Colony Update After One Month

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MaggieJ

MaggieJ

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Our colony has been up and hopping since November 14. We found kits in the back nest tunnel today and I'm quite sure they are Alice's, judging by her behaviour. She is fond of David, but this morning she was attacking his boots. LOL.

We have decided that since the kits seem to be well-covered and Alice is an experienced momma not to interfere with the nest more than we can help. So this is where we cross our fingers and hope to see twitchy noses poking out of the tunnel in a couple of weeks. This is a different approach for us, but we know from experience that Alice does better left alone.

One problem we have been encountering is hay wastage. Our first hay silo was a disaster. It was made of 4"x6" field fencing and the rabbits had a lovely time emptying it just for the heck of it and then hanging out inside it. We removed it and now have a medium sized dog crate to hold their hay. The openings are approximately 1.5"x4" and we are in some doubt if the rabbits can pull enough hay through to satisfy their needs. It doesn't seem to be going down very fast... but then before they were wasting so much that it is hard to tell.

Opinions? Will they pull out what they need or should we think of something else?
 
I had made dog cages into rabbit cages, before, and put a hay rack on the outside. The wires were about 1 1/2"x3", I would say. They pulled it all through very well.

From my own experience, it should work out fine.
 
Thanks, Shara. My own feeling was that they should have no problem pulling the hay through, but in winter, with new kits in the colony, I wanted to be sure. I think they were wasting an awful lot of hay before. We took out tons from the colony floor today and used it for goose and chicken bedding. Hopefully from here on they will waste less and we will have less work to do.
 
:) Babies can get through that wire, you know? I bought Spooky with a doe kit, Pouf, and she was CONSTANTLY escaping. She basically had run of our house until she got so big she didn't fit through anymore, and now she's the size of a NZ. :) So once it's getting empty, you may have tiny bunny berries in the bottom. :D

Lol.

And you will probably save alot of money that way.
 
It won't matter if the babies get into the crate as it is just being used to keep the hay from being scattered. A few bunny berries won't matter... we can lift the crate and sweep them up.
 
David (MidnightCoder) peeked in on Alice's babies today. We have been disturbing them as little as possible because Alice is very protective... It's her first litter in the colony setting. He reports that there are at least five and that they have their eyes open. So everything seems to be going along well. He saw a couple of reds, a couple of blacks and he thinks one brown. Can't wait until they start coming out and hopping around the colony! :)
 
Glad to know everything with your colony seems to be progressing nicely. You will have to take pics and post them once the babies start hopping about. :)
 
I haven't even had a glimpse of Alice's crew yet. She gets quite hostile toward me when she has kits. Not vicious, but definitely upset and hostile... so I tend to leave her and her popples to MidnightCoder's care. They are buds. :)

__________ Fri Dec 31, 2010 9:13 pm __________

David snapped a few pictures down in the colony this afternoon.

Some pictures of the colony. It is about 8 feet square. Nest tunnels on left with NZR buck (Jasper, proud daddy) sitting on top. Bench against back wall, a plank supported by two apple crates. Hay rack (medium dog crate) on right. Alice (black) and Rosemary (dark agouti) in middle. Sage (chinchilla coloured doe) behind the hay rack.
colony1.jpg

Jasper likes sitting on top of the nest tunnels. The tunnels open from opposite ends so the does feel they have privacy. Both have lids that open so we can check on the kits. We use the top for the mineral block and for feeding hay, since the hay rack is not working as well as we had hoped.
colony2.jpg

Same view, but from back a bit, to show the black shelving units that we use to divide the colony from the goose quarters. There is a short step-over divider to prevent the buns from rushing out when the big gates are open. So far, nobunny has tried to do this.
colony3.jpg

Here's a shot of Alice's litter. We know there are five at least. May be more "down under" but David is reluctant to disturb them. I must get in there soon and give them a good check out, now that Alice is beginning to relax. :)
kits1.jpg

This is Alice. Please ignore the red eye in these photos. All our bunnies have either brown or grey eyes. Alice has white on her nose and throat and I suspect she may carry the Vienna gene. She is related to the blue bunny in the banner.
alice1.jpg
 
Yes, I am very pleased, except with Rosemary and Sage who do not seem to be breeding at all. Time will tell, however. If they don't produce by the time the kits are ready for camp, they will go to camp as well and we will save one or two from the current litter as replacements. I'd like to keep the genetics of the "herb" rabbits, since they are the only progeny of our late chinchilla-mutt, Basil. But if they won't or can't breed...
 
they think cause they have cool names they are safe maybe?
they'd better get their act together !!
 
Part of the problem may be with Jasper, Brody. He is not a particularly persistent buck. If they said NO as few times at the beginning, it would likely be enough to put him off. He is very bonded with Alice, however... Maybe because their cages were side by side, whereas the other ladies were on the other side of the rabbitry.

---

Thanks, Pickles! It is difficult to get really good pictures in there because of the square shape. The buns seem very happy... and that is important to me, even though I am raising them for meat.
 
That's a valid point Maggie - Thyme is more experienced? Do you still have him? Perhaps he could educate the girls?
 
No, I gave Thyme to IggysBabySitter. He is full sibling to Rosemary and Sage... didn't really want to go there. Iggy's buck was a four pound lionhead... thought she could use a bigger boy. He couldn't go into the colony with Jasper, so otherwise it would have been freezer camp for Thyme... and we didn't want that! He's being spoiled rotten in his new home, so it's a good thing all around. :)
 
Oh nice solution :)

and I understand your logic totally - just might be handy to get them bred once by somebody a little more assertive then the gentle red boy :)
 

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