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I woke up last week after having a dream about rabbit cages, suddonly with an idea in my head of how to organize the cages. The Champagne cages are older and not very sturdy being stacked on each other. Every morning I would go out to the barn to find their cages half fallen over, scared that one day I would go in to find them completely fallen over and injured. I couldn't figure out what to do with their cages as I have an annoying three hole cage that makes things complicated as to where cages can go. However, thanks to this random dream, I woke up with a new idea of how to arrange them. I put the three Mini Rex stacked on the side and then put the three Champagne cages on the bottom, the three hole with the Havana doe's ontop of the Champagne's and then the two other cages on top of that. There is so much more room now out there and so much better organized.. I really don't know why I didn't think of this arrangement sooner! Took several hours, as it was just me by myself moving them all around. I also swept and cleaned the floors and put plastic under the cages. Much better set up now. On a different note, enjoy this well written article about breeding healthy rabbits against Pasteurellosis (snuffles). http://www.raising-rabbits.com/pasteurellosis.html
Happy New YearWell, 2016 has come and gone. I started the year living in remote Northern Quebec with three rabbits (Arcade, Wowza & Silver). Now I am back in Nova Scotia and starting my herd again with 13 adult rabbits and four doe's due. The year has been good and bad. Had trouble at our job in the North so moved home. I had to make the incredibly difficult decision to send my dog back to his breeder and had trouble finding work. I went through some of the hardest stuff to date with one rabbit during delivery and have had a few fun and not so fun experiences with the rabbits. Now, to end the year, we are dealing with major health issues with our 7 1/2 year old German Shepherd who has a serious inner ear infection. Her head is badly tilted and her balance is off wondering somewhere else. This past Spring I purchased a couple Mini Rex to start my herd again. I bought a blue otter buck and a black otter doe to go with Wowza, my black otter brood doe who was in the North with me. I bred both doe's in June and waited for their deliveries. Stardust, a homebred doe that I bought back, had the most complications I've ever dealt with in one rabbit. Wowza deivered amazingly, like always and I had the pleasure of watching her delivery.. however, I was somewhat occupided dealing with Stardust. I decided at midnight to check on them when I woke up to go pee. Stardust had had her litter already, but Wowza looked to be in labour. Due to past rabbits having breached kits, I now always check the doe's bum first thing after having a litter. I checked Stardust's bum to feel something big and round sticking out. My first thought was breached kit. I ran into my mom's room and woke her up while I ran downstairs for gloves. **They rabbits, since there were only five at the time, were in our spare bedroom as the barn was incredily hot for them this summer.** We go in the room and I lift her a little to see not a breached baby, but a big red lump. I have never seen this before so immidiately go on Facebook and ask other breeders for help. Turns out, it was a prolasped uterus. After about an hour trying to figure it out, I clean it up and push it back in. During this time, Wowza had her litter. Two days later, I took Stardust to the vet for pain killers, as it was clear she was in a lot of pain. Not only did she have a prolasped uterus, she also had mastitis, which is an infection in the mamary glands (nipples). Due to this, I fostered her five kits in with Wowza's four. She was put on strong pain killers but with no luck, she ended up going septic and had to be put down. Now, I've dealt with a lot in the past ten years of breeding, but never so much with one rabbit. Fast forward a few months, and the kits were ready to be weaned. I ended up culling Stardust's entire litter and kept three of Wowza's four. I would have kept the fourth but she was viscous. She attacked her siblings at 9 weeks of age, so she was gone. This attack left her siblings with scars and I ended up putting the third one down because she had a notch taken out of her ear, which healed fine, but was brood only. the two black otters I kept were very nice type wise. I sold one while in New York and kept the other for myself. Sadly, the bite marks came back in white and has left Willow as a brood doe. Awesome type but white bite marks. I did take her to the local show in November where the judge said it was clear that the white spots were bite marks. During their weaning, I decided to get out of Mini Rex to focus on my Havanas and Champagne D'Argent. I am too attached to Wowza, so decided to keep her as a retired doe. I got rid of the buck but was left with this junior doe who I just loved type wise. I decided I wanted to grow her out and see how she developes and keep her as a show doe (before the white bite marks came in). I had made arrangements with breeders in Michigan and Pittsburgh for new rabbits. I was attending the New York Grand Finals at the end of October and would be picking up my new herd there. I purchased a trio of Champagnes and five Havanas. I learned so much at this show in New York and got to see some breeds which I had never seen in person. This show was a great experience, even though it had some not so fun moments. I picked up my new rabbits, and the multiple rabbits that I was transporting for others. I won a BOB and BOS with my new Champagne's who all did excellent in the three shows. A breeder that I really like was there and I was talking her to and looking at her rabbits.... she has Mini Rex.... Damn. I just couldn't resist picking up a buck from her. So much for getting out. OK, fine.. I decided I would just have a few select Mini Rex. Oh the fur. The Mini Rex fur just keeps bringing me back. My mother and I travelled to Toronto after the show to pick up my sister and then travelled 30 hours home. It was a long trip, but well worth it. In the 25+ rabbits we brought back, we only experienced one bump in the road.. sadly, one of the rabbits passed away due to some complications that were completely related to the breeder. Both animals purhcased by said breeder were severely underweight. The second one did make it, but we were very unsure for a while if she would. After a lot of care from the new owner, she gained weight and is thriving now. A few weeks prior to the show in New York, I had to sadly make the decision to put Silver down. This was very hard on me, but it was what was best for him. He was my first Champagne D'Argent, who I loved very much and took all over the North with me. He was very attached with Arcade and had a big personality. It's still very hard on me, several months later, because my new Champagne buck, Gimli, has a very similar personality to Silver and reminds me of him every day. In November, we had a local show. I showed my new rabbits and won BOB Champagne, earning a leg on all three of them now. Arcade won BOB and my new black doe won BOS Havana. My Mini Rex got excellent comments. Judge really liked my homebred junior doe, but she was dq'd due to the bite marks. My new buck, Winston, got great comments as well. The winning BOB/BOS Mini Rex were very nice animals. My Havanas did alright. Of the 9 animals I purhcased in New York, there was only one that I was very disapointed with, but the Havanas in general were a bit disapointing considering the quality I have always had in them. They just don't meet the standards I have for my herd. Two of the doe's were potentially bred, but didn't take which was fine. The one that I was very unhappy with, I sold after the show in November. He just had too many faults and wasn't compatible with my doe's. I rebred the doe's, who are due this week! Of course, since I had purchased a buck to go with my Mini Rex doe's and Wowza is getting up in age, I just couldn't resist a doe at the local show... she's a mosaic just like Wowza... Again, so much for getting out.... Oh the Mini Rex fur. ♥ Wowza had her first DOA litter this year, at the beginning of December. For many reasons, I believe they were dead prior to delivery. I rebred her to Winston and she too is due this week. I am deciding weather or not to keep my Havanas. I obviously can't bring my self to get out of the Mini Rex and don't want to get out of the Champagnes, who I am very happy with. I'm just not as happy with the Havana's as I have been in the past. I love my Havana's and have spent many years wanting to focus on them more, but I may have to wait for a bit longer. I just don't have the space right now for the three breeds. I may keep a pair or trio, but just don't need the five I have now. So I will spend some time thinking about that. The Havana doe's are oddly already enjoying making a nest. I gave two of the three a nestbox already, a week before their due date. First time litters with me, so I have no idea if they like to go early or anything like that. Overall, it has been a pretty decent year for me and my rabbits. There have been some ups and downs, but that's to be expected. I hope to attend several new shows in new states (USA) this year. I am going to breed the Champagnes at the end of January/beginning of February and will look at getting a few more for the herd. I currently only have brood doe's in my Mini Rex herd (two mosaics and one white bite mark). I plan to breed them and hopefully replace them with show stock. I am planning on attending the Grand finals show again this year as I really enjoyed it. Great show! I am planning on a show in Ontario in June and several more in different states (USA) throughout the year. I hope everyone had a good year, a great Christmas and hope the new year brings full nestboxes! Enjoy some images taken over the year of my rabbits and Grand Finals. All images © Mikahla Dorey & © Brackson Photography
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