When Dwarf breeds are no fun!!

We lost several of our rabbits a few weeks ago when the A/C went out in our barn - twice! It seems that we always loose the special, hard to replace ones and not the more expendable ones. (Not that it is ever easy to loose any, but I hope you know what I mean.) Three were hard-to-replace herd sire bucks. One of these was a BEW Netherland we had purchased for my son to be his foundation for starting a BEW project. We had tried to breed him to a BEW doe and two Vienna-marked does before his passing; only the BEW doe cooperated and then there was only one fall off. We were anxiously awaiting to see if the BEW doe took and if there would be a successful litter.

She was due day before yesterday, and there she had one single BEW kit - that was a peanut!! Our first BEW kit, the only kit from the lost BEW buck, and it is a singlton peanut!

Sometimes raising rabbits is enough to make you pull your hair out. ullhair: I'm sorry you have been having such a tough time. (((HUGS)))

May I suggest, however, that for your son's project (I get the feeling it is his first) that he starts with something less challenging? I'd hate to see him get discouraged by too many difficult factors. Some of the larger breeds are more resilient in adverse conditions and you don't have to worry about peanuts.

So sorry this happened! :group-hug2:

fhjmom":7wma3mhy said:

It seems that we always loose the special, hard to replace ones and not the more expendable ones. (Not that it is ever easy to loose any, but I hope you know what I mean.)

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I think this is a true impression unfortunately. The lines that are hard to get and special are not culled as hard for health. It's so much easier to cull the cheap rabbit than the one you paid $100 and who's offspring are worth $100 each. So, little things get bred into in these lines that would not be in less expensive rabbits and eventually they add up. This includes heat resistance as cheap rabbits are more likely to be raised outside.

I'm sorry you lost the rabbits. It's never easy to loose some and even harder when you have high hopes for them.

The ND I got that who were culls from big operations and the ones that were bred for fun to create an interesting color from otherwise good show stock were my best for temperament and hardiness. Sweet little things that popped out litters of 3-6 without fail. The ones I got that were from a person who culls hard for show quality and were show quality themselves were little monsters. What didn't die I frustratingly turned into dog food after bleeding from numerous places. If you really want to go into showing with a small breed I would suggest something like dutch. They have a pattern challenge but if the child is old enough it could be an interesting challenge instead of a problem and they nearly always are hardy with a good personality. Of course some exceptions exist and you still need to find a good breeder but it's much much easier than finding good ND breeders who pay attention to all aspects of the animal.

Thanks for the thoughts, and yes, BEWs are challenging, but that is why he picked them. He is 15 yo and has been raising and showing Netherlands for a few years now. We started with selfs, otters, and a couple of chestnuts. My daughter recently added a broken buck to start her side project and my son decided he wanted to do BEWs. We have been very blessed to find several good open breeders who have sold the kids some nice foundation stock and most of ours have very sweet personalities as well as doing well on the show table. The rare one that has been a bit high strung doesn't seem to pass that trait along to his offspring, of course the kids handle the babies a lot, so I think that helps, too! The kids are really just now getting to the point where they have developed their own rabbits and are showing the ones they have raised themselves.

alforddm, we have a friend who is also working on BEWs and we had a similar conversation pertaining to the theory you mentioned. With BEWs being so hard to find, I think people do tend to keep rabbits that would be culls in other varieties. They let poorer type and hardiness pass to keep the vienna gene, which is part of the reason we had such a hard time finding this buck. While we were looking, I saw quite a few other BEW bucks for sale, but their type did not warrant the price tag that was attached so I waited and kept looking until we found one I felt had more of a total package. Unfortunately hardiness isn't something that can be assessed from a visual inspection necessarily. Plus, we had him transported from a breeder up North so those lines are never exposed to the heat we have. And honestly, it was a huge stress, we are in Texas and it was HOT! I am honestly surprised (but oh, so thankful!) we didn't loose more rabbits.

My hubby and other daughter also have Mini Lops and the kids have Czech Frosty together. We lost two Czech Frosty and more Mini Lops than anything to the heat.

Since you still have a BEW doe you have a good chance of a BEW litter in 2 generations which is about a year. You breed her with her sons and some kits will be BEW.

As far as heat I suggest underground living. I have a cage on the ground and allowed the doe to tunnel and nest underground. The kits are now about 2 months old but they still go underground during the heat of the day in hot spells.

a7736100":jj40ib96 said:

Since you still have a BEW doe you have a good chance of a BEW litter in 2 generations which is about a year. You breed her with her sons and some kits will be BEW.

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We have a BEW doe, one Vienna Marked Doe, one Vienna Carrier doe, and a Vienna Marked buck, plus a Vienna Marked kit about 4 weeks old from one of the VM does and VM buck. The BEW doe is being bred to the Vienna Marked buck tonight so hopefully we will get a BEW from that pairing!