Waiting is the hardest part

I know I said I wouldn't have room until spring for breeding more rabbits.... BUT, I butchered 6, sold 12 and I have access to 9 more holes....

my excuses out of the way.....

I have 3 does bread.... Ester, Sheri and Cinderella.... all due 28Dec2016
Ester started hay stashing yesterday, so she got moved and was given a "Winter" nest box...
(I obtained plywood hanging nest boxes from auction and cleaned them up... I have 4 cages that I can use them on.... they look like big bird houses... :lol: )
Ester has really made herself at home and started pulling fur already!



Sheri is still attending 3 foster rex kits that have just turned 4 weeks.... I would like to leave them with her till this weekend.. Maybe they will get moved into the pen with all the Little Red Riding Hood Kits.... I wonder if Mama will be as friendly with 12 babies bouncing all over her.

Cinderella was moved this morning to a cage that will accommodate the hanging nest box

Little Red Riding hood and her 9 babies (3 weeks) have been moved to a big doe cage and a box for the kits was placed in there .... She wasn't impressed :evil: and I think the kits already miss the bird house style box.....lol :lol:

I am playing musical cages as well. One litter of eight weeks, one of 2 1/2 weeks, and two does due at the end of the month.

And "excuses"? Who amongst us needs excuses??

I got the supplies to build more cages but that hard to do in the cold lol. My babies are 1 week old tomorrow.


Ps I got 10 babies about 2 months old.

bigfoot_158":188z4y4q said:

I got the supplies to build more cages but that hard to do in the cold lol. My babies are 1 week old tomorrow.


Ps I got 10 babies about 2 months old.

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It is possible to build cages inside where it is warm. By this time, you probably have the cage pattern figured out, so you can precut all your pieces and do the assembly inside where it is warm.

Since I have Silver Fox which are a large size rabbit, I build cages that measure 24 x 24 x 30. The roll of floor wire is 30" so only need to cut 1 @ 24" x 30", then 3 @ 24" x 30" for the 2 sides and 1 top, and then 2 @ 24" x 24" for the 2 ends out of the top wire which comes in a 24" roll.

When I built my hutches I used some salvaged lumber that was 2 x 6 and 2 x 4s for the legs and roofed it with plywood and shingled them. For the platform that the cages actually sit on I bought cattle panel and cut it to fit and used steeples to attach to the 2 x 6 frame. I can torch that also.

I didn't use any wood to enclose the sides/back of the hutches, instead, I staple opened feed bags where needed as protection. Gotta love that free tyvek from the feed bags!!!

After the subzero temps we just had, the buns did just fine with a flake of hay to snuggle in, or the does got their wooden nestboxes to snuggle in. Yes, some does poop and pee in the boxes, but I will torch them when I pull them to get them ready for kindling next week.

I feel like the cage I have the 9 babies and mama bunny in is too small!
Now that they are all out of the nest box they take up a lot of space.... so I guess I will be playing musical cages again tomorrow and moving a trio of grow outs to the "doe cage" (24x30)and mama and babies will move to a grow out pen that has a little more room (30x30)....

I'm sure mama is wondering when these little critters will stop with the climbing under her.. lol :lol:

I feel your pain. Today I sepatrated the eight week olds by sex. The bucks went into an empty grow out cage. Mama and the 3 week olds went into another grow out cage, and the eight week old does went into Mama's regular cage. And...I have two more does due at the end of this month.

What was I thinking?

Marinea":104x337l said:

I feel your pain. Today I sepatrated the eight week olds by sex. The bucks went into an empty grow out cage. Mama and the 3 week olds went into another grow out cage, and the eight week old does went into Mama's regular cage. And...I have two more does due at the end of this month.

What was I thinking?

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Oh... I know the answer to this one!!!
You were thinking... I could breed this doe again..... that's all you were thinking.... not, were am I going to put all the kits, or do I have room for this many babies.... nope, weren't thinking that at all.....
I know, because I totally have this thought pattern!

On that note, I am lucky to have found a guy that wants to buy any culls I have... lol.... I do want to process some of my own, but I also want to do it and reserve the pelts for processing... He tried to talk me down on the price I quoted for 12, but I told him I could make between $60-$120 on the pelts alone, and if he didn't want those rabbits at that price I would be happy to take them back and eat them and cur the pelts myself...

so those times when I am not thinking long term.. and I breed more than I have space for.... I can always sell a few and make some room...

(I also have saved up for a new grow-out cage for growing out Harlequin kits to show - 9 more holes for individual kits!!) <br /><br /> -- Wed Dec 28, 2016 10:22 am -- <br /><br /> DAY 28 and no kits!!!

Only Ester has anything that resembles a nest!! She made that and pulled the hair a week ago!

Sheri just has the hay I put in her nest box and likes to push on the lid and try and play jack in the box with the lid.

Cinderella has pulled all her hay out of the nest box, but she was grunting the "don't pull me out and put me with a buck" grunt when she got her morning pet.

These rabbits will kill me with the suspense!!

You know how they love to surprise you though.... So they'll all kindle!

Congrats on the cull buyer. Always a nice card to have in your pocket.

I'm calculating breeding dates myself. If I breed next week.... Then that litter could make such and such show. It's a sickness. I have it. I'm ok with that. LOL

SixGun":30yf5n9s said:

You know how they love to surprise you though.... So they'll all kindle!

Congrats on the cull buyer. Always a nice card to have in your pocket.

I'm calculating breeding dates myself. If I breed next week.... Then that litter could make such and such show. It's a sickness. I have it. I'm ok with that. LOL

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Got my first leg with a Magpie Harlequin JR doe (BOG)... so I am now officially hooked!
I didn't really expect to have any legs this quickly!
She is from my 2nd litter of Harlequin....

Kindle update:
Ester has pulled more fur, so I am confident today!
Sheri seemed to have a nest put together kinda??
Cinderella hasn't done any nest making at all!?!?!
UUGGG ullhair: These bunnies will be the death of me!
At least it is 34 degrees and not 10.... so I'm hoping if the does need help getting kits under cover, I will be there soon enough with cotton balls and hay to save them!

Edited to amend BOV to BOG for my first leg.... (I get confused with all the acronyms)

SarniaTricia":1ipfx1y4 said:

Got my first leg with a Magpie Harlequin JR doe (BOV)... so I am now officially hooked!
I didn't really expect to have any legs this quickly!
She is from my 2nd litter of Harlequin....
!

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Congrats on the leg! Super exciting!

That will definitely hook you! Nothing like winning to make you a doe hard. LOL!

Ester has kindled!
Nine kits all looking healthy.

It is looking like the other two does, Sheri & Cinderella did not take.
Sheri & Cinderella were bread to an unproven buck, born 1Aug2016... So there was a chance that he wasn't quite ready for the task.



I am leaving the nest boxes in place for another few days, just in case.

I need to wait patiently (not) for 8January weekend when I am getting a proven Magpie Harlequin Buck! (And a new pair of youngin's to grow out!)

Congrats on the litter! Waiting definitely sucks! I re-bred my doe who left me eight beautiful little popple-sicles and it's two and a half weeks until she kindles. I was waiting not so patiently for the first litter, and now the second litter is agony. I'm bringing her home and inside though in case she screws it up again. I'll be right there to make sure they don't freeze!

As far as show, I promised myself I wouldn't show again until we move and I get a real rabbit barn, but the new little FA buck and doe I just picked up will likely clean house at the local shows. That and if the doe who is due to kindle makes weight (she's aweful tiny) she has a killer build, though her coat is almost too soft, so looks like I'm going to get sucked into that loop again. Darnit!!!

Showing is a lot of fun. PSF
(even if you are not showing!)
I have been attending shows for about a year with a friend that breeds rex.

My rabbit of choice is the Magpie Harlequin. (I like breeding for pelts and meat)
I do still have a few meat mutts in the barn and am breeding those for tri coloured pelts.

A photo as promised.... It was cold this morning, so only one quick shot....

Ester was bread to an American Chinchilla mix, Prince Charming.
8 Chinchilla marked and one Harlequin marked. <br /><br /> -- Tue Jan 03, 2017 12:02 pm -- <br /><br /> New Photos of these new kits:

That is pretty fantastic.

I seem to be developing a predilection for chinchilla-coated rabbits.

I never found it to be that hard waiting on a rabbit for the same reason you get in over your head. They require the least patience of just about everything. I bred horses so it was several months to first ultrasound and if we didn't attempt first breeding early enough because we didn't want late winter babies and they missed there was no second attempt until the following year because late year foals could not compete against earlier year foals if you are showing. Their value is lowered even if you aren't intending to show yourself. Then you wait nearly a year after you are successful. When they get close to due date they could go up to 3 weeks early or late. I had a mare go 3 weeks late consistently. Even the gerbils are a slow start because you never know when they breed so you wait an unknown number of months for the female to decide she's ready. Never as bad as the chinchillas I just waited 2 years to get a litter out of a pairing only to have them lose both pups and take 6months for another. It's hard to get overrun with chinchillas lol They barely sell around here so I've just been keeping most of them and I have set up 1 new cage in over a year.

Ferra":yxtbjjxy said:

That is pretty fantastic.

I seem to be developing a predilection for chinchilla-coated rabbits.

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I do like the Chin colour and I also have a Broken Chin coloured doe!
Not sure how many of the Chin colours I am keeping in the meat herd, but the buck is a real charmer!



(also, check out Broken Chin Rex.. OMG if you weren't in love with the colour before!!! You will be.)

Look up ghost rex. The rex coat and wideband gene has a really weird effect on what are normally known as ermine or frosty which are chinchilla based colors with the ee genes that make red and tort.

Two weeks old is the cutest age!! (My opinion of course... :lol: )
Here is Ester's litter at 2 weeks old.....
They are starting to explore the cage and nibble on the hay and kibble....

One of these things is not like the others
Super cute update, SarniaTricia!