I completely understand that we all have other things to do besides dealing our rabbitries, but there are times when other breeders will post pictures of a rabbit and all I see is the messy cage that should have been cleaned. I would be embarrassed to post such a picture! This week I had taken a good looked around my rabbitry and thought that is was getting a bit too furry for my taste. Plus, we had not cleaned the fans last week. I try to do them at least once a week, but sometimes other things take priority. While my husband worked on a project this weekend that was in preparation for the new rabbitry—very excited about this!—I worked on cleaning the rabbitry alone. Some people will advise to torch the fur on the cages, but heating up the cage wire weakens the wire and welds resulting in reducing its lifespan. A rabbit can bite and pull off wire that has been subjected to being torched much easier than wire that has not, which is why I practice the more labor intensive, but wir...

As typical of my husband, he improved upon my plan for keeping Zinfadel cool this summer during her pregnancy by placing her in a carrier cage in the garage during the day. Instead, he cleared out a spot in the garage to accommodate one of the single cages for her to stay day and night. It is one of the newer buck cages, which is 36 inches wide and 24 inches deep, instead of 30 inches deep as the cage she was in outside. So, it is a bit more cramped than she is used to having, but certainly roomier than a carrier with the divider removed and able to fit a nesting box much easier.  The temperature predictions for the next few days are up to 95°! I think she will be happier in temperatures averaging in the mid 70s by comparison...still with a fan for air flow. Our other concern for Zin is light. She is on a table near a window on the west side of the garage, but I am thinking she will still need more light. This is an easy fix, so it will happen.

Living in the southeast has its challenges with raising Silver Foxes. At the top of the list is keeping them cool and healthy during the hottest and most humid time of the year. As meat breeders, we would have our last breedings in April and no breedings until September. The only schedule I had to consider was my own and cage space.  As a show breeder, I still quite strongly believe in not breeding in the summer, particularly when I have invested so much in my rabbits. However, working around show schedules has been a new challenge for me this past year. For instance, I put off breeding Luna last fall until she earned three legs as she was my best doe to show at the time and I had other does that could be bred. Still, there were gaps I would like to avoid this coming breeding season, if the rabbits cooperate. This spring I was faced with another breeding schedule dilemma with Zinfandel. I bred her to GC Starry Knight after we returned from the Silver Fox National Show in Apr...

I have seen cage tags from very simple to very fancy, from write on plastic to small charts on paper. Everyone has their own set up and flair in their own rabbitries that works for them. After using cage tags for some time, I finally realize what I really wanted for mine. Every tag should have at the minimum the rabbits ear number. The name is also a must-have for us. I also added the sex, which is always good to know at a glance (although I am using color coding for that so may not be needed now), and the color of the rabbit, which is a left over from my meat breeding days (before I began showing) with many color genetic variations as now most of my rabbits are black, but I think of it as maybe being helpful to anyone who would need to take care of my buns for me should that happen. While I can plan and chart on my computer as well as when I leaf through my rabbitry binder, it is in my rabbitry handling the rabbits or even just cleaning their cages that I think out my breeding ...

This week was busy! We butchered eleven rabbits, which are aging presently and should be ready for making dinner with vaccum sealing and freezing the rest. This freed up some cage space and lowered feed consumption, but only temporarily. Luna kindled three, but two were DOA fetal giants, so only one black survivor out of Dallan, thanks to Hannah Yost. Still, I am very hopeful this one will have the fur quality I got the first of this pairing and better type this time around would be nice also. Misty Blue Too surprised us with five out of Leon. I had not seen a fall off, but the old man is still quite fertile and even with his old weak legs, so apparently able to still impregnate a willing doe even when I cannot detect a fall off. Under all that blue fur are five healthy sleeping black kits and she even pulled more fur! Misty's surprise newborns meant we urgently needed to prep a cage with baby wire yesterday evening, because Luna was still in the kindl...