I think it’s a normal pre-finals high school feeling for kids involved in lots of activities but try as I might I just can’t seem to really get back into bunnies…not in the way I used to be.

I suppose that’s okay, I should spend my time completely in nostalgia. With my allergies, I can’t spend more than ten minutes at a time around my rabbits  but I still have some and am helping rescue a couple cuties which makes me feel like I’m making a difference for rabbits.

In the meantime the majority of my time is taken up in school (lots and lots of it!), Verita (an online magazine I write), speech (cuse I’m a nerd), strumming pathetically on my guitar, finishing up my book that I wrote, cooking and helpfully sewing a dress.

ah, what a nerd.

http://www.naomithink.blogspot.com/

Check it out.

Here is some advice from Ashlyn of After the Rain Rabbitry. A rabbitry that is no longer producing bunnies, but always was full of adorable little kits. If anyone knows how to keep does breeding it’s Ashlyn!

“To breed my rabbits, I have a whole process to get my bunnies in the “mood” and in attempt to produce large litters. First I take the buck out, look over him, trim his nails, clean his vent, and if he has any excess fur around his groan area I trim it as short as I can (don’t need hair hindering things). Then I put him in a 5′ pen out on the yard. While he gets used to his new surroundings, I take the doe out of her cage, and give her the same “beauty treatment.” I also take a warm wet paper towel and dab it gently across her groan area a couple times to get her stimulated and ready for the buck. I think this tactic really helps with stubborn does. I also rub her back until I can get her to push up her tail — then I know she’s ready! At this point I will take her out to the buck, and since it’s been about 15 minutes he’s already comfortable and feeling macho in his territory which is good. I’ll put her in the pen and then wait until they have a few goes at it, and once I know they’ve been successful at least twice, I leave them together for about 2 hours to continue breeding or to just cuddle with each other. Then I separate them and put them back in their cages. This is all done in the late morning. In the afternoon/evening, about 4-5 hours later, I put the doe in the buck’s cage and leave her in there for another 2-3 hours. They are usually successful at least once or twice in the cage. Then they are separated, and the doe is pregnant. Since I started this method, all of my does — even the most stubborn ones like Shimmer — have all produced nice litters. I like it because I don’t get any more disappointments after waiting 31 days and realizing the doe never even took and I have to start all over. I think the preparation beforehand, leaving them together for so long, and using both the pen and the cage technique, works wonders. I also try to keep a broody atmosphere in my rabbitry by putting the buck’s cages right next to the does I want to breed next, and leaving the light on from sunset to 11pm every night (natural light streams in from outside, so they have daytime between 7am-11pm).”

After Ashlyn also added,  ”Also I have found that feeding Show Bloom (1 tsp) and Calf Manna (1 tbsp) daily during the entire pregnancy helps reduce the number of stillborns overall.”

I know everyone has their own tips and tricks. Things that they think works to get does interested.

One that’s very common is to tickle the doe right under her tail until she raises her rear. After doing that a few times, she seems to “get in the mood”.

I’m writing this post mainly for newer breeders having trouble with does.

Please note however that you don’t want to try to force to breed an unwilling older doe, better to use young ones still interested.

Anyway, there’s a post from me. I actually updated the blog. I should get an award…Just kidding.

Don’t hate me to much.

This is a post is to say – I need to get back!!!

With two (yes, two…no, not one, two) freakin blizzards this winter, I’ve really wanted to just curl up by my fire and scribble away at my stories. But I need to get back into bunnies and enjoy myself in their fluffy cuteness.

So this is a post to get me motivated! I need to: do a severe cleaning out of the bunny barn, a “bunny” run to Petco or somewhere like that to pick up anything I might need, to clear away a large area of the snow so that I can let the bunnies run around outside again, to finally get around to breeding some bunnies, to take pictures of them and put them up here.

Oh yeah. So let’s try to get this done after I finish ten subject’s worth of homework, go on my treadmill, work on my story, practice guitar, memorize my speeches, make dinner and write up some rules for a  new department at the fair. lol.

But there are so many other things nagging at me for my time. I’m almost wondering if I should just sell off most of my bunnies and try to convince my mom to keep a few as pets inside the house.

I’m having no luck trying to get BEWs. No matter which bucks to which does I bred, I never have a litter.

So this is just a venting post, just a way for me to release my disappointing with how my rabbits are at the moment to the world.

I lost one of the kits a week ago. It kept getting sick and appearently, it just gave up.

Then this morning, Parsley (one of the does due last week who didn’t have any kits) was acting strange. Sadly, I have an early morning class so I had to leave but when I returned she was still acting odd. Things went down fast, she kept getting weaker and weaker. Palpation revealed that two stuck kits had gotten lodged on the left side of her body, but I couldn’t get them out.

As I write this, she’s laying on her side beside me, most likely will be gone in a few minutes.

This is disappointing to say the least. Parsley is my favorite doe and has beautiful coloring and type. I’m glad I at least have her daughter but it’s sad to see her go.

The vet couldn’t have done anything for her because the only way to get teh kits out would be surgery and her heart was too weak this morning.

This is one of the most disappointing things about rabbits, the way they go downhill so fast.

She was fine yesterday afternoon, when I was out playing with the bunnies for over an hour.

Oh well, I’m hoping that things turn out (somehow) alright.

Gel Baby had both of these litters with the same buck and this litter (born earlier this month) is so much smaller with tiny ears than the previous litter (born in June).

Parsley did not have any live kits sadly, but she, as well as Basil, has been rebred. I’m really hoping for some VMs! I need some of that BEW gene in my barn!

The main problem I have right now, is that I’m being too nice about my bunnies.

Don’t get me wrong, being nice is a good thing, but I’m putting people down on my waiting list and I feel bad if I hold onto a bunny instead of passing it on to share the joy of this wonderful breed. But the fact is, I need to keep some!

I love two of the kits from my current litter, but have already promised 3 of the 4 away already . . . but I’m planning on keeping one of them.

For this upcoming litters I’ve decided to not make any promises for a while. I also don’t want to have to pick out my kits at one week old, that can narrow down some of the kits, but not all of them!

I’m very happy with the way things are shaping up for me bunny-wise.

And on that happy note, I’ll leave you for this evening!

The fair is this Saturday and Sunday and will be very busy . . . I’ll be bringing all of my rabbits but Basil (who’s due on Tuesday) for showing.

My litter that I have now is growing insanely fast . . . there’s something special about summer litters.

I picked up Parsley, my black vm. She’s goregously typed and I can’t wait to see what her kits look like.

The rabbit shed needs a major cleanup so next weekend will be “The Cleansing” when I remove all the cages from the shed and vacum and scrub everything till it’s clean.

I’m hoping the summer cools down . . . I don’t like 90 degree weather and neither do the bunnies.

Things got very quiet at the rabbitry as I focused on school and other elements of life but 4 weeks ago, Gel Baby had a litter. In it was my first blue otter! ( I love that color)

I love his type too, only he’s a summer  baby so he has long ears . . . I’m going to repeat this litter later on when it’s cooler. I may be keeping a black brood doe who has good type.

I also bred Basil to Dark Knight today so we’ll see what that produces. I bred her once before but she had four DOAs.

I’ve decided to sell Penelope, she’s a cutie but she’s never filled out. :-/

Besides that, I’ve had several rabbits over boarding and I love it. They’re so cute and getting to “own” a rabbit for a week or two is very rewarding , plus by the time you get worn out with them they leave!

Since it is the 4th of July, I’ve got to run off to a cook out but I’ll close by my Likeables and Unlikeables!

tagged by Tru-Luv Rabbitry

Likeables:

1) Seeing a new litter in a nestbox

2) the squeak kits make when you first pick them up

3) Bunnies doing binkies

4) Getting emails from owners of my bunnies telling me how much they like them

5) Seeing a newly cleaned bunny barn

Unlikeables:

1) peanuts

2) seeing a dirty rabbit (OCD)

3) getting long, painful scratches on my arms (I really need to trim nails more often)

4) Having to clean every Saturday

5) Bunnies in pain/discomfort

I heard via a forum that Morgan’s AFL got 3 BOBs down in Mocksville!!!! (show that happened Saturday) I’m pretty sure that Georgia’s Morgan’s only AFL and so I can say with some certainty that Georgia won.

Needless to say I’m excited! I love that doe and I hope that if Morgan decides she needs space she’ll give her back. xD I really miss having an AFL and if Georgia or another really nice typed doe comes along, I’ll be breeding AFLs.

My allergies are getting under control (hence the new bunny) so I can probably start breeding (very small scale) soon!