So Much SPRING....Cuteness Overload Time!

Spring is alive and well here in the barn and on the ranch! The feed switch from PenPals to Manna Pro made a ginormous difference. We now have a barn full of babies - 7 litters with 46 babies. Absolutely amazing.

We have so many colors, it's very exciting! Lilacs (selfs, lynx, brokens, solids, charlies, etc), Chocolates (selfs, agoutis, chinchillas, solids, charlies, brokens), a few blues and a few blacks.  14 lilac based babies, 21 chocolate based babies, 7 blacks and 3 blues.

 

Malia has a litter of 12 (born on 5/10):

 

Natalie has a litter of 4 born on 5/11:

Goldie has a litter of 4 born on 5/5:

Mercedes has a litter of 6 born on 4/29:

Keerah has a litter of 6 born on 5/8:

Tampa has a litter of 8 born on 5/10:

Abrielle has a litter of 8 born on 5/11:

We have two more does due on the 20th, so I had to build some new nestboxes, since the other 7 are full. That fills all 9 of my baby cages. I'm thinking of getting 6 more baby cages, so that I can get my other 6 does bred and with litters, before the 9 other litters are weaned.

While I was at it, I decided to take step-by-step pictures of the nestbox building project, and put a How-To guide on my website, which you can find here.

Here's a few fun pictures from around the ranch. Everything is so green right now. Everyone is happy, healthy & bouncing around enjoying life.

This is Buddy, on mini-Aussie, who showed up here as a stray last year. He found a permanent home here :).

Ducks. We have Muscovey ducks everywhere on the ranch. They're all starting to hatch out clutches of eggs now, which makes for lots of spring fun.

Flowers and green are plentiful right now, so here are a couple fun close-up shots.

Can't forget about the little kittens in the barn. Miss "Little", one of the barn cats had a litter of 2 kittens 3 weeks ago. A calico girl and an orange boy. They are so cute and fun right now, even though they play in slow motion still!

Rabbit Breeding Book Giveaway!

I received an email last week from a long time rabbit breeder in Arizona, Sarah Martin. She wrote a book about Breeding Rabbits and wanted to share it with our rabbitry and blog readers. I received a copy of the book this week (Kindle version, so it is an e-book) and read through much of it.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the book. It covered just about every aspect of breeding rabbits and was very well put together. The flow of the book was very easy to read. I could see how this would be a very beneficial resource to have for someone who is new to raising rabbits.

Sarah is offering the book for FREE from TODAY, May 11th to Wednesday, May 15th.

"How To Breed a Rabbit" is a 70 page e-Book (Kindle edition). Here's the description:

Are you thinking about breeding rabbits? Searching for a guide about raising rabbits and baby bunnies? Then this is your guide!

What You'll Find Inside: How to Breed a Rabbit - The Ultimate Guide to Bunny and Rabbit Breeding, Baby Rabbits and Rabbit Care you will learn all the secrets and tips of rabbit breeding from the top experts in the world. This complete 70 page guide takes you, step-by-step, through all the phases of rabbit breeding, from mating to birth and raising of the litter. Get your questions answered and be prepared, if something goes wrong with the birth or the babies you’ll be glad you read this book!

Download the book for free! 

Share with your friends and anyone you know who may want some helpful information on breeding rabbits.

Juniors & More Babies

Here are some updated/current pictures of our two youngest "keeper" juniors from our last litters.

The buck, Hoppin's Keone. He's a pretty little, solid bodied, lynx boy.

The doe, Hoppin's Camaro. She is really impressing me and I can't wait to see how she matures! Gonna be one thick, awesome girl!

We have 16 babies in the barn right now from 3 does. And 4 more does due any day.

Goldie has a litter of 4:

Mercedes babies are just over a week old - she has 6.

Keerah had a litter of 6 babies this week - 2 blues and 4 lilacs.

Little, the barn cat has two really cute little ones. Their eyes are just starting to open, so they are getting to the fun age!

3 does = 16 babies! 6 more does due this month and then our baby cages will be FULL :)!

Natalie is one of the girls due today. She's full of babies, along with Tampa, Malia and Abrielle.

Organized Barn, New Babies & Sweetpea

Mercedes kindled to a lovely litter of 8 on Monday night. She was bred to Escalade, so the babies are all chocolates and lilacs. She has 4 brokens, 2 solids and 2 charlies. The charlies are VERY heavily patterned though.



Lexus had a litter last night (Tuesday) by Ganache. Just one baby. It's a chocolate. She tends to have smaller litters, so I fostered Mercedes smallest two over to her.

Monday was barn cleaning day. Everything came out of the barn. Got scrubbed down. Rust got ground off the legs of the cage system. The legs got repainted. New tray edging was put on the cage system. A new table was built in the barn with new carpet put on the whole thing.

It was a very long, 9 hour day, but it felt so good to get it all cleaned and organized.

An upclose of the new carpeted table that my brother built for me.



We had some baby kittens born in the barn a week ago also. A little calico (female) and an orange (male).

Several bunnies got nestboxes last night, as we have 8 does due within the next couple weeks. Goldie is due on Friday. Keerah is due on Sunday. Several are due the middle of next week, then we have about a 10 day break before the rest are due.

Sweetpea is my just turned senior doe from Goldie's last litter in October. She has her mama's photogenic side for sure. I got her out just to pose her up this morning and she sat there like a little doll for me :). Very sweet doe, as her name implies.