litter this spring

litter this spring
curious little things

Sunday, January 30, 2011

preparing for kindling (babies)

Arthur

Annabell

All 3 in their own cage
Ashley
I moved the bunny Ashley, who is now already 9 weeks old, into her own cage last night.After a few minutes of checking it all out she seemed just fine.the cage is right next to her momma and they kissed between cages almost if to say "i'm right here momma".I have been doing a lot of research to learn about the process of kindling(giving birth) and how to prepare for the litter once they are born.I have been preparing myself for the possiblity of her not actually being pregnant, and if she is, the kits dying. It will be rough, but it will be a learning process and it will probably be mother nature's way of saying, "not now". Some breeders take the nest box into their home everyday for various reasons and some let the mother do everything.Either way I have found that as long as the mother is use to you and your scent, there is no problem handling the kits daily.It is actually a good idea since that way you can check their progress and make sure they are eating enough and getting use to you.I will be leaving the nest box right in with the mom since i have a chicken eating dog and don't want a rabbit eating one too.Yes, that's right, for those of you who do not know my dog Bandit opened the incubator and "played" with the day old chick and killed it.My angora's will be staying away from the dog for as long as possible.The next step is to make a nest box either out of metal or wood, I will be using wood or should I say John will be using wood :) He doesn't know it yet but i am in hopes of him building me the nest box.I will be putting it in her cage next weekend with the hopes of a healthy litter by tuesday or wednesday.i have posted some new pics of the three of them in their own cages and some close up's of each of them.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

New adventure

Hey everyone this is my first post in a blog ever!I thought it was time I caught up to the rest of the world.so I have started my very own angora farm.I have one buck named Arthur,one doe named Annabelle and one of their kits named Ashley.they are the cutest things and very fluffy which is good since I will be using their wool.one thing I learned is that all rabbits have fur except angora,they have wool.I have had them since the 10th of January which was also John(my husband)and my 9th anniversary.I can't explain how excited I am and ideas are flowing with all that I can do with them.I recently found a lady that will be teaching how to spin.I can't wait.I am in the market for a drop spindle though.a drop spindle is what u use to spin wool into yarn.of course there is the spinning wheel but I want to start small.the latest excitement is Annabelle may be pregnant!she was bred Jan 11th so 31 days from then we should have bunnies.there is a way to check but when I tried to feel around I couldn't feel anything.I don't think it was because she is not expecting but because I didn't know what I was doing.she has a new found attitude that she didn't have before so I think it's the hormones.I will add photos as soon as I know how:)until next time
.