Introducing....

I am very happy to introduce two new additions to the rabbitry!

First, Mrs. Haylie from Willner's Wabbitry! 

Haylie is a gorgeous little doe!  I especially like her full body.  She is currently bred to Thunder Hill's Luther and is due to have her babies around December 15th!  She palpated positive before leaving her previous owner!  I am excited to have this new addition!

And also, Miss Chocolate Chip also from Willner's Wabbitry!

Chocolate Chip is a cute, typey little sport doe who is almost 5 months old and I am excited to breed her sometime in the next month or two! 

I have been looking forward to getting these girls for ages!  Yesterday was the longest day evvvvvver, waiting for today.  :)  I must have woke up from my bunny dreams about 10 times last night, just wishing that morning would come.  I remember waking up at about 11:30 thinking it was probably morning... "uggggggh!"  =}  But morning did finally come and Mom and I drove to pick up these girls.  Thankfully everything still worked out even though we got a little lost.  :)  ... actually we just had wrong directions.  Good ol' google map, right? =)

So I now have SIX, count 'em, SIX rabbits in my rabbbitry!  Wowwwwwwww!

Each one is so fun and special!   

Bella...

She is just sweet, gentle and laid-back.  And expecting a litter in the next few days! 

Comic....

 He's adorable and he knows it! 

And motherly little Dolly...

And cuddly Mr. Mickey!

And now the lastes two additions, Haylie & Chocolate Chip!



 So... things will be very busy around here with two litters coming in the next few weeks!  Of course I can't wait....  :) 

And thanks so much to Willner's Wabbitry for these great bunnies!  Dita was easy to work with and I enjoyed working with her!  Thank you!

Ahhh... nest boxes again! =)

This morning I happily gave Bella a nest box.  I am getting more and more excited to have little babies with each passing day!  Especially considering the fact that I lost the last litter and if these ones make it ok (and actually are born!), I will be so thrilled.  :)  To take some extra measures of precaution, this afternoon I ordered a heating pad (for pets:) ) to put in the bottom of the nest box.  I am hoping this will work out, although it's new to me and I'm not sure exactly what to expect.  :)  I ordered it with 2-day shipping, so I'm hoping it arrives before Bella decides to (hopefully) kindle.  In her past 2 litters she hasn't kindled until day 31 or 32, though, so hopefully it'll be fine.  But then, rabbits are full of surprises!  :)

I remember once I was looking up something about dwarf hotots on the Internet and came across some article or something that stated NOT to get dwarf hotots because they have a nasty temperament!  I thought that was pretty humorous!  It's true that not all dwarf hotots are sweet, but it all depends on how they are treated and how often/how they are handled.  Obviously if they aren't used to be held and cuddled, they aren't going to be very partial to it!  But they are the cuddly-est rabbit on earth when they are handled and cuddled daily.... which of course mine are! :)  I think the temperament of pretty much any bunny depends on how much it's handled, not because it's a certain breed. 
So... that's what was on my mind.  :)  I can't WAIT for the new hopefully soon-to-be-arriving babies! 

Vacation

Our family took a week-long vacation Thanksgiving week.  I was looking forward to the week off, but worried about leaving my bunnies!  But a 7-year-old friend of mine took care of my bunnies ever day for a week.  I knew I could totally trust her, but she did even more than I thought!  When we got back today, of course I couldn't wait to go see them.  My rabbitry was all swept out and clean and all the bunnies were as happy as could be.  I was so impressed! :)  Thanks Hannah!  :)

Bella is actually looking pretty large.  I sure hope she's bred!  She should be due this next Friday.  Obviously I'm SO excited.  ;)  I can't wait to have more babies around.  And to any of you rabbitry owners out there, does anyone know where I could find a nestbox warmer?  I read about them but have no idea where to get one.  Thanks!  :)

Thankful

At Thanksgiving this year I have something else to add to my list of things that I am thankful for: bunnies! 

I am grateful for my parents who have supported me in this venture... from driving me around to get bunnies to encouraging me when things are tough cheering with me when things are good.  And they have listened to me rattle on about bunnies, bunnies, and more bunnies for hours on end without complaining!  Dad has helped me with the business side of things :) giving advice, listening to me prattle on, and helping me when I need help.  Mom has consistently encouraged me and I am so grateful for that!
 
I am thankful for my wonderful little brothers who take care of my bunnies when I am sick or gone!  That has been a blessing!  Thanks boys.  :)


I am grateful for Debbie McLaughlin from the Hidden Habit Rabbitry who helped me (and still is helping me!) start my rabbitry by selling me quality bunnies and giving me so much advice.  I have spent hours, literally, on the phone with her asking questions and taking notes!  I have a file folder full of papers of notes from our phone calls.  She has so much experience and advice, I don't know what I would have done without her!

I am thankful for all of you who have supported me by purchasing my bunnies!  You have all made this such a good experience, I've enjoyed meeting all of you and getting to give my bunnies good homes with you.  Thank you.  And a special thanks to Tiffany, who sends me updates and photos of her bunny, thank you!  I enjoy them so much!  ;)

And to all of you who I haven't mentioned but am thankful to for your support, thank you!  :)

And last but not least, I'm thankful for my wonderful bunnies.  Each one is special and so much fun!  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to have my own rabbitry.  I am excited to see what this upcoming new year brings!  Thank you to each and every one of you for your support! 

Brrrrrrrr!

Wow, it sure has been chilly out!  You know that when the rabbit's water starts freezing... =(  So I now have a system going... I keep their water pail in the milk room by the heater and have two sets of four dishes that I rotate every day so they always have fresh water.  It makes things a little more complicated, but oh well!  :)  The first time they were frozen, poor Comic was sooooo thirsty when I gave him fresh water.  I felt so bad, so I'm making sure that does NOT happen again.  :)
We actually got 3 or 4 inches of snow on Saturday!  On Friday I had a major "bunny" afternoon.  I cleaned out the manure, clipped everyone's nails, wormed everyone, and.... scrubbed cages!  I thought I was really being brave scrubbing cages outside with the hose and soapy water in the freezing weather.  Then it SNOWED the next day and, oh boy, was I ever glad I hadn't waited until the next day like I almost had!  Then the thought occured to me that I will get to do that at least 4 to 6 more times this winter.  Thoughts if scrubbing cages in 2 feet of snow are chilling, literally.  But it must be done and I'm all about the rabbitry being CLEAN, so.... ={

After finally finishing all the chores I gave each bunny a handful of grass hay to nibble on.  Then I stood back in my clean rabbitry and just watched and listened to them enjoying the hay in their sparkly cages.  It was so cute..... all my work was paid off.  :)  I'll admit I started my rabbitry more just as a business, but it is definitely becoming more something I actually enjoy and love now.  Rabbits have so much personality and they are just so much fun!  :) 

Just Waiting...

Well, there's not much to report these days, hence few blog posts!  But everything is going great.  I'm just waiting for my next litter to show up!  But I also have been enjoying just having the four around... chores are quick and easy, giving me more time for cuddling!  And I like to let the bunnies take turns running around the nice big open space in the rabbitry.  They love it!  And I feel better when they get exercise often... I can't stand leaving them cooped up in their cages constantly!  Even though their cages are nice and roomy.  Mickey loves digging.  As soon as I give him some "exercise time" he runs to the hay bale or straw bale and digs in it!  It's hilarious.... each rabbit has their own funny things they do!  It's so fun to watch each of their personalities.  :) 
So... not much new, but I will keep you "posted", literally!  :) 

Interesting Article

I came across this article on arba.net the other day and thought it was really interesting!  It was about palpating your does.  I would like to try this with Bella, we'll see how it goes! =)   It's probably something that takes practice, but it would be neat (and handy!) to learn.  :)

http://arba.net/PDFs/palpation.pdf 

More on the way!

I bred Bella yesterday!  I'm so happy to have more babies on the way.  I had tried breeding her the day before and she wasn't willing, so I was worried she wasn't going to go into heat for me due to the colder weather, etc.  I was putting apple cider vinegar in her water and tried a few other things.  The next morning, voila!  She was totally willing to be bred so I'm expecting (hopefully!) kits around December 2nd!  :]  Yayyy!

Only ONE left!

Last night I sold Mister to a wonderful new home so I only have one kitten, Minnie, left now! 

I had a bad day today.  I know I usually don't have bad news in my posts but today I do.  I moved Dolly's litter into our milk room yesterday because it is insulated and warmer than the rabbitry.  I put a blanket over her cage and a heater in there and everything.  This morning when I went out to do chores, I found one of the kits had died and the other one was really cold and barely alive.  I brought them into the house and Mom and I desperately tried to revive them but they just got too cold.  *sigh*   Gee.... this is the worst day I've had since I started my rabbitry last February.  It was so hard for me!  You can imagine.  And what's worse is I had people waiting for these bunnies and I feel so bad about it, knowing that they were so excited to have bunnies soon.  And it was probably hard being there was only two kits and not a lot of body heat to share.  
So, I'm feeling really discouraged, but I'm going to try, try again!  Tomorrow morning I breed Bella and I will probably try again with Dolly sometime.
It's hard to lose babies.  It was a really horid feeling reaching into a cold nest instead of the usually warm one.  But I did learn some things and I guess this is just all part of the process.  :(