- Joined
- Oct 26, 2021
- Messages
- 21
I am not very active on this forum, but I thought maybe its time for an update anyway.
Some of you may know that the we have been having a lot of trouble with breeding for quite some time, in fact, we have not had a littler sense 06/07/22. This is due to a few reasons, mainly being mystery STDs in the herd (which we have finally seemed to get rid of), and some personal schedule/life conflicts. About two weeks ago me and my bother (who have been the only ones taking care of the rabbits sense about 2019) sat down with the family and had a talk that realistically should have happened a long time ago, about sharing more responsibility for the rabbits. Due to us both being in college and hitting other major life points we just couldn't do it any more on our own, minutes in the day wise, we had plenty of time, mental capacity wise, we couldn’t do it (in the past my parents didn’t seem to understand that, but we were able to better word our selves and get through this time.) In that discussion we originally planned/agreed upon that we would be getting rid of the rabbits for breeding, keeping only my two pets and one more for my bother to finish out his final year in 4-H, Him and I offered to pay for the remaining pets completely sense they would no longer be benefiting the family at all/were just pets. Major weight was lifted off our shoulders, after 15 years of consistently taking care of 10-40 rabbits it felt good to have a break.
However, as you can probably tell from the title some of those plans changed. On may 28th my dad got laid off from his job, not on bad terms by any means. He is the only part time employ, so is the first to go when work gets slow or a rescission hits, which looking back on past years and before COVID my parents are pretty sure that is what’s about to happen. My mom was also only working part time as may due to a back injury she got the beginning of February. So, we talked again about the rabbits and decided that we should get a litter or two in the freezer before money gets really tight. I was extremely hesitant because we had just said NO very firmly to anymore of that. However, I made it extremely clear that me and my brother would not/cannot be purely responsible this time and it seemed to go over well, my sister will be helping as needed and my Dad should be able to as well here and there.
With that update out of the way, onto the general rabbitry update/breeding plans.
As of now we have 7 rabbits
bucks:
Shiro, Californian, 5yo.
Koi, Rex black/orange tri, 3yo.
UFDP5, Californian, 3yo
Does:
Pidge, californium, 5yo.
Black Dahlia, rex/californium unknown color, 2yo
Floppy, Californian, unknown age.
UFKD7, Californian, 3yo.
Shiro and koi are my two pets, the rest are just breeding stalk (or at least they are supposed to be.)
Breeding: I bred Dahlia to Koi on April 5th. Dahlia has not had a litter before but is the youngest doe and was very ready to breed, lifting before Koi even mounted. He got 4 very solid fall offs so I am hoping that she is viable. I palpated on the 30th and she seems to have some, but its hard to tell she is due the 5th-7th so we should see soon. On the 28th I bred 5 to 7 for a second meat and show litter. My brother wanted a pure bred litter for fair (they would be 10 weeks at fair, while these inbreeds are technically “just for meat” we may as well enter a few for some more premium money). However, Five is unproven, Shiro is proven but old and doesn’t have great type, we have never had infertility issues in our bucks before so we are going to trust our herds genes on that one and just breed the unproven buck.
Floppy is going to be culled she has brought nothing but frustration and torment to the herd. Pidge, I’m not sure what we will do with her yet, she is almost a pet, I’m too attached to butcher her, but not attached enough to want to keep her. She may find a pet home. Dahlia, Seven and Five are still up for debate on what to do with them after these litters.
My mothers suggested long term plan after this year is to keep on doe from ether of these litters to have a young breed able doe if we so please to have some meat here and there, or get a nice hardy mixed meat mutt breeding duo to keep on hand. This would not be my responsibility and is something that my parents still need to discuss, but we have some time.
Its been a stressful few years, with the rabbits and in general, and I personally am still a little iffy on how these two litter are going to turn out. I’ll try and keep you guys updated as much as I can.
Koi
Black Dahlia
5 and 7 photos oncoming soon
Some of you may know that the we have been having a lot of trouble with breeding for quite some time, in fact, we have not had a littler sense 06/07/22. This is due to a few reasons, mainly being mystery STDs in the herd (which we have finally seemed to get rid of), and some personal schedule/life conflicts. About two weeks ago me and my bother (who have been the only ones taking care of the rabbits sense about 2019) sat down with the family and had a talk that realistically should have happened a long time ago, about sharing more responsibility for the rabbits. Due to us both being in college and hitting other major life points we just couldn't do it any more on our own, minutes in the day wise, we had plenty of time, mental capacity wise, we couldn’t do it (in the past my parents didn’t seem to understand that, but we were able to better word our selves and get through this time.) In that discussion we originally planned/agreed upon that we would be getting rid of the rabbits for breeding, keeping only my two pets and one more for my bother to finish out his final year in 4-H, Him and I offered to pay for the remaining pets completely sense they would no longer be benefiting the family at all/were just pets. Major weight was lifted off our shoulders, after 15 years of consistently taking care of 10-40 rabbits it felt good to have a break.
However, as you can probably tell from the title some of those plans changed. On may 28th my dad got laid off from his job, not on bad terms by any means. He is the only part time employ, so is the first to go when work gets slow or a rescission hits, which looking back on past years and before COVID my parents are pretty sure that is what’s about to happen. My mom was also only working part time as may due to a back injury she got the beginning of February. So, we talked again about the rabbits and decided that we should get a litter or two in the freezer before money gets really tight. I was extremely hesitant because we had just said NO very firmly to anymore of that. However, I made it extremely clear that me and my brother would not/cannot be purely responsible this time and it seemed to go over well, my sister will be helping as needed and my Dad should be able to as well here and there.
With that update out of the way, onto the general rabbitry update/breeding plans.
As of now we have 7 rabbits
bucks:
Shiro, Californian, 5yo.
Koi, Rex black/orange tri, 3yo.
UFDP5, Californian, 3yo
Does:
Pidge, californium, 5yo.
Black Dahlia, rex/californium unknown color, 2yo
Floppy, Californian, unknown age.
UFKD7, Californian, 3yo.
Shiro and koi are my two pets, the rest are just breeding stalk (or at least they are supposed to be.)
Breeding: I bred Dahlia to Koi on April 5th. Dahlia has not had a litter before but is the youngest doe and was very ready to breed, lifting before Koi even mounted. He got 4 very solid fall offs so I am hoping that she is viable. I palpated on the 30th and she seems to have some, but its hard to tell she is due the 5th-7th so we should see soon. On the 28th I bred 5 to 7 for a second meat and show litter. My brother wanted a pure bred litter for fair (they would be 10 weeks at fair, while these inbreeds are technically “just for meat” we may as well enter a few for some more premium money). However, Five is unproven, Shiro is proven but old and doesn’t have great type, we have never had infertility issues in our bucks before so we are going to trust our herds genes on that one and just breed the unproven buck.
Floppy is going to be culled she has brought nothing but frustration and torment to the herd. Pidge, I’m not sure what we will do with her yet, she is almost a pet, I’m too attached to butcher her, but not attached enough to want to keep her. She may find a pet home. Dahlia, Seven and Five are still up for debate on what to do with them after these litters.
My mothers suggested long term plan after this year is to keep on doe from ether of these litters to have a young breed able doe if we so please to have some meat here and there, or get a nice hardy mixed meat mutt breeding duo to keep on hand. This would not be my responsibility and is something that my parents still need to discuss, but we have some time.
Its been a stressful few years, with the rabbits and in general, and I personally am still a little iffy on how these two litter are going to turn out. I’ll try and keep you guys updated as much as I can.
Koi
Black Dahlia
5 and 7 photos oncoming soon
