Just came out to let her out of the cage and give her some free run around time when this old lady just about gave me a heart attack 😂🤣 Isabella here is 7 years old and at the age where she naps a LOT, freaks me out all the time. At the moment she is my oldest rabbit, but I have had some make it to 11 in the past. They can live a long time when given proper care. I don't butcher my retirees, they get promoted to pet when they are too old to breed and live out the rest of their days here, napping in the shade.
Bunnies are getting big, starting to eat pellets now, most are back with their true mommas, Freyda still has 3 of Ingrid's babies but that's because Ingrid has 12 when Freyda only had 6. In about 3 more weeks I'll open a wait-list, 2 weeks after that they can go to their new homes, more info soon to follow!
Just about 2 weeks old now, they have their eyes open and are starting to adventure out of the nest. Just a reminder I did have to swap babies around due to lactation issues between the does, so Ingrid (the white momma) is currently raising Freyda's babies, and Freyda (brown momma) is raising Ingrid's babies.
Just about a week old now, bunnies are doing well. I've had to swap some around a bit as momma Freyda wasn't lactating very well the first few days so I've been giving the scrawny ones to Ingrid and moving the bigger ones to Freyda's nest to help even things out and give the little ones a chance. So far all are doing good, just a couple more days until their eyes open!
My second doe, Freyda, had her babies today! A total of 6 which is perfect so she can take 3 of Ingrid's babies (my REW doe) and now both does have 9 babies to feed which will even out the odds of survival a little bit.
The father of this litter is an F3 Flemish Giant, the mother is a purebred Flemish Giant meaning that these babies are F4 (99% flemish) F4 flemish giants do legally qualify as pure bred according to ARBA standards, so after 3 years of selective breeding I am happy to announce that I have finally created magpie flemish giants! If either of these are does I will most-likely keep one to ad to my breeding program and continue with further generations of magpie flemish giants, but if they are bucks they will be for sale. Only time will tell!
Introducing our newest litter, we have 12 new flemish giant bunnies! 6 sandy and 6 fawn, these numbers make me a little nervous as that is a lot of babies for momma to feed. I will supplement momma with oats and put kits on a rotation if it comes to that, but I'm hoping that Freyda (another doe due on Thursday) will have a smaller litter and can foster some of these.
More info on this current litter, mother is my REW Flemish doe, (19lbs) father is my fawn flemish buck (18lbs) who comes from state championship lines (I do not raise for show, but I do buy from show breeders to help preserve the quality of the breed)
Babies will be able to reserve in about 6 weeks, they can go home in 8, more info will come as the time draws nearer.
I still have a few bucks left, purebred Flemish Giants. Mom is black out of black and blue lines, dad is chinchilla with fawn blue and sandy is his background. They are weaned and ready to go, asking $50 each, pickup location will be at:
Speedway, 7051 Saddlebag Lake Rd, Lake Odessa, MI
I got home from work today at perfect timing! Ms. Dotty here was in labor when I went back to check on her. She just finished popping out the last baby before I pulled my camera out. Babies are doing well, they all began to nurse right away as she cleaned them up. There is a little blood but I promise you she's not eating her babies, just cleaning up the after birth. I'm going to leave her alone for a bit and come back later this evening to get a count. How exciting!
And we have another nester! I typically try to breed two does at once, just so I have a foster momma available in case something goes wrong, and it looks like our designated foster mom is ready to pop! This momma is an F2 flemish giant. Her mother was Miss Folly, my prized Sandy doe, and her father was Knobs, a flemish Harlequin cross, so this rabbit in particular is 75% flemish giant 25% Harlequin. I want to try and make magpie flemish giants and I only need one more generation in order to make them legally purebred according to ARBA standards. Last time I bred her, I got an entire litter of chinchilla coated bunnies, so, this thime around, I bred her to my big sandy buck Omar (in my profile pic). Hoping for better color results this time. These babies will be F3 Flemish Giants, (83% Flemish, 17% Harlequin) and their offspring, if bred to a pure flemish, will qualify as pure flemish (NOTE! That does not make them show able! I just like pretty rabbits and a lot of you people do too and that is why I am working on this project. I have no interest in the rabbit show business.)
This big lady is due next Tuesday, I'm excited to see what she has!
Nesting time! I am happy to announce that our 2nd litter of the year is due to arrive this Sunday! This momma is Miss Marcy, she is a fully pedigreed flemish giant from black and blue lines. I bred her to my chin buck Murphy (the same buck who sired my current litter) last time I bred this pair, I got mainly steel babies with one blue. Hopefully we'll get more colors this time around but we'll see. I have to check my calendar but I believe these bunnies won't be available until mid to late May. I will focus mainly on updating my current litter but you should hopefully see an occasional post about these new babies here and there.
Baby bunnies got some time in the sun today. 4 weeks old already, so far it looks like 3 of the REW are boys and the rest of the litter are girls. I will try to get the weights of the parents this evening and post more info on the wait-list. I start taking names in two weeks!
We had a little explorer today. Just over two weeks old and already starting to wander. Any day now they'll be hopping around freely, so far all 8 are alive and well!
10 days old! First bunny opened his eyes! Second bunny (grey bunny in front at the lower right corner) opened his eyes literally the very second I stopped the video!) I suspect they will all be open by Thursday!
Man time flies. While filming this I was thinking that they were still only 3 or 4 days old. (I think I even say "they're not even a week old yet" in there somewhere) Just checked my calendar and they are 8 days old today! They should all have their eyes open this weekend. That week flew by. These tiny little hippos will look like rabbits before you know it.
And an update on Marcy's babies. One of the steels I pointed out might actually be a sandy, but I'll know for sure in a few more days
Just a quick update on the F3 Flemish Giants!
