Anticipating spring
Topic: Breeding

The bucks are getting all...er...warmed up with thoughts of spring in their minds. I am planning for breeding to start in 2 weeks, which gives me a window to get everyone clipped and cleaned up. Tomorrow Neo (pictured left at a younger age, but his behavior remains the same!) gets his winter coat shorn off. Then Gunther, his latest son, gets the same. That will leave the bucks all set to go, as Zwart is in short coat already.

But, they are already ready to go. Neo is beside himself with anticipation. I may have to send him to the Guy Barn to chill.

Plans are to have Grindle, Gretchen and Sydney rendezvous with Neo and Zwart in 2 weeks. But plans don't always pan out here, so stay tuned for what happens.

It has been my experience that rabbits in short coats will be more responsive to the mating process. And does that are newly shorn (within 24 hours) are the most responsive. So, in that vein, everyone EXCEPT the three does will get their coats off in the next two weeks, and they will then be shorn the day they are bred.

Wish us luck. I have 6 people waiting for new bunnies, plus I need more tortoiseshell and chocolate colored angoras to stay here in the barn crowd for fiber, so 2005 will see many, many litters here at the Bunny Barn.

Winter In The Barn


















In the cold, dark and dead of winter, very little happens in the Bunny Barn. A whole lot of feeding and bringing of fresh water while watching for problems with the cold takes up a chunk of each day. Since it takes longer to do even the most basic of chores, fewer chores get done, and the whole mind set around here is "endurance" while waiting for signs of spring.

We get the occasional sunny day (like today, or rather; this morning) and my thoughts tend towards cleaning or trimming faces/feet. But I am holding off removing full coats, even though 3 rabbits need to be shorn. The temps this weekend are expected to be 0*F and I will, instead, treat them AGAIN with Ivermectin to hold fur mites at bay. Fur mites LOVE thick, full coats, and seem to multiply wildly in this kind of weather.

It's even been hard to get some time to shoot pictures. The weather has been SO cold, my digital camera fogs up or won't work well. So, again, as time and temperatures allow, I will be posting pictures of the bunnies.

Vanessa
Topic: black















Born in Pennsylvania in late August 2004, this doe is now 5 months old. She is very feisty! I got her at the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival last fall as a possible addition to my herd. I very much like her color, but her fiber is not as prolific as I generally expect from German crossed rabbits (she is a Giant/English cross). I may let her have a litter or two to improve the black genetics here in the barn, and then cross them back into my German lines. Her health has been EXCELLENT and that is always a wild card with a young rabbit. We'll see what the spring brings when she is 8 months old.

I am gearing up for a shearing class this weekend. The weather has been almost spring-like around here for a month, and is expected to get brutally cold right after the class (wouldn't you know it!). I have my stack of sweatshirt sleeves ready to lend assistance as temporary sweaters for the rabbits, and I will also leave a full inch of coat on.

I am looking/planning for spring breeding season and will treat the rabbits one more time late this month for fur mites and then lose the bottle (!) until summer. I am planning on 4 litters in mid-April, and if all the does cooperate (!) many bunnies should be in the making after the first of March.

Gunther
Topic: black

In mid October, little Gunther was born. In the 7th litter that Gretel has had, he was a single bunny. Gretel is over 5 and I don't think she will kindle many more bunnies, so I plan to hang on to Gunther, as his Mom's lines are the best I have ever produced.

This little guy grew REAL fast. He spent the last two weeks with his mom sitting on her head, and she was starting to get annoyed with his antics. At 7 weeks I moved him into his own cage, but right next to his mom and across from his Dad Zwart and his Uncle Neo.

He is thriving.

I really love black angora rabbits. If I had my way, that would be the only color I ever produced. Black angora is a stunning silver/charcoal grey when spun, and over dyes beautifully. Black will be the color I blend with a charcoal Romney/Corriedale/Rambouillet fleece to spin yarn for a sweater I am planning this year. This will all take place in the WOOL TO WEAR sweater project that starts in May here at COUNTRYWOOL.

Barn keeping
It always amazes me how good I feel when my my rabbits are tidied up and rearranged. No one is due for a clipping, but the barn needed shoveling and cages wire brushed, water bottles cleaned and bowls washed and everyone got their dose of Ivermectin.

I find that moving rabbits around keeps their spirits jostled just enough to keep them lively. The weather has been cold and windy and I have had the shutters shut for a week. Two days ago a warm front came through and I let the sun and warm breezes in. Then yesterday I shoveled off the dirt floor, scattered fresh hay, moved the guys from the guy barn into the big doe barn (!) and rearranged some of the girls into new cleaned cages. Everyone got a resting board to sit on, and after their oral Ivermectin treatment, some fresh hay to munch.

I always count bodies, as the number changes with sales/new bunnies, etc. I was expecting to have 4 more take up residence, but deals fell through/plans changed and I have 9 rabbits right now. They are a joy to feed and care for, as things get done in a timely fashion. 9 is a good number to get through the winter, too.

I think I will profile them all here, one by one. I'll start with Vanessa and Gunther...the youngsters. As good weather allows, I'll snap their pics and post them for all to see.

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.