Dinner rabbits, Journal

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Wednesday-

The 5 in the cull cage. Listed them 4sale, too.


500 in the red plus 60 in poop sales makes it
$440 in the red.

On the last 2 bags of feed...ugh.



Thursday-
$440 in the red minus 400 in feed.
$840 in the red.

 

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Thursday-

Added a cam to see if mice or rats were eating their food. No, they're just gluttons.

Bent a metal board for them to sit on. They found it super interesting.


Made a sheet of every kit's parent & age w/weight.
Looks like I have 5 to cull. Possibly a 6th, not much weight info to compare, so will look at current weight & shape.
One is a buck.
One has kits on her, so will list once pulled.
Will also list Blu.


The ones that need to go.



Saturday-

$840 in the red. Broken castor buck sale of 40.
$800 in the red.


Yesterday-
Culled a young black sf and then Blu. She developed flystrike on her tail and rapidly deteriorated overnight. Unfortunately, her kits were too early to save.



Decided to keep the 3/4 sf, since she's the furthest along to back to sf. Will cull once there's doe kits to hold back.

 

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Problem with SF is the butt & tail mats.

 

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May 25-


Moved Blackie's kits out the other day & today put her in the cull cage.

2 went to LGDs. Another 2 today. Leaving 3 to go.

Gotta narrow down the rex kits soon.

So, I buy 20 bags Thursday, but not in stock. Told it'll arrive next day. Nope, not Monday, nor Tuesday either. Finally, it's in.
I get there and they have switched brands!! No warning, no excuse, no nothing, just oh well, take it or leave it. Wtf

If it was the same weight & all, it'd be fine, but it's not.
At least the bag isn't lying about corn use like the last one did.

10# lighter per bag.
Cost is supposedly $3 more per bag, too.
They f-d up though and gave me more, but serves them right for scamming their customers!

New bags-
14 bags 560#
6 "free" 240#

Old bags-
20 bags 1,000#

6 bags received previously 300#
1000-300=700 needed
560+240=800# in new feed

100# "free" but people will be paying more for less from now on.


"2nd runner up speedy" had 10 kits on the wire. I messed up somewhere bc Speedy was supposed to be bred, not her. Got 7 warmed and alive, then found the 8th still in the cage, but was able to get it alive, too. So, just 2 were too far gone.
She decided to sit on them, frozen, with a haystach. So, moved the kits out and waiting for her to decide that her nest is ready.

Speedy is on a diet.


The amber kit doe I'm still waiting on. Hasn't done anything with her 2 nests. Bred to amber kit buck. She'll be culled if she fails this litter.

11's nest is due Tuesday, bred to rivian, the new sf buck.

Lynx kits posted by are sired by lilac otter Rex and Rivian SF bucks.

14 SF wasn't been bred back, as she needed a break. Looks like she can be bred now.
45 needs a break, so won't be bred back for awhile.



$800 in the red. Plus 80 in "free" feed.
$720 in the red.





Saw some kicking in 3/4ths SF's belly. Put up a nest and she's staching hay.


Moved the "2nd speedy" kits back into nest.

Choco kits, they're blue, not lilac, right? Blues are bucks, choc a doe.



May 26
2nd speedy is still confused. Pulling fur, sitting on them, lost. One kit is missing. Held her over them to hopefully eat some & give her a clue. Has milk, just clueless. 🙄


Wish I could find a meat buyer...

Anywho.

Moved more to cull cage!
Pictured does, plus 5 black SF kits.

Since feed is getting too expensive, it's time to experiment again!
Overnight, they got these & all gone by morning.
Gathered a lot more & different plants for today.
Hay they let fall away, so, I'm hoping this works better & keeps weight on them as they wait.
I'll continue to try to cull as early as possible to limit pellet use as well. Most promising stay with mom, then into outdoor pen when weaned.
They cleaned up breakfast! Just fat, bare sticks left.
Now for lunch.

 

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May 27 through June 14

She had them! 8 or 9. Probably would of built a tunnel if the nest was big enough.



They look fed, peed on each other, but fed! One tort and a white?? One missing?


Well, amberkit had her kits. Two. She had several last time so idk. Hoping one is a doe to replace her or I'll just sell the trio, idk yet. Didn't check gender. She ended up using the exterior nest!


And since I have two dog kennels unused, added floor wire to the one already wrapped for chicks.
Moved the 3 oldest bucks over to it.
Gotta move the oldest doe tomorrow to her own cage.





Unfortunately, both white are gone. One is missing altogether. A black got its leg tangled in fur! Never had that happen before. One of the fattest kits, completely mangled leg. Will see how it does now that it's free, but may cull soon.
Others are doing well.

Water system is dribbling. Ugh. Why can't someone invent a leak and dribble free system??

Need to weigh and cull again.

Starting to run low on greens for the growouts and culls. Dogs are not finishing a whole rabbit, lasting 2 days or more. So that's slowed and created issues.

The newest loves his ear treats & the lost kit.



So, the 6 Blackie kits are almost all 3# each, an ounce in either direction, that I can't cull any more yet.

I want to list the 2 blue bucks from Choco, so can't put them in the cull cage yet either.

The rex in the cull cage have been keeping weight on greens alone! Forgot to feel the others, though. But it's rough gathering in the rain.
Ugh. Only 3 left! Heat wave, wiped them out. Removed half the nest & the maggot covered leftovers...
Removed nest blanket covers, checked on all to make sure they're spreading out to stay cool.
Lynx kits' nest was removed 2 days ago.

3 healthy fatties left. Sad the whites died, will keep doe to repeat the breeding for those colors. I'm going to be furious if that tort is a buck. Lol


3/4 cull doe, all alive and happy. Castors and blacks.


And amberkit kits, charlie and broken.




Well, 45 is suddenly thin and not wanting to sit normally. Moved her to a hay lined cage alone. Will cull if no improvement soon.





$720 in the red. Plus 120 in bun sale.
$600 in the red.

Hate scrap laying around doing nothing. So, making a big cage. Just need a door.
The two sf litters will go in here, once it's done.



2ft by 4ft 9in.


🤦🏽‍♀️ didn't latch it securely enough. Most escaped this morning. Luckily, none were dumb enough to go into the pup's pen, bc he loves rabbit.
Caught them easy peasy.

Then separated 3 cull does into 3 separate cages bc they decided then was the perfect time to fight. 🙄 Culling two tonight.

Moved a doe to a lower cage bc its hot out. Turns out, one of her 3 surviving kits has a paw that can't extend. Ffs. No outward injury, so idk what happened. Now I really hope the tort is a doe! Ugh.

4 & 5 in cull cages. Kept separate in case there's buyers interested.
Keepers from 1st cage went outside, keepers from the other stayed in the 2 level cage.



She's moving around more, even laying stretched out happily & gobbling up her food. Still not sure wtf went wrong, but she's recovering from w/e it was.


They gotta be lilacs, no?
Choc mom, lilac dad. One kit looks to be otter. Forgot to get pics of the biggest buck.

First out of this litter.



Big fatties for the amberkit mom.

3 survivors. Nest removed this morning. Been stretching the leg of the one kit, idk if it'll help any, but its getting around great so far. The other black one is spazy.



Well...can remove 2, the amber bucks.



But the rest...good shape is hard, but so is size...ugh, who to choose??



Coded by color, since shape can easily be seen.



Have to recheck if that choc is a doe or buck.



$600 in the red. Plus 30 in koi fry sales.

$570 in the red.

 

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May 14 through June 21

The dots are about weight.
These 🤬 rex are horribly slow growers, so i need to speed them up. That's my main goal, get weight to speed up!

Red is smallest. Green is heaviest. Yellow is in between.
Didn't code the shape because you can see that. Can't see weight as obviously. Though, it is listed in each pic.

Ugh. Messed up and missed the heavy blanket one.

Looks like I should of scrunched them up more.
Idk, what do we think with all of the pics?
I think I need to redo all pics and make sure they're all scrunched up, huh?
Big dots are shape based this time.

Idk, what do we think with all of the pics?
I think I need to redo all pics and make sure they're all scrunched up, huh?
Big dots are shape based this time.
The red dots & one of the lighter patterned brokens were moved to the cull cage.
Choco fur-stache.


And I moved the 2 oldest does out of the outdoor growout. Someone dumped the feed, so feeder was raised up.

Choco had 11! One of which doa.
Removed some fur & mess as well. Hot, muggy out, kits not licked dry. So, I'll check them tomorrow, bc fur was stuck to them & don't want any tangled kits like the other doe.

45 feeling better still.
The non-blurry pics from her
Lynx × lilacotter & newer SF bucks. Almost 6wks. Last one is the only buck.

Fml. Poor guy I had to cull this morning.
Choco kits, 10th might not make it, rest full and tangle free.
Fml. Poor guy I had to cull this morning.
Yeah. They "dogpile" to sleep in that spot and somehow, he got his toes hooked back up on the wire and was stuck. Cut through skin and some muscle all the way around. Swollen, stiff foot.
He ran right to the food when I set him back down to figure out how to cull such a tiny critter w/o messing it up. Let him fill up on food first.
Haven't had this issue before. Other than all new flooring of some other type or keeping a bare nest for them to use, idk how'd you prevent it. They have a wood board and the plastic bunny board, but only the mom uses those.

Fml. Poor guy I had to cull this morning.

I saw this poor guy on FB this morning, didn't notice he was yours. Poor little dude.
Black Jan7 SF doe had 6 kits this morning, 3 didn't make it. Had to breed Amber, 14 & a chocolate doe, so I forgot to get pics.

Did get pics of Choco's kits. Runt is more fed this morning and staying on top of the others.

Oh, she had more! But on the wire. 7 lost, 6 live. Sire is lilac otter rex.

I think these were doa.
Well!
It sure did RAIN!
It came down hard & heavy!
Carport additions to barn flooded. Barn gutters ripped off, flooding the old barn. Icy rain, so I put on a big down coat. It was completely sopping wet after putting boards up to hold gutter somewhat in place to reduce further flooding.
Should of brought some soap out with me! Good grief!
Wind blew so hard it wet everything on the center raised walkway in the barn as well, as in, the rabbits!
The rabbits in the carport additions were completely soaked! 45 was wet, too, but lambs blocked most of it. Such chaos!!
Plus a lot more unrelated to rabbits.
FML
What a day....We need rain, but c'mon. Wtf was that, nature??
Lost a lamb to the storm last night.

Buck hasn't eaten in over a week. Hates the new food, but there's nothing else.
A doe who had kits also refusing to eat the new pellets.


June 22
Amber's mutt doe that was much larger than any of it's rex siblings, had 10 kits today.

June 25
Old sf buck ate the hose, no one had water, on the hottest, muggiest day of the year!
Threw him into a cage with a bottle and fixed everyone's water.
🙄
Hopefully, no ill effects from the turd.

June 27
Turd is now eating the new pellets. Wtf

Lost one of the blue kits to yesterday's heat wave. But the runt I thought would die is doing good.

July 2
Discovered that the dogs are NOT eating the rabbits. Currently, almost none of them.
I'll have to buy a flame torch and cook the meat & cut them in half per dog, or I'll be wasting them. 😤 🤬😭


Feed switch seems to of caused nursing problems. Kits are tiny, several dead, one litter refusing to stay in nest probably bc mom has little milk. Idk how many will make it...

July 5
Lost a black kit from the litter that lost the blues & wouldn't stay in nest.

Speedy had 12 kits. 2 on wire, warmed & returned. 3 dead in nest.

Having problems with the water cups leaking, badly. Ugh.


July 6
Lost one of the newest kits, probably bc of the heat. Had removed fur & widened the hole, but wasn't enough. Removed much more fur and widened again.
Fan has been on for a few days now.

The water cups are leaking like a witch. Ugh! Driving me nuts.


July 8
Finally got around to culling the older rex and 3 kits. Dogs are being weird & highly wasteful, so I put pelts in the pickle, tossed intestines & stomach, left the rest attached. Cut in half and put in freezer. Will try partly cooking them before feeding. The pup ate the discarded bits as I processed them. 🤦🏽‍♀️ But didn't want a whole one. 🤷🏽‍♀️
More to choose who to cull, but it's been 90 and humid. Plus, very busy getting fencing installed for the sheep & now have to move stuff so hay can be delivered. Doesn't leave much time to do anything else.

July 9 & 10
Will be culling the 45 sf doe. Just waiting for a bit of freezer space. Same with the 1st pedigreed sf buck. They've been listed for awhile, but no bites, so time to go.
Decided to go ahead & cull 45. Callender said she was bred, but uterus said she didn't take.
Got her cut into 3rds & pan seared for the dogs. Just need to cut those in half before feeding. Got most of the flesh off the hide also peeled & fried.
Head & feet went to the pup.
Moved the broken doe & her kits into 45's previous cage.

July 11 & 12

Gave Amber, 14 and the 2 mutts living together nests. Amber started gathering hay.
Removed Lynx to wean kits.Amber put hay in a corner of cage. Better not kindle in there.

14 put fur in her nest.

Broken mutt put hay in a corner of cage, so added a 2nd nest. Hoping they both use them vs needing separation & kit saving.

Got some pics & weights of some kits.

Gotta look up who is who between these 3 from 2 litters. They did not want to pose, at all.These 3 are from a black(Dec 9th) sf doe, out of 14 doe, by 3-5 buck. All same weight, but each has something different in shape. Ugh.

 

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July 14
Got tired of bottles for the 3 bucks outside, so ran a hose from the auto water on the big grow out to them & 2 nipples on there.

Then got weights of all of them in the grow out cage, but not the separate 3 bucks.
Couldn't pose them all, too hot again.

A little photoshop bc I didn't move the cam far enough back on this buck...I need to tattoo or tag these rabbits....so hard to constantly refigure out who they are.


July 15



Never believed videos of them sleeping like this, always thought it was staged!








Well!
The failed breeding would make it a week early. Don't have anything listed for the week before. So, I must have a boring split personality that likes to put buns together & not freaking record it!! 🤦🏽‍♀️

6 kits on the cage floor nest vs the proper nest. Wtf? She's also acting angry. 🙄
Moved to their nest.And blanket doe, living with the blk doe, had her kits! In the nest. Only checked enough to remove muck and get a pic.
Now waiting on the blk doe.

 

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Sunday
2 transport cages & 4 regular cages.9-10 holes added today.Need a summer setup & a winter setup. So hot in the barn, but trees are cool.

14 was moved to New cage on ground temporarily. Too hot to be 3rd cage high and due any day.14 in one of the newly gotten cages, just temporary until I fix the other one. Her old cage also needs floor repairs, a few actually do.And temp cage for the doe that was living with the blanket doe.Tattoo should arrive tomorrow. So, I'm trying to figure out what to do. I don't really want to name them all, especially if I won't keep long term. Though, names are easier to remember than numbers.
May do dam initial, sire initial & then a letter for the keeper. Or just give them random number/letter combos & keep a sheet of who that is. 🤔

 

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Got the floor corners patched up.
Working on adding the divider next. Just have hardware cloth, but as dividers, that's fine.Named a few moms & added tags for kits. Finished the divider.
Culled one blk growout & seared for the dogs later tonight.I think 1 is missing. × is culled or about to be. A lot (11!) are sired by 3-5, so he's being culled.
Then need names of the Blu & Amber older kits I'll keep.

Name, breed, parents.
Does
11, sf
14, sf
×45, sf
×Grumpy, sf
Lynx, rex
Amber, rex
Speckle, sf/nz/r, 11×nz/r
×Onyx, sf, 14×3-5
×Blackie, sf/nz/r, Grumpy×nz/r
×Blu, rex/nz/r, Lynx×nz/r
Choco, sf, 45×3-5
Speedy, sf, 11×3-5
Kitty, rex/nz/r, Amber×nz/r
Unity, sf/rex, Amber×3-5
Meanie, sf, 45×3-5
Freckles, sf/nz/r, 11×nz/r
Darkie/2ndspeedy, sf, 14×3-5
Blanket, sf/nz/r, Speckle×3-5
Zero, sf, Onyx×3-5

Bucks
×3-5, sf
Baymax/lilacotter, rex
Rivian/new sf, sf
Tortie, sf, Grumpy×3-5
Swirl, sf/nz/r, Speckle×3-5
Cinder, sf, 11×3-5


Tuesday,
Black one had her kits. Didn't use the nest, but tried to make a nest in the corner. Pulled a tiny bit if fur.
4 lost, 6 live.



Blanket kits are doing well, no pics to not bother mom.

The water cups drained completely, again! Happened a few days ago, too. One kept over filling, so I moved the tube to a nipple instead. So annoying!And put legs on one of the cages. Don't have more uposts, so that's it for now.

 

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Yesterday and today.

And found a U beam to support the 2hole. Need to cut off the excess.And put legs on one of the cages. Don't have more uposts, so that's it for now.Added legs to the 4hole. Need to cut some wood for the middle rear leg.5 inch tail on this bun. 3-5 is no more.SF buck 3-5 was culled this morning.


Looking over buns.

Darkie's 3 kits, was 2 bucks and a doe, but it looks like both black are does. One has decent shape so far. Other black doe will be culled. Idk if I'll keep the tort buck or not...lol.

Of the 4 black in the grow out pen, I'll keep the best shaped, other 3 will be culled.

Of the 3 in the shelf cage, they're previous culls.

Charlie kit will be culled. Broken sis kept.

Then the 3 smallest in Freckles' litter will be culled.

Same with Lynx's litter of 8, 4-6 will be culled.

Chocolate buck, litter brother of tort, will be culled. Fur is crap right now. Will give him a little time to see if he'll molt out soon or not.

Need to go back and see which of the adult does were previously on the cull list. I think it was one of the chocolates & Freckles. So, they'll be culled soon, too.

18 to 20 are slated for culling.



So...who is left?

19 buns in individual cages.
Then some rex in growout pen. I think it was the 2 broken blue sisters, choc otter buck, blue doe, reg fur mutt choc otter doe & brother lilac. 🤔 That's 6 more, one of the brokens has to go.
8 to 10 kits to watch from a few different litters, from previous post above.
🫠
About 32 to 34.

But, some of the grow outs have to be compared to the same parings previously and cull the slower growing ones. So, hopefully less than that....🫣

Feed is not in stock. Waiting on it to arrive to go get 20-30 bags. 😭Okay. Moved stuff around & ended up putting the 3 in cull cage, but then didn't need to in the end, bc they're too old to join with any other buns, lol.

Then, I put all other culls in the outdoor growout pen. But the choc buck stayed in the outdoor crate, again, too old to join others w/o fighting. Total of 17 culls to get through.

Moved keepers into the big 2hole I just got. The Choco×lilacotterrex buck, amber/lilacotterrex doe, blue & brnk Blu opal rex does & the Blackie kit doe.

3 in small cull cage.13 in the big cull cage.The 5 keepers.