Two Litters Today!!!

[Twobirdsfarm]

Hey All,
Both our English Angora does, Daphne and Delilah kindled today! They were due on Friday so I was really starting to get worried last night, but this morning Daphne's nest box had 6 little duffers, and by the afternoon Delilah had 7!

Delilah is a bit flakey and her last litter didn't survive :/ But this batch looks much healthier. She had one DOA, but overall I'm really happy with how she's doing. Both litters look to be a mix of REW's, brokens, and selfs. Can't wait till the fuzz comes in!

I got what pics I could today. It's only about 50* during the day, so I tried not to keep the little ones uncovered for too long.
Cheers!
- TBF

 

[SA Farm]

Congrats on the litters, TBF! Cute little wrinklies

 

[Marinea]

Congrats!

I have never raised wooly rabbits- do they start off as kits getting a nice coat, or is there a "baby" coat first?

 

[Twobirdsfarm]

Good Morning!

Thank you! Delilah's kits are definitely smaller than Daphne's. They were about an hour old when I took that pic. They're a little less wrinkly this morning.

The EA's do have a baby coat that they "blow" during their first molt. It's very soft, which doesn't make it great to use for fiber but it does make them look like adorable little fluff balls. The hardest part, IMHO, of the wooly coat on youngsters is that it tends to distort their color as it grows out. For example, one of my bucks from my June litter is a lilac tort. I have pics of him from the day he was born until now. But as his baby coat grew out he kept getting lighter and lighter and lost his torty points. Now that he's growing in his "big boy coat" the colors are getting darker and more intense and he's looking more like a proper lilac tort and less like a fawn, lol.

I'll update this thread as the weeks go on. I didn't have any time to check in the nest boxes this morning, but no one was on the wire and I saw Delilah feeding her crew last night. Hooray!
- TBF

 

[jeannie]

For example, one of my bucks from my June litter is a lilac tort. I have pics of him from the day he was born until now. But as his baby coat grew out he kept getting lighter and lighter and lost his torty points. Now that he's growing in his "big boy coat" the colors are getting darker and more intense and he's looking more like a proper lilac tort and less like a fawn, lol.

I would love to see the development pictures of him!

And, awwww ... what cute bundles of joy!!

 

[Twobirdsfarm]

I got some good pics of a couple of them at a few days old, but I think he was squirming too much






-TBF <br /><br /> -- Tue Sep 16, 2014 9:46 am -- <br /><br /> You can see as he gets older the lilac is hidden by the fawn color. I don't have a pic of him now at 15 weeks, but I'll get one when I get home.
- TBF

 

[jeannie]

Wow, what a cute bunny! Thanks for sharing his color development

 

[Twobirdsfarm]

Thanks! And no problem!
When I get home tonight I'll pull the new little buggers out and we can try to guess what they're going to look like.
- TBF

 

[Zass]

SO CUTE!

 

[Ramjet]

I'm jealous .... Haven't had a litter since January. Life has been in the way of my bunnies and I don't like it!

I do have 2 litters due the 27th of this month & 2 more litters due Oct 12th with two more planned to follow those by 2 weeks.

 

[Twobirdsfarm]

Whoa Ramjet, making up for lost time!

So there are no pics tonight due to a small "upset".
I went out to feed and check the kits and two of Delilah's were out of their nest box. One was still warm and easily went back into the pile. The other was really cold and I had to bring the whole nest box in, and then spend a bunch of time getting the kit warmed up before the litter would accept it. I don't know if Delilah got startled or what but all those babies were still hungry, so I put them back out in her cage in hopes that she would finish feeding them. Now I'm really worried that I'll come out in the morning to frozen kits on the wire.

Daphne's kits are definitely bigger than Delilah's. They're all fat and happy and doing great.
Depending on how the next couple days go, I probably won't be breeding Delilah again. Which is a shame, because she is just the sweetest thing. :/

- TBF <br /><br /> -- Thu Sep 18, 2014 8:51 am -- <br /><br /> Ok, baby update!
Daphne is doing a stellar job, as usual. Her 6 are fat, happy and growing like weeds! It looks like two broken, one lilac, one blue, and two REW, although I'm crossing my fingers that at least one is a pearl.


Delilah is not doing as well, but things are going better than last time. She is not very patient with the kits, so she does not stay in the nest box very long. This means at least one ends up getting dragged out of the nest box each feeding. As I feared, yesterday morning we had a dead kit out of the box. All the kits looked skinny and unfed, so now Delilah is getting parsley and oatmeal along with her pellets, hay, and BOSS (and of course Daphne is getting some too). Daphne eats like a champ but Delilah won't touch much except the greens. Last night I brought her in and flipped her to nurse the babies and it went relatively well. Then I pottied the kits and kept them in the house so everyone would stay in the nest box. This morning I flipped her again and they fed even better. I think this will just have to be the routine while they're young. It looks like her litter consists of one broken, one blue, one lilac, and three REW/Pearl/Fawn. I thought the pinks were going to all be REW or Pearl but one is furring out to more of a champagne color. They're much smaller than the other litter but hopefully they'll catch up.

Cheers!
- TBF

 

[Marinea]

How adorable! I love looking in the nest box and seeing colors.

 

[Twobirdsfarm]

Me too!
- TBF

-- Tue Sep 23, 2014 5:42 pm --

Hey All,
The kits turned one week old yesterday!
Both litters are doing well. I'm still having to flip Delilah twice a day to feed her litter, but it's going well. The two litters are no more than 12 hrs apart in age, but you can see the size difference. Delilah's litter is on the left.
I'm also seeing some interesting color coming out. What I assumed were going to be REW's are looking like pearls, REW's, and a very very light shade of lilac? I'm going to post over in the color genetics thread to get some advice.
Cheers!
- TBF


-- Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:55 am --

The wee ones turned 2 weeks old yesterday. Over the weekend they all opened their eyes!
- TBF




<br /><br /> -- Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:57 am -- <br /><br />

 

[jeannie]

Aww... they are soooo cute! picture #3 is a great picture postcard!

 

[Twobirdsfarm]

Thanks! I'm just relieved both litters are healthy! And now they're squishable.
- TBF

 

[Sagebrush]

I would so take a copy of that first pic with the two frosty kits together. That is just precious!

 

[Twobirdsfarm]

It's funny, my wife really doesn't want anything to do with the buns, unless they're between 2 and 8 weeks old and snuggly (or she can feed them treats). Then she turns into the rabbitry paparazzi! Which is awesome for my records and for sharing with all y'all! I'll let her know you guys like them. I bet she'll take some more.
- TBF

 

[shelly027]

:bunnyhop: :bunnyhop: I have a dwarf rabbit that has not had her kits yet. she is 37 days today. this is her first time being pregnant. but over this weekend when we checked her private was swollen for a few days. so I gave her some tums. and she was eating less food. but now when yesterday when we checked her no more swollen and she is back to normal eating habbits but you can still feel and see movements in her tummy. so what should I do? I'm new at this. please help....