There are three big milestones in the life of a kit.  Being born alive.  Thriving until about ten to twelve days old when the eyes open and ears start lifting— so  very cute!    Weaning at around six to eight weeks.  Of course, the first one is very important, and all of them are wonderful, but I think I am partial to day when we can see each other eye-to-eye  and they begin to look and move around more bunny-like with their quick and not so controlled hops. It is kind of like the day a baby begins to walk. I am fairly confident in the colors I am seeing now, so here is my list of their phenotypes (how they appear so far): BMB1 - Chinchilla Agouti BMB2 - Chestnut Agouti BMB3 - Black Gold-Tipped Steel BMB4 - Solid Black  BMB5 - Solid Black with SF fur This is the first time I have had Agoutis, so it was fun to find tiny kits with white ears and bellies, but it was not what I was hoping to see thrown from NZW-B for my...

Let me start off with how crazy cold it has been here this week with wind chill factors around zero! So cold that my fingers hurt within minutes of being outside even though I had gloves on. That is not the kind of temperatures to which I ever want to expose my newborn kits just to get a good look at them. I knew there were five and that they all were alive. I would put one cold hand into their warm nest blindly feeling around and counting them. For those who have not yet had the experience, baby rabbits do not lay still for this procedure. They constantly are flipping and squirming and are impossible to hold on to for long if you are trying to place more than two in your hand. Yes, that makes counting them very difficult, especially when there are more than four...and usually there are always more than four. At first glance on their first day, I thought I had three blacks and two blues as they squirmed around but some how they looked different than a blue should look. A couple ...

Goal: Determine if NWZ-B carries the "En" (broken) gene. Result: No Brokens in the four offspring. Conclusion: Not enough evidence to prove NZW-B does not carry the "En" (broken) gene. Another test breeding with a self (solid colored) doe would be provide more evidence. I knew it was unlikely, but I still tried a breeding with one of our new junior NZW bucks, NZW-B, and our youngest brood doe, Golden Girl, on September 9th. It did not take. The buck may have been too young as he was just three months old at the time, but Golden Girl had an entire year off from breeding, so the fault could have been one or the other or both. Usually, I would not try breeding a buck quite that young, but we have had accidental pregnancies from NZW bucks about that age and I had no bucks older. So, I rebred the same pair on October 9th and got results on November 9th! Golden Girl had not kindled as little as four kits previously, but I was pleased with their sizes and health. ...