Breeding of Tootsie and Ninja

By Charlotte

I bred Tootsie and Ninja August 30 and 31, late at night and early in the morning. 

Tootsie as a first time mom lost eight out of nine of her kits.  This is actually a common occurrence with first-time moms.  I anticipate that she will be a much better mother this time.  She wants to be a mother, and knows she will be having kits soon.  You can tell she wants to be a mother with her gaining almost two pounds in a week and a half.  The kits are due October 1^st.  

 

Tootsie, ecstatic mother-to-be

From breeding Tootsie and Indy together, we learned that Tootsie is double steel.  Meaning, unless with bred with another double steel, the whole litter will be some sort of steel.  Because Tootsie is a double steel, and we don’t have a double steel buck that she isn’t related to, I bred her with Ninja to produce steel (black steel).  There will definitely be black and chocolate steel and possibly blue and lilac steel.  

Ninja, proud dad-to-be.

Big Sis's First Post

Becky here, I have yet to contribute to the blog so here I go. (IOW, I'm new so give me a break!)

So if you have been following this blog, you know that Chuck and Lydia have previously bred their rabbits, but I have not. Well, that changed this past Saturday. Cookie (broken chocolate) and Honey (chocolate tort) were bred. Because I'm a chicken I had Chuck do the breeding... I had to pay with my last half of a Krispy Kreme doughnut. Boy is she pricey!

Cookie and Honey

So for nesting boxes you need to have shredded paper and hay. Paper to help with the rabbits' hygiene and hay for mom to graze on and eventually wean her kits. Because of my ability to think ahead, I realized that not two but three girls would be fighting for the free newspaper Dad brings home. So I decided out of the goodness of my heart that I would buy my nesting box materials so that there would be more for my sisters (am I not such a good big sister?). It is a paper-based litter, and I will post my opinion of how well it works after the kits are born. By the way, it's a really colorful array of purple, pink, blue and white.  Guess it will make for cute pictures!

Breeding Fun with a REW (Ruby-Eyed White)

Because you never know what you are going to get

By Lydia

Well, last time we bred Snowball and Cookie, we thought we’d get some brokens and some self chocolates.  Well, if you read some of our early posts, you know how that turned out.  We had a few surprises.  More about that later.

Here are a couple thoughts that might help you in your breedings.

Actually, there are ways to figure out what you might get.  You need to determine your rabbits genotype as best as possible.  But with REWs, this can be hard, because you never know what they might be hiding.  You might a wrong guess, like we did with Snowball.  Actually, it wasn’t us.  The pedigree we got from the breeder indicated she was aa instead of Aa, which she obviously is.  

One way of finding out what colors you may get is using Punnett squares.  It is easy to do, but it can take a long time if your rabbits are very genetically diverse.  

Snowball:  Phenotype--REW; genotype--AaBbccDdE_

The other way is by breeding.  It takes longer to know what your rabbit has, but it’s easier on the brain.  We found out that we should not breed Cookie with Snowball anymore.  Half of their offspring will be unshowable colors, like agouti steels.  Cookie is an absolutely gorgeous broken chocolate.  His parents were both steels.  Cookie is a double steel, but we didn’t realize this--often a double steel cancels out the steel appearance.  It is only by breeding that you can learn whether a rabbit whose parents were both steel is in actuality a double steel. 

Cookie:  Phenotype--broken chocolate; genotype--aabbCCDdEsEs

In this breeding, we also learned that Snowball hides agouti. Since she hides agouti and agouti is dominant, and Cookie is a double steel and steel is dominant, they made steel agouti. Two of their six surviving kits were chocolate steel agouti.  Unshowable.  

Bubbles:  Phenotype--chocolate agouti steel; genotype--AabbCcD_Es_

This go around we are going to identify whether Buddy carries REW.  If he does, half the litter will be REW.  The other colors we are most likely to get are:  agouti, self black, blue agouti, self blue, chocolate agouti, and self chocolate.  The kits are due October 1.

New Buck on the Block

By Charlotte

My mom and I made a seven hour round trip to Julie Kuroki’s Black Oak Rabbitry in Vacaville, CA.  There I examined a five month old buck to replace Indy.  He turned out not only to have clean lines, but also to have great lines. He is definitely a great replacement for Indy.  He is a beautiful self-chocolate.  His mother is a very docile self-black.   His father is a BEAUTIFUL lilac tort.

He has an amazing coat, good crimp and good wool density, and deeply colored guard hairs.  His body is also something to mention.  Though not very fleshy as a junior buck, his hips are already very smooth.  He has a great head that is just the teeniest bit blocky.  I love the size of his ears—not too big and not too small.    I think he will be an awesome show bunny.  I am anticipating that he will do well at the Stockton show on September 20.    

We finally named him Muddy Buddy, as in the Chex treat.  But we won’t eat him. Lydia came up with his name.  

Buddy, view 1

Buddy, view 2

Truckee Meadows Rabbit Breeders Show

By Lydia

The ARBA double show was held at Cold Springs Middle School on July 26.  Before the show, as my sisters and I were deciding which rabbits to take, I was debating whether to enter Snowball.  I was considering leaving her at home because her wool was not in the best condition.  She was in a molt.   But I decided to take her because, if one of the other rabbits got disqualified, we would only have four, and there wouldn’t be enough rabbits for a leg to be awarded.  

Snowball (with Douglas County 4-H Best of Breed ribbon)

The first show of the two, the judge loved her and awarded her best of breed.  I was so surprised that she won a leg.  I was really glad I took her.  My mom and my sister Charlotte were so surprised that Duchess, who is Becky’s rabbit, did not win.

In the second show, the judge did not like Snowball, and totally ignored her.  She checked out the other rabbits and picked Snowball’s brother, Ninja, as best of breed.  Duchess got best opposite.  

Ninja, Best of Breed at TMRB show July 26.

In this show, only the most popular breeds got ribbons, so sadly, Snowball has nothing to show for her achievement.   So for this blogpost, I took a picture of her with one of her other ribbons.

I learned that judges may have very different opinions of what is best in rabbits. 

The Advantages of Joining 4-H

When I learned what 4-H was, I thought it would be smart to join to learn about the rabbit I was raising.  Joining turned out to be a great idea. 

Why?

First, I had no idea how to actually handle my rabbit.  I obviously did not want to hurt my rabbit, and I didn’t want to scare him, either.  I learned how to support his body properly, how to check for ear mites, and how to check his teeth.

My first rabbit, Indy.  My sweetest rabbit unfortunately had a heart condition.  He passed away in June.

Because he was a French angora, I learned about wool block and how to treat it.  At one of the 4-H shows, I learned I was feeding him and my other rabbit the wrong feed.  Contrary to what a 4-H member told us, French angoras actually need a lower protein feed, about 15-16%, rather than the 18% I was feeding them.  

I also learned that I was over-plucking my rabbits.  

Ninja joined the rabbitry in November 2013, two days before Thanksgiving.

There are great opportunities for leadership, though I have not yet run for office.  I probably will next time elections are held.

In showmanship, which I was really afraid of, I learned how to show my rabbit properly and that it was really a lot of fun.  It is actually a health check that also helps me to identify better rabbits.    

Finally, I also really learn a lot at shows.  I get advice on feed and care.  If I have a new rabbit, I can take it and ask a 4-H leader to judge it, which has been really successful. 

Bunnies for Sale

Maple

 "Maple" and "Stanley"

Maple and Stanley are now three months old with good conformation .  They are both chocolate steel and their wool is finely crimped, with good density and good texture.  They have been handled since birth and would make mighty fine show rabbits.  Both have been vaccinated against Pasteurella (snuffles).

Stanley

The differences between them?  Maple weighs 4 lbs 10 oz, and Stanley is one pound more at 5 lbs 10 oz.

They are $70 each, with a $20 discount for 4-H.