Button's and LE's Babies...

I took some pictures of Buttons and her babies this evening.  They're all doing extremely well and Buttons is doing a splendid job with keeping her babies in good health.

 

 

Her babies seem to have extremely nice coats on them. 

 

LE on the other hand...well, her baby died.  LE pulled her baby outside into the screened in area with her, causing the baby to become too cold.  Her baby actually died 3 days ago, but I was just too depressed with it until now to post about it.

 

I've been keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't get mastitis...however I'm hoping this doesn't stop her from being a good breeder.  Things like this can cause a female to be unable to tend their future litters in the same way again.

 

Anyway, I just really wanted to get a post up for you and also to let you know about the situation with LE's baby and Button's litter. 

 

 

Rascally Rabbits

Bunnies...some days you love them and others they just seem to need an endless amount of time spent tending them, loving them, etc. 

This year has been hard, what with the bear and everything else that followed.  However, I will not be pushed down by this.  It's okay to actually work for what you want.  I wanted to raise rabbits and so I do the work that comes along with it.  Totally fair. 

So to anyone who wants to start raising rabbits, I would say definitely DO it!!! You will NEVER regret it.

Well...you might regret it upon occasion, but if you really love bunnies you won't mind taking the time to raise them and love them.

They are anything but gross, which is a HUGE plus! So much better raising rabbits then say chickens. 

You would actually be surprised as to how much fun it can be just watching the rabbits.

Lots of times after I've tended them all and cleaned a few cages, I just hang out and watch them.  Some sleep, others groom themselves or their babies...some run around and act all crazy! 

You get to know all the different personalities and quirks each rabbits has.  And it is SO much fun doing that!  So to anyone considering raising rabbits....Do it.  It literally is an adventure with which you will learn a little more about God's creation and how beautiful it is. 



 

The Right Temperature

New born rabbits until their eyes open need to be at a consistent temperature of around 90 degrees at all times. 

You obviously could keep track of this with the use of a thermometer.  And when I first started raising rabbits, I didn't know other than using the thermometer how to tell if they were warm enough or too warm or what!

And it's really neat, because after doing it for a little bit, all I have to do is touch the baby and I know whether it's too cold, too hot, or just right.

It's a really cool thing to be able to know.  And with LE's single baby, I keep going out and making sure it's not too hot with the heat lamp, but also that it's not too cold when it goes into one of the corner's of the hutch.

So basically, if you have a litter for the first time and aren't sure how warm the babies are supposed to be, the answer is 90 degrees.  And if you keep raising rabbits, you'll soon be able to just feel them to know how those babies are doing.

Baby Pictures

I took some pictures of LE and Button's babies this morning.  They're so sweet!

This picture is of LE eating next to her baby and showing you the heating lamp which is keeping the lone baby warm

Close up of LE's baby

Then here are Button's 5 babies.  Four are spotted and one is all black.

So as you can see, currently all the babies are doing very well and are being well tended by their mothers.  Button's didn't appear as perky as normal, so I gave her some dandelions to help keep her healthy.

Then there's my male Oreo.  He was my first male rabbit ever and quite frankly, he couldn't stand me and I didn't trust him.  But over time I completely won him over.  I got a rabbit who wouldn't let you even pet him to a bunny who I can now pick up and hold.

Sadly though, Oreo was old when I got him.  I know what you're thinking and no...he's NOT dead.  However, he does appear to be slowing down lately.  That's why I'm raising up Chuck.  Chuck is one of Oreo's and he is to replace Oreo in the breeding department.

Oreo truly is a beautiful rabbit, but you always have to be ready for mother nature to take its course and so I'm raising Chuck. 

Now, I'm not saying Oreo's going to die any day now...definitely not! In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he lives for another year! However, he's really old and is slowing down so this is just to be on the safe side and have a back-up male. 

New Births

So Friday evening, my female Buttons had 7 babies.  This is her second litter and the father of the babies is Dustin. 

Sadly though, one baby was a still born and then another one was not fully developed.  When I had gone out she had literally JUST had her babies.

The one who wasn't fully developed was still in his sack with the placenta and everything.

Then this afternoon, my other female LE had 1 baby.  Yep, that's right and no, that wasn't a typo.  She seriously only had ONE baby.

I had to set up a heat lamp to help keep this single baby warm since it lacks siblings to snuggle up to.

Then from my bunnies on the porch, there are only 6 left.  The 2 Lion Heads, 2 albino's, and then the black and white and the caramel colored one.   2 of the albino ones passed away this weekend.

My other rabbits are all doing well.  They keep me very busy!  Taking care of them, the puppies, doing school and now having this summer cold...I'm definitely occupied doing one of these things at all times. 

Still Here!

  I'm still here...so don't stop reading!

 I know...it's been a little bit since my last post, but I promise, I'll have one up tomorrow with pictures and some information on what has been going on with the rabbits these past few days.

So sit tight and I'll have a post for you really soon!

My Current Females

Like I promised, here is an updated version of the females I now have...

Pumpkin

Cottontail

Dadooshka

LE

Buttons

Kayla (Lion Head)

Ruby

Pocahontas

(currently unnamed)

(currently unnamed)

(currently unnamed)

And then I actually have a new male addition...

Charles (Chuck)

So there you go.  Those are the females I now have.  And also my newest male addition.  The last 5 not including Chuck are all young but will be able to breed as of January 2015.

Tomorrow...

I've been thinking and it seems to me that I've been doing a lot of selling and raising up of female rabbits.

And while I know which ones I've sold or have died and which ones will now be my breeders, you don't. 

So tomorrow (if it's not raining) I'll go out and take some pictures of all my females and update that for you! :)

Oh, and my siblings and I made a video using one of the puppies in it.  If you'd like to see it, you can check it out by hitting this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_JETqOYD0g

And once again, we've made a totally separate blog that's just for the puppies! So if you'd like to see more of them, you can by hitting this link: http://lovethosepuppies.blogspot.com/

Fireworks and Bunnies

So, the other night we decided to shoot off some backyard fireworks for fun.  Before hand though we took the baby bunnies inside and off the porch to prevent terrifying them.

We all sat on the porch and my brother would light them and set them off.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and everything was going really well!  I had filmed a bunch of them going off and decided to put my camera away for a little bit.

Then my brother decides he's going to set 2 off at once.  So while he's lighting them, one falls over facing us who are all sitting on the porch.

They start going off, very small at first...then all of a sudden, this massive missile-type sound goes off and these big sparks start exploding and all shooting at us!

My younger sister dove behind some chairs, my parents scrambled to get up and out of the way and I almost fell out of my chair trying to get away from the oncoming sparks.

It didn't last long, but it definitely added some interest to the evening! We all had a good laugh about it.

And this afternoon I sold the other male who I had bottle fed as a baby a few months ago.  I got some last pictures of him before he went to his new home...

 

So there you have it.  Saturday my 2 females Buttons and LE are due.  I moved them into nesting-boxes this morning.  They will be the last litters for 2014.  I'm going to give them all a break over winter and begin again early 2015. 

 

And I've decided to keep Pumpkin's only baby left.  Even though it's a male, he's extremely beautiful and I'm hoping his coloring will continue with his kits. 

 

 

Porch Boarders

So my little porch bunnies have been doing really well!  At first they were extremely resistant to being bottle fed, but now they come running up to you looking for some formula.

They were just hanging out, napping so I took a few pictures of them.

 

Because they're outside, they seem to be attracting quite a number of flies.  So I got a thin blanket and secured it over the top to keep the flies off and away from the babies.

 

The lion head's sitting in the middle of the food!

 

 

Even though the Lion Heads are older than the others, they all get along really well!  We were getting confused about which white bunnies had eaten and which had not, so we put a little sharpie on their ears to tell them apart. 

 

One white bunny is plain, one had a dot, one had a stripe, and one has a star.  It works well and it doesn't bother the babies at all.  I'm actually extremely pleased with how well things are going with them.

 

And a side note, I found homes for Lucky, Piper and Scarlet.  They are in good place.

Exciting News!

I'm super excited because a few months back I was in a homeschool speech class.  One of the classes we had to write a persuasive speech and then give it. 

Well, I did and it went exceptionally well! I changed it to be more like an article and had it published!!! Here's the link to my "Raising Meat Rabbits" article: http://mollygreen.com/blog/raising-meat-rabbits/

I'm so excited!! These people have been so wonderful and so I HIGHLY recommend checking out there stuff too!

A New Look

Life is precious, in all forms.  Microscopically small or majestically large, life is life and every bit of it was created by God our loving and generous Creator. 

 

Here are the babies we are now bottle feeding.  Six of them were Jazz's, then the other 2 are actually Olivia's.  Olivia passed away the other day.  I will cover her death in more detail some time in the near future.

 

They're all living in an old baby crib which is currently outside on our porch.  They're gathered around the side of the bowl which has some pellets in it. 

 

These two were just hanging out in the corner grooming each other.

 

So, while it's extremely hard to lose a rabbit...especially when they have young, un-weaned babies; it's all part of God's design.  He never gives us more than we can handle.  I know I can raise these babies and I will, like I have done in the past.

The End of Jazz

Two days ago I was outside, nice Friday morning, laying on the driveway with my dog just enjoying life.  My mom opens the window and is talking to me.  All of a sudden, our female dog and mother of the puppies comes running over to me from the rabbit area.

I didn't really think that much of it until I went out to do the rabbits a little bit later.  The area the dog had been in was a section where only my female rabbit Jazz could see her. 

I opened up Jazz's hutch only to see her and 2 of her babies laying dead.  The connection? Just like when the bear came through and caused havoc, the sight of the dog terrified Jazz, causing a heart attack and then death. 

Obviously, the same happened to the 2 babies.  So...I'm now bottle feeding her remaining 6 babies who turned 3 weeks old exactly today.  To keep them close to us, they are in a crib, living on our porch now. 

Jazz...

My female Jazz who's litter was only 19 days old died along with 2 of her babies yesterday.  I'll post more about it tomorrow.

Beach n' Bunnies

Yesterday you may have noticed I didn't post anything.  It was actually because we drove down to the beach for the day. 

It was a lot of fun!  My dad stayed home to watch the puppies.  He was going to take care of the rabbits as well, but I took care of them before we left so he wouldn't have to worry about that.

We got there, stuck on our suits, and enjoyed the waves for at least an hour before we got out to go find some dinner.

There was this little pizza shop that we went to with our family who we met down at the beach.

After that, we headed up to the boardwalk!

For those of you who haven't gone to the beach before, it's so much fun!  You can smell the salt in the air and seagulls are all over the place.

There's this store along the boardwalk that we stop at every single time we visit the beach without fail.  It's called "Old Salt" and they sell hermit crabs there.

As you see the picture on the right, that is a genuine, honest-to-goodness hermit crab!

We always get at least 2 hermit crabs every time we go to the beach from this store.

We got there and were looking at all the options they had...and quite honestly, they didn't have a very good selection.

For those who never buy hermit crabs, you can buy small crabs, medium crabs, large crabs, x-large crabs, and jumbo crabs.

The small crabs are about the size of a quarter and the jumbo's are about the size of a baseball.

I was hoping to get a jumbo crab, but they didn't have any available at that time.  And I didn't feel like getting a small one just because it's a hermit crab.  So, seeing as to how they didn't have any jumbo crabs and I already have my rabbits which keep me very busy; I decided not to get any.

Surprisingly, my siblings found out I didn't want one and they chose not to get any either. Consequently, we came home for the first time from the beach without any hermit crabs.

So, over all, it's probably a really good thing the rabbits keep me as busy as they do, otherwise I would definitely have gotten a hermit crab last night!  But it was still a ton of fun.  We ended the night with some frozen custard and headed back to our home.

Feed

A friend of ours got a new chest freezer and asked us if we wanted their old one.  We use it now up by my rabbits.

We spray painted it black so that it is not an eye-sore.

In the back where it would usually have wires coming out to plug it in, we filled with foam so that mice and other critters wouldn't be able to get in and eat grain.

Not only does it store things for us, but we actually enjoy sitting on it and just watching the rabbits.

I know...sounds really 'hillbilly', right? Well, it works amazingly well!  And you'd be surprised as to how many people can fit on it at once.

Inside is were we store everything...

(this would be looking from above directly into the opened freezer)

Inside the rabbit's feed bag I have an old coffee container which I use as a scoop!

Then on the left side I have my 40lbs bag of Diatomaceous earth with a hand shovel.

In the back-right hand corner is this old milk container which holds special doe feed for when my females are pregnant.

The other things you saw in the picture? Well, the bag in the front-right hand corner is chicken feed and then the blue basket type thing with white inside it is actually used to hold hay when I have expecting females. 

So as you see, this freezer keeps the feed, hay and Diatomaceous earth from getting wet; while it also keeps critters away from and out of the feed.  Not only that, but with it tightly kept away, there is no scent to attract bears and other large creatures to my rabbits. 

So, while the freezer may appear back-woodsish and out of place, it actually is extremely helpful and does a wonderful job keeping everything fresh, dry, and scent-free!

Rain and Rabbits

It poured ALL day long yesterday.  Since early in the morning until late at night the rain just kept coming down.

I kept waiting for it to either stop or for there to be a lull that I could go and take care of my rabbits in.

I waited until 6 in the evening.  Still nothing but a down pour. 

My brother and I ran out and of course...we were soaking wet before we even did anything with the rabbits.

And...there's just something about doing the rabbits in the rain that makes it really hard to tend them.

I mean, it's always easiest to take care of something in perfect conditions, but when you're soaking wet with rain pouring down and you're losing daylight, things become much harder. 

With rain, you're now concerned about making sure the feed bag containing all that food stays dry, otherwise it will mold.  Also, every time you touch a rabbit, the fur sticks to your hands and gets all over you.

Needless to say...it was not the most fun I've ever had taking care of the rabbits.  However, it definitely motivated my brother and I to feed and water the rabbits much faster than we normally otherwise would!

Some Information...

Just a quick thing - if anyone is interested in some sites that I enjoy and/or follow, there are links to them on the right hand side.  Click the words: "Blogs I Follow" and it will take you right to a page with the links on them.

Puppy Bath Time!

We gave all the puppies baths yesterday.  That being said, we set up stations to help get it done quickly and efficiently.  My mom washed the puppies and their bandana's, then my brother dried the bandana's and I dried the puppies.

Marley was up first.

We used a blow dryer to dry the bandana's.

Then we dried the puppies with towels!

(This is Cutter)

Marley needed a little help getting dry, so my brother used the blow dryer on him a little bit

(Cutter)

Then this is the litter girl after she'd been washed and was getting dry.

Once they had all gotten cleaned, they were exhausted!

So now we have clean puppies who are super cute, super soft, and smell really nice!  (we'll see how long the smelling nice part lasts :))