Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I bred Toffee and Expresso this morning, they had four fall offs. More baby bunnies to come

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

So I went back through my notes and I should have two litters due next Tuesday and two litters due in a month.

 

[SA Farm]

Ah, Rex, such beautiful soft bunnies. I raised mini Rex for a while and even had some babies from my stock do well in shows, but I’ve forgotten a lot of the colours and details now. Good for you for learning the genotypes and doing test breeding to figure it all out! I’m very much enjoying your journal

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Ok, I've been posting in the rabbit thread I created and didn't realize my last post here was way back in March. Oops!

Pepper's kits (5 chinchilla) are in process of weaning; Coffee's kits (3 opal, 2 castor) will start weaning tomorrow. Cinnamon had 7 kits, 2 (sable agouti and dilute sable agouti) are now fostered to Paprika; the other kits look like an opal, two castors (but one looks quite orangy?), a fawn, and something similar to an opal but without the lighter highlights-it's a dark kit. Paprika had 6 kits (all castor) but lost 4 the first day. Sugar and Toffee are due this next week on 22/23.

I am working on cleaning and organizing the quail container (shipping container with stacking quail cages). I have three breeding groups and a batch of 5-6 week olds that just laid their first egg today. I started an incubation of turkey eggs and coturnix eggs (will utilize second incubator for hatching). I'm going to see if I can incubate turkey, chicken, coturnix, and button quail to all hatch on the same day.

I listed my house for sale again on Thursday. We've done a lot to the house since we listed last year, I'm hoping we can find a buyer this time. The quarantine crud and constantly changing rules are making the real estate process difficult. The house looks spotless but it's getting annoying keeping it that way and it hasn't even been a full week yet.

 

[Bruce]

Yeah keeping a place "walkthrough ready" is a pain. Since I don't recall, is it the house you are living in now and if so where would you be moving?

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Yeah keeping a place "walkthrough ready" is a pain. Since I don't recall, is it the house you are living in now and if so where would you be moving?

Yeah, we are living here now. We are looking for a property with acreage. We'd like to get the house sold and then put in an offer so we aren't stuck waiting for a buyer. We might have to rent or move in with parents if there's a gap. It's a bit uncertain right now.

 

[Bruce]

Definity hard to do the domino thing, especially when what you are looking for isn't a "cookie cutter" house in a neighborhood of which many properties are available most of the time. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Sugar had her babies overnight!! She had pulled a small amount of fur when I checked around 9 last night, and there was a good mound this morning so I felt inside and there were warm squeaky babies! I moved some of the fur and pulled them out to take a quick count: she had 7 for her first litter! All look dark, I can't tell what color they will turn out to be, they could be castor or something I haven't had yet. I'm excited to learn more about the genetics but thinking about it, it points to strong possibility that Expresso does not carry REW 'c' gene, as there should have been white babies if that were the case. Toffee's litter should confirm.

Toffee is up next and then no others are pregnant. I'm still trying to decide if there's enough time for one more litter before it gets too hot but I may have waited too long. Coffee and Pepper would be the only ones who could be bred right now anyway, unless Sage has made weight and is 8+ pounds.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Toffee had babies when I checked on them for the evening feed/water. There were two kits dead on the wire and lots of fur pulled. I couldn't tell if she was finished with kindling or if she got interrupted. I'm hoping she had the first two outside the box and the rest inside. I think I saw the fur pile in the nestbox moving, so there's hope. I didn't want to check because Toffee was acting aggressive and has bitten before. I will see if I can sneak the nestbox out tomorrow to check. Both dead kits were dark, not sure if black or castor or something else.

All the other rabbits seemed ok, and the fur pile in Sugar's nestbox was definitely moving.

 

[Bruce]