Our Bunnies are Finally Broken

Posted on October 27, 2015 by onedogrunning

For the first time ever we have broken rabbits here at Abernathy’s!

Broken of course refers to a spotted coat color. So far we have had nothing but solids, otters and agoutis born here. Today, my new pedigreed Standard Rex doe Opal (who is coincidentally also an opal color) kindled her first litter sired by my new broken buck, Pine Tar.

She was a day late and kindled on day 32, and my other Rex doe Bluefin, who was bred at the same time to the same buck is also late and will probably kindle tonight. Can’t wait to see what she’s going to throw!

These little bunnies are just so gorgeous! There were six smaller-sized kits born in the nestbox this evening. Originally Opal had decided to move the location of her nest to the cage floor, and relocated all the nesting material there. I stuffed it all back into the nestbox the next day and she seemed fine with that, pulled fur and had her babies where she was supposed to. Since this is my first experience breeding her, it’s good to see she’s a sensible rabbit.

There seems to be some broken opals, broken castors, and a solid castor. These are really just guesses though based on the colors of the parents. I can’t wait to watch them grow out! The little spotty coat patterns look so beautiful when they’re tiny like this, like how a shrinky dink looks better once it’s been shrunk. I’m sure they’ll make very attractive adults too, but their patterns look so intricate and perfect at this age.

Another first here at the rabbitry is that these six little kits are the first fully pedigreed and papered rabbits to be born here! Yay! Both parents are from a very reputable local rabbitry and were specially selected to make a good breeding match based on their background genetics. Here’s to lots more fully-pedigreed buns!

Proud momma Opal

The Foster Litter

Posted on October 7, 2015 by onedogrunning

You might remember that we lost one of our senior rabbits not long ago, right after she had kindled a litter. Using what I have now dubbed my Foster Juggling technique, I was actually able to save every single kit! So now there are 22 healthy and happy seven week old baby bunnies that were raised by only two moms. Fantastic! Now to get them out of here!

These kits are all Standard Rex/Californian crosses and Creme d’Argent/Californian crosses. The Creme crosses are nothing new, we have bred them several times and they grow into large, friendly rabbits in shades of agouti, dark brown and black. I love these crosses and I am growing a few out to see how they do as breeders.

The Rex/Cal crosses are new, and they are interesting little bunnies. Some of them look very much like Silver Martens, while others have the tan and white markings of a Black Otter Rex. A few even have extra soft and shiny coats which must be a result of the Rex fur genetics, although actual Rex fur does not show up in the first generation. I love how chunky these kits have turned out to be, with large heads and glossy, compact little bodies.

All of the babies from all three litters are black or dark brown this time except for one little agouti girl. This is pretty much because genetically Californians are actually black rabbits although they are white-furred.

It was getting crowded in there so today I did a little bit of sexing and reorganizing of bunnies to give everyone a bit more breathing room. Some bunnies will now be enjoying tractor life, where they get moved to fresh grass each day. The smallest ones will be living with their moms for a while longer and enjoying garden trimmings like sunflower leaves and stalks and rosemary clippings.

Since I’m planning a trip soon to visit my brand-new nephew, I would love to rehome these bunnies as soon as possible. They’re all on sale for $20 each, both bucks and does.

The Fair

Posted on August 28, 2015 by onedogrunning

I spent last weekend at VIEX, our local fair. I had six young quail on display in the poultry barn and the rest of the time I was assisting with the raptor flying demonstrations.

I was primarily the sound tech, but was also lucky enough to be able to man some birds and talk about them with the public. We had a Swainson’s Hawk, a Harris Hawk, a Spectacled Owl, an American Kestrel and a Turkey Vulture. It was hot out and there were a few technical difficulties, but the birds all did a marvelous job as usual and I think everyone had a great time, I know I did.

Harry, the Swainson’s Hawk, one of the birds who flew at VIEX

I really enjoyed dropping off my quail early and getting a chance to view all the animals while everything was still clean and quiet. Once the crowds arrive and everyone begins poking at and commenting on the livestock, the charm kind of wears off for me.

My little quail display

I really liked these Speckled Sussex hens. They won some very fancy ribbons

I got to talk to some knowledgeable rabbit and poultry breeders, and I may have a gorgeous Champagne d’Argent doe lined up in a few months from Victoria. I also got a great deal on a new two hole rabbit carrier and picked up two very nice handmade wrought iron hooks for $30 from the Blacksmith Association.

It was funny to see these signs posted all over the rabbit barn, I suppose some people think the rabbits live out their lives in the tiny carrier cages. A bit silly.

Sad News – Fostering Orphaned Rabbit Kits

Posted on August 28, 2015 by onedogrunning

We have lost one of our bunnies. Last week Tuna stopped eating and drinking and had come down with what I suspect was GI stasis. She had been eating some of the shredded newspaper out of her nest, so I wonder if that had anything to do with it.

Anyway, as soon as I noticed her not eating I stuffed her cage with wild greens that I know she likes: dandelions, comfrey, blackberry leaves and grasses. She ate them, but not with the gusto she usually does. I made sure her cage also had plenty of hay and added a water crock for her to drink more easily which she appreciated. I also spent some time massaging her abdomen to try to get things going, but alas, after about three days she passed away.

Three nests but only two moms

Unfortunately she left behind a litter of seven kits that were only about a week old. So now I have 22 kits from three moms, but only two moms to take care of them.

In order to save the smallest kits I had to do some nest box juggling. I removed all the largest kits from each litter and left only six of the smallest in each box. One kit was pretty skeletal already and wasn’t looking good. I took the large kits inside with me and kept them in a safe, warm place for 24 hours. After that I replaced them, splitting them up evenly between the two boxes.

A very tiny, underweight kit

A fat, happy kit

By this time, some of the underweight kits who looked like they would not make it had full bellies and were looking great. They really seem to have almost doubled in size while the fasted kits showed no ill effects.

I left everyone in their nests with mom for 48 hours and then took out all the largest kits again for another 24 hours. Tonight they’ll go back in.

With this technique, the largest kits miss about 2-3 feedings every 3 days. Initially I was worried they would start to get agitated, but they just sleep calmly all day. Just these few extra feedings without competition seem to be enough for the smallest kits to really catch up. Of course, now that everyone’s eyes are opening it might get harder. Lucky for me the does have been super tolerant and don’t care which kits I give them.

I may not save every single one, but at least the smallest now have a fighting chance. If I can get them to the point where they start eating on their own, then we’ll be home free.

Previously underweight kits are happy after a couple of good feedings

Hepatic Coccidiosis in Rabbits – Graphic Photos

Posted on August 16, 2015 by onedogrunning

Notice the white spots on the liver

Coccidia is a parasite that exists pretty much everywhere in the soil. Young rabbits are generally more susceptible to infection, and will show symptoms of diarrhea, loss of appetite and listlessness.

Coccidiosis is very contagious in an environment where feces from a sick animal are present and can be consumed by other rabbits. It’s such a common killer of young rabbits that many rabbit breeders medicate their rabbits against it every few months, whether they show symptoms or not.

In a situation where rabbits are pastured, coccidiosis can be a very real concern. Since I tractor many of my kits I had a couple of cases of it turn up this year. Although nobody died, it left an impact on them physically. I thought it would be interesting to show you the damage that this parasite can cause to your rabbit’s liver.

A moderately infected liver

The most obvious thing upon opening up an infected rabbit is that the liver is spotted with white. The amount of spots will vary according to the severity of the infestation. These white spots are actually the hardened edges of small tunnels that the coccidia carve into the liver. If you slice the liver in half you can clearly see the small tubes.

The tunnels visible in cross-section

Whenever I see symptoms of coccidiosis in my pastured buns, I immediately add apple cider vinegar to their drinking water, feed blackberry bramble daily, make sure they are moved to fresh pasture frequently and ensure everything is kept as clean as possible. So far I’ve been very successful at clearing it out of my herd this way, without resorting to medications.

Usually even if a kit has been infected, once they overcome the parasite and fight it off, they can still lead a perfectly healthy life. Still though, there is obvious damage left to the liver which may or may not heal over time. I’m not a rabbit biologist after all… I’m a whale biologist.

Below is an example of a nice healthy rabbit liver with no white mottling. Infected livers should not be eaten but the rest of the rabbit is still safe to eat.

A healthy rabbit liver

Rabbit Double Pregnancy?

Posted on August 16, 2015 by onedogrunning

All my does were due to kindle today, but Bluefin was the only one who came through on time. Since there has been some fur pulling from the other girls I expect there will be more full nestboxes tomorrow. In the meantime, Bluefin had a bit of strange litter.

Bluefin was bred to Scorch this time around, a first for her. She kindled nine healthy kits, all of which look to be blues or blacks. Since she doesn’t build the greatest of nests, I decided to fix it up a bit after I saw the babies had all arrived. I didn’t want them to end up at the bottom of the wire with no insulation underneath them.

As I was counting them, I noticed a bit of bloody bedding and placenta at the bottom of the nest. This is totally normal and I went to clean it out. I was surprised to see that it was not just placenta, but two amniotic sacs with two tiny, perfectly-formed bunnies inside. They were both about 1.5 inches long, and actually looked very peaceful, as though they were sleeping.

I have had kits born dead, but they’ve never looked like this. These babies look like they just haven’t had enough gestation time. It occurred to me that rabbits are supposed to be able to get pregnant twice at the same time, since they have two uterine horns. How could this have happened? Well, she had her previous litter of kits in with her until they were ten weeks old.

Ten weeks is super early for a rabbit to sire kits, and I never noticed any funny business going on, but could this be what occurred? If so, it looks like I’m going to have to start separating kits out even sooner.

Rex/Creme Hybrid Kits 10 Week Weigh-In

Posted on July 25, 2015 by onedogrunning

You’ll know from my past posts about hybrid kits that they consistently outperform my purebred kits as far as grow-out speed. Well, this litter of Creme d’Argent/Standard Rex kits are the biggest bunnies yet.

I wondered out loud not long ago if there was anyone achieving 5lb live weight rabbit fryers at 10 weeks of age. Back then, this seemed like an impossibility and all my kits needed at least 12-16 weeks to get anywhere near that. Well, today I’ve seen that it can be done.

The hybrid kits are one day shy of ten weeks old today. Two of the does have been sold but the two I have left are HUGE. The boys are also large but I have never seen does this big before. I weighed them today and they came in at 2063g and 2226g. That means the heaviest doe is already 4.9lbs. That is mind boggling.

I also weighed the largest of my purebred Californian does, who are one day older than the hybrid kits. She weighed in at a measly 1500g. Tell me how Californians were specially bred as meat rabbits again??

I think I’m going to have to hang on to the largest agouti doe as a breeder. Her and her sister are the sweetest rabbits, so easy to handle and loving. The other day they were giving me kisses for almost an hour. I’d love to find a good home for the one I can’t keep, it would be a shame to have to butcher her. She’d make an awesome breeding doe for someone’s meat program.

Better, Cheaper Rabbit Pellets

Posted on July 23, 2015 by onedogrunning

There’s just one thing I like better than finding cheaper alternatives to necessary purchases, and that’s finding BETTER quality products for cheaper!

While picking up little MR16 last week, the topic of rabbit pellets came up and I was informed of a source of locally-made pellets that were non-gmo, animal product free, 1% higher in protein than my current brand, and $2 cheaper per 20kg bag. The breeder told me that her rabbit herd had made a dramatic change when she switched to these pellets; they were having larger litters, growing out faster and had better immunity. I was sold.

Today I checked it out. This magical place is Top Shelf Feeds in Duncan BC. Boy, what a fantastic store! It might be a 40 minute drive away, but this is definitely where I’m going to be buying all my livestock feed from now on. I was told they work closely with rabbit breeders to formulate their rabbit pellets, and almost everything they sell is a little, if not a lot cheaper than in Nanaimo.

For instance, for Coturnix Quail rations I normally buy 26% Gamebird Starter from Share-Kare, a shop near me, for $22.50 a bag. Compare that to 26% Quail Diet from Top Shelf at $14.50 a bag! Just one bag pretty much pays for the whole trip. I can also buy their original non-gmo layer pellets for about $0.75 more per bag, which is a very good deal. I may even switch to their organic layer pellets since I’ll be saving so much money on everything else.

They also have cool, real farmer stuff like replacement tattoo clamp numbers, stethoscopes (I bought one), scalpels, bulk bins of milk replacement powder, 20kg bags of baking soda, vials of medication that say for veterinary use only… As well as blocks of exotic frozen raw pet foods.

And when available they sell heritage, sexed chicks for a reasonable $3 or so instead of $10-15 at my local Buckerfield’s. I also bought a 50 foot roll of 3′ wide, 1/4″ hardware cloth for about $30 cheaper than I could find anywhere else. This will be used for my new pigeon loft/aviary. A bale of straw is currently about $12.50 there, but it’s $20 in Nanaimo. These are fairly significant discrepancies, especially if you buy in quantity.

To top it all off, you get to pull into a covered loading area and they pack all your feed into your vehicle for you. Love it!

Introducing My New Rex Herd Sire

Posted on July 18, 2015 by onedogrunning

Up until now my Standard Rex herd sire has been Timmy. I got Timmy a year or so ago from a couple that had him as a pet rabbit and couldn’t care for him anymore. He didn’t like being handled and they wanted to concentrate on their friendlier bunnies. While he is a very nice rabbit, type-wise he is terrible. He also has no pedigree and no tattoo. Since there are only a few Rex breeders on the Island, and most of their stock came from the USA, I think it’s safe to assume that Timmy was someone’s cull and it’s easy to see why.

It was time for me to get a proper Rex herd sire. After one debacle with a disreputable local rabbit breeder (who has since had all her rabbits seized by the SPCA), I located a breeder who seemed to be doing everything right. She was extremely kind and helpful and has a herd of the most beautiful and happy rabbits.

Yesterday I drove to her little farm and picked up the most gorgeous 13 week old Broken Castor buck: Moonstruck’s MR16. Once we get to know each other a little better I’ll give him a proper name. A big thank you to Jody Mitchell and Moonstruck Meadows!

This little guy is just the most handsome little buck I have ever seen. He has beautiful fur and body type and a full pedigree. This means that with Tuna’s full pedigree, I am on my way to producing fully pedigreed Rexes. Since he is a broken, this also means that I can start producing broken kits, which is a very fun prospect. Timmy will be retired and probably Bluefin will be also, as she is Timmy’s daughter and not very easy to work with. Unfortunately with limited space and cages I have to trim my herd aggressively.

Just look at that cute little face!

The Creme Kits, Rabbit Attack, Wasp Attack!

Posted on June 9, 2015 by onedogrunning

Here are some shots of the Rex/Creme litter kits at about three weeks old. I don’t see any silvering yet but it would be harder to see on these lighter toned kits. I’ll be interested to see if the high-strung nature of the Rexes infiltrates these little guys, or if their mom’s calmness will win out.

I sold five rabbits today, which was awesome since I’ll need my grow-out cages very soon. I usually bring my rabbits out for customers in the little two-hole traveling cage I made which opens from the top. I’ve never had an issue before, but I think today the sheer number of kids around spooked the Rex kits and one of them jumped out. While I struggled to wrangle the little blue doe back into her cage I was slashed on both hands and wrists, stomach and legs. Not only that, but the little stinker screamed the entire time. I don’t often hear rabbit screams around here, but let me tell you they are not pleasant. So here I am now, covered in Polysporin, hoping these bloody scratches and welts heal fast. I have gardening to do!

I finally bought a bunch of tomato cages today, which were sorely needed in the container garden. When I returned from the garden shop and had emptied the car, I noticed a threesome of wasps building a tiny nest on the overhang near my back trunk handle.

This isn’t the first time wasps have tried nesting on my car, I don’t know why they choose to do this. There must be a hundred better places around here. They must have been wondering where their nest went today and weren’t too happy with me for running off with it. When I tried to lock my trunk I was swiftly attacked and stung on the hand. They wouldn’t let me get my key anywhere near it.

I stormed back inside nursing my painful hand and did a quick online search. Then, armed with a container full of hot water and dish soap, I went right back outside, took a deep breath, sloshed it at them as fast and hard as I could and then retreated, quickly. When I inched back to check, the nest had been dislodged and the wasps were nowhere to be seen. I hope they’re either dead or don’t have good memories.