Bunnies Go To CampFire

A friend of mine is a CampFile Leader.  She asked me to bring some bunnies in today for the girls to look at.  These little girls are all Kindergarteners and they had so much fun with the bunnies:

Little Bit

 

Little Bit

Worst Week for Babies

This week has just been terrible for getting litters.  I’m so disgusted.  Ahhhhh.  October 20th was my last live litter.

1. ARR’s Angry Squirrel x RA’s Capsaicin due 24 Oct 2009 -  pulled some hair but no babies.  He was a little young yet on this breeding, so maybe he wasn’t up to ‘full power’ yet.
2. GBF’s Jessie x GBF’s Cadee due 28 Oct 2009. 1 giant that I ended up having to help pull.  First time mom.
3. Antonioni’s Julius x White River’s Kenya due 27 Oct 2009.   She was bred four times, but …. nothing.  First time mom as far as I know.
4. Freeman’s Cocoa was due October 31st.  Appears that she had a false pregnancy.  She made a beautiful nest a day or so after her due date, so I was hopeful…. but nothing.  She’s a proven doe.
5. Hunneshagen’s Salome was due the 1st.  This was her first breeding ever, so getting a live litter or any litter at all was questionable in the first place.   She went 2 days over and finally produced two dead kits on the wire.  She had worked and worked on that nest of hers.  Poor girl.
6. GBF’s Topeka was due yesterday.  A first time mom.  I found three ice-cold kits in the box this morning and they don’t appear to be revive-able.  She only pulled just a tiny bit of wool.  Nice fat kits though. 

So, 3 misses and 3 lost litters.  Ugh.  I’m wandering if the virus, or whatever it was that went through my herd, affected the expecting does.  That’s a very likely scenario.  I was told that the sulfa medications should not have harmed the unborn kits, but the virus could have.

And people think it’s so easy to get babies.  Ha.

GBF’s Tess is my next doe to have babies.  She is due on the 6th.  I moved her into a ‘birthing suite’ last night and gave her a nest box.    She had one DOA kit on her last breeding, so hopefully she’ll get it figured out this time.   I actually bred her to Tsunami (Campo’s Hobie x ELS Tallie).   Tess is out of ELS Elden x ELS Tallie, so did a little line-breeding of sorts to Tallie.

I hope others are having better luck then me right now.

 

FaceBook Page for Green Barn Farm

Wanted to let you know, that I put together a Face Book Page for our farm today – “Friends of Green Barn Farm”.  Whenever I update the For-Sale page, I will post on FaceBook so you will be automatically updated when you check YOUR facebook.  Hope that you will become a Friend or Fan (I haven’t figured out what the difference between the two is!).

Open Does, Turkey for Dinner

Well, I just went through my list of Senior Does and I only have five that are open right now (of the ones I’m wanting to breed).  Now to figure out who their best matches might be:

White River’s Kenya (Black) – she’s gorgeous – just needs a more massive head.   She missed on my first try of breeding her.   Decided to breed her to White River’s Troy.

RA’s Capsaicin (Red) – was bred to ARR’s Angry Squirrel (REW) for Abby’s science project.  He was still on the young side when we did that breeding, so I’m not surprised things didn’t happen.  Will repeat the breeding.

GBF’s Tahlia (Tort) – I thought I bred her, but can’t find my notes!  Ahhh.  I hate it when that happens.  Now what to do…

White River’s Cora (SS) – thought I had bred her also to GBF’s Caden (carries REW or sable gene)…  where is that piece of paper!!!   Got one live kit from this same cross that I fostered to Triskit – and of course, it’s black (so far anyway).

GBF’s Cadee (Tort) – Poor Cadee.  Her first litter and she had a stuck kit.  She pushed all day and finally at 10:00 pm had delivered it enough that I could pull it.   She is out of White River’s Arden x THF Saynora’s Antigone.   She has a substantial body but lacks in the crown, so need to fix that.  The plan was to breed her back to Arden, but that can’t happen now.   So, Plan B.   I think we’ll go with WR Troy.

GBF’s Carmen (Black) – not quite senior yet, but want to get the ball rolling on her.  Breeding her back to her sire.

Have some does due:

Freeman’s Cocoa is due tomorrow.  I don’t know… she’s not acting like she’s gonna have babies.  Did see her in the nestbox this evening though.  I’m still not very good at palpating – I don’t feel any babies in her.  But, I’ve been wrong before.  She was bred to White River’s Dino.

Hunneshagen’s Salome (EA) is due Sunday.  She has been carrying hay around in her mouth for over a week now.  I gave her a nestbox early so she could start building her nest.  Oh, the hair is flying.  This is the first time I’ve bred her, so I hope all goes well.  ELS Mr. SandMan is the father-to-be.

GBF’s Topeka is due the 3rd.  She missed the first time I bred her.  She was bred to her littermate brother, Tobias, so we’ll see what happens – trash or treasure.  Man, she sure is grouchy!  And has a big ol’ belly going on.  Gave her a nest box today and she hopped right in.

Little Bit is the spunk-meister now.   He is still in the house with one of Baron’s kits and one of Charlee’s.  When I open the cage door, he is right there ready to hop out.  He is ALLL about his carrot at night, let me tell ya.  Cute little cuss.

Turkey Business

We took 8 of our largest Bourbon Red turkeys into the butcher this week (but not Tom or his two ‘girls’).  I baked one tonight for dinner.  Yum.  Fresh turkey.  We had 24 total running around.  So, now we are down to 16.  I want to keep 2 toms (including “Tom”) and 3 hens over the winter (including the 2 hens from last spring).  That way each of the girls can take a pair to the fair next year.  I’m keeping an extra hen ‘just in case’.   So, that gets us to 11 birds that we will take in around Thanksgiving.

Turkeys are the oddest creatures.  Whenever anyone comes up the drive, they come rushing out to see who it is.  They seem to be particularly fond of the UPS man!  It’s like they are the Welcoming Committee.  People who are not used to turkeys are a bit frightened, as they do look and sound fairly imposing when all the tom’s are displaying and gobbling.  When I go out in the morning to do chores, they come tearing towards me, making all their funny noises… where’s our food… where’s the grain??  Have you ever seen a turkey run?  It’s kind of like watching Jurassic Park. 

Junior Photo’s

As I continued cleaning cages yesterday, I stopped occasionally to take a break and snap some pictures of my upcoming juniors.  The one I am most excited about is GBF’s Taber (GBF’s Tyraid x L&R Donna):

He has just an excellent head and thick, rounded SHORT ears.  His crown has really nice side to side width, and front to back width.  Hopefully, as he matures, he will gain some height to it.  He is naturally upright and has splendid short, heavy boned legs.  He also has the smoothest body.  He reminds me of how Caden and Cadee felt as young juniors – plush.

His littermate sister, Courtenay, also has a very nice head package.  She isn’t as nice in the body as he is, but still a very pretty doe:

GBF's Courtenay

 

"What's over there?"

"Ooh. A yummy leaf."

 

 

LL Avalanche has a cute doe also, GBF’s Apropos sired by GBF’s Tobias, 1/2 brother to GBF’s Tyraid.  She is molting out of her baby coat right now, so she’s got the scruffies going on.  She too has a nice thick, well-rounded, short ear that I really like.  I also like her depth of shoulder.

 

GBF's Apropos at 11 weeks.

This is Apropos’ littermate brother, Hinrik.  He is cute, but doesn’t ‘have it going on’ like Taber does.  He is still young, so I’m going to hold on to him for a bit to see how he fills out.  At 11 weeks, he could still be doing the teen-ager thing.

 

GBF's Hinrik

 

 

Golden Prairie RBA Show Results

Saturday was the show in Lafayette, IN hosted by the GPRBA.  They had a very nice turn out – close to 2900 rabbits is the number I heard floating around.

Abby and I were up at 4:00 am and on the road by 4:30.  Ugh.  Abby was my number one right-hand-gal.  She is such a good helper.  We only took 2 senior animals – both SSB’s.  The other 13 were all juniors.  All my senior does are bred or have litters.  We took two of Ki’s juniors with us since she wasn’t able to attend and Abby put them on the table for her.  Tony Cox was there – we don’t get to see him very often, so chatting with him was nice.  He is a well known and respected Holland breeder so I was hanging on his every word.

We didn’t do so hot in the HHLC Specialty show, winning only one class – BJD with KKR’s Izabelle.  That gave Iz her 2nd junior leg.

The show-proper went much better!  GBF’s Caden won the SSB class.   GBF’s Taber earned his 2nd leg by winning the SJB class.  And Karrot Kreek’s Quay won the SJD class for us and Taber’s littermate sister, Courtenay, took 2nd.  It’s so nice to have three of the four animals up for group!  Caden won BOG and Quay was BOSG.

In the brokens, we had no senior animals.  We took 2nd BJB with GBF’s Chip Shot.  And then 1st and 2nd in the BJD class with KKR’s Izabelle and Dowling’s Calla.  Izabelle was chosen as BOSG.  Slight tangent here…

It’s kinda nice…. I purchased Calla from Scott Dowling up at the Ann Arbor show.  Scott is a color breeder and just “doesn’t do” torts.  I kept thinking she was a pretty nice looking little doe and couldn’t believe he was going to sell her.  I snatched her up,  not only because she was nice, but because she also carries dilute and chocolate.   Fun, fun.  I was thinking I would show her until she was old enough to breed.  But, she has been consistently pulling 2nd places in the shows I’ve taken her to, so maybe the breeding will have to hold off for a bit!

Once again, it was nice to have 3 of the 4 rabbits up for BOB/BOS!  Caden won BOB and Quay took BOS.  That was nice!

I don’t think we were out of there until 6:30 pm since we had to stick around for 4-Class.  It sure made for a long day.  But, Abby and I had a good time.

Rabbit Illness

I talked with several breeders at the Nappanee show Saturday (October 17th).  One has lost about 200 rabbits since July/August.  Two hundred!  I have only been losing youngsters – those just hopping out of the box to about 8 weeks of age.  Others are losing all age ranges.  Some are saying the are dying from Bloat.  Others, severe diarrhea.  Some, sticky yellow, jelly looking excrement.

There were a variety of things people were trying, with a common theme of Sulfa type medications.  Ron Riddle has been talking with breeders states away, who say Corrid (amprolium) is the only thing that will work.  (Corrid is used to treat coccidiosis.)  Also, probiotics to get the flora in the gut back on track.  Many are saying OATS and HAY only!  No pellets.

What I am seeing here:

• So far, only affecting youngsters – 2 weeks to 8 weeks of age.  Although, I did lose one 3-month old English Angora after the South Bend show to diarrhea.  I’ve been losing probably 4-5 babies a week.  Lost 2 this past weekend, and the last one dying Tuesday.
• Some start out acting like they are “Faders”, then develop other symptoms later on.
• Sticky, yellowish, jelly type excrement that is terribly smelly.  Not just plain normal poop-smell.  This is rank.  I have to bring babies in and literally wash off their bottoms under the sink because this stuff seals off the anus and they can’t poop!
• Some have more mucoid enteritis type poo – mucus covered poop.
• Then, true watery diarrhea with very fast death following, within 24 hours or so.
• Have not seen any bloat

What I am now doing (I AM NOT A VET!!!):

• FPS:  Flaming, Power Washing and Sterilizing all cages with either bleach or Synergy (or Synergize – can’t remember the exact name of it).  It’s a produt used to disinfect dairy buildings/swine operations.  Kills just about anything including H1N1 and e. coli.  It’s pricey stuff.  This will take me a little while to do, as it’s hard for me to move those big stacks by myself.
• All nestboxes have been bleached (again)
• Worming the entire herd, which needs done anyway, including anything big enough to hop out of the nestbox.  I’m using the oral equine Ivermectin.
• Evening of October 17th I started the entire herd on Sulmet.  After talking to a gentleman at the Nappanee show, I talked to my vet who had given him another type of Sulfa medication.  So, after 3 days on Sulmet, I switched to this other Sulfa medication in the water and they have been on that since the evening of October 20th.
• All does & litters back on 1/2 oats & 1/2 pellets and hay.
• Entire herd getting 1/2 tsp of Fastrack top dressed on their oats at night.  This is my probiotic to help keep the good bacteria in their guts because of being on medicaiton.

Any Babies That Act the Least Bit Odd:

• an oral dose of Sulfamethoxazole and Trimethoprim Oral Suspension (200 mg 40 g per 5 ml) for 5 days or so
• orally syringing a mixture of Fastrack and water into them.
• baby gas drops if they appear bloated
• Babies that I bring into the house – Orally syringing mixture of Fastrack and baby food into them and water

I thought things were on the upswing yesterday, since there didn’t appear to be any new sick babies.  But this morning, I noticed that Cookie’s other two babies (her third died earlier this week) are pooy again AND one of my ADULT angora’s had a poopy bottom.

I would be interested in hearing if you are having problems,  what you are doing and if it’s working.

The Merck Vet Manual explains several known intestinal diseases of rabbits including Enterotoxemia, Tyzzer’s Disease, Colibacillosis, Proliferative Enteropathy, and Muccoid Enteropathy.  Has anyone tried Cholestyramine for treatment?  Or 250 ppm Copper Sulfate? I know Copper is tricky stuff.  The Merck Manual mentions these two things as possible treatment for Enterotoxemia.   Merck Vet Manual

Net 10

New Litters Update:

Little Bit continues to do well.  He is 7 weeks today and has gained a whopping 1.5 ounces since last week.  At least, he is putting on some weight.

Of the 8 does I had due this past week, results were slim:

GBF’s Tahlia x Emmet – 5 kits on the wire.  This was the first time she had ever been bred and her first delivery, so I knew the odd’s a having a live litter (or any litter for that matter) were if’y.

ARR’s Shmadzu x GBF’s Pistol Pete – 3 chestnut kits doing well.  Finally!  She missed the last 2 times I bred her.  So, I’m happy to have these 3 kits out of her.

GBF’s Triskit x GBF’s Tyraid  – 4 kits in a huge fluff of wool, 1 is a peanut though.  2 orange, 1 tort.  Reliable Triskit!

ARR’s Supersymetry (Suzy) x White River’s Troy* – 2 kits, 1 was DOA.  Fostered to Tallie.  Disappointed there were only 2 kits total and only 1 alive, but she also missed the last 2 times I bred her, so I’ll take this one live kit!

White River’s Cora x GBF’s Caden – 3 kits, but 2 peanuts.  Looks black, could be a Siamese Sable.  Fostered to Triskit.  This was the first time I had bred Cora, so I’m at least happy she can produce life.

GBF’s Fianna x White River’s Dino – appears to be a miss.  First time ever bred and he only got her 1 time, so I was not optimistic.

L&R Sedalia x Broo’s Chase – 4 kits DOA in the box.   This was disappointing since Sedalia is a proven mom.  I’m blaming this on the unseasonably cold weather we have been experiencing.

ELS Tallie x GBF’s Tobias – came home from the show yesterday to find 4 ice cold kits in the box.  I was able to revive 2 of them.  They are also rooming with Triskit’s growing family for the time being.  I will probably put Suzy’s kit with Tallie’s two and keep Cora’s 1 kit with Triskit’s brood.  7 kits is too many for Triskit to take care of.

So, out of 8 bred does,  7 actually delivered kits – so that was pretty good.  However, out of those 7 does I only have 13 live kits, 3 of which are peanuts and will not survive.  So, a net of 10 live kits for the week.  That is a pretty depressing low number.  Oh, well.  Better than none I guess.

NCIRBA Show

Ki and I went to the show in Nappanee yesterday.  The club picked a new venue for this fall show and it was GREAT!  30 minutes from my house (at the most), heated building (and floor!), LARGE building, tons of parking, and home made Amish/Mennonite donuts and goodies at the kitchen.

I had a lot of 2nds in the HHLC Specialty show, including a 2nd with my youngest SJB that I took – GBF’s Taber out of L&R Donna x GBF’s Tyraid.  The head and wrap around crown on this guy in SOOO nice.  KKR’s Izabelle, out of GBF’s Kuala Bear x GBF’s Annabelle earned her 1st leg with a 1st place in the BJD class.

Fared much better in the show proper, winning BOB with GBF’s Caden (his first senior leg to Grand with!) and BOS with GBF’s Mika.  That also gave Mika her senior leg needed to grand with.  Yea!!  GBF’s Taber won his class of 13 to earn his first leg.   Such a cutie!!   I almost didn’t bring him because I thought he was just too little yet.  Now I wish I would have brought his sister GBF’s Courtenay!  She has the same beautiful head and crown but I wasn’t sure she was big enough to warrant taking her.

“Little Bit”, “Mojito” and “Jupiter

Here are a few pictures of Little Bit that we took last night. We had him out on the couch with us (and the dog, and the cat!).

He curled up with Bandit (the cat) and took a little snooze for a while.  It was so cute.

Little Bit resting next to Bandit.

Mojito

I’ve been taking care of “Mojito” since the ISRBA show in mid-September.  He is a Sable Marten Britannia Petite bred by Krista Moe in Chandler, IN.  He is a part of the ‘bunny railroad’ – he is having a layover here at our house, until he is picked up by a transporter (Keith Rockwood) and taken out to Convention in California.  That is where his new owner will be picking him up (Tasia Thomas).

I’ve been very nervous taking care of him – he definately has a more ‘active’ personality then the Hollands or English Angora’s.  But, contrary to what I thought, he is not a biting-machine.  Although, when I was taking these pictures, he allowed me to click off a few before he leaped straight into the air about 4 feet.  That was my sign that the photo-shoot was over!

GBF’s Jupiter

I’ve also been ‘bunny sitting’ for a Chicago gentleman while he has been on vacation in Korea.  He purchased Jupiter from me back in February and needed someone to watch him while he was away.  Jupiter is out of GBF’s Tyraid x GBF’s Swiss Miss.  He was my pick of the litter, but Jupiter was the one for Wonseok.  He has been fixed and is the cutest stinker.

He is used to being a house bunny and running about free as a bird.  However, he has to be in a cage here and he is not very happy about it!

Such a handsome boy!

Easy Vet Kit

I got tired of sorting through a Rubbermaid container for medicine, needles and syringes so I took a trip to Lowes to find the perfect organizer for it all.  OK – it may not be perfect, but it sure is handier then what I was using before.

Stanley Organizer

This organizer has plastic containers that can be taken out (easy washing).   None of these containers were large enough to hold some of my larger items, so I removed two of the smaller ones to make room for Nutri-Cal, tube of Ivermectin and Vitamin-B.

Inside.

So, now I have an orderly way to store everything.  Top right to bottom left:  Chlorhexadine Salve; Infant gas drops; Vitamin-B complex, Nutri-Cal and Ivermectin; various syringes; various creams & ointments (mostly for the goats); Revolution Cat Wormer to tackle wool mites on the EAs; needles; Albon and Metacam; latex gloves.

Of course, the door of my frig still has to house the Pen-G, Oxytocin, and various other med’s that have to be refrigerated (or that I prefer to keep cold).

Plus, it has a handle so I can carry it out easily to the barn if I need to.

Anyway, I am proud of my little vet kit!