Getting Ready For Winter


Days are getting mighty short, and frozen water bottles are on the horizon. It is time to get out the bowls and be prepared for Ice In The Morning.

A few of the rabbits will see their First Winter. Vanessa, Gunther and Gretchen are all under one year. I am especially vigilant about water for them, as they are still growing and sometimes do not take advantage of the water when I first put it out. Rabbits don't normally need to drink more than once in 24 hours, but they do better eating if they get a few opportunities to fill up. So, I will make sure they get three fresh bowls of water each day for the first two weeks that the temp stays below freezing. Then I will cut it back to twice daily, which is all I offer to the adult rabbits.

Here's a post , with pictures!, from last year, about how I deal with bowls and ice.

If there is ever a problem with food not being eaten during cold weather, the first line of treatment is to increase water and hay while decreasing pelleted food. A stable water supply becomes very important during the winter, and those keeping rabbits outside need to give careful attention to easy ways of dealing with it.

Not good news
So, the bunnies are gone. All of them. I am in despair.

With the weather report being fair and above freezing, I put them all out with mama last night. She apparently uncovered them and scattered them too much when she fed them, and they were cold and truly dead this morning. I spent an hour trying to revive them.

Sometimes the breeding part of this hobby is heart rendering.

Saving frozen kits
Topic: Kindling
Breeding rabbits outside in the fall and spring can sometimes cause immediate losses due to small litters, inexperienced mothers, poor nest building and colder then expected temperatures. Some Novembers have been as warm as toast, and some get a blast of arctic air unexpectedly. But I love to have Scorpio bunnies born, so I always try in the fall. The incidence of male kits born has been higher here in fall breedings. It will be interesting to see what this current litter yields.

So, Sunday morning as I picked up 3 stone cold, non-breathing kits, I knew that only 1.5 hours had gone by since I had fed mama and she had pulled one wad of fur for nest building. I was pretty sure they hadn't been "gone" long. I put them all in my shirt against my chest and ran back to the house. Out came 3 sandwich bags and a shallow bowl. The bowl was half-filled with room temperature water. Each kit went into a plastic bag with the TOP KEPT OPEN, and they were floated in the water filled bowl. In about 5 minutes the white kit started breathing, and shortly thereafter, the other two began moving. Within 15 minutes they were squeaking and in 30 minutes (I had warmed up the water twice by this time by adding a cup, then two, of hot water) they were extremely active, warm to the touch and normal in all ways. I decided they had NOT been fed by mama yet as their tummies were not round but wrinkly looking, and so I trotted off to the barn to get her and see about a forced-feeding. As I went into the nest area to get some fur for future nest building, I spotted another black kit under everything, also stone cold. So, back to the house at a run and into a plastic bag and then into the warm water he went. This kit took longer to come back....about 15 minutes for movement and then 30 minutes for squeaking. I put him in the nest with his siblings after an hour, as they were warm and would help him warm up more, I was sure.

I tried a forced feeding with mama at that point, but the kits were not responsive enough and I had to get to work, so I put them all together in a small cage, where mama could not ignore them. They were isolated in a very quiet place, mama was fed well, and I kept my fingers crossed.

One little tortoiseshell kit, who had been injured during birth, died the following night (probably was just as well), but she fed the rest of them! Good girl!

This morning (day 2) the three look fed and happy. Mama made a LOT of noise last night and I had visions of her tearing up the cardboard box I had put in the cage to hold the nest of bunnies, but this morning all was well.

It's a really great feeling when things go better because you were there in time.

Bunnies!
Topic: Kindling
This past week it looked like Gretchen would not have any bunnies...alive, that is. On Wednesday and Thursday she did some spotting, which usually happens AFTER the bunnies are born, but since it was before her due date, I was sure that things had gone awry and she delivered and then ate the evidence (very normal). On Friday she began defecating in her nest, which is usually a sign (or has been to me, so far) that the nest is not meant to hold bunnies for this particular mom.

However, given enough time, everything will happen.

Sunday morning, a chilly 22*, she gave birth to 4 (that I know of!) bunnies. She made a scanty nest, which is sometimes the way with young mothers (she is only 7 months). By the time I found them they were cold and not moving, but after bringing them in to the warm house, we got them breathing again(details to follow tomorrow). I brought her in, also, and put them all in a traveling cage in an unheated room with a hutch-mother constructed nest box and very little wiggle room for mama. This means she must pay attention to these new bunnies which is harder for her as her underdeveloped instincts are not yet helping her.

I will keep them all together in the house for a few days until they develop some fur and mom gets better at feeding them.

This morning, the little tortoiseshell bunny was gone, but three remain:

Looks like a white/light bunny (yea, Trish!) and 2 black ones. We'll see how mama does today. One of the little black ones has a nice round tummy, so she is starting to get it and is feeding them. Keep your fingers crossed for this wee litter!

ps...those of you who know me and are keeping track: I finally got some Scorpio bunnies, although their future is tenuous.

Cape Ann Gansey Knitting Retreat
This week I am off to teach Gansey Sweater Knitting at the ocean in Gloucester, MA. I would like to have posted pictures of the Wee Bunny (who looks male, right now), but some family emergencies have eaten up all my free time.

Liebchen decided to not have bunnies. None. Zip. I am truly disappointed, but am waiting now for Gretchen, who is due on Nov 13.

Carding Angora
Topic: Handspinning

Sharon sent me a note asking my opinion about drum carders and processing angora after she read about my using a Patrick Green Supercard. I swear by this machine, but only after a long time using other things. Here's the whole story of how I have arrived at that opinion.

A good angora prep takes time, and in the beginning when you have one rabbit, you make the time and all is well with a set of decent handcards, such as the fine cloth (108 point) Ashford Cotton Hand Cards (pictured here) that I have used, sell, and recommend now to new bunny owners. Everyone should know how to hand card angora. (I am entitled to that opinion). Hand carding makes the most delicious spinning rovings.

About 10 years ago, the number of angora rabbits I cared for and fleeces that I processed were around 60 a year, and I fully appreciated the volume that an Ashford Fine Tooth Drum Carder (pictured at right)could work its way through in an afternoon. Very fast but it could be easily overloaded and I would rip fleeces if I was in too much of a hurry (and by then I was ALWAYS in too much of a hurry).

I also ran into some shoulder issues because of all the knitting I was doing, and after using a friend's Supercard for a week, I decided the Time Had Come. So, I saved my pennies and bought one:(pictured below)

The beauty of this electric carder is that it makes beautiful spinnable roving in one pass. It takes a LONG time to process angora (20 - 30 minutes for 3 ounces) but the fiber is flawless when it is done. And my shoulders don't hurt from all the drum carding.

That said, I made some wonderful rovings with the hand cranked Ashford drum carder. I generally put the fiber through 3 times to get good results.

Supercards are not magic and will only do a good job if the fiber is fully open before you add it to the feed tray. And you can't do too much at one time or the machine jams up. If I hadn't had a problem with my shoulders I probably would have taken longer to buy one, for they are close to $2000.

I would say if you are SURE you will be involved with angoras and spinning for 20 years, then the Supercard will cost you $100 a year to use. You do the math and decide what it is worth to you.

The Wee Bunny At Two Days
Topic: black
This little cutie is delightful. One little nose that sniffs to discover, with eyes still tightly shut. She/he sat still for my daughter so I could snap this picture.

Single bunnies do not often do well. I do not count on them too much until day 5, but Gretel is an old hand at small litters and the weather is not too cold, so I am hopeful about the outcome. So far so good.

Liebchen has still not kindled. She went 37 days last time, and so we are still waiting. She is digging furiously!

Vanessa
Topic: black
So here is the little sweetie that traveled home to Countrywool from Twin Ponds Fiber Farm at Rhinebeck.

She is a feisty little thing! Part Giant and part English, curiosity is her middle name. I adore a smart rabbit, and she is that. A lovely black color right now, she will lighten for sure, but Angela had great luck with Charmella not getting too light, and so I am hopeful that some of the black genetics that Terry Kunst has in her angoras is an improvement over what I have here in the Bunnybarn.

She is being kept in quarantine until late November. I always keep new rabbits away from the rest of the herd for 6 weeks, as this allows them a chance to acclimate to the place, the food and a few germs, without being overloaded. And likewise...my herd is protected on the off chance that the new bunny brought something contagious home with her. Most bunnies purchased at fairs have been on sensory and germ overload, and experience stress as a result of that. Many times a poor immune system will show a weakness right after the transition, with the rabbit's eyes watering, or sneezing being noted. It takes 4-6 weeks sometimes to crop up. These are rabbits I do not then use in my breeding program. There is no way to tell which rabbits will react this way, and so I rarely spend more than $50 on a fair rabbit. During these six weeks, she gets fed and handled AFTER the rest of the herd is fed and handled.

I really like her.

Bunny!
Gretel had not been enthusiastic about the breeding this time around, so she did the minimum. A single wee thing was in the nest just before noon yesterday, making Zwart a dad yet again. This "wee" thing weighs almost 3 ounces, which is hefty for a kit. Looks like a girl if I had to guess. We'll see. Astrological makeup of this bunny:

Libra Sun
Scorpio Rising (yes!)
Sagittarius Moon

Now we are waiting for Liebchen, who has made no move to make a nest aside from digging furiously. Stay tuned.

Back From Rhinebeck

One of the most jam packed weekends I submit myself and my business to is vending at the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck, NY. Packing and unpacking makes this a 4 day affair, and by this afternoon at 4 pm Countrywool will be unpacked, organized and back to business as usual.

But the festival is full of knitting and spinning energy and inspiration as well as new angora rabbits. I truly love being there and getting a chance to catch up on seeing everyone (gossip) and new products/stuff/businesses. I always see lots of folks who have angoras that were born here, and I enjoy saying hi, and catching up on how they are all doing.

I don't normally buy rabbits at fairs but Angela at Fiberworks had great luck last year with a doe purchased from Twin Pond Farms in PA, so I went and got one there. Vanessa, (named by my daughter for Johnny Depp's significant other) has been happily munching hay here since Saturday. Pictures will come tomorrow.

There is no litter news as of yet. Perhaps when I feed everyone shortly there will be something to report. Stay tuned!