Strange Happenings

STRANGE things are going on in my rabbitry. I've got a doe pulling fur like no one's business- she's not even due for another two weeks.

I've got a doe that is 3 days over due, that has pulled herself almost bald with lining her nest. No contractions, no distress, nothing. I can't even tell if she's pregnant.

I've got a doe who I thought I felt a baby in, who made a beautiful nest and has since destroyed it and eaten most of the hay- but still feels pregnant and is 4 days over due.

I've got a doe that has sort of nested and pulled a tiny clump of fur 3 days ago, and made no move since then- also very overdue.

I've had very few retained litters in all the years I've been breeding, so I'm confused over why now! I suppose that today, I'll go through and anyone 5 days or over will get rebred. That will hold true for all the does, unless they seem distressed and I have to intervene. ERGH!

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Update

Oh what a rough week.

We've had 15 DOA babies born. So much for my good luck!

Our pet Netherland Dwarf got his head twisted in the J feeder somehow and was unable to get it back out. We found him near death and through a miracle, I was able to free him. It has been a few days since then and the poor guy isn't moving his back legs well , though his appetite remains good. I think I have a tough decision ahead.

Barbi's peanut passed. It was, of course, the possible broken sable point. We still have 2 blacks, a broken black and a broken black tort though, so I'm thrilled!

Both Holland bucks I had for sale are sold- *sigh* I'm going to miss them.

My wooly babies are looking cute! They have eyeballs now- YAY!

I have two does due tonight and then in the next round, we'll see if Keep's Rabbitry will finally welcome Belgian Hare babies!

Let's see- Ohio is so close! I'm nervous, I haven't been able to groom like I was hoping and several of my entries are looking ROUGH as far as coats go!

Keep's Rabbitry will be changing website hosts/ domain names in the coming weeks, thanks to geocities shuting down their free service. Stay tuned for the new information.

Thanks for all the well wishes guys, I do appreciate it :).

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Gone for a few days

Due to a death in the family, neither blog will be updated for a few days.

Thanks,
Kristen.

More Good News!

I checked on Raleigh's babies today. She's my beautiful black doe who produced Tryon and Burlington.

This girl has taken excellent care of her four babies. They are fat and happy- two REWs, a black...and a black tort! I'm thrilled! It tells me that Forest definitely isn't agouti under his REW coat.

I'm hoping for all does! Well- maybe the black could be a beautiful buck and the others could be beautiful does :). I am just really hoping for a nice replacement for Raleigh.

Barbi's babies are all looking good today :). I can't believe I have ten babies in the rabbitry! More does are due soon :).

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Exciting News

My beautiful Barbi girl kindled my first holland babies in almost a year! She had 5 with Camelot's Gumby, a buck owned by Malena.

I saw two solid blacks, a broken black...what looks like a REW, a questionable baby and what could be a broken sable point. Who knows! I'm just hoping at least one of the babies makes it- they are small little guys!

Barbi is also finally exhibiting color! She could actually end up showable in the near future!

What a great day.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!!

Wishing you a beautiful day :)

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Fly Problems

Summer is coming soon- though you sure can't tell it here today- it's freezing cold and rainy. Blegh.

Anyway, with summer comes flies and where you have animals, you have fly problems! Last year, we tried the Fly Predators.

I can't recommend this. Or rather, I can, but I won't.

We definitely didn't have nearly as many flies. However, we did have these small, winged, BITING bugs. I know the literature says that fly predators won't bother people and I'm not disputing that. All I know is something flourished where there were no flies- maybe it's something the flies normally ate or destroyed. Regardless, we were bitten multiple times by the little bugs that hung out in the rabbitry in lieu of flies. We didn't have any of them the year before, so I dunno where they came from, but I'll take the flies, thank you very much!

I guess we'll go back to our old standby of fly strips this year.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Barn Blind

There are a ton of ways to be Barn Blind- usually when someone says it, they mean they can't see the faults or the common fault in their herd.

I tend to be barn blind in another way- I can ONLY see faults, especially in my hollands. It usually takes a friend slapping me around and saying "Are you CRAZY?" to make me see the whole package.

With the woolies, I'm much more objective, though I can tend towards over looking faults. I'm not sure why I'm 95% better at looking at an animal objectively in the woolies.

I'm hoping that by using my standardized Quality Check System (lol) I can over come both types of barn blindness.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

BABIES!

We have babies! Wooligans Raleigh kindled four and Wooligans Leesa kindled two. I am on cloud 9. So much has gone right lately, I'm almost waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Raleigh was bred to Keep's Forest and Leesa was bred to Hare's Mystic Moon, a beautiful buck with 16 legs who will be available in Ohio.

I'm so thrilled! Out of this round of breeding, 50% of the does have kindled :).

I'm off to pass out on the couch and fight this sore throat. I just had to share that I have BABIES!

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

Triumphs and Disappointments

So many triumphs in rabbits- first litters, first sales, first class wins...if we're lucky, BOB and BIS. So many disappointments too- peanuts, faders, deaths of all kinds in our animals, failure to place, failure to get the animals bred.

Yesterday was a day of triumph for me, as Keep's Burlington took a BOB in Show A and Keep's Forest took BOSB in Show B- along with several class and group wins. I came home to find the holland babies still alive and one actually showing some plumpness to it that marked it as a runt, rather than a peanut.

Today is a day of diappointment. The peanuts died and the runt chilled, the whole litter gone. Empty nestboxes from the does that are due today.

Still, it's not without hope. Two of the four have made burrows in the hay. The holland doe has been started and proven herself to be an excellent mother, even though her babies are gone.

Maybe it's because it's spring.....but things are looking up. :) I'm so happy.

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry

A Litter Born

I can't believe it- I actually had a litter born here today. Lil Bit Farms Zora kindled three holland babies. Unfortunately, I think all three are peanuts, but this marks the first time in nearly a year that holland babies have been born here! I'm ecstatic. Zora made a very nice nest in her nestbox and pulled plenty of fur- she's going to be a GREAT mom.

It seems like it's almost too much to dare to dream, but two of my wooly does (four are due on the 5th) are nesting. One of them, Wooligans Raleigh, is a doe I VERY, VERY much want to get another litter out of. She's had two for me- both her sons have done well on the show table, Tryon even placing at Convention. The other girl, Wooligans Leesa, threw me the adorable Burlington son I have. I had worried Durham wouldn't be able to replace his father, but he's looking better and better every day.

I just can't bring myself to hope I'll get a 50% success rate though! Not yet.

The wind has been blowing incredibly hard- it's knocked over my outside hutch for the second time- this time it actually flipped it 180 degrees.

Thankfully, I don't put the girls outside unless it's warm and no more than a light breeze is blowing. I also take them in at night- so far, this has proven to be the smartest course!

-Kristen
Keep's Rabbitry