Dinner rabbits, Journal

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Lynx kits kept back, and we're up to date again.

 

[farmerjan]

All I can say is you have one he// of a memory and recording system to keep so many straight....

Some pretty coats on them, but I know that is not the main thing... weight and meat is....

The heat and humidity has been miserable lately. We have not gotten the hard storms... been on the fringes of most of them... 15 miles from here they got 4 inches in an hour... dirt back roads washed down sides and gullies... 3 miles away they got half inch... Crazy how it is so spotty.

 

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14, Amber & Rusty had their kits.
6 for 14, 10 each for Amber & Rusty.
Amber had them on the wire, in a poorly made nest, but fur pulled. Idk wtf is happening with these buns...

Amber


14



Rusty

 

[secuono]

All I can say is you have one he// of a memory and recording system to keep so many straight....

Some pretty coats on them, but I know that is not the main thing... weight and meat is....

The heat and humidity has been miserable lately. We have not gotten the hard storms... been on the fringes of most of them... 15 miles from here they got 4 inches in an hour... dirt back roads washed down sides and gullies... 3 miles away they got half inch... Crazy how it is so spotty.

I had to get a tattoo pen bc I lost track of a few buns. Ended up calling them a loss and put them in a cull cage. Going to tattoo soon, hopefully by Monday. Now that the expecting does had their kits, I can get to it!

 

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11's kits


Rusty's kits


Amber's kits

 

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Obscure's kits


14's kits



Blanket's kits

 

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The older kits still w/moms.
Some of the rex had droopy ear tips in the 2wk heatwave last week, but then one whole ear flopped for some!

 

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Saturday
Removed the top panels on the other side of the barn to help hot air escape better.
I think I should reorganize the buns & use the 4hole. But needs kits to be a bit older first.

Sunday
$570 in the red. Plus 640 in feed & cage purchases.
Make it 1,210 in the red.
Fudge...

Removed a ton of fur from a few nests.

Neighbor indirectly killed one of my LGD yesterday morning. Culls are going to take forever to use up now.

Monday
10 drying, 3 in 2nd soak. A few tossed. I think I kept too many in at a time. Should of froze new ones instead. Whoopsies.

Tuesday
Amber seems to of stopped feeding her kits. All wet, thin and cold today. 2 dead.
Moved them to 3 different nests, hopefully some survive.
Will repeat the breeding, but if she fails again, she'll be culled.

I think this is everyone kept back, minus buck Cinder.
Need to join up lines, to downsize all of the 3-5 ones.


Attaching usda rabbit minimum cage sizing for my future reference when people ask about it on FB.
Hopefully, my math is correct.

 

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Thursday
Amber's kits, all dead, but only found 6 of the 8.

Refilled water before the storm last night. But it drained completely. I fcking hate auto waterers!!

Found the rest of the dead kits.

Removed most of the hay/fur from all nests, too hot for it.
One litter was funny about it. Saw them trying to climb out to cool down. So I put them on the cage while removing nesting material and they all instantly relaxed and went back to sleep. So cute. Didn't have my phone with me.

Moved the broken tort buck into a cage in the barn. Culled 2 buns, moved choc sf buck into barn to watch him molting out. Outside crate the two were in was a pain to get into to feed.

Added nipples to that cage I put in 5 keepers into. They hate bottles, refused to use them. But nipples leak so bad when they press it. Gotta be a better nip out there.

Today
Didn't want to cull over the weekend, so I culled 4 biggest ones this morning and put them in the freezer.

Noticed that some, or maybe a lot of them, pelletize their feed in the stomach and not in the intestines!
I've always read that the colon is where things get their shape, but that doesn't seem to be completely true. None had obstructions, all normal all the way through. So, not backed up poop into the stomach.
I haven't been fasting them recently, since I'm not planning the culls out. 2 were normal, but the rest all had soft balls! Tried to get it on video, but the last 2 had loose feed in the stomach, like usual, instead.
Has anyone else noticed this??
Black otter, not marten.

Backyardherds.com is Decided to weigh out feed. Gotta start seriously limiting the bucks and dry does. No more full scoop.
It'll be easier to remember with it marked out.
Seems like the bucks change often. Recently, they're only getting 6oz, but food left behind. I'll drop it to 4oz and see how it goes. Same with adjusting what does get and hopefully end up saving a few pennies in the end.

 

[SageHill]

Oh man - what a tough bunch of days. Really sorry about your LGD , the kits didn't help either. Hopefully the weather will break.