Yesterday, a visit to another rabbit breeder's rabbitry, Jessica's, was fun. We went over most of her bunnies and even bred a few. Hope she got them all written down. Looking over bunnies at shows is nice but in the more relaxed atmosphere of a rabbitry gives you more time to evaluate without distractions. She is working on the black otters a bit.
One of the kits born last week still had the afterbirth attached to the umbilical cord. Bunny midwife time that requires one carefully aimed cut since those little hind legs are just a-motoring. I don't know who squirmed more, me or baby bunny?! I learned in the previous blog mention of the vet's book more about newborns. It's amazing how the umbilical artery shuts off right after delivery. If it didn't, the mother would bleed out. On the kit's "end" of the cord, the arteries on the inside become round ligaments of the bladder and the umbilical vein becomes the faliform ligament of the liver.
Yesterday, a visit to another rabbit breeder's rabbitry, Jessica's, was fun. We went over most of her bunnies and even bred a few. Hope she got them all written down. Looking over bunnies at shows is nice but in the more relaxed atmosphere of a rabbitry gives you more time to evaluate without distractions. She is working on the black otters a bit.
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I just finished reading "While You're Here, Doc" by Bradford B. Brown, a rural Maine large animal veterinarian working in the 1950's and 1960's. He worked with horses, cows, goats, sheep and one abcessed tooth irate monkey. There were a couple of things gleaned from his entertaining stories of farm calls that could relate to rabbits. One was a genetic abnormality known as fetal gigantism. It made me wonder if that is the cause of some does delivering just one huge kit. I'd previously chalked it up to does that hadn't been bred or conceived for some time. That the lack of hormone activity finally kicked in and they'd conceive just a single kit and because it was "alone", it took more nourishment and grew to accomodate the extra space it wouldn't have if it had littermates in there. Kind of like the goldfish in a bowl vs. the goldfish in a pond theory. When the doe finally did have something, it would be one huge kit and then subsequent litters would be fine.
This vet mentions fetal gigantism because of a cow that was way overdue and had a c-section to deliver a 212 lb. calf instead of her normally 100 lb.'er. Holy Nestbox! I'll stick to my Hollands! He stated it is caused by a gene from each parent. Normally each sex contributes a gene which determines the length of gestation or how long the fetus develops in the uterus. Most genes specify the same period of time. In some cases one gene calls for a longer term and is a dominate gene over the normal gestation period gene. When this happens, the fetus grows for a longer period of time. This makes sense except that does delivering a huge kit aren't usually much over their due date or we've attributed a late delivery to the doe having trouble trying to deliver such a big kit. So who knows, but I thought it was interesting. Always is when we read something that we can relate or attribute to our rabbits. Stay tuned to hear of things to do with umbilical cords, pretty interesting stuff. Anyone else with gigantism experiences or thoughts on it? These February temperatures have been great with many days in the mid to upper 40's with very little snow though some snow may arrive later today. It's been a wonderfully mild winter with low snowload. Can Spring be far behind? My Valentine's Day gift from Gary of potted Hyacinths have started to open. Too bad I can't smell the flowers as this week's "gift" he gave me was a cold!
Another sign of Spring has been seeing maple trees being tapped already. It makes you wonder who was the genius that discovered tapping maple trees and boiling the sap down into maple syrup?? Did they have cabin fever and were just bored or someone very industrious? After two unsuccessful tries, Over the Rainbow, delivered two live kits. Her first two litters were doa's delivered over several days, so it pays to keep trying. She is a squawky thing though whenever you open the cage door. I've found that with does like these, once they'd had babies nursing on them and tumbling around after them, they get desensitized to having much bother them anymore. It's fun to see some different color in the rabbitry. A chestnut agouti doe bought last summer was bred to my chin buck. This first timer mom has a sassy litter of three, one blue, one opal and one orange. Thank you to all those that sent Congrats about the BIS and complimented the awards and shadowboxes, either here under comments or by private email.
I'll be cleaning some nestboxes soon so thought I'd share a hint. Save those little wooden crates with plastic netting that tangerines come in (called "Cuties" in our area). They are handy to keep the kits corraled while you change their stinky, damp bedding. Be sure to put down a paper towel in the bottom as the kits surely pee the minute their feet touch unfamiliar territory. Put the kits in the tangerine crate, pull the netting over them. Save out dry/clean momma fur, replace the soiled shavings & fur with fresh. Take care to make quite a concave depression near the back of the box as surely they will want to "bail out" when put back in their fresh, clean nestbox. I don't know what it is but they always seem insulted that you had the nerve to "clean their room" and they want to tumble outside the box immediately. If they are too young to get back in the nestbox unassisted and you wish to keep them in, turn the low end into a corner. Feel free to use any of these hints in your local club's newsletter, just give author credit if warranted. And the OSCAR goes to.... drumroll..... OSCAR. Oops, meant to say, "And Best in Show goes to Cowan's Oscar!!!
This handsome blue tort buck bred by Barry Hustins/Ft. Cowan and happily owned by me was one bouncy bunny yesterday but did sit still enough to show his stuff. Now I reallllly need to get a photo up of him. Oscar, who I bought as a junior, is the pairing of Cowan's Oliver bred back to his mother Cowan's Anne Miller. I repeated the breeding and am really liking his younger brother who is BBF's Orrin on the juniors page. Orrin looks very much like Oscar did as a junior. Oprah isn't the Only One with an "O" list. (Oliver, Oscar, Orrin) The juniors were a bit crazy on the show table (not just mine) but they wouldn't be juniors otherwise, right? They must have been taking their first show day in stride though as they cleaned out all their food while in the carriers for the first time too. I got to stop feeding them Mexican jumping beans I guess. While not always possible, when a club can get into the building the night before to set up, it is helpful to both them and the exhibitors. The show ran well, thank you Sec. Jill, Dee and Chey and we were headed home before 4 p.m. The kitchen had great food. The Shepherd's Pie was homecooked cozy food and as always Janice B.'s Whoopie Pie cake, yummy. Lots of compliments on the awards being something different other than trophies. Wall hanging message keeper boxes with framed bunny print on front, three picture framed message board, glass framed bunny prints, shadow boxes, tapestry bunny pillows, etc. Trophies are nice but winning something you can put in your home that is useful and even non-rabbit people appreciate, even better. Came home to hubby finishing up cleaning small drop pans, so we put the rabbits away, washed up and headed into town for a celebratory dinner. Yeah! Looks like the weather is going to cooperate for tomorrow's show in New Gloucester, mild 40's. Will be packing the van and readying the carriers today. Not as big as the Jan. show, nor as hectic with just 2 shows instead of 3 going on. The Hollands will be happy to go up only twice. Last month I could swear the look Oscar (SSB) gave me when I picked him up for a 3rd time was, "You've got to be kidding me, momma, not the show table again!"
Nice temps yesterday, about 47 degrees, a bonus Feb. day, so thought the bucks too as they had a few "dates" with the does. Decisions, decisions, who goes with who, like a "Friends" episode. A few no brainers and a couple of "let's see what happens". Hopefully in a month, it will be a Christmas day in the rabbitry with litterbox presents. I decided to put two bucks and a doe up for sale at the show. Either buck with the doe will make a good pair being somewhat related. A good idea to help solidify a new gene pool when introducing new animals to your herd. Will be donating a few raffle table items for the show. The show Secretary, Jill Bearce, was smart to add a tag line to her confirmations asking for raffle donations. She also asked people to recheck their entries and make sure ear numbers/classes were correct. It is easier to do it now than at the check-in table. For anyone that hasn't been a show secretary, you can't imagine everything that goes into doing this, most times, thankless job. So be sure to thank the show secretary before you leave the show. Oh, and don't forget to buy raffle tickets! Thanks for the kudos on the Shadow Boxes. They were fun to make and there will be more to come. The Eastern Maine RBA will have Shadow Boxes for Top 5 Best of Breeds in Open at their 4/28 Newport show with some other great awards.
Going over juniors for the CCRBA show this weekend in New Gloucester. Boy, it is tricky trying to figure out who to enter when the juniors are only 3 1/2 mos. old and have baby-static hair. Plus on the grooming table they seem to go from either being super busy not wanting to sit still or scared and not wanting to sit still. Guess they just need more table time. With not a lot of shows this time of year, you almost have to enter a few to give them any junior time show career at all. Several Feb. 1st babies are escaping from their nestboxes, at least their eyes are open but they are too small to hike themselves back up into the boxes. They prefer to chase their poor mommas around. Still trying to decide the color on one of them, opal? Got a blue and orange, haven't had one of those for a long time. Plus an assortment of perennial torts, broken sablepoint, blue tort and broken tort. Here are some other Shadow Boxes I've done for upcoming EMRBA and CCRBA show awards. Click to enlarge a bit to see the details. On the left is a bunny picture surrounded by a collage of buttons, a tiny wooden carved bunny on the bottom right with his own button. Second on left is a bunny card resting on white fluffy snow with a bit of sparkle in it, a thin branch with colored beads in the center to add some color to the white snow. Third from left is a bunny print, bunny chewed branch, award tag on left and beaded branch on right. Last box on right is the Good Friends Shadowbox that has a stenciled bunny weathervane on a piece of fringed linen, on left is a clay bunny imprinted with lace overlay and tiny bird by a friends tag below. I will make a few shadowboxes to sell at the shows for $10-$15. See the For Sale page or check at the Maine shows.
After reading a recent HL Yahoo group question from an exhibitor who had tattooed their rabbit's ear number upside down, thought I'd give this hint. If you are using the clamp style tattoo-er, take a colored piece of paper, fold it over like a lop ear, then lift it like you would to tattoo, place the clamp on it the way you would be handling the rabbit's ear, clamp it then look at the imprint. It shows up better on a colored piece of paper than white paper. You will know if you have the letters/numbers in right side up or not. Take a sharpie marker and make a line on the clamp as a "guide" so you know which side is the bottom.
I've used a Jordan Essentials (formerly Country Bunny Bath & Body) large lip balm to seal over a new tattoo instead of using a QTip with vaseline. The lip balm tube is easier to handle and apply. Their product is softer than usual lip balms that can be too waxy, it goes on soft and smooth. You can wipe out the excess easily. It also contains Vitamin E which promotes healing. It's never easy to lose a bunny. One of my sport ND does (BBF's Alisha) passed away this week after delivering two kits, one doa and one got cold and passed too. We don't know why she died, she didn't hemorrage, but did have a little blood on her mouth. Perhaps she choked on the afterbirth. The previous week, I'd found a cold singleton shortly after a doe kindled it and two doa littermates. I thought it was a goner. I warmed it up some and put it in with a different mom in a litter of two. The other two warmed it up more, it nursed and thrived for 5 days. Then doing a nestbox count one night it was missing and I found it on the floor. It must have hung on when the mom exited the nestbox after nursing, got out on the wire and then went thru the front wire by the food dish and finally to the floor. The other three cage sides have urine guards. But no, Murphy's Law was against this little kit and even with saving it 5 days earlier, it perished anyway. No matter how long you are in rabbits, it still makes the heart sick when you lose bunnies. Each captures your heart in some way.
One of my passions is reading. A great web site that I joined a few years ago is PaperbackSwap. It involves no money, just the media mail rate postage when you send a book out. While it is called a "swap", you can keep any books you receive or repost them. Most books I've gotten are in like-new condition. You can also get audiobooks on this site. It keeps track of a wishlist of books for you, a list of what you've read and there are book reviews to help you decide if you'd like a book or not. A better description of how it all works can be found at the web site. Here is my referral link: http://www.paperbackswap.com/[email protected]
Please use it if you wish to sign up. When you post 10 books, you get credits to use immediately even before mailing a book out. When others request books from you, you mail them media mail and when they receive them, you get a credit. Simple concept, credits in and credits out. They even create the mailing a I've gotten several rabbit themed books and it is a great source for out of print books. A great way to recycle. This time of year when cabin fever sets in, a good book can take you away on a much needed mini-vacation. Finally got some more photos up, two broken senior bucks and yes a few juniors. The jrs aren't mature enough to show but may take one to the CCRBA show in a couple of weeks. Otherwise it is a "show drought" until April in Maine.
New Year's Day I'd gone to an Antique Show at the Armory and bought an old The Adventures of Peter Cottontail children's book published in 1941. It was in pretty rough shape, the hardcover back broken off but the inside was pretty intact. It had a few wonderful color illustrations. I'd recently made some shadowboxes for something different to use for rabbit show awards. This book gave me an idea. I'd take the color illustrations, cut some of the text out and make a whimsical book page inside a shadowbox. I also did a Winter Bunny box placing an actual rabbit knawed-on stick inside. How is that for authentic? Photos below, click on them to enlarge them. There is a bit of glare because of the glass. Love to hear some feedback, email me! Wow, the weather for Feb. is still looking good so far, no snowstorms in the forecast. Good traveling weather for those many folks heading to PA Convention this weekend. Wish I was going but will console myself with a bunch of newborn kits instead. Still may have a late litter to come in but did have one doe that kindled 1/31, a day early. Who could blame her? She was loaded with SEVEN babies, Yippee! It was getting crowded in there and they needed to "upgrade their living space". Let's hope they are the "Magnificient SEVEN" as they are by Cowan's Frasier who was 9th SSB at Convention. I plan to foster off a couple to does with less kits to give this 4+ year old momma a break.
Out of other does due 2/1, five kindled. Yippee again! One first timer who had 3 different colors is a chestnut agouti bred to a chin buck, a few days will tell what colors. One looks to be maybe a chin or even an otter. HINT - Since some nestboxes required a revamping of shavings and hay, found another helpful hint. Whereas the rabbitry furnace blows out warm air near the bottom, I placed a bucket of shavings near it. That way when adding or replacing shavings, they aren't cold straight from the shavings bag. You could also preheat shavings using rice sacks and hot water bottles. Another HINT - If your old barn coat is okay for the home barn but not really good enough to wear to rabbit shows, this is a great time of year to buy a new one. The stores around here have racks of discounted winter coats. Great time to buy one. |
AuthorHoping to share the rabbitry happenings & thoughts. Also HINTS that I hope will help you and your rabbits.
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