Saturday, June 4, 2011

Bunny Love

In bunny news we've had a very successful breeding season. We have never bred this many does before, nor had this many litters. It's nice to be able to be really picky about the stock we keep, and Jacob's getting really good at picking those out.  We've also had some really strange things happen this season.  We've had 2 black babies born with incorrect eye color.(BLUE! They are BEAUTIFUL regardless!!)  And we also had a first time mom get a little obsessive about cleaning and chewed off part of her babies ear. (It's hard to get upset at them for "loving" their babies so much. Some of them are just a bit OCD about it.)   So while this boy can't be shown, he can stick around for breeding stock.  We've named him Crack, because as his ear grows, the "crack" in it gets deeper.  He's a bit homely looking, but is very sweet. And it's never hard to pick him out from his litter mates! It was actually just tiny little "notch" when he was little, but as his ear has grown, so has the crack.




It's the first of June and we have already lost 2 juniors to the heat. It may be a very long summer. Both these were from a Californian litter. Rabbits are very intolerant to heat and will check out pretty fast.

Danny braved the high winds over Memorial weekend and shimmied up the tree to get on  the roof to install a soaker hose on the bunny barn roof.   We had plans to re-roof in white tin, but that just didn't happen.  Water on a metal roof will drop the temperature down quite a bit. Last year we used a sprinkler on one side  and it knocked it down 5-8 degrees. We are hoping with it running down both sides it will help even more. We normally use frozen water bottles in their cages, but seeing as how our freezers are full of FOOD, and we don't really have the room to freeze the number we need, we will only be doing that for the buns OUTSIDE of the barn. Summer time with rabbits is a yucky time.

 Jacob stood guard, promising he'd come get me if he thought an ambulance was needed. He also attached different tools with rope and Danny would hoist them up.  Sometimes--SOMETIMES boys are smart! ;)


 Gotta keep one hand on the hat at all times.

This probably should have waited until a different day, but he got it up and it works like a charm. I'm sure we will be trying it for real sooner than we'd like.

We've got a big show coming up in just a bit over a week!! It feels like it's been FOREVER since we've been able to show.  Jacob's got a lot of youngsters to get on the table and some of them are looking pretty nice. It will be nice to catch up with our rabbit friends as well!

5 comments:

Tonia said...

WE do the frozen water bottles. Usually 2 liter soda bottles but the juice bottles that are squared a little more dont roll around the cage and work really well!... Thankfully they also have a bunch of shade in the hottest part of the day.
Our new rabbits havent been successful yet. One was eating her babies and the other pulled hair and everything but no sign of babies! I sooo want to get meat rabbits!!

Unknown said...

I had no idea that rabbits were so high maintenance in the summer! I don't do heat well either...can I come live in your bunny barn?

Becky said...

Hey Tonia--do you think she retained her kits? We've never had that happen but I wonder since she pulled hair. Usually if they have a false pregnancy its halfway between conceiving and birth.
The soaker hose has kept the barn between 85 and 90 and it's 105 here today. It's working well!

Rhonda said...

Aww, I hope "Crack" will be a good bunny for you regardless. :) I didn't realize how rabbits were so intolerant of heat. Hope the sprinkler works for you.

Melanie said...

Have you thought about moving Jake to the bunny barn and the bunnies to his room?? Just a thought. .it's only for a few months!! I'm feeling really bad for the campers and helper today with 100+ degree heat on the way. .as I enjoy the AC!!