kotapony
Well-known member
I went and did it. Mr. Buck joined his girls on the 5th, so with any luck the first week of October I'll have my first litters. Woohoo! 
inkbunny:
I'm always behind. The tub they're all in is not big enough to be permanent. But I've had no luck getting my final colony set up done as yet. It seems around here things don't get done till it gets critical to do them. And I figured if the girls were expecting then getting them into the new colony in time to get comfortable before they kindle would bump getting it done to the top of the priority list pretty quick. Although this is my project, my husband is pretty excited about having a steady stream of rabbit meat. I told him I'd try to have rabbit for Christmas. If all goes well, that should be doable. But I did warn him all I've read about how first litters are commonly trouble, etc. My does are full sisters from a mother who's not yet lost a kit, even from her first litter, so I'm hopeful. Anyway, I was lucky and sold a heifer calf yesterday which gives me a little more space in the barn to shuffle calves around and make room for where I want to put the colony. I'm dying to get everyone into a bigger space.
Right now the three are squished into a 300 gallon water tub (amounts to around 32 square feet of space). I debated hard the wisdom of putting the buck into the does' territory as well as leaving him there. But I finally took the chance, ready to separate quickly if needed, and got lucky. I saw him successfully breed one doe and am assuming he got the other at some point since by that evening everyone had settled down and were all happy and resting in a big bunny pile. It definitely helped my hay racks are built with a hidey underneath. The doe that was bred and didn't think she needed bred again ducked under there and the buck quickly figured out to leave her alone since he couldn't jump on her anyway. It was unintentional at first, but they're also such that the buns can jump up into them. I intended to fix it and keep the buns out, but they haven't messed in it or wasted hay so I left it. They seem to appreciate the soft bed.
And because this is the kind of post that needs a picture, here's my trio: Alpha (buck), Bravo, and Charlie. It took a long time to settle on such creative and original names. :lol:
*sigh* Apparently I lack the skill to use the file uploader. So here's a link.<br /><br />__________ Thu Sep 15, 2011 5:31 pm __________<br /><br />Okay, I finally had enough sense to look and found the tutorial, went and learned how to resize photos in iPhoto (I used Windows for years; I'm still adjusting to a Mac), and here we go to try again:
inkbunny: I'm always behind. The tub they're all in is not big enough to be permanent. But I've had no luck getting my final colony set up done as yet. It seems around here things don't get done till it gets critical to do them. And I figured if the girls were expecting then getting them into the new colony in time to get comfortable before they kindle would bump getting it done to the top of the priority list pretty quick. Although this is my project, my husband is pretty excited about having a steady stream of rabbit meat. I told him I'd try to have rabbit for Christmas. If all goes well, that should be doable. But I did warn him all I've read about how first litters are commonly trouble, etc. My does are full sisters from a mother who's not yet lost a kit, even from her first litter, so I'm hopeful. Anyway, I was lucky and sold a heifer calf yesterday which gives me a little more space in the barn to shuffle calves around and make room for where I want to put the colony. I'm dying to get everyone into a bigger space.
Right now the three are squished into a 300 gallon water tub (amounts to around 32 square feet of space). I debated hard the wisdom of putting the buck into the does' territory as well as leaving him there. But I finally took the chance, ready to separate quickly if needed, and got lucky. I saw him successfully breed one doe and am assuming he got the other at some point since by that evening everyone had settled down and were all happy and resting in a big bunny pile. It definitely helped my hay racks are built with a hidey underneath. The doe that was bred and didn't think she needed bred again ducked under there and the buck quickly figured out to leave her alone since he couldn't jump on her anyway. It was unintentional at first, but they're also such that the buns can jump up into them. I intended to fix it and keep the buns out, but they haven't messed in it or wasted hay so I left it. They seem to appreciate the soft bed.
And because this is the kind of post that needs a picture, here's my trio: Alpha (buck), Bravo, and Charlie. It took a long time to settle on such creative and original names. :lol:
*sigh* Apparently I lack the skill to use the file uploader. So here's a link.<br /><br />__________ Thu Sep 15, 2011 5:31 pm __________<br /><br />Okay, I finally had enough sense to look and found the tutorial, went and learned how to resize photos in iPhoto (I used Windows for years; I'm still adjusting to a Mac), and here we go to try again:
