growing bunnies

These bunnies sure are growing up fast. They have double in weight in 5 days! All eyes are now open except one of the white ones, he keeps closing up. I flush his eye with warm water and artificial tears occasionally and it seems to be helping. Since one of the white ones jumped out of the nest box the other day I decided it is time to ditch the nest box. It is recommended to take it out between 12 and 18 days anyways. The risk of eye infections go up and they pee and poo so much now that it starts to become unsanitary. I placed a small board in the cage so they have an area that they can get up off the wire if they choose, the open wire bottom cage doesn't seem to be bothering them at all though.So as you all know now these cute things are not angora. They are a cross between jersey woolies and something else, maybe angora. they will make great pets though. I have decided to sell them all except the one I promised Genevieve. I may also keep Annabell as a pet too because she is such a good girl. I have plans on getting a french/german angora buck and a french doe this saturday in harrison if all goes well. I will write another post about them later on. I have added a video on my facebook page of the little guys playing around. i tried to load it on here but it was taking way too long.

A hiccup for my angora farm

The hiccup being I don't have angoras! They may be an angora cross though but either way I can't start a business raising mutts. I started doubting myself when Arthur's wool was not growing any longer. I started doing a liitle research on genetics and I learned a little bit more on the breed standard for French angoras. I emailed a nice lady from spang angora in new York. I sent her some pics and she told me they were not purebred angora and may be crossed with jersey wooley. The weight standard for French angora is 8-10 lbs and when I weighed my rabbits they were only 5.5 and 5 lbs. This was and still is very upsetting. I have bonded with these guys and their litter and a part of me doesn't want to sell them. What I want is purebred french angoras and I don't have money or space to keep these guys and what I really want. I don't know what I was thinking just taking a person's word on their breed.I now have some real cute PET bunnies not fiber animals for sale.
I will be purchasing a breeding pair of purebred French angoras in the future. I will pay good money for them but they will be the real deal.I also am looking into becoming a member of the ARBA, the American rabbit breeders association. I will go into more details at a later time and I also will be updating you on my bunnies progress soon.

One week old

Well Annabell did a great job this first week.The first 24 hours were scary for me because I was afraid some were not getting fed but everyday since then there has been eight full round little bellies.The fur is growing,the gray one has turned brown and the black one appears more gray,the pink is all gone and replaced with beautiful white fur. They have grown so much, I see a change every day. I bought a scale to weigh them and also to weigh the angora wool since you sell it by the ounce.Last Saturday the babies ranged from 1.4 to 2.3 ounces or close to it I forget exactly but I did write it down.Five days later i weighed them again and my runt is 2.5 ounces and miss piggy is 4.3ounces. One concern I have that may be normal is they don't keep covered up anymore in their nest.They still pig pile on each other so they have that warmth but nothing on top of them.I am probably over thinking this, I mean rabbits were having babies long before my time.if anyone has some awesome b names they want to share let me know.I have some ideas but I won't be naming them for a few more weeks. I want to get to know their personalities first and hopefully their sexes also.I will be selling some,will not be till April but if anyone is interested let me know or check out my ad in uncle henrys online.

one week old bunnies

Bunnies!!!!!!!

just a few hours old

This morning when I woke up I was very excited to go check on Annabell because today is her due date.When I went downstairs I was thrilled to see 8 baby bunnies! thats right 8! I only took a quick peek but they were all alive and squirming.It looks like most will be white,some white with specks and one is almost entirely black.Some of the kits are much smaller than others so I am afraid that I will lose some.I will be keeping my fingers crossed though.Arthur was spazzing out running back and forth in his cage and grunting, not usual behavior. He was clearly upsetting annabell so I put some cardboard up so she couldn't see him. I hope he doesn't upset her too much I don't want to think about what she might do. Later today I will cut up the fur she added because angora wool is so long the bunnies could get twisted in it, lose a leg or strangle themselves. If I cut it up into smaller pieces it will be safer for them. I have added a photo of them. It is not a great one because I was so excited and trying to walk on egg shells around momma.The bunnies pig pile on each other so that is why you may not be able to see 8 but they are in there.

Spinning

this is store bought sheep wool that has been dyed.This is what i am practicing on.

I had my first lesson this past Sunday with Sharon.She lives just down the road from me and has a fiber farm with Icelandic sheep.Starting with sheep wool is recommended because angora is so fine it is not as easy to learn on.I am learning on a drop spindle,a spinning wheel is much more complicated and expensive for beginners.The idea of spinning with a drop spindle is easy I think but getting the wool to come out all uniform like the yarn you see in stores seems impossible to me now.This is where lots of practice will come in.
In return for the drop spindle and lessons,I gave Sharon The 10 week old bunny,Ashley. Her name is now princess Anastasia and I can visit her whenever I want.I am not that upset since I know she has a good home and will be used for fiber,but Genevieve on the other hand is down right devastated.I promised her pick of the litter,even though this litter I was going to use all b names,her bunny will be named Ashley again.