Today I weighed XCY-3 and they seem to be showing that "wow" factor I was hoping to see with this kindle. If they grow out with show quality as I am expecting, I am planning to keep the buck and a doe. I might keep the other doe as well or do a swap with her. I have been handling each one every day and working on them to relax when picked up. The XCY3 doe is the smallest, but she is also the one who relaxes the best when being picked up, if not the first time, then the second. The others are better about it when they are a bit sleepy, but they are starting to get it. I am going for that ragdoll trait that I had in a SF x NZW that I sold months ago to a meat breeder, who just loved how she relaxed when being carried.  Being a ground animal whose only defense is running and powerful kicks, rabbits do not like being off a surface or without traction. Being carried is something they tolerate and some tolerate it better than others. I want my rabbits to tolerate being han...

I went into the rabbitry with my focus on the XCY-3 kindle, but when I turned around, there was fur all over Misty Blue's cage and she was still pulling! In all these years, I have only caught two does kindling and she was not one of them. I was certain that she does not pull fur until beginning labor but today I witnessed it! So, I proceeded to feed the rabbits and while Misty Blue was birthing her babies inside the nesting box hutch side of the kindling suite, I played with the XCY bunnies. They are so much fun! The other thing I am very happy about is that Canyon, their mother, who was so fearful of me since coming here from Silver Lox, has been very relax about letting me pet her and play with her bunnies! They still like to lick me a lot and are just too much fun watching them zip around the cage. When Misty Blue hopped out, I checked to find only three kits not covered with about a day or two growth of fur on them all. Misty was a little annoyed with me, I thin...

I can hardly believe that XCY-3 is already three weeks old. Sunday I weighed them and set up their page on the top menu. I am particularly excited because they are in the weight ranges of my last kindle at four weeks old! I know that kits tend to be larger in general when the kindle is small, but still it is very exciting! Just looking at the size of XCY2 makes me smile.  I have been waiting impatiently for Misty Blue to kindle because I had it in my head that she was due on last Friday. Actually, her 31st day is today, but she had her last kindle on the 33rd day. I have been palpitating her for the last week and I can feel those babies. She has been more tolerant about that the last couple of days also, so I think she is feeling the time is close too. She has quite a nice nest ready and waiting, but has not pulled fur yet. She usually pulls fur just before kindling.  This is our first purebred Silver Fox in house breeding and I am hoping to see kits...

I have been wanting to do a daily photo journal of a kindle from birth to the eye opening event, but most kindles have so many kits that it is not an easy project to wrangle them all. However, being that XCY-3 is my first Silver Fox purebred kindle and there are only three, I decided to turn my disappointment in the small size of the kindle to an opportunity to do the photo journal on Facebook and Instagram and then collect them all together in one blog post here. They are all black, but they all are also blue carriers.  A few hours after birth, the kits are hairless and blind. The doe pulls hair from her body, mostly from her dew lap and around nipples to make a nest that will keep the hairless kits warm. They rely on the body heat of each other and the pulled fur in the nest to achieve this. Otherwise a kit can die of hypothermia quickly in the winter, but even in the summer. At a day old, the kits are just starting to grow hair. The reason these black kits look...

Plan: Breed Comet x Black Ivy using an introduction approach. Goal: Change Comet's and Black Ivy's status to proven; testing Comet to see if he carries white or any other recessives on the C-locus; testing Black Ivy to see if she carries Blue; offspring with even silvering inherited from both parents. Conclusion: Black Ivy lifted for Comet as one fall-off was witnessed. About an hour later, she again was receptive and one fall-off was witnessed. We scheduled Sunday for cleaning cages, culling, breeding, and moving rabbits to different cages, but it was a rainy morning, staying wet and breezy with temperatures again taking a dive to freezing! The temperature swings in April alone have been from freezing to 80°F! Last night it went to 31°F and today it is suppose to reach 70°F. That is nearly a 40°swing! I decided to put off moving Canyon and her XCY-3 kindle to another cage until the tomorrow. Misty Blue is due on the 25th so that will give her at least a week in the ...

Canyon kindled my first purebred Silver Fox kindle in a couple of years! I found Canyon in the nesting box after I went to check on her. I thought she might be kindling, but when she emerged from the nest it still looked empty and she was still pulling fur, so I did not feel around in the nest. However, she might have kindled then, because when I checked the nest about an hour later, it still looked flat, but I felt one and then two and then three...and only three. All are black even though the sire carried blue and the dam is blue. Of course, I was hoping for 6-9, but she was not receptive to either buck to which we introduced her, so her breeding was assisted. Typically, assisted breedings result in smaller kindles, because even though does are induced ovulators, they do have cycles and apparently we caught Canyon on the off side of that cycle. However, I wanted to see her for myself before I committed to buying her, so that is just how it worked out. I was not surprised...