Nail trimming day

I'm ready for my mani-pedi!

No more frozen water

The big water bucket produced this ice sculpture.

So we have a new development in the enclosure: heated water bowls!  The water was freezing so fast during those cold days that Lizzie had essentially stopped eating so we bit the bullet and invested in heated water bowls.  They look like regular water bowls but with a heating element attached to the bottom.

Here they are, all hooked up.

Sad Day

I took Breeze into the vet today because her left front leg was splaying badly.  It had gotten worse just in the last two weeks and we already knew that her left back leg bone was curved.  The vet did some X-rays and found that three of her four legs were congenitally deformed.  The shoulder joint of her left front leg was crushed and she had significant bowing of her front leg bones and abnormal growth on her front elbows.  This problem would only grow worse and she was already having difficulty lifting herself up and moving, a significant change from just a few weeks ago, when she was hopping around in the outdoor exercise pen.  We made the decision to euthanize her and took her in this evening.

To add to our sorrow, Cherry failed to produce a litter once again.  We have decided to try breeding Ray to Lizzie and Grace in the spring as we know that Lizzie is fertile.  Until then, we have one empty cage and heavy hearts.

Winterizing

We put nest boxes lined with straw in everyone's cage so that they had a place to snuggle in as it gets colder.  Some of the buns, like Breeze, like it very much...

Others, like Grace, use it as a lookout perch so they can see when food is about to arrive...

We also ordered some straw bales to pile up around the enclosure to cut the wind.

Then we lowered the shades on the sides and we lower the ones on the front at night.  We also ordered some quilted moving blankets to drape over the cages when it gets really cold.  The water crocks are frozen every morning but at least with the crock system, the buns can lick the ice or sometimes break through when it isn't fully frozen.  I've checked into it with a lot of other rabbit bloggers and this is a perennial problem with outside rabbits, but unless you have a separate barn built for your rabbits that is climate-controlled, there is little you can do about it except keep replacing it every morning and evening.  I've gone in at lunchtime and broken the crust for them as well.  I think we are ready for winter which is good because it arrived yesterday!

Breeding Day Redux

So we put Cherry in with Ray again yesterday.  There were two successful attempts in the morning.  Last evening, I thought Cherry was going to have a conniption.  She did not want Ray anywhere near her.  She ran around and around the cage.  He couldn't mount her.  She bit at him so I took her back out.  She was grunting and oinking and growling the entire time and she kept doing it even when she was back in her own cage.  She was a very upset bunny.

Today I groomed her and put her out back in the exercise pen.  Then I groomed Ray and put him out in the pen with her and waited.  She was grunting and oinking and circling him and jumping over the top of him and generally seemed happy to see him today.  (I know, it doens't make a whole lot of sense to me, either, but then I'm not fluent in Rabbit.) 

He was not interested.  He never tried to mount her once.  Does this mean yesterday morning's breeding was successful?  Were his feelings too hurt to try again after last night's decided rejection?  I couldn't find any information on what it means if the buck successfully breeds with the doe twice, then tries again and fails, then is offered a third chance and acts like he's never met her before and doesn't want to get to know her any better. :-)

Wind damage

The winds early Friday morning caused the blinds to come down on the side of the enclosure nearest the house.  The one on the left was broken to pieces and plastic bits were flying over the house and into the front yard!

We called our handy friends, Dean and Bonnie, and Bonnie came up with this solution.

And it latches when it is fully down so that the wind can't catch it and blow it all over the place.  Fabulous!

Two words

False. Pregnancy. <sigh>

Anticipation!

It won't be long now!

 Cherry pulled fur today to line her nest!

Palpation was a dismal failure for me.  I read the instructions carefully, noting that I shouldn't mistake the intestines for the uteri, etc., but I couldn't feel anything!  It might as well have been a big hollow void.  I told Cherry she apparently didn't have any internal organs so she was a miracle bunny!  I will need help from an experienced breeder to learn this, obviously. :-)

Quality time with the herd

I just spent some time hanging out with the buns in the exercise pens today.  They like to climb in my lap; get up on their hind legs, put their front paws on my shoulder and sniff around my face; eat dried fruit treats from my hands; and play chase games around behind my back.  Grace was fascinated with the camera today so she was getting right up in the lens.  Truly, the camera does not do her beauty justice.

(Trying to eat the camera cord.)

Wool Harvesting

Today we harvested wool from Grace, Breeze, Lizzie, and Ray.  Lizzie is the only one with her adult coat but all four were molting so we gathered from everyone.  We blew their coats out with the blower, I brushed out the few remaining mats, then I plucked while Drew put the wool in boxes.  We have a new grooming table so I can stand while plucking, which is better for my back and easier to reach all the way around the bunny.

Ray, right before we started cleaning him up

It took us about an hour and a half but we had a lot of wool collected by the end.  A lot was on me as well.

Fuzzy!

Today was also the day to "palpate" Cherry to check to see if she is indeed pregnant.  You are supposed to be able to feel little grape-sized bumps in the abdomen but even veteran breeders can't always tell so the fact that I felt nothing means very little.  If it didn't take, we have a second breeding date planned before winter sets in.

Breeding Day at the Rabbitry

This time, with careful planning, Drew and I bred Ray to Cherry.  We bred them this morning at 6:00 am and then again in the evening, at about 5:30 pm.  The first time, we put Cherry in Ray's cage for a few minutes.  As seems to be usual, Ray was a little confused about which end he needed to be at to get the job done.  I reached in and turned Cherry around for him.  This afternoon, we put them together in one of the outdoor exercise pens.  He still didn't get it right at first but Cherry had room to turn around on her own.  Then we let them spend a little time together as the bucks don't get to spend time with other rabbits because they only want to mate or fight, depending on gender.  Cherry groomed his face and he followed her around and laid down next to her.  Here are a few pictures, although it was difficult because Cherry was on the move.

I'm Bored!

Looks like someone is in need of a new toy...

Goals met!

We got all the new cages built and stacked.  

I washed all the food and water dishes, all the ceramic tiles left over from the hot weather and the two old cages, which are now drying on the lawn.  My hands smell like bleach!  We have started adding Bragg's apple cider vinegar with "the Mother" to the water as it is supposed to have quite a few nutritive advantages as well as lessening the ammonia odor of the urine.  In addition, I started adding Manna Pro Sweet PDZ to the waste trays as that also absorbs the ammonia odor.  We also added  tags to the cages, identifying the occupants, for those times when we are away and have someone caring for them.

Because we spend every day with them, they don't look alike to us, but they sometimes do to others.  I imagine if we had a few more fawn rabbits, it might get difficult for us as well. :-)

Condos

We finally made the move to separate Breeze and Grace.  They have gotten so big in such a short time and we were ready to tackle stacking cages.  It didn't take very long and, voila!

As I was trying to figure out how to get the slides for the waste tray on, I did smash my finger so there was some swearing but only then.  Otherwise, Drew and I put it together without tears and recriminations. :-)

So many things to learn!

Drew and I went to the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan August 14-16.  We attended an all-day workshop with Colleen Boyd, a long-time Angora breeder.  She brought in about 20 rabbits of all different Angora breeds so we could see the differences.  She covered all the basics of housing and feeding.  We covered sexing and breeding.  She even mated a pair of black Giant Angoras while we were there!  Mr. Bunny was so eager, he started at the wrong end.  Colleen got her turned around though and there was a successful mating. :-)

We got to practice cutting out mats in the wool and she demonstrated shearing with clippers.  She blew out the coat of a white Giant that she plans to take to the national show in Texas.

Some of the most important practice was in picking up, flipping over, and carrying the bunnies in a football hold.  We can now look forward to far fewer scratches (me, because I don't wear gloves) and a lot more confidence that we will keep control without hurting our darlings.

It's been hot...

We put ceramic tiles in the freezer and then put them in the rabbit cages for them to lay on.  We've been going through a lot of them so I cleaned off these 15 and put them out in the sun to dry.  That took about 10 minutes. :-)

You can see Ray has decided not to use his today.

Moving out of Mom's House

Today is weaning day for Breeze and Grace!  We put wheels on their cage and then tattooed their ears.  These are our first attempts at tattoos and, boy, did the tattoos turn out bad!  I rolled the bunnies up in towels and had Drew hold them.  I warned him that they were NOT going to like this procedure but nothing prepared him for the wriggling and writhing so I may just say that the tattoos look great for someone who did them blindfolded. :-)  I do have quite a lot of tattoo ink under my left thumbnail, which will teach me to wear gloves next time.

It was another hot day so we provided everyone with ceramic tiles from the freezer and frozen water bottles to lie against.

I also shot a short video to mark the occasion.  I forgot the video function only works on the horizontal so the very first part is sideways.

We will move one of them out to her own cage in a couple of weeks, once they get used to being away from Mom.  That's how we did it with Cherry and Lizzie when they first got here and it seemed to work out OK.   Besides, I think Drew is tired of putting together cages right now.

Cage #5

Drew and I put together a cage to move Breeze and Grace into next weekend.  They will be ready to be weaned on August 3. Our first three cages were from Bass Equipment.  This one and the one we put Ray in are from KW Cages.

The KW cages have urine guards, which Drew is installing here.  They also have a door that opens outwards and to the left rather than inwards and from the bottom like the Bass cages.

 I like the KW cages better but I'm not sure about the waste trays set up.  I'm experimenting with stacking them as we will need to stack cages this winter when we wean Cherry's planned litter.

Here's a picture of Ray enjoying exercise time in the outside pen.  I absolutely love the tortoiseshell coloration.  I spent a few hours yesterday poring over a book on rabbit coat color genetics.  I think we might like to specialize in torts.  There are at least 51 color varieties recognized for French Angoras and I have been collecting photos of the different ones to see what is out there but we already have some good foundation stock for torts so I am leaning that way.

New Family Member

Drew and I went to the Between the Lakes Rabbit Club Summer Show at the Sheboygan Lakers Ice Center.  We looked over a few bucks that were available for sale and settled on this handsome young fellow, a chocolate tortoiseshell.

Drew has named him Ray and we plan to breed him to Cherry this fall.  My offspring color predictor says that about 60% of the litter would be chocolate torts and 20% would be lilac torts, so we expect some beautiful babies.

What a difference a week makes!

These babies have grown so fast.  The nest box has been removed and they are eating regular food with Mom all the time.  Mom is out of the cage for some much needed exercise and R&R so I got a few shots with Breeze and Grace by themselves.

I'm ready for my close-up.

I am adorably pudgy...

Beautiful girls...

The mosquitoes have been terrible so I have been brushing Antonio in the enclosure.  He sits quietly on my lap and just basks in the attention.  What a pleasant way to spend a summer evening...

Day 19

With some help from the vet, we have tentatively identified the babies as does.  This could be wrong as they are still very young but Drew named them anyway.

Grace

Breeze

The boys took Breeze to the vet on Tuesday because the vet thought it was probably an infection on her leg.  We have been giving her antibiotics twice a day plus a warm compress five minutes twice a day.  The lump was not showing improvement so I called the vet again on Saturday and took her in to have a sample of the fluid in the lump cultured and to get a laser treatment.  The lump does seem smaller today.  She has full use of the leg and accepts her treatment without a fuss so we hope that she is better soon.  

The babies are eating food with Mom now.

And they pose for pictures.

Drew and I are headed for a weekend in Iowa visiting family so we had two friends come today to learn how to take care of the bunnies while we are gone.  Everyone was on their best behavior.  Lizzie and Cherry were very polite and went out for exercise without a fuss and then jumped back into their cages when exercise time was over.  Lizzie showed her feisty side a little by pushing at them with her front paws and hissing at them.  She never wants to go in the carrier but she behaves once she's in there.  She did herd the babies behind her to protect them when a stranger wanted to get his hands on her.  She did the same thing when she saw Otis outside her cage yesterday.  He had sneaked in behind me when I went in the enclosure and was looking at the babies.  I shooed him out but not before Lizzie had gotten them into the corner behind her.  Very good mama!

So proud!

I had a particularly long day at work yesterday.  I left at 8:15 am and got home at 9:20 pm.  Drew came out and told me that he had observed that the fawn baby seemed to be having trouble with its back left leg.  He had checked it out and said there was a lump on the leg. He wanted me to come out with him and give him my opinion.  We did and it looks like an insect bite centered in the knee joint that is extremely swollen and causing it to drag a bit while hopping around.  It used the leg to scratch its ear while we watched so I think it will be OK.  We'll check with the vet when they open up this morning.  I'm proud because Drew is taking his responsibilities seriously and being diligent in caring for his rabbits.

Day 13

Baby bunnies are ticklish!

Day 12

Drew and I have been handling the babies every day so they will be well-socialized.  They still sleep a lot but they are bigger every day.  Grooming has become very important to them.  They are constantly grooming themselves and each other!

I've been examining the color of the darker one and I think it is what is called chestnut.  It definitely isn't black.  I plan to post this picture on the Angora Rabbits group on Facebook and see what the group consensus is.

Day 8

The babies have a fine coating of fur now and they get visibly bigger every day.

Drew took the girls out to the kennel with Milo for exercise and we spent time with the babies.

They're fun to watch now but it will really be great when their eyes open.

Day 3

Bunnies grow fast!  Already their little ears are starting to stick up.

Mom keeps dumping them out of the box and Drew and I keep putting them back in.  They burrow down to cardboard.  Thankfully, it is very warm out.

Babies?!

So my husband calls me at work, about ten minutes before the end of my day, and says, "Can you come home right away?" I said, "Yeah, sure, why?" "Because we have baby rabbits." "What?!"  "Lizzie had babies."

About a month ago, Drew accidentally left Lizzie's cage unlatched while Antonio was out having exercise.  When he went back out to put Antonio back in his cage, he found Antonio and Lizzie sitting side-by-side in her cage.  I feared the worst but Lizzie was only five months old so I thought, "Maybe not."  Yeah, I was wrong.

I'm calling this one Thing One

And this one, Thing Two.

Mom dumped them out of the box during the night, so I had to put them back in.  That's why I could get the pictures I did above.