Just got NZ rabbits, couple of questions

[speckled6]

Ok, pictures were requested, so here they are!

This is Buckaroo, chinchilla colored buck. You can see Bandit in the background, he likes to jump over the 24" wire into Buckaroo's pen... will have to close that up.

This is Coraline. Chose her name because she has a "c" tattooed in her ear, helps me keep them straight.

Here's Baby. My daughter named her. I love her coloring!

Mavis. She has an "m" tattooed in her ear. She's the only 4 months old, the rest are only 3 Mo's. She's also the most skittish.

And here's a better picture of Bandit. He's the escape artist who likes to be with Buckaroo... good thing they don't fight, but still plan to fill that opening soon.

Here's a pic of the hutch we built. Turned out decent for a first attempt with no real plan. We have it 1/2 painted now and are looking at tarps a little away from the side to keep wind and driving rain and snow out of the cages.
Still have to build nest boxes. The hutch is small enough that if the weather is really bad, we can move it into our detached garage...may have to for breeding in winter.
Thanks all for the great advice on the hay. Now I know what I need!
jean

 

[Pastor Dave]

You will find what @LocoYokel said abt buying hay at feed and ag stores to be true all over the country. Little half bale cubes of alfalfa or timothy are very expensive. You can get a good square bale of alfalfa around my parts for $8-10 and grass hay for $3-5. If I should run out, and it's very doubtful, I have a number of friends/neighbors that I could buy hay from to get me through. Try to make these contacts if you haven't already.

 

[animalmom]

Jean, thanks for the pictures your animals look great! Your hutch seems well built and good thinking on your part about sizing the hutch so you can easily move it... if needed.

I'd suggest getting some resting boards for your rabbits. They will like to be able to get off the wire every so often, and giving them resting boards will help prevent sore hocks from the wire. You can get them several places. I like the plastic ones as I put them in a bleach solution when I clean the cages. Other folks have had good luck giving them a big piece of cardboard to sit on. It is the pressure of the rabbit's body on the feet on the wire that can cause the sores. Imaging how you would feel if you had to sit on a 2x4 all day. What every you do use keep in mind that the rabbits will gnaw on it.

www.bassequipment.com/Store/ShopDetail/RLX/10_X_15_RESTING_BOARD

That is just one seller. Your rabbits will thank you for this.

Something else you could do... brush your rabbits. Get an animal brush and when you are holding them brush them. I've never had a rabbit turn up an opportunity to get brushed. Some would let you brush them naked.

You are so going to enjoy your rabbits!

 

[Bunnylady]

The woman I bought them from said they are purebred

"Purebred" is a relative term. As I said, New Zealands do not come in Chinchilla; it's just not in their gene pool. Since Buckaroo is a Chin, there must be something else in there. It might be one of the Chinchilla breeds, it might even be Flemish Giant (Light Gray Flemish are actually Chinchilla colored). People do out crosses all the time for various reasons; as long as the type is close, most don't worry about it. I only mention this, because you are talking about selling breeding stock, and some folks might get sticky about selling "purebreds" that are a color that a breed can't be.

It's amazing how persistent genes from an out cross can be. I had a line of pedigreed Harlequins that occasionally threw REW's, because somewhere a few generations back, someone out crossed to a New Zealand to improve type. I jokingly referred to the white ones as "paint-by-number Harlequins." In the interest of full disclosure, I told people that it shouldn't happen, but with this line, it could - whatever else they may have thought of me, they couldn't fault my honesty.

Buckaroo looks like what some call a "ghost Chin:" a really light colored Chinchilla that has one copy of Chin and one of REW. If he is bred to a REW, you'll probably get kits in both REW and Chin, and possibly steeled Chin . You might get what looks like solid Black, too, but the eye color will probably be wrong. Since Baby is Buckaroo's sister, you probably need to watch for wrong eye color on any offspring she has, as well.

 

[speckled6]

@animalmom - yes, DH (who wants nothing to do with the rabbits ) mentioned building platforms for them to jump up on to. I think they would have to be easy to remove and clean as you mentioned, but then they may not be stable enough. Still in the process of thinking it out. They're fine right now, but I agree they need something to get off the wire now and then. May need to just put something in there for now.
@Bunnylady - thanks for the insight on that. Yes, I would definitely be honest with any buyers. I'm not so much looking to sell a ton of rabbits...if I sell them all I won't have any pelts! And wherever the chin color came from, I love it and SO want a rabbit fur blanket that color. So chin babies will be A-ok with me! It's all really new right now though. I expect I will get some litters out of these rabbits and then reevaluate. Even with as much as I read, I still went into this pretty much blind and now the real learning begins!
Thanks again,
jean