Beauty's Babies @ 3 wks old 4-29-16

All of these bunnies are on reserve.  Four does are going to Liz.  She asked for an update so I figured you would too.  Here are our bunnies.  I have I have all SHE'S cause they are selling like hot cakes.  Bouncing right out of my cages to new homes!  Heehee  A few boys have good homes lined up too and I even have a very large breeder who will take any boys I have left.

So cute!

This one has the same markings as Beauty.

If I am guessing right, this little one on the box has been the most curious.  First out of the box, first to greet me and first to climb up here.  (as far as I know, not there all the time but my guess)

Have cute video but I cant make it small enough to post.  Any help out there for how to do this?
  Thanks for HOPPIN by and see you again soon.  Theresa

Thumper and Foxy are doing great

Thumper and Foxy were two females that I had last year and sold this year already bred.  Here is the update I received not long ago from their new owner.

Thumpers kits are doing well and growing like weeds. She had one white bunny out of the 6. We did have one that ended up on the cage wire a couple of nights ago. I thought it was going to die, but it survived. I brought it to the house to get it warmed up and put it back in the nest box. 

Foxy ended up having 8 bunnies! Half of the bunnies are white. So far they have all survived. They're not growing as fast as Thumpers kits, I'm guessing that's because she doesn't have as many to feed as Foxy. I started giving them a tablespoon of Calf Manna and it seems to have increased her milk supply. I'll take some pictures when they start leaving the nest box. 

 

I am very excited that they are doing so well in their new home. I will post pictures as soon as I receive them.  But for now, here are a few pictures of Foxy and Thumper from our last litter with them.

Baby bunny busines is bouncing!

I wanted to let you all know that we will be breeding Beauty again this year.  I was not sure with all the plans to move and such if we would be my husband said yes and we will make it work.

Now an exciting update on Beauty and her babies.  They will be two weeks old tomorrow.  Her last batch she had 10 and by now they were exploring outside their box.  With there only being 5 this time, they are not as crowded and more content to stay inside.  But as you will see in the pictures.... they are curious.

Beauty's babies at 13 days

Beauty's babies 13 days

Beauty's babies 13 days

Look how cute these guys are!  Thanks for hoppin by and see you again next time!  Theresa

Eye are open and new visitor

Yesterday I showed a baby bunny to some visitors and noticed that its eyes were starting to open!  Checked on them today and yes, all the eyes are open and clear.  How exciting.  They also let me hold them and they were pretty content in my hand.  Amazing!  The beauty of Gods creation, and its JUST FOR US to enjoy!  I will take pictures later this week.  I have a busy day today.
So on with our visitor story....
It was quiet in the house.  Ron was taking a nap and I was working on the computer when I kept hearing noises in the basement.  After a very short investigation, this is what I discovered.....

He actually had some pretty green and blue on the wings but Ron was in a hurry to get him out. Boy did he screech like he was going to die!

from the internet

Thanks for hoppin by and if you have an opinion on what kind of bird this might be, please let me know. 

Update on Thumper and Foxy!

They are gone from our homestead but are loved at their new home!  Thumper and Foxy are both mom's now and doing great.  Here is the email I received from their new owner.

Foxy had her kits this afternoon! It looks like there is 5, but not sure. I'll take them out tomorrow to get a better look. They seem healthy and aggressive. They kind of jump at my hand, I think they think I'm Foxy going in to feed them. Foxy had the nest full of fur when I came home from work this morning, but no bunnies till later. It looks like she did a good job with her nest.

I took Thumpers kits out today to have a better look and there was 6. Their skin looks good and their very active. Thumper had more fur covering them yesterday, but it looks like she removed some of it. She had the opening almost covered this morning and she had it open this afternoon. Do they regulate the temperature by removing some of the hair and leaving the nest open? It feels plenty warm in the nest. She has the opening covered again tonight. I'll keep you posted on any developments. 

 

I do not have any pictures of Foxy or Thumper's new babies yet but will post when I do.  Thanks for thumpin by and see you again real soon.  Theresa

 

 

ps Everyone loves pictures and most everyone loves rabbits so here are some pictures of our rabbits from last year.

Beauty's babies from Aug 2015

Buck outside having some exercise time.

Baby Bunnies 2015

 

High demand for our bunnies

I am getting calls like crazy for more bunnies!  Bucks, does.... either and any color.  Cant wait till we have Missy with her next litter.  She is calmer now and I think the next litter will be just fine.  The days are getting longer and warmer.  All is coming together.
If you are interested in any rabbits from us, you need to reserve them.  They are going fast and we are doing our best to keep up.
Thanks for hoppin by.  See you next time here at WWR!

Bouncing baby bunnies!

I have good news to share.  Thumper, the doe I sold to a nice gentlemen last month has had her babies!  She has had 5.  I cant comment on how they are doing yet but I can say that the new owner has a great setup and seems to be doing a great job.  The rabbits settled in right away and adjusted to being handled by their new owner like a charm.  I will share photos of the "extended family" as soon as I can.  Now, lets get filled in on Beauty's babies!

Beauty's kits are a week old today. Have to show you proud, protective mommy bunny first.  Here is Beauty.

Beauty with new kits 1 week old

Beauty's kits one week old

 The two black ones look like they are kissing, so cute.

Here is one that I am holding so you have an idea of how big they are getting.  They seem to be growing so fast.  I think Beauty is an excellent mother.  When I checked on them earlier today, as soon as I put the nest box back in, she jumped in and fed them while I was doing the chores.  She knows she is safe and so are her babies.

Now it looks like these two are kissing.  They are very strong and active.  One almost crawled out of the box as I was taking pictures.  So adorable.  Cant wait till they have their eyes open.

Three litters all having five babies.  Last August there were an average of 8 for three litters.  Think it might have something to do with the number of hours per day.  There is less grass and food for the rabbits to eat this early in the spring so maybe when the food it more abundant, the days are longer, their litters will be larger??  Sounds like a good guess to me.

I will post pictures of Thumpers babies when I get them.  Thanks for hoppin by and see you again soon.  Please feel free to comment and even ask questions.  Would love to hear from you.

Counting our blessings

Today is a new day and I am counting our blessings.  Beauty's 5 babies are healthy and growing fast!  They are over 3.5 ounces each and are only three days old.  Yesterday they already had peach fuzz.  She is not happy to let me investigate them so I have to offer her a treat to take out the box.  A couple of them even relieved themselves during my inspection.

Beauty!  Star of the show!

Beauty's babies 3 days old

They are growing fast and as you can see, the white ones are less pink than when they were born.  Peach fuzz has started to grow.

 Thank you for hoppin by and see you again in a few days.  Theresa

Sad little Missy

Missy had 5 babies two days short of term and today... the last one passed away.  I tried everything but the kits were not meant to live. This is very sad for me but even harder on Missy.  Yes I can tell.  She is making grunting noises, pacing and stomping in her cage and even though I took out her nest box, she is still pulling fur.  Poor Missy.  I might re-breed her later, when the timing for the new litter would be more suitable for weather and our schedule.
Beauty's babies are doing just fine.  Three black and two white ones.  They are already showing their peach fuzz!  and they are only 3 days old.  I rejoice that they are doing just fine.  The loss of Missy's babies is hard enough.
I will start taking pictures and keeping you all posted tomorrow.  Today I still feel the loss.  Thanks fir visiting and will post more later.  Theresa

Take the good with the bad

Beauty had her babies on Friday and Missy was due on Monday.  I went to check on them this evening and Missy had her mouth full of fur and hay.  It is so cute when a doe walks around with her mouth full.  It looks like she has a mustache.  So I did a few chores thinking she might have them early and wanted to get things done so I wont disturb her close to giving birth.  Within moments she was in her box and I could tell she was having contractions.  So I stopped with the chores and stuck around.  I heard little peeps and knew she had at least one baby.  I set up a few cameras and went back later.

When I went back she was out of her box.  I could see there were babies in the box and they were all pink (white fur later).  They were not under the fur very well.  I decided to give her more time to see if she would have more or if she would rearrange her nest.
I went back later and seen they were not covered very well at all. I reached in to check on them and they were cold.  I decided I needed to warm them.  I brought them in the house and put them in a box with a heat pad under.  This was not working well so I put them in my bra.  I could feel their cold little bodies.  After a few moments, they started to squirm around.  I rearranged them a few times because it seemed a few were not warming up very well.
After about half an hour it was obvious that two were not doing well.  They were actually bringing the temperatures down for the other ones.  I removed the two cold ones and you could tell from their color they were dead.  I placed them in the box with the heat pad just to make sure.  The others three remained in my bra for another 15 minutes then I took them back out to their mother hoping now they were warm, she would feed them and all would be well.
I want to give this mom a fair shot at taking care of these little ones but part of me also wants to give the kits the best shot possible at surviving.  That would mean fostering them to Beauty.  I will go out and check them one more time and if they are warm, I will leave them alone.  If they are cold, I will warm them, mark them and foster them to Beauty.  Be back soon.
Ok Im back.  I took a treat out to the rabbits and checked on Missys kits.  They were cold again.  Not as much but still cold and not much life left in them.  I decided they would not make it till morning so I put them in with Beauty.
Good and bad to this story.  Bad is obvious.  Missy did not have a very good first litter experience.  Bad, two died.  Good is that Beauty is a good mother and she now has three more to care for.  I hope that in the morning, I will check in her box and find 8 healthy kits.  If not, if there are dead ones, then they were just not meant to live.  If I find three smaller ones still alive I will mark them and pray they grow and all is well.  I will not rebreed Missy for a while because it is cold and we have family celebrations coming up and the timing would not be good for a litter right now.
I do have one major concern.  Mastitis in Missy because she will not be nursing.  It is a risk I will have to take.  Since she did not feed, there has not been any stimulation.  If in nature she would loose them all, she would have to dry up just like she will now.  I pray she is spared any pain and discomfort with both the loss of her first litter (to another doe) and that her milk production does not cause discomfort.
Well it has been an eventful evening and now I can rest knowing the three little pink angels will be given the best chance possible in with Beauty's babies.  I will post more after I check on them in the morning.  Thanks for hoppin by. 

THEY ARE HERE!

I went out to check at 9:40 and Beauty was out of her box.  I looked in and some of the cotton that I had put in there was bloody so I  knew there was something new to see in the box. 

She had pulled a ton of hair!  Good for her cause last time she did not pull as much as a cotton ball worth.  I decided since she had twice that last time I would allow her more privacy incase she was going to have more.  So far, 3 black and two white.  Come back later today for more updates.  Thanks for hoppin by and pray for healthy bunnies!

7 am- no buns yet. Still in the oven (heehee)

I checked on Beauty several times yesterday and last night.  She is due today but wanted to make sure that if she did have them early, none were left in the cold by mistake.
She did super last litter.  Had 10 all in the next box.  All three does had all babies in the nest box.  I know because rabbits, unlike cats or dogs, can not carry their babies around.  And that is why it is so important for me to keep checking on them.  If one is still suckling when Beauty jumps out of her box, it could get "carried" out of the box and she cant bring it back in.  The baby bunnies or bun for short, use each other for warmth.  Mother bunnies do not "cuddle" or keep their babies warm so if it is separated out of the box, it will freeze to death, literally.  They are born with no fur and right now the temps are cold.... around 32 here.

Here is a picture of  new born rabbits and then one that is 5 days old.

They are so cute, dont you agree?  The pink ones will actually be white like the one in the second picture.  As the fur grows, the pink gets lighter because it is covered with the white fur.  The black ones in the first picture will of course have black fur.
So I will be going on there a couple times today and then for sure around midnight.  It would be great to be present when she gives birth but even with 10 babies it can happen so fast that I am likely to miss the exact time. 
I am excited to see the new ones.  I will keep you posted.  Thanks for hoppin by.  Theresa

Hour to hour countdown

Beauty is due tomorrow so I will be going out there as often as possible to check on her.  She let me feel her belly today and I could feel them moving around.  Always a good sign.  She has not pulled any fur yet but she did not pull much last year either.

We have a little snow on the ground and melting snow dripping from the trees and house.  It is a little colder than I was hoping or our first spring litter but rabbits do fine in these temperatures.

This is the outside of our bunny house, wascally wabbits rabbitry, bunny barn, rabbit cage, rabbit hutch.... how ever you want to refer to it. 

This is the inside where the rabbits are.  Notice the window behind the cages.  There are three of them plus half of front is able to open completely to allow plenty of airflow.  Below this window is a screened in area that will also open during the summer.  Ventilation is critical when the temperatures are above 60. A strong urine odor can cause illnesses and discomfort.
 The tarp is an awesome way to keep everything clean and fresh.  Cheap too.  It catches the hay and rabbit droppings so they do not go on the ground.  There is one opening in the bottom where all the urine drains and is collected in a bucket.  This keeps the smell down and also makes it easy to collect the droppings to sell as a cold manure for gardens.  Yes I have sold the poop!  This system helps me keep my rabbit housing smelling like hay! (which is like roses for rabbits!)
Now that summer is coming, I will begin to collect and separate the droppings again.  I will first collect the hay out of the tarp that is usually laying on the top of the droppings.  They I drain all the urine into the bucket by lifting the tarp in each area.  Once the urine is drained I collect what is left- the rabbit droppings or manure.
Since rabbit manure is a cold manure (meaning it can go directly into your garden) I can collect, dry and package.  I dump the manure onto a large sifter and set in the sun.  After a few hours the pellets start to dry and turn slightly white.  I use a rake to rotate them so the pellets fully dry.  As the manure dries the remaining hay is dry.  Whatever hay does not blow away in the wind I try and gather with a small hand rake so only the pellets remain.





Meet the rabbits!  The stars of the show!

Beauty

 First here is Beauty.  Short for Black Beauty.  Her general color is black but at the tips of some of her fur, she has a lighter color which gives her a shimmery look.  Beauty-ful!
She is a very gentle and loving black New Zealand.  Last litter she had 10 babies.  I was able to feel babies moving around in her belly today.  She is not very good at pulling fur so I will add pulled cotton balls to her nest box today.  I really love her.  She is always willing to let me pet her.  If she is in the back of the cage, I can get her to come to the front right away to be pet.  She had all her babies in the nest box last time and raised every one of her kits to weaning.  In case you were wondering, I keep old toilet paper rolls and fill them with hay.  They love to chew on them, throw them around their cage and eat the hay from the ends.  It is bunny fun and can help keep the cage clean.

Missy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Next is Missy.  She is nothing like Beauty.  I kept her from Foxy from last year because she was large and white.  A breeder of 300+ rabbits came to buy a buck from me and really felt she was a male because her head was so large. We checked twice because he was sure she was a male.  Successful breeding proved otherwise:)

 She is named Missy because she is Mischievous.... Missy for short.  When she was younger she would dart around her cage so much she would shake it and make all kinds of noise. She is shy and timid and she does not like my hand in her cage.  She bred really well and I cant wait to see what babies she gives off.  Buck is white NZ, she is white but her mother was grey (also called New Zealand Blue).  She is due next Monday and I hope having a litter will help her settle down.

Buck

Last but my favorite..... BUCK!  Short of Buck Rogers!  He is so adorable.  I have had family members and even a stranger  (someone who bought manure) pet him.  He will practically crawl out of his cage to greet you!
 I will be back with a posting after the babies are here.  Thanks for visiting and hope you enjoy the fun and facts here at....... Wascally Wabbits Rabbitry!  Please comment and hop on by again soon.  Theresa