on a rampage in the nestbox. It is once again raining outside, but I really hope the sun comes back for this upcoming weekend when it is time for 8 week weights and evalulations on the older litters. Hope everyone is having a good start to their week!

Beautiful Day

After what seems like months of mostly rain, today it was finally warm and dry enough to go outside for a few minutes and relax in the sun before the wind picked up again. I took the "pirate" doeling out with me and she mostly snoozed on my lap, but I am a dope and didn't get any pictures. My gentle giant hung out with us also, soaking up the warmth. His health has declined a lot recently and I know we don't have very much time left, but he is my best buddy and heart dog. I feel fortunate I've been able to spend the extra hours with him lately and to enjoy this beautiful day.

"I talk to him when I'm lonesome like; and I'm sure he understands. When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat. For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that." ~W. Dayton Wedgefarth

The Latest

We've had a few bumps in the road with our youngest kits, but nothing too terrible. Hikari really just hasn't been on the ball this time around. I could tell she was trying, but wasn't getting enough milk to sustain 3 kits, and we had fostered off another so she only had 2 left. Unfortunately, I found them wet and cold in the nestbox yesterday. Here is a comparison of the nestboxes:

 It is hard to tell in the pictures, but Valkyrie has her box stacked to the top with fur and it is completely dry, soft, warm, and fluffy. Kari's nest is flat, drafty, wet, and has very little fur that is mostly mashed into the floor. Incidentally, these are traits I would be examining very closely if this was a doe in her prime as mothering skills are so important. Kari was an excellent mother when she was younger, but we don't really know what happens to does as they age. For all we know, hormones may have decreased, she could have health problems that are invisible to us, or whatever else.

So, I cleaned the 2 wet kits up and moved them over to Valkyrie's nest. She has been doing an ah-mazing job! She is super attentive and is full of milk presently. I still took Kari's singleton and 1 of Kurayami's out to nurse with Kari last night and this morning and she is willing to feed them, so that helps even if it isn't very much. I'm glad to see that everyone finally has fat bellies. The 2 that were with Kari have some catching up to do, but they made it this far so I think we may be coming out of the woods. It is so wonderful to have kits around again. I knew I missed it, but I didn't know just how badly until our litters arrived in December and I've been enjoying them so much ever since:

Here are pictures of the kits yesterday morning before everyone was seperated. This is Kari's kit and 1 of Kurayami's:

And here are Valkyrie's dynamic duo (a blue and a black) along with another blue from Kurayami's litter:

 

They are about a week old at this point, so looking forward to open eyes next!

In other news, Sunshine and Tacoma both did a great job with their litters! They will be 7 weeks old, so I will probably be officially weaning them (though I think they are unofficially weaned already) shortly. I think the "pirate" doeling is still the largest in Sunshine's litter and of course Jack is a beefcake. Next week we will do a serious 8 week evaluation and weigh-in. We may end up keeping more than just 1 or 2 if we can replace some of the older animals in our herd with the younger generation, but time will tell as to how they measure up. :)

Helpful Links For Commercial Rabbit Selection

Here are some links I've found over the past few months about making meat rabbit selections. This also generally applies to anyone that breeds for commercial type rabbits. These breeds include:

American Chinchilla
French, Satin, & Giant Angoras
Blanc de Hotot
Champagne d’Argent (and Bruns)
Californian
Cinnamon
Crème d’Argent
French Lop
Harlequin! (Sorry, I couldn't resist bolding and adding an exclamation point, lol).
New Zealand
Palomino
Standard Rex
American Sable
Satin
Silver Fox
Silver Marten

First, what is commercial type anyway and what traits are we looking for? Click below to find out (with a diagram from Judge Mike D'Amico!):

Commercial Type Rabbit

When thinking of body types and qualities, I always try to remember the more extreme examples of each. For example, an extreme semi-arch or mandolin body type is an English Lop. They are built entirely different from a New Zealand and they have heavy bone. Mini Lops are built entirely different from either and almost look like a basketball cut in half with their compact little bodies. Cylindrical (Himi's) are shaped almost like ferrets or tubes and yet Tans have an almost jackrabbit shape as a full-arch breed. It makes sense that commercial rabbit breeds are solid with beefy quarters and a thick loin when comparing to the others as many were developed primarily as meat rabbits. Here is another link with information about selecting for good breeding stock and good meat rabbits in general:

What to Look For

Now that we know what to keep an eye out for, here is an article about showing meat pen rabbits, but it also talks about how to feel for good commercial type:

Selecting and Evaluating Meat Pens

And finally, how many rabbits does someone need to feed their family? How much will it cost to do so? Here are some handy calculators to help you figure it all out:

Rabbit Calculators

I enjoyed looking at these and comparing qualities in my litters and I hope it will be helpful to others as well. :)

Hippos!

Finally! I have been worrying about the newborn kits pretty consistently because they hadn't look like they were getting enough milk since they were born. Today when I checked on them though, I found that Valkyrie's milk supply came in with a vengeance and her kits were soooooo fat. The blue one with the missing ear tip was upside down and couldn't even roll over the right way because of a super full tummy. It was adorable and made me very happy! :)

Unfortunately, the three in Kari's nest were starting to look downright skinny, so I put the blue one from Kurayami's litter in with Valkyrie also. She immediately jumped in the nestbox and nursed/cleaned that kit, who finally has a full belly and is snuggled in with the other two hippos. Val is doing such a good job she may end up with all 5 if the other 2 make it. I'm trying to give Kari a chance and she only has 2 to take care of presently, but maybe age has something to do with milk supply? Everything is the same between the two does and I know for sure she used to be able to feed 8 with no problem. Hopefully it will work out. I don't want to add too many too fast to Val's nestbox so she has time to adjust her supply to match the demand.

I also overhauled my website some by taking out all of the individual rabbit information/pedigrees from their pages and making it a photo gallery. I need to post more of the does, but it is a start. In the long run, I think it will also be a lot easier for me to keep updated because I can just add to the gallery when I have new pictures to share. I hope to use the additional space to add information about the Harlequin breed and whatever else I can think of.

Rabbit Website/Privacy Stuff

Back when we attended shows and were breeding for show and pet primarily, I had a website with a paid domain and actively listed classified ads, etc. These days, I don't have the same goals and don't plan to spend the extra money or time with advertising our stock. I also don't like to sell to pet homes because in my previous go-round, the only problems I had with buyers were from those that wanted to buy pets. I've mentioned this before, but despite including written information, extra food, and actually going over care in person, people just didn't listen. To combat this problem, we decided not to sell pets anymore except for very, very rare exceptions like a previous buyer that actually did educate themselves and provide a rabbit with a great home.

These days we have a free website now (that I love) and social media is a lot more prevalent, so it is easy to find other rabbit friends with similar interest/goals like I have (Hi April, Phacelia, the Goodwife, etc.!). I haven't put any ads up for our rabbits or anything either because it isn't a primary goal to sell. One thing that came up recently on FB though was that some unscrupulous people may find you through social media or the website and basically use the provided information to make fake pedigrees for rabbits they are selling. When I looked at my website today, I realized I have 3-4 generations listed right out in the open. People have also said they still have problems with radical activists also, especially when their personal information is easily available (such as "Come visit our farm at: 1234 Numbers Lane, Math, Georgia 56789").

I already try to protect my personal information after being contacted by some questionable people, but now I am wondering if I have too much specifics listed. Instead of continuing to add my individual rabbits, their info, pics, etc., I'm thinking about just making a general info page about Harlequins and putting a gallery up of my Harlies over the years instead of listing each animal. I can't really think of a reason why someone would need to know all of my current rabbits and their pedigrees anymore.

Do you have now or plan to have a website eventually? Would you list your rabbits in detail or more generally? Do you advertise- if so, what kind of info do you provide to potential buyers? I'd love to hear from others about their thoughts on this. With social media allowing strangers to look into our day-to-day lives, what way do you protect yourself from shady people?

1 Day Old Kit Pics

Here they are! Valkyrie's duo:

Unfortunately, I discovered mama was a little overenthusiastic cleaning and the blue baby is missing the tip of his or her ear. Looks to be healing quick, though I am sure it will be more obvious later on. Honestly, I couldn't care less about cosmetic issues if health/type/growth are all there in the end.

Here are Kurayami's duo (both on the left) and Hikari's singleton all together in Kari's nest:

Another view of Hikari's kit:

None of the kits have big fat bellies like I was seeing with Sunshine and Tacoma, but they must be getting something as they are still here and fiesty. Hopefully milk production will increase in the coming days, but either way I'm thankful to have them at all.