The Working Nights Blues

Working the night shift. Need I say more? To those who have worked graveyard perhaps not. To those who have not had the privilege not sure I can convey the feelings.

Oh well, slept a bit since I don't have to work tonight and then woke up. When I work nights I don't see my rabbits as much as other days. My husband and children do the daily chores. Today, I went out and hung out with the buns. Always grounds me and makes me feel peaceful. Did a bit of grooming. My FA babies are almost 7 weeks old. Jett weighs 2 lbs. 14 ounces and Baruka is 2 lbs 6 ounces. Their wool is lovely. I used the blower on them for the first time today. They didn't freak. Then I tackled Obsidian. He has a bare spot on his left side. No evidence of mites, no flaking. Skin looks great and he is growing in some more hair. Then Thor. He was under guard so he couldn't make another great escape. He has lovely wool that is not quite ready to pluck. Had a few matts around his rear area that came out easily.

Then I tattooed the babies. They tolerated it well. I used some essential oils to numb the ear first. They had minimal bleeding and did not scream when I clamped down. Not my favorite chore but am getting better at it.

It is hot here today. 76 degrees in the bunny house. They seem to be doing alright though.

My older daughter comes home from college for the summer tomorrow. It is hard to believe that she has finished one year already. She seemed to enjoy it. My youngest is graduating from 6th grade on Wednesday. She is in a catholic school that only goes to 6th grade so she will move onto public school next year. I worry about her adjustment but I must trust that it will work out.

One of our dogs dug into my knitting bag and chewed up my favorite pair of knitting needles. I am working on socks. Making both at the same time. Luckily, for her, she did not chew the actual knitting...just the needles. She is in the dog house with me.

Well, think I will do some knitting, get supper and relax. Have the weekend off and have a lot of plans for outside.

An Enjoyable Evening

Last night I held a meeting for those interested in starting a rabbit club. I anticipated that no one would be interested and was feeling a little down before the meeting. Therefore, I was so happy when 6 people came to the meeting. And are interested in continuing.

Some of the people are non verbal but had communicated their interest to the person who was taking care of them that night. We had brought some very friendly, personable rabbits with us and to see the delight of these gentlemen touched my heart. A woman and her grandson also attended. They have a house rabbit and wanted more information on how to take care of him. They asked great questions and had information on how they take care of their pet to add. We have set another meeting for a month from now and will go over grooming and what are good plants and foods for rabbits. After the meeting, my son, daughter and husband all commented on how good they felt after the meeting and expressed happy anticipation at the next meeting.

I am happy to say that my Chizzi rabbit is no longer Chizzi. Just skinny. And such a beautiful color. I am looking forward to seeing their wool grow out. Three are sort of honey/golden colored, two are black and one is white. They will be a week old tomorrow.

My older babies are now 7 weeks old. One weighs 2.5 pounds and the other is 2.1 pounds. They are so cute and friendly.

I am working on the outside pen for the rabbits. I have no more room in my barn. We have a dog pen I used to use for the rabbits and ducks before I got the barn and fenced in part of the yard. I am putting up a bamboo shelter thing since I couldn't find the slat things for chain link fences. I believe I will move the boys out there. It is a nice shady area that gets a good breeze. Will put up a sunscreen over top of the pen. The goal is to have another barn by next fall.

Am planning on going to a rabbit show in Tucson AZ over Memorial Day weekend. I will be getting 3 velveteen lops to add to my herd. I am not really ready to show french angoras and would like another breed. Anna has dutch and polish and I am drawn to the velveteen lops. Have been since I first saw them. I am so excited.

Well, I guess I need to do some cleaning up in the house. Would rather just work outside but can't always do what you want.

Chizzi Rabbit

In the Navajo language Chizzi means rough, scaly. And here is my chizzi rabbit:




Today most of the flakes are gone. Someone suggested that it was the amniotic fluid that had dried on it. This could be. I am just glad that it is coming off.


Here are the Dutch on parade:



They look like they are playing follow the leader.


Our ducks are growing too:


We brought some of their eggs to a local health food store and they bought them. We have free range stickers and the federal food label on the carton. I thought they might just stock them and see if they sold and then pay us some of that but they said they would buy what we have. So, the egg money has started and next time we need to buy some feed will use that fund.


And last but not least here is our latest kitten. S/he is about a month old, is black with the prettiest eyes.



Has been a busy week between work, kids, rabbits, ducks, building a new porch. I guess I do get some sleep in there too.

I hope all the mothers out there had a blessed and happy day with their families.

Finally

I have been so busy the last few weeks and am only now finding time to post.

On 5/7/09 we had two more litters. My daughter Anna is breeding Dutch and the brood doe she purchased in early April gave birth to 9 babies. I was out in the barn feeding and playing and noticed that my angora mix doe was pulling fur. I had bred them both on the same day so I put a nextbox in each cage at about 1130. At 1300 my husband came in to tell me that Raina (Anna's dutch) had just given birth. By the time I got out there (all of 5 minutes) Peaches had delivered too. Peaches had 6. They both used the nest boxes and I was certainly relieved to have no kits on the wire.

Here is a picture of Raina's babies:


One of them still had the placenta and membranes over its head and by the time I realized it was too late so, 8 have survived so far.

Here are Peaches babies:


One of them was born with shiny skin (the one on the right) and it seemed like no fur. Today, the skin is cracking and some areas on the head and nape of neck and in a triangle down the back have regular fur. I will try to get a better picture of it.

My other babies are growing in leaps and bounds. Here are pictures of them. I find them hard to tell apart. They will be seven weeks old on Sunday. I plan to tattoo next week.

baby one


baby two.


This past weekend we spent in Phoenix watching the Mets play the Diamondbacks. I have been a Mets fan since I was 13 years old. Many moons ago. I was a fan when Rusty Staub and Willie Mays still played for them. I love going to the ballpark and Chase field is wonderful. I have to admit though, that I find it disenchanting that all sports areanas are named after companies.

I will leave you all with a picture of America's pasttime

Hard to Get Used to

We had a litter born yesterday morning. My huband checked on them and I went out about an hour later and found them cold on the wire. I do not understand why she did not use the provided nest box. I managed to warm up three of them but one had crawled away from the others and never revived. Two of the three lasted only about 2 hours before they expired. The one remaining was doing alright last night. I fed her some kitten replacement as the mother would not nurse her. And I have a cat who is nursing a kitten so I put the baby at her teat and she drank. Today, however, she just did not make it. I tried again with the mother and even tried holding her while the baby drank but it did not work. I will definately not re-breed this doe.

The 5 week old babies are doing great. Took some pictures of them today so will post them later this week. (I really want my digital camera back). They are very sweet and their fur is so long already. Their mom took good care of them. They are black but have rings on their hair shaft. Their dad is black and does not. Need to look up colors again. I doubt I will ever get them memorized.

I rearranged the rabbitry and cleaned out the corners. I put Thor's cage lower to the ground as he kept jumping out of his cage. I was grooming him on a grooming table and he just jumped right off it. My daughter Anna lured him back with yogurt treats and then grabbed him. He kicked her in the face. She let go laughing. We did eventually catch him. I thought it would be less dangerous if he gets out of the cage to be closer to the floor.

Last night we heard a commotion in the rabbitry around midnight. When my son David went out to investigate he found that Thor was out and had pushed open one of the doe's doors and was having a good time. We have since wired his cage shut to keep any more unwanted breedings to occur. I can't help it. I find this buck very amusing. He is quite a character.

Anna purchased a lovely broken black polish doe to breed to her black polish buck. He is wonderful except that he has a small spot of white on his nose and another on his front paw. So, broken black seemed the way to go with him. I took a picture of her too and will post it soon. Anna tried breeding but the doe was reluctant. So Anna wants to wait until the doe feels more comfortable.

We have two more litters due on the 8th and now one due on the 27th. I hope that they all make it. It is hard losing these new little lives. And I will do what I can to prevent this from happening.