I currently have quite a few does bred, which means lots more babies should be on the way shortly! Today I want to talk about what does I bred, to which bucks, and what qualities and colors should be expected! I know this blog has been highly awaited and requested, so let's get started!

First of all, I bred Zuzu, Sarah and Maddie on the 28th of August. They were all very willing and bred quickly and easily! Lately I've been doing a new method of breeding. If you guys didn't know, I used to table breed, which meant that I put both rabbits on a table and supervised the entire process and made sure it got done. Lately, I've just been popping the doe in the buck's cage and letting them go at it. I watch them to make sure they take at least once, then leave them together for 1-2 hours if the doe is not fighting him and they are getting along. If they are not getting along so well, then I supervise the whole thing or do table breeding which is safer for the buck if the doe wants a fight!
I did that for the first time with my last round and Fern had 7 babies, because of it, so I think it was a success! 

The next doe I bred is Sarah, and to Franklin! Also on the 28th of August. These guys will have LOTS of oranges and creams, hopefully! I'm so excited!! They should have width and nice toplines!

On the 29th of August I bred Mimi and Buttercup. 

Buttercup was bred to Franklin as well, for some more oranges, reds, and creams! These guys will have width and BONE! Buttercup usually has the sweetest and most docile personality, but when I ws trying to take her out of Frankie's cage, she was grunting and lunging at me! She didn't try to bite but she was mad I was taking her away from her boyfriend. Hopefully that means they'll have LOTS of babies!

Miss Mimi was the final one to breed this round, and she was also bred to Otis. This breeding should yield lots of chestnuts and broken chestnuts, although opal is possible as well. I doubt we will get other colors other than opal and chestnut. These babies will have width, bone, heads, nice toplines, etc. I'm just really looking forward to this cross! 

I still have a few more does to breed soon. Rosie, Butterfly, and Winnie are the next priorities. I tried to breed Winnie on the 28th and 29th but she was so stubborn and running from Prince Charming and being a pill, so I'm going to try her again when she's feeling more up for it. I need to get her some ACV to get her ready. 

Thank you guys SO MUCH for reading! I'll see ya later :) 

~H~

Before I start the post, I want to begin by saying that Fern's self chocolate chin baby died over a week ago unfortunately. But, Fern's and Angie's other babies are doing fantastic. They are about 3-4 weeks old now, I know their genders and they have been named! They are also so consistent and each one of them has amazing type so far! 

Let's start with Angie's baby, the frosty. Now a singleton, she has all the milk she wants and his huge! She's a little doe, and we gave her the name Olive! 

This sweetheart is so calm. Olive is absolutely GORGEOUS so far! She takes after her daddy (Tucker), perfectly. I'm just loving the way she's developing so far, and if she continues this pattern she'll be a show stopper. 
All the babies have 3 things in common, which is a huge difference from other litters I've had recently. If they all continue to develop in the same way they are now, I couldn't go wrong keeping any one of them. So far, they all have big heads, thick bone, and great ear placement (most of them have ears that are already lopped or lopping, too!). 
​Now let's move on to Fern's litter of 5! First up, is Eclipse, the self chinchilla doe. She was the easiest one to name. After all, she's black, and the eclipse just happened so I thought it was fitting! Blacks are so hard to photograph, but trust me when I say she's looking good! A little long in bone and her body isn't the best, but she's a sweetie. I will not be keeping her for sure, due to her color (it's not a color that's good for breeding or continuing genetics), but if she continues in this pattern of growth, she could be a show or 4-H doe. 

These next two babies I think may be genetic identical twins (the egg separated in utero). Since squirrel is such a rare color, it's unusual to have 2 in the same litter. And, they are both the same gender (bucks), and nearly completely identical. There's no way to know for sure, but it's just something I've been thinking about. Genetics are pretty cool. The only way I can tell these two apart right now is by their size. This first one is Asher. 

This second one is Sterling. He's a little typier than his brother, but they're basically identical in personality. So far the biggest differences are that Sterling is bigger, his bone is shorter and thicker, and his body has more depth. They are both very wide and have big heads. I'm honestly surprised at how typy Sterling is, for a squirrel from two nice (but not perfect) chins. 

Next are the two chins, also both does. This first one is bigger than the other and has a tighter crown, her name is Coconut. She did not want to sit still but she's nicer than her first pose shows her to be. 

Finally, there is Pickle (my brother loves pickles and I thought it was fitting since this is his favorite baby). She's a snuggler. She loves to lie on your lap or in your arms and just relax. She's also a little darker in color than her sister. 

These line breedings absolutely did not disappoint! Olive's sire is Tucker, who is Angie's son, so this was a mother x son line breeding. The other five's sire was Prince Charming, who also sired Fern, so that breeding was a father x daughter cross. All these babies are SO SWEET too. They are all lovers. They will give kisses every chance they get. If you can tell, to get most of them to pose I let them lick my finger like a popsicle. These guys are so fun and sweet and I can't wait to watch them mature. It's going to be hard to choose who stays, but I will definitely sell the majority so make sure you stay in contact with me if you want one of these beautiful, unique colors! 

Also, in a couple days I will have a video posted on Youtube of the name reveal and you'll be able to meet the babies virtually through a video which is always more fun than pictures! 

~H~

Today's blog is going to be a fun post of some of the unexpected colors we got in our current litters. 

Let's start with Fern's 6! Sadly we lost one today (I think it was a chin) that was in Angie's litter (I fostered two of Fern's to Angie), it was a tiny runt and super weak and wasn't doing good for the past couple days. 
Both the parents are chinchilla, so of course I was expecting lots of chins. However, we only have 2 chins of the 6, and the rest were a surprise! 

I was hoping for squirrels, but they're so rare I wasn't expecting two of them! 

At first I thought this next baby was a black, but black isn't genetically possible out of two chins (the chin gene is recessive to the full-color C, which is what black has). After consulting some friends and reading my rabbit coat color genetics book, I realized that it's a color called self chinchilla. Normally chinchilla is the genotype A_B_c(chd)_D_ee. However, if you breed two chins together that carry the self gene (little a), you may get self chins. I didn't think Prince and Fern did, but apparently they do! So this little one is genetically a chin, it could produce chins when bred to other colors, but it also appears totally black and judges will think it's black on the show table. Isn't that interesting?!

This baby below was a HUGE surprise! It's a CHOCOLATE version of the self chin baby above! I knew Finn carried chocolate, because when bred to his mom he had a chocolate chestnut. Well Prince Charming (and Fern), do too! So this baby is genetically a self chocolate chin, which is the genotype aabbc(chd)_D_ee, but looks just like a solid chocolate. I LOVE IT!!! Such a beautiful, gorgeous color! This baby is in Angie's litter. 

In Angie and Tucker's litter, the most likely color we could get would be chestnut or opal, or maybe black or blue. Instead, we got a rare frosty! I've only had one of these colors before, out of an opal and orange. I'm in love with this color and excited to watch this HUGE chunky monkey baby grow up! 

So far, these babies' colors are getting me so excited to watch the babies grow! And we still have two more litters due soon! Miss Sarah is getting her nestbox today, and she's due on Sunday! Clementine isn't due until Thursday and I'm pretty sure she's pregnant but not positive yet. 

Thanks for reading guys, I hope you are as excited to watch these babies grow and their colors become more vibrant as I am! 

~H~

Holly's Fern started pulling fur around 11pm on August 4th, which was day 30 in her gestation. She would pull fur and nest, then rest with a mouthful of fur. By 12pm she was still nesting, and sadly I thought she may be having difficulties because usually babies are there by that time, and the only times I've seen does rest and lie down while nesting and delivering is when they are having complications. At midnight I went to bed a little heavy hearted but hoping the best for my girl. This is her third litter. 

That morning, at 7:30am, I went back out to check on her. I didn't wake up in the night to check on her because I forgot to set my alarm and slept like a baby. Anyway, there was no blood in the cage, everything was clean, and there was movement in her nest under all the fluffy fur she pulled! When I moved the fur I knew there were tons of babies! I took the box out to get a good count. 1..2...3...4...5...6...7!!! I was so surprised! This is the largest litter I've ever had and although Fern had a huge belly, I didn't think she was carrying SEVEN babies in there!! All were born alive and healthy! And NO peanuts! Way to go mama! 

Carrying for 7 babies is hard work, and especially for a doe that has 2 failed litters before. I was really hopeful that the other two does due (Maddie and Angie) would have smaller(ish) litters so I could foster some to them, so they could all get fed equally. 

Unfortunately, later that night (around 10pm), Maddie went into labor. This morning when I checked on her at 7am, she was still in labor with a stuck kit and had delivered one dead on the wire :( At around 8:30 am, she delivered the other kit but only had two overall. Sad news but this was her first time, and she'll be rebred next week for better luck hopefully. 

Angie went into labor this morning, on 8/6, on day 32 in her gestation. I was beginning to think she wasn't pregnant when day 31 came and went. However, she didn't disappoint! She was in full-blown nesting mode when I went out to feed around 8:30, but unfortunately my family left for church at 9:30 and she was still nesting away when we left. We were at church longer than usual to prep for VBS which starts tomorrow (I'm a skit actor and helper in the 2nd and 3rd grade class), so we didn't get home until around 1:30pm. When I checked on her, she had cleaned everything up, and had two babies in the box. Unfortunately one was DOA (dead on arrival), but the other was (and is!) thriving. 

Today I fostered two of Fern's tiny babies to Angie. Angie is a great mom and has taken fosters readily before, so I'm not worried. Angie is raising 3 and Fern is raising 5. We'll see if I need to foster more to Angie later on, but I'm hopeful Fern can raise the ones she has since they are big and fat already! 

As I'm writing this, miss Sarah is nesting...she's due on the 13th, and she's ready! I'm hoping for some brokens in the next two litters! 

Officially, ALL THE BUNNIES ARE MOVED INTO THE SHED!!! There are still some things to move in like all my ribbons and random extra storage but that's about it. I'm so excited to be totally done with the move-in process. It won't be long now! Here's a picture of what it looks like right now, but stay tuned for a "rabbitry tour" video all about the setup, introducing all the bunnies, and talking a bit about my organization. I'll film that one once it's totally finished. It holds all 20 cages that I have very comfortably, and I could fit another stack of 3 or 4 where the posing table is if I needed to down the line. But I like the way it is for now. I have a lot of senior does I'm selling after these current litters to make way for new growing babes. 

This show is always one of my favorites because we do a rabbit auction as a fundraiser for our club (the WSHLRC), and although I wasn't able to (or needed), any of the rabbits auctioned, there were some super nice ones! I wish I needed a solid buck because a couple of them went for only $25 even though they were stellar. They just weren't wanted or needed by anyone else in the club. A few of the does went for over $300! They were so nice and I'm glad we raised so much money for the club!