well today was a very long day, left the house at 9:30 got back at 4:30...just a long drive in general and i ended up hanging around chatting for almost 2 hours lol.
great people, very nice, friendly and helpfull and honest...
they show...alot and most of their rabbits have some nice legs, even a coupld of grand champs in their "barn" (a converted under the deck space lol)
they have ONLY standard rex and breed for type and coat (again breeding for show)
they showed me around, took me though sent time with me and we figured out what was going on...came home with 1 more bunny than i expected but she was essentially free (they only charged me what we initially agreed on for 2 buns
AND im getting pedigrees (there gonna send em to me via email so i can have all the records, 5-9 gens on most of their buns. WOOT.
i came home with blackberry a broken black doe, shes a babbit, about 9 weeks, momma carries for blue, so theres a possibility for diluton later on down the lines.
he ummed and ahhed over her for a while, shes not the broken doe i was origionally going to take, but he admitted he didnt like how she was turning out and didnt want to send me home with sub par stock. he did get her out for me to check over and she was on the skinny side and very long in the body and her coat was only so-so. he was initially going to keep the younger broken doe...but after about 30 mins he decided to let me take her...
now when i waled in he prewarmed me that the younger buns hadnt been handled much as his daughter ususally does early socilization on the buns hes not keeping back for the ring and shes gone off to college...
so we walked in were talking and he takes out the younger broken doe...i think more to show her off than try to sell her and she was kicking him up a strom...he puts her on the table and were chatting and she tries to jump off so i pick her up...he goes "be wanred youll get scratched up i havent done her nails reacently" she didnt even TWITCH lol, she rested her front feet on my chest ut her head down and sat like that for a good 30 mins while he ummed and ahhed...eventually he said i had to take her because hes NEVER seen a rabbit as crazy as this little female settle down so quickly in someones arms lol.
so blackberry joined the herd...she wont be breeding age untill closer to 8 months, but he was futsing with her on the table and shes got a stunning topline, perfect balance and great rump...i might have a show bunny in her! *fingers crossed*
(i only managed one pic shes not a keep still for the camera type and it was getting dark lol)
Then the buck...Bigwig as ive named him
hes another that he spent a good while umming and ahhing over. Hed already pulled this boy as a potential show buck, and was initially showing me a black buck (nice coat, but again not realy a show buck) who wed set aside as a possibility. but we talked and i said i was realy interested in an otter buck...so he said well lets see if theres anyone in the pull group i might be willing to part with... he had 3 black otter bucks, 1 a grandchamp and his favorite buck, another almost grand and his 'back up" and then this guy whos not been shown...about 8 months old if i remmeber right and he was planning on entering him in the next show...well put him on the table and hes STUNNING, beautiful head, great body and a REALY nice dense plush coat...i knew he was the buck...so i told him...well if your willing to part with this guy....half jokingly...he did! SOOO excited,im planning on showing this boy if i can find a fairly local gig!
the pics mae him look all kinds of disproportionate, ill have to get some posed pics of him for yall but he realy is stunning!
and then theres "suprise bunny"
i whent for 2...lol he asked what else i be interested in...told him id only brought funds for 2 buns...he told me "dont worry about that, we talked about an OLDER doe neer breeding age and you dont have one...i keep my word..." so we wandered back and forth a bit and i pretty much had 3 choices...a black female babbit, a few days younger than blackberry, nice little babbit, but i figure if im going to get an extra doe i want another closer to breeding age...
so that left me with Bigwigs sister, a very pretty mismarked otter (belly color wasnt right) and a self black female...he pulled them both for me to take a look at and there was just something about the black that struck me...gorgeous coat, nice and plush, good feet, a pretty head and an ok top line...she probably woudlntpull any BOS but mabe take a few places...
more so however was her personality, the otter doe was all over the place, the balck doe settled right into the crook of my arm closed her eyes and just sat there while i messed with her ears and touched her ect...
i picked her up and she nuzzled right in and that was that...
he was suprsd because hed set her aside for possible meaty as shed been a little skitsy and not what hed conder typey enough to brign home the big titles...
but as soon as i had hold of her she calmed right down...said i had a "way" about me that the rabbits seem to realy like.
so Rowan Came home with me too.
Rowan may also be a kinder suprise bunny (prize inside lol)...she was mistakenly put in with a black and a broken boy and is about 7 1/2 months old...so she MAY be pregnant, we'll know by the first week of march if she is lol.
So yeah, the drive was 2 1/2 hours and seemed to take forever...(the drive to pick up bluebell and acorn was longer but didnt seem as long as todays did)
but im all bunnied out fora while. i wont be buying any more buns unless a: i find a realy exception deal on some nice holland lops or b: untill late spring when ill be purposly looking for some holland lops.
Im currently planning, that if Bluebell has any blue or opal bucks ill be keeping one back but otherwise the rest will all be available. (i only have sace for 1 more standard anyway without building another large bank and im not building any more hutches for awhile...
i am planning on a lowes purchase of some wood in late february to make a couple of grow out tractors (ive got 2 pannels and some 1x2s left so just need 1 sheet of ply and some more cage wire) but since they wont be needed until ive got babies on the ground (and even the ive got 6 weeks to get them set up) im not in much of a rush for those.
after that the plan is for 1 more bank of cages, but that wont be untill early summer i dont think, that one is planned to be a 3up and 2 down for my mini plush project and depending on how the rex sell as pets mabe a couple of NZ or cali does (from what im being told demand for purebred standards alive MIGHT outweight supply so i may need tto add a couple of meaty does just to make sure i have some babbits going to the freezer (i can get more for a live rex babbit than i can for meat so lol)
but yeah...
tomorrow ive got 1 last front for the newest bank to finnish up and the outside to paint and then ill consider them "complete"
weather is supposed to be nice so hoping to get it done and mabe start on building some of the raised beds
thanks, i cant wait to get some realy good pics of them, they all have that super soft looking fur like bigwig but bigwig realy shows it off, and i LOVE his head! lol.
well today is supposed to be a lovely day with a high predicted of 63...so im going to milk it for everything its worth starting soon. lol.
got to take a wanter across to te post office and get my bills paid. still havent recived my water or gas bill but they could be in the mailbox this morning.
then home, get the final of the 4 cages finnished (need to attatch the wire to the front and attatch the front)
get that painted...and then mabe move on to making some sense out of my salvaged wood which is currently planned to become vegatable beds.
i need to dump out the bunnies litterboxes today and give their houses a little bit of a clean out...going to give Bluebell a bigger litterbox, and when i get a little extra cash will replace the small litterboxes in acorn bigwig, rowan and blackberries cages with larger boxes too...the small ones i have will then get reused in the other small hutches...so they wont go to waste obviously.
Sweetie they are gorgeous! Rowan reminds me of a smaller version of my buck Midnight. Same coloring. They really are too cute and I can't wait to see how the breedings go with them.
Hi Pinkfox, I feel like I know you. I have been a lurker on your thread for some time. You are an inspiration to me with all the changes and undertakings you are accomplishing. I have a question about the litter box for your buns. Is it the same concept as a cats litter box? Do you put litter in it and what kind?
Nancy
I've never raised rabbits for meat, just as pets. But, I've found if I put any kind of pan in the cage, they'll just hop on in, poop in it, and hop on out. They'll even do it if you have a food dish in there.