Multiplying like Rabbits

At the beginning of April we had two American rabbits, Lavender and Jefferson.  Now we have five total.  I wanted at least a trio, two does and one buck, but when I went to pick up our second doe I couldn't help myself.  I found a breeder in Sun Valley that had 6 week old Californian/New Zealand crosses for sale, $15.  She made me a deal and for $25 I brought two does home.  Adam helped me name them Grace and Stevie.

Grace has slightly darker coloring compared with her sister

Stevie is a little more docile, the sisters currently enjoy sharing a cage

About a week later a woman on Craigslist was looking to unload a Californian buck because of a messy divorce. I thought it might be nice to have a back up stud.  Via text she told me he was five months old.  I was surprised to find him a little small for my taste but rationalized that perhaps he was not free fed, and the constraints of his cage could affect his growth.  His current digs are a big change of pace from the indoor cage equipped with a litter box that he had before.  Now he is sharing the rabbit tractor with Jefferson.  I named the newbie buck Harvey. He has beautiful markings and is gentle when handled.  He has a couple months before his stud services will be needed, hopefully he can pack on some pounds by then.

The size difference is particularly noticeable in this picture of the bucks side by side,  keep in mind Jefferson is a month younger than Harvey

Yesterday we bred Lavender and Jefferson for the first time.  I was apprehensive.  Maybe Jefferson wouldn't know what to do, maybe he would be territorial and attack her... I need not have worried.  As soon as she entered the cage and he got one sniff of her, Jefferson was all about business.  It took a couple mounts, Lavender was playing hard to get.  Finally he succeeded, though he did bite her once to achieve compliance for the final act. I was happy that things had gone so well and then immediately distraught when Lavender did not respond to Jefferson's post-coital kisses. He was hopping around snuffling her face, very sweet.  But Lavender was just lying there eyes closed, breathing alarmingly slow.  Rabbits are known to break their backs easily, maybe Jefferson's loving had been too rough! I yelled for Adam.  I lifted the tractor lid and he whisked her back to her cage. She was lethargic in her cage.  We just left her alone.  Maybe she was just processing her deflowering, physically and emotionally.  An hour later  I checked on her and she was hopping around same as always, whew! Tomorrow we are going to let Jefferson have another go just to confirm the breeding. In about a month we should have a nesting box full of fuzz balls!

All God's Creatures

So much to keep up with, our mini-farm is really coming along and this week we had a SUPER exciting new addition.  American rabbits!

Jennifurr the blue steel doe

Jefferson the white buck

Our beautiful little Americans are just that little. They were born on January 14th and weaned this past week.  I wanted to get them as young as possible so that I could become comfortable handling them before they reached full weight (a whopping ten pounds).  They won't be ready to breed until May at the earliest and until then we will be working on acclimating them and taming them down.  We are planning for a trio but wanted a little diversity so in a month *fingers crossed* we will be going over to Flying Fossil Farm to check out a litter of brand new Champagne D'argents. 

Rosey, Melanie and Betsy our amazing Ameraucana layers

Ken, Candace and Lucy our Muscovies (in the terrible early morning light)

And just because I was out there with a camera I took a couple shot of our other backyard companions.














In other animal news our quail are officially a week old and beginning to feather out.  All four seem strong and are growing fast.  Soon I will have to move them to a larger brooder!

And a larger brooder will soon be an unequivocal necessity. While scoping out quail online I perused many a hatchery, searching for one that did not require the minimum purchase of 50 quail.  I did not have luck with that but I did fall prey to Cackle Hatchery "Cackle Hatchery Surprise".  For $60.95 you get whatever they send you. But... they guarantee a sweet deal.  How could I resist? Only after submitting my order did I have the sense to consult Backyard Chickens (the best farming forum IN THE WORLD).  There was a "Cackle Hatchery Surprise" thread with over 80 pages and I read all of them.  Most people reported 40-42 birds, with a varying assortment mostly, of course of chickens, but with a few geese, ducks, turkeys and guinea fowl thrown in.  One person reported 82 birds were delivered. To my dismay, people said that they requested specifics in the comment section of their order form and most people said that it was honored.  One woman got seven turkeys!  I requested the shipping date of March 31st because according to the hatchery's calendar ducks, geese and turkeys are all available in March and according to my Google search a Thanksgiving turkey needs six or seven months to fatten up.  Part of me hopes that I am that lucky that I get a pair of geese and five turkeys and a dozen ducks and the rest a happy handful of meat chickens, layers and cute bantams.  But the sane part of me yells WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO PUT THEM?!  Luckily I did just buy a dog run (in hopes that we will get a duo of mini Manchas in the future), I guess its time we set that sucker up!