I took a vacation in Arizona...

[Ferra]

... and all I got were these fluffy rabbits!

So I landed really late last night from a trip down to AZ to pick up French Angora stock from one of our very own. I asked while I was down there, I'm allowed to spill the beans about who I bought from - I have brought back SixGun's stock. And despite the significant climate differences, they seem to be settling quite well. Though maybe that's partially related to those fantastic Angora parkas they live in year round. :lol:



I brought up a trio:

SixGuns Doctor Who:
- Blue torte buck. Likes to wash his paws and flick me. Sucker for head-scratches. Has the same birthday as me (but not birth-year, thankfully)



SixGuns Esther:
- High rufus chocolate agouti doe. Very curious little girl, seems to have a real gusto for the sunflower seeds. Eyelashes for days. (Adds a whole new meaning to "Doe-eyed") <back rabbit in photo>

Dolly Rock Dust Devil:
- Red doe. Really not sure about this whole travelling thing. Likes to foot stomp about it, but usually settles after a good forehead rubbing. <front rabbit in photo>



I think this is going to be a really fun little herd to manage.


_____________________
On an aside - @MaggieJ - Apparently in 2006, somewhere else in the Internet you were asking about moving rabbits outdoors in Canadian winter. You got a range of advice from "OMG! Wait until spring!" to "They will be fine - worst case scenario, box of hay and a lightbulb". How did that turn out for you?

 

[MaggieJ]

What beautiful fluff-buns, Ferra! And how nice that you got to meet Six Gun!

On an aside - @MaggieJ - Apparently in 2006, somewhere else in the Internet you were asking about moving rabbits outdoors in Canadian winter. You got a range of advice from "OMG! Wait until spring!" to "They will be fine - worst case scenario, box of hay and a lightbulb". How did that turn out for you?

Oh, my goodness! I was such a newb back then. The first winter (2005-06) I kept the buns in our unheated front porch, but they made such a mess that the next year I was looking for alternatives. I probably posted about it on Homesteading Today or perhaps the GardenWeb's Farm Life forum. The winter in question I decided to keep them in the unheated greenhouse and that worked fine.

After that, I got braver and kept them in what had been our chicken house and they shared space with our trio of geese. The chickens I moved to a smaller coop. In spring the rabbits moved to our "summer rabbitry" under the big weeping willow tree. It was a chain-link structure, tarped against the rain and wind but still nice an airy. But they never spent a whole winter there because it was hard to access it when the snow was deep.

Somewhere around 2011-2012, I partitioned the goose house and set up a rabbit colony in half of it. I liked that best of all, and the rabbits could stay there year-around.

All these arrangements worked fine for the rabbits; some were more convenient than others for me. We're Zone 5B, in case you're wondering--the bit of Eastern Ontario that sticks out into Lake Ontario. It's a tad milder than just a few miles inland, but windier too.

 

[SixGun]

I want to thank Ferra. We had such a great time with her visit, and I have such high hopes for this trio. She really choose an amazing combination.
Plus, we had a great time hiking, coffee tasting, Mexican cuisine eating, shopping and guild meeting attending. In 48 hours we did absolutely as much as we possibly could and I'm glad you have a day or two to relax post visit Ferra.
Let the fluffy butt world domination plan begin!