The Nest Box 2019

It's been quiet around here, so let's have ourselves a little nest-along fun! Or at least maybe share some of our 2019 litters?

I have 2 does due the first week of February, and of course I'll post photos as soon as they hit the ground (nest box?)!

Let's see what buns are in the collective RabbitTalk oven!

i've been hit or miss since moving up here to washington...one one hand, i have four litters that are nearing butcher weight, but on the other, i've been trying for two months to get my next round of litters on the ground and nobody seems to be taking just rebred three does last week - two of the does are getting older and i need to get replacements from them, and one is a virgin doe. fingers crossed!

I know how that feels, shazza... I started our breeding season really well (2 litters per month), and then got really behind and haven't been able to get one of our older does bred. The two due in February I probably should have bred in December... but such is life. :roll:

I've been following your instagram, though, and the babies you had a while back were adorable!!!

We have attempted to breed our doe twice. Once in November and again December due tomorrow but don’t think she took. I think maybe it’s too hot. Both the buck and doe blew their coats last week.

I've got three definitely bred, and two more who did/is doing an extended sleepover in the bucks' cages. First up for kindling is Feb 9th, and she was *VERY* enthusiastic about breeding this last time, as was my maiden girl who is a little over a week behind in the breeding.

So I am selling the last of last year tomorrow, one doe had 5 pure holland lops 2 weeks ago and they are opening their eyes(scored our first albinos[with ruby as well]) and just last night another doe had 8 babies with a 0 stillborn count! The pregnancy was an incident(first time with unwanted babies) so idk anything about the babies so i will need help with the colors and such

I have 2 litters due on the 6th . Hopefully I get a good chestnut buck in one of them. I keep getting opals! I need a nice chestnut buck to get the colors I want.

Shea":3regf3z1 said:

I have 2 litters due on the 6th . Hopefully I get a good chestnut buck in one of them. I keep getting opals! I need a nice chestnut buck to get the colors I want.

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Ooh, Shea, ours might kindle on the same day!
And I get plenty of castors... if only you weren't quite literally across the country from me, I'd let you pick one out.

Shea":qn6q1o8h said:

I have 2 litters due on the 6th . Hopefully I get a good chestnut buck in one of them. I keep getting opals! I need a nice chestnut buck to get the colors I want.

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As someone who loves the blue gene, I don't see a problem with this. :lol:

dfr1973":1ybht2fr said:

As someone who loves the blue gene, I don't see a problem with this. :lol:

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I started out with purposefully non blue stock, a nice chin, a self black, beautiful black tort. . And everyone of them carries blue and produces it hard 3+ out of every litter. I dont mind blue as self and squirrel is very nice but the opals just dont do it for me.

Nymphadora":1ybht2fr said:

Ooh, Shea, ours might kindle on the same day!
And I get plenty of castors... if only you weren't quite literally across the country from me, I'd let you pick one out.

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Too bad I would love me some of your castor rexes! I'm really hoping the weather cooperates though. I dont see things going well if its -5 with a -15 windchill like it was the other day

dfr1973":2oplnd9g said:

As someone who loves the blue gene, I don't see a problem with this. :lol:

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I personally love the opals, too! And the variety I get with my self- and otter-carrying agoutis makes it all the more fun. It's always a surprise what's in the nest box!

Shea":2oplnd9g said:

Too bad I would love me some of your castor rexes! I'm really hoping the weather cooperates though. I dont see things going well if its -5 with a -15 windchill like it was the other day

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I'll keep my fingers crossed your rabbits stay warm enough and pull enough fur for their nests!
:good-luck:

I’ve got one of my himmie does due next week and then a checkered doe due two weeks after. I’m confident my himmie girl took but can’t get a hand around the checkered without fear of losing a hand, so we’re just gonna wait and see!

Best of luck to all y’all! Hope everyone has big healthy litters!

I have empty rabbit cages right now,
I am planning to get new breed stock sometime after i move to a new place [in a couple of months hopefully ] , - I may opt for "Standard Rex" this round, but only if my sister moves out this way.. She is interested in making things from the pelts...
If that happens,
... I will need to build some grow-out cages.... as fur rabbits are at least 6 months old when I butcher them.. another fur breed plus , in my mind is-- at 6 months of age, it is a lot easier to pick out good replacement stock.

So, my doe due around Feb 9th pulled fur two days ago ... I had just read in a rabbit breeding article that fur pulling around day 21 usually means a miscarriage. I checked her this morning - her vulva was a nice deep pink - and put her back in with Larry. That bunny butt was immediately lifted to the sky. Larry wasted no time hopping on and doing his funny little fall-off (he basically throws his hips upwards and lands on his back) two times in quick succession. Shalimar started mounting him while he was trying to catch his breath. He managed to get a third time before he wanted to just roll over and take a nap. I had to take her out because she was not wanting a break.

Next potential due date is around Feb 15th, a maiden girl (one of Larry's daughters from the spring) named Lacey ... which was Larry's original name when we thought he was a she. Lacey was originally named Chubs, and was going to go to my friend as her herd sire, until I realized "he" suddenly looked dainty instead of masculine. Checked "him" again and sure enough, the Sex Change Fairy had visited again. I'm seeing a definite family resemblance here. My friend moaned about how she used to be so much better at sexing young bunnies, when I reminded her that we had both originally thought Larry was a girl. We had both checked "Chubs" and both were certain we saw a tube forming. Well, she decided all of a sudden to breed on the 15th of January, so rough estimate of due date is the 14th-16th.

Fingers crossed for healthy litters, dfr1973! :good-luck:

The nestboxes went in for my two girls this week... Janey made a pretty little burrow, as did Lisanna. And Lisanna started making grumpy noises at me again when I've stuck my hand in to give her food... so she's definitely ready to have her babies this week (not to mention she's gotten absolutely huge in the last week).

Nymphadora":11wqz785 said:

Fingers crossed for healthy litters, dfr1973! :good-luck:

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And the same to you! :bunnyhop:

First litter of the year on Jan. 7th.

I should have some more pictures of the second litter, but don't have them online yet. I'd thought the doe was due on the 31st of January and when I went to check her nest box, there were eyeballs staring back at me! She'd had hers ten days earlier so she had already been bred when she accepted the later buck. I'd always thought they wouldn't do that if they were already pregnant. But, there were four baby bunnies in her box, eyes open and ears up already. Some of the fattest little ones, too, so she's doing great as a first time mom.

We may have gotten the lack of litters thing figured out now. Woot!

gave my three girls their nestboxes yesterday...haven't seen a haystash and honestly considering i had to force every fall-off i'm not that hopeful. i have another doe due on the 22nd that was also a force. nobody wants to cooperate right now and it's frustrating because all four of these does are either old and need to produce their replacements, or virgin does who need to be bred before they get fat

if all of these does ended up taking......i'm gonna be drowning in rabbits. i might end up nestbox culling some to use as snake food x:

:bunnyhop: :bunnyhop:
2 healthy litters born early on the 7th!!!! No issues and the weather cooperated for once. Had 40° temps for 3 days!

Nice litter of 6 from my meat doe. 3 dilute, 2 agouti, and 1 rew.


And 8 fom my satin! I GOT SOLIDS!!! Whohooo! 3 solid, 3 agouti, and 2 dilutes! I was not expecting this new buck to carry self at all. It means either my herd sire has been hiding it for over a year or more likely the rew dam to my new buck carries it. <br /><br /> -- Sat Feb 09, 2019 8:21 pm -- <br /><br /> Well that was unfortunate. I came home from work to my whole litter of meat buns froze to death. The weather shifted last night with a brutal wind blowing through. I had turned the nest box out of the wind. But . . .yeah that must not have helped enough.

all three of my litters were a bust and i'm not hopeful for the one coming in a couple weeks tossed all the does in with bucks this morning and they lifted sky-high, so....fingers crossed for march babies? these girls really need to get on the ball.