LionHead Bunnies

So, this afternoon I sold Abbey, along with one of the grey female single maned Lion Heads and Gandalf, the white male single maned Lion Head. 

Abbey will do very well as a 4H project in her new home.  And the other two will be used as breeders by a man I actually sold some Giant Flemish's too a year or so ago. 

Anyway, with Abbey gone, I got to do a deep clean of all 3 sections in that hutch and remove the older single maned lion head out from with all the boys and give her an area of her own.  Also, if she's pregnant (which she very well might be) then she can have her babies by herself in her own area.

Peanuts still hasn't had any babies, but I'm going to wait out another week or so to make sure she really isn't.  When it comes to baby bunnies, it's better to be safe than sorry. 

So there you go, that's what has been happening with my rabbits lately.  Oh! And if you'd like to check out the different sections saying "Male Breeders" "Female Breeders" "Soon-to-Be Breeders" and "Available Rabbits", I've updated all of them.  So be sure and check that out! :) 

Breeding Rabbits

Rabbits are known for being able to breed extremely easily and have lots of babies very quickly. 

I know this is very true in many cases.  However, just like everything else in life, it's never as easy as it sounds.

Just because you have a rabbit doesn't mean it will breed. And just because you put them together to breed, doesn't mean they will react kindly towards one another.

Breeding is a delicate process.  When you first put the two rabbits (and make sure you have a male and female...that's very important) stick around and make sure they don't act violently towards each other.

The male almost never acts violently, he just begins the process.  If one becomes violent, it's most likely the female. 

Once you're sure that they won't attack each other, give them 30 minutes to an hour.  Or, you can do what I do.  I watch them and make sure they do what they're supposed to do at least 4 times.  Four seems to be a lucky number when it comes to getting a nice litter.

I'm hoping in the spring to possibly take a video of the rabbits breeding.  However, until that time you'll be stuck reading.

When rabbits are breeding, you'll see them hop on and off each other many times.  This does not mean the females been bred though.  Only when you hear a grunt from the female after a jerk from the male, then the male will either fall off the back or the side of the female. 

Once this has been done, she's been bred.  But like I said, I like to make sure they do this at least 4 times before removing the female from the male's cage. 

After that, it will only take between 28 - 36 days and you should have a nice litter of bunnies!  I've noticed that all my rabbits have their babies on either day 31 or 32.  But just incase your female has the litter early, you'll want to put her either into a hutch or with a nesting-box by day 28. 

It can be very hard to tell if your female is pregnant.  But with most of my rabbits, I can normally tell when their stomach's dropped. 

So there you have it.  Breeding rabbits is very simple, just make sure your female and male get along well. 

Foddering

Since my last post on fodder, I've managed to grow a fair bit!  I'm hoping to use the first batch either tomorrow or the day after to give to my rabbits.

 

This is from the first batch...it's looking really nice and healthy!

 

 

Then I have two racks, both holding 8 trays worth of fodder growing. 

 

I actually had to stop soaking fodder because I've run out of trays!  I'll start back up once I've used two trays worth of beautiful green :)

 

 Then I have the ninth and final tray in the sink in the basement.  I'm hoping to put it with the others on the shelf once there's an opening.

 

Anyway, there's my fodder update for you!  As you can see, it's doing very well in the basement even though it's freezing outside!  We've been keeping a fire going in the basement fireplace to help keep it a little warmer so that the fodder will continue to grow nicely. 

Honey Water

It keeps freezing over here.  Our entire yard is covered in a sheet of slick ice.  It's been nearly impossible trying to keep the rabbits' water from freezing. 

And I've been trying to think of a way to prevent their water from freezing so quickly.

I know salt would, but it wouldn't taste good.  Sugar wouldn't do it either. 

Then I thought about honey.  Now, honey won't keep the water from freezing.  It won't even help to slow down the freezing process.  However, it would give my rabbits extra calories.

And seeing as to how cold it's been and still is outside, I figured they could use some extra calories! So I added a healthy amount of honey to my five gallon bucket of water and took it up to them.

The rabbits loved the honey flavor!  So, they actually drank more water than they usually would have.  And anything to help keep them hydrated is a good thing.

Not only will they get extra calories and stay hydrated, but honey itself has many wonderful aspects to it.   It has many medicinal purposes and helps prevent many illnesses.

I figured that adding honey was a win-win!  I still have to pop ice blocks out of their bowls everyday, but I'm just happy I've come up with something that will keep them healthy. 

I actually had a bunny, Ruby who had a cut on her lip.  After having the honey water it healed right up!  I was really worried about her too, because cuts in/around the mouth can cause the rabbit to stop eating, and eventually starving to death.

So once again, if you have rabbits that are outside, or even inside, I would suggest adding a little honey to their water.  I would not do it every day, but maybe every few days.  This way, you can help ward off any unwanted illnesses in your rabbit. :) 

Winter Fodder

So, before my mom had been the one who would make the fodder that I would feed to my rabbits over summer and fall.  But shortly into the fall season, she slowly got out of the habit of making it.

Since then, the amount of feed I've been going through has been crazy!  I've been (before I got these 16 other bunnies) going through about 300 lbs. of JUST grain.

Consequently, I've just begun making more.  I only started in back up yesterday, so I don't have any grown fodder yet, but within the next week I will :) 

 

With fodder, you have to soak the seeds 24 hours before the 'real' process begins.  These two trays full are the ones I had just made after soaking them since yesterday.

 

I have lots of trays which I'm planning on filling up very soon!

 

For tomorrow I've already set out 3 trays worth of fodder.   A good tip to help keep your fodder from molding is that while it soaks for the initial 24 hours, add a dab of bleach to it.  It's perfectly safe and works like a charm :)

Then lastly, I have this old colander which I use to get the barley seeds out of the water.  It's very nice because the holes are smaller in it. 

One thing to remember before straining the fodder is to scrape off the top layer of seeds.  Any seeds still floating after the 24 hours won't sprout.  So just skim them off the top and you'll be good to go!

Welcome, 2015!

So, for a beginning post to start off the new year, I've got something pretty exciting to tell you. 

I went onto craigslist and found someone who's moving really soon.  Because of this they have to get rid of all their rabbits (which they had a total of 16).  Not only that, but they were either Rex's or Single Maned Lion Heads.  I've still saved the best for last.  They were all free!

They had a proven Rex doe and a proven Lion Head male, along with a bunch of baby bunnies between the ages of 13 - 20 weeks!  Well...I got them.  ALL of them. 

They're all really sweet.  Now, I'm only planning on keeping one single maned Lion Head to replace Abbey...and probably the proven Rex.  However, the rest I'm hoping to sell.  We'll see how it goes.  Whether I have good luck selling them or not, I'm really looking forward to this experience. 

Anyway, here are some photo's I took of them...The proven Lion Head's name is MJ (for Michael Jackson) and the proven Rex's name is Peanut :) 

I love their manes :)

The big brown one in the front is the proven female Rex.

So many ears!

It's like a sea of bunnies :)

Anyway, they all seem do be doing very well!  They're extremely sweet and I look forward to having them awhile :) 

So there you go, I'm starting off the new year with 16 more rabbits than before! Hopefully you all had a great New Years Eve and may this New Year bring you lots of prosperity and good health.

Santa Claus' Coming To Town

It's Christmas week!  The time has just flown by this Christmas season and now we're only a few days away from celebrating Christ's birth. 

Since I've last posted, I've given our one female dog a hair cut (which she really needed) and sold the floppy-eared male Lop. 

I've had TONS of interest in my lops, but with people being so busy it's been hard finding a time that we can meet.

We went to a local church and saw a Christmas play yesterday. 

It was called, "The Perfect Tree".  It was very well done and you could tell everyone in it was having a great time. :)
Then last night we had a Pageant at our own Church, reenacting the birth of Our Lord.

A few of my siblings were in it and then at the end I went out and set up a few tables full of cookies and put out milk for everyone to enjoy.

We put up our manger in our yard, I hung lights on a fence surrounding the garden/bunnies, and hung some lights up around the front of our house. 

My mom hung lights all around the back porch and going down the handrail along the steps.  Everything looks really nice.  It will be great seeing family once they come in for Christmas. 

Not only that, but we've been busy baking here!  Lots of cookies for everyone.  Of course, they've all already been consumed, so we'll have to make more.  For my last class at co-op before the Christmas break I bought all my teachers and classmates cute tins which I then filled up with cookies I'd baked.

So yes, we've been busy here, but it's been a good sort of busy.  This type of bustle is always welcome, especially during this season of joy. 

I know I only have a few posts for all of December, but I'll be putting up much more this quickly approaching 2015! :)  Anyway, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas this year!