Monday, July 27, 2009

Culling Hard.

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Mom and I are continuing with our hard cull. It seems for every rabbit that goes a litter has to be weaned and/or separated! I didn't realize how abundant our summer litters really were until now. Wow.
I've added at least eight more to the sales page and am not sure we're done yet!
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We will be delivering rabbits to the Gardner Kansas show this weekend. Because of limited room in my new rabbit hauler we will only be taking pre-sold or inquired about stock. Please let me know if there is something you'd like to look at so I can try and fit it in. Thanks =)
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Melanie

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Fostering.

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With the breeds we raise it is not uncommon to have to do some nest box juggling from time to time. There are many factors including small litter size, singletons, large litters, inexperienced does and over milking to name a few.
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We have never had a problem fostering babies and even older kits. Here are just three examples.

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A friend had a wooled dwarf she wanted to give us. It was 4 weeks old at the time. We knew that we would not see each other for many months so it was at this show or never. It was decided to go ahead give it a try despite her tender age. We took her home and placed her with a Holland litter that was similar in age. I removed the mother for about an hour and let the babies bond. I replaced the doe and no one seemed to be the wiser.

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When my Cheyenne suddenly passed I had three 2 week old babies that needed fostering. I took one and gave it to a dwarf and the other two went to Dilemma. At first Dilemma seemed to know someone didn’t smell quite right so I took the kits and rubbed nesting material on them and put vet-r-x on Dilemma’s nose. By the next day they were one big happy family, double in size but happy.

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Kaylee, Mom’s favorite otter doe. She had a difficult delivery and only one kit survived. We decided to put the singleton in with Rosita’s litter and give Kaylee a wooly litter because I had sold the doe. Oh, did I mention that the wooly babies were 10-12 days old? Kaylee didn’t even bat an eye and accepted the large furry babies as her own. She seems very proud of her ‘over achievers’ who are already eyes open and running around.

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Don’t underestimate your does mothering instincts and their inability to count!

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Melanie

Friday, July 17, 2009

Summer Sale.

We're having one. I'm tempted to do a Buy One Buck Get One Buck Free sale. Why is the buck to doe ratio always so lop-sided??
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Anyways, we'll be going thru and thinning the herd quite a bit from our abundant summer litters. Watch for a list this weekend. We are thinking about the possibility of delivering to the Gardner Kansas show (August 2nd?) if anyone is interested.
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This morning it was 70 degrees out. What a nice nice change.
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Have a good weekend everyone!

Melanie

Monday, July 13, 2009

Uber Chunk.

Pictured below is a little doe out of Zayla and Zayden. What a chunk she is. These are the best pictures of her I could get, she tried nursing my hand the whole time, the little piggy! What a face she has.

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Below are Slicks first kids. 3 sable martens and 1 sable!
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Hot Fuzz babies!

-A few updated pictures of Cookie Doh. I love her! We repeated the breeding and now have 3 more blue torts! I hope at least one looks as nice as her.


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Melanie
-ps, have added a few hollands to the sales page and will probably be adding a lot more!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Wooly Dispersal Sale

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Sometimes life throws you curve balls. I'm selling my wooly herd. I am undecided on Dilemma and her son that I'm very attached to. Most all my does are on litters but I've made the list non the less. See our sales page for them.
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Thank you,
Melanie

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

No Way...

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Our orange doe Jinger kindled 4 DOA babies on day 28. I was disappointed. It took a little work to get Jinger going and at just over a year old this was only her 2nd litter. The 4 looked a little premature. I removed the nest box and went on. 3 days later Jinger kindled 8 more babies. Yes, 8 more for a total of 12 babies! No way. For those of you wondering Jinger is barely a 3 1/2 pound holland. Mom found them alive and healthy. There was only 1 peanut in the whole litter. Seriously, no way.
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I have 4 sable/sable martens in the box by Slick. Do I even need to mention that I'm excited?!
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I sexed my two wooly litters. A lot of bucks. I am excited that I finally have otters though, both blue and black. I've fallen in love with a blue otter doe and have high hopes for her even though she's too young to even know what her type will be.
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Melanie