Breeding Day

Posted on June 21, 2014 by onedogrunning

Today was Scorch’s inauguration as a breeding buck. He’s grown a lot since I bought him, and he’s a laid-back Californian boy. He was bred to Esther the Creme d’Argent and Samphire, my other Californian. He was excellent with the ladies and I could tell they liked him as they lifted right away. He’s big but he’s gentle. Looking forward to my first litter of hybrid Creme/Californian kits, and hopefully a nice litter of purebred Californians. It will be Samphire’s first litter, so anything or nothing could happen.

Hybrid Kit Weights – 3 Weeks

Posted on June 20, 2014 by onedogrunning

Although I’ve been breeding rabbits for awhile now, I’ve never done weekly weigh-ins. Since I may keep one of the hybrid does, I’m curious how they compare to other rabbits, so I’m going to try it with this litter.

Esther’s hybrid kits are a day shy of three weeks old today. The recorded weights are 240g, 289g, 227g, 240g, 212g, 300g, 253g and 268g.

You can see the variation in coat color very well now. The kits from this litter are less consistently colored as her previous ones, and I quite like the lighter, reddish ones.

For Sale

Posted on June 16, 2014 by onedogrunning

I sexed all the older kits today and so now they’re up for sale. Rosalind the Silver Marten decided she didn’t like me this time and threw seven bucks, two does and one I’m pretty sure is a buck, but not positive. One doe has already been sold. The other doe is the runt, who survived despite everything. One buck is reserved and the other six are for sale for $20 each.

Tuna likes me more and gave me four does and four bucks. I don’t need any Standard Rex bucks so they are all up for sale. I have one Self Black, one Blue Otter and two Black Otters for $20 each. I’ll be holding on to the does for another couple of weeks or so until I make my final decision on who will be staying on as a brood doe to replace Io.

Sexing the Short-Listed Rexes

Posted on June 15, 2014 by onedogrunning

Here you can see my cage with the six potential Standard Rex keepers. I am planning to keep one doe, although I’d love to keep more. Standard Rexes are really lovely rabbits, personality-wise. Not to mention their beautiful, unique fur.

I sexed them today, and to my delight I have four does and two bucks. The Self Black is a buck, and so is one of the Blue Otters. The other two Blue Otters, including the largest, and friendliest with the best markings is also a little doe. Jackpot!

So basically, unless something happens I will be keeping this little girl. I’d love to keep the black buck, but who am I kidding, I already have plenty of bucks. That’s the problem with having too many different breeds and wanting to keep them pure.

I did a little posing with them and they all seem to have fairly good body type, although some look a little long in the shoulder. Tuna, their mom is a very nicely-proportioned girl but their sire Timmy is kind of a mess in that department. He’s just a pet store bunny after all.

So now I have to think of a fitting name for this lovely girl. Ideas?

Week Two – Hybrid Kits

Posted on June 15, 2014 by onedogrunning

Esther’s hybrid kits are all doing very well. I haven’t lost any and I don’t plan to. I’ve been giving them lots of fresh blackberry bramble, dandelions and grass like I did with the last two Rex and Silver Marten litters, as it seems to have done them all good despite fears of introducing greens to kits too early. Esther has been eating greens regularly throughout her pregnancy so I’m not too worried. It saves me food costs and helps to tame the babies as they look forward to my opening the cage every day for treats. These babies are a bit young for that yet, but they’ve already started nibbling on leaves. I also just really like to stick it to the blackberries since they think they own the place.

The kits are all agouti, as usual, although some are darker and some are more reddish than others. I can tell they’re well fed and happy because they are very complacent about being held.

Narrowing Down

Posted on June 10, 2014 by onedogrunning

Black Otter Standard Rex kit, almost 6 weeks old

Today I separated out all the Standard Rex kits I have my eye on as potential keepers. Please, please don’t let all the Blues be bucks! I put them in a top tier cage where it’s easiest to give them attention. If I’m going to be keeping someone, I want them to be well socialized with me.

Tuna was also rebred to Timmy today, although she was a little cranky and only allowed him to seal the deal once. Hopefully that was enough. Rosalind was scheduled to be rebred again today too, but she’s still recovering from her mastitis, so I’m going to wait. The swelling has gone down completely and all that remains is a little hole with some cheesy discharge. I like to think that the daily fresh dandelion greens, oat grass and comfrey have been at least partially responsible for her fast recovery. I know all the rabbits have been thriving on their fresh green rations lately.

Ros can be stubborn if she’s been left alone too long, so I was really hoping to breed her while she still has kits. Oh well. I might let the smallest kits stay with her until she’s fully well and perhaps that will work best for everyone.

Blue Otter Standard Rex kit, almost 6 weeks old

Hybrid Kits – One Week Old

Posted on June 7, 2014 by onedogrunning

The Creme d’Argent and Silver Marten hybrid kits are now a week old. You can see their agouti coloration really starting to come in. If past litters have been any indication, not only will these kits grow faster than purebreds, they will mature faster and will probably all be humping each other at ten weeks old. My purebred kits don’t get interested in that kind of stuff until at least about twelve weeks.

One Less Rabbit

Posted on June 6, 2014 by onedogrunning

Io was culled today, just a week shy of her first birthday. This is the first time I’ve had an empty cage since I can remember… Tomorrow it will have rabbits in it.

Not sure why she couldn’t conceive, but her brother was infertile too. She looked pretty normal inside, maybe a bit fatty around the organs but I never overfed her. Who knows. She was a very skittish rabbit anyway so I don’t mind replacing her with a new doe, especially since I have such a beautiful and friendly batch of Standard Rex kits right now.

One thing I love about rabbits is that even when things go wrong, you have at the very least a nice rabbit dinner.

We Have Kits

Posted on May 30, 2014 by onedogrunning

Day 32 and Esther has kindled nine kits. Unfortunately one of the nine was found half-eaten in the nestbox, so we are left with eight. An excellent number. As you can see, Esther is a fur-pulling fiend. Someone should tell her that it’s summer.

Alas, still nothing from Io. I wonder if she too will end up being infertile like her brother, Orion was. They were Esther’s first kits and they had a very hard start, being the only two out of the litter that survived. They were very chilled initially due to being born on the wire. I’ll give her a few more days and if she doesn’t kindle, she’ll be culled as this was my fifth attempt at breeding her.

Nest Box Day – Hybrid Silver Marten x Creme d’Argent Litters

Posted on May 27, 2014 by onedogrunning

Esther usually kindles on day 32 or 33 when bred to Saturn

It’s day 28 for Esther and her daughter, Io. They were both bred at the same time to Saturn, my lovely Silver Marten buck. Esther is definitely pregnant, we’ve been through a few litters together already and I can tell. Her belly is very rounded when she lies down and she’s started to pull a little bit of fur.

Eleven month old Io on the other hand will be delivering her first litter, if she is indeed pregnant. Hard to tell with her, she looks very much the same as usual. I’ve learned that looks can be deceiving though, especially with a new mother. She gets really snippy when the dog comes too near her cage lately so maybe that’s an indication. I wonder if she’ll be a late kindler like her mom?