Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I hope everyone had a good Leap Day! I spent the morning with family and then worked around the house. We are still trying to get the house ready to go back on the market, hopefully soon.

I bred Paprika and Expresso, they had 4 fall offs. I think he's getting the hang of it and I can't wait to see what the kits will look like. I bred Cinnamon and Frost, they had 3 fall offs. Cinnamon was not happy and Frost spent a lot of time stomping. I think this will be the last time I pair them up, I'm not happy with the litters so far - only one showable color in each litter. I'm not sure if it's just the combo of these two or if I should replace one or both. At least I know that only Sugar has the shaded gene of the Rex kits I've kept, so I haven't bred unshowable genes completely into my rabbitry yet.

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

Sorry to hear about the poor luck with the breeding colors. We just breed for fun...not show, but I do notice that color sells! So I get excited when they are splashy colors or have lots of spots, depending on who I’ve paired. My last litter of all spotted kits, sold so fast my head spun! So I definitely paired up those two again!!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Sorry to hear about the poor luck with the breeding colors. We just breed for fun...not show, but I do notice that color sells! So I get excited when they are splashy colors or have lots of spots, depending on who I’ve paired. My last litter of all spotted kits, sold so fast my head spun! So I definitely paired up those two again!!

So far I haven't shown at all, but I really want to this year. I joined the National Rex Rabbit Club and have been studying the guide book they sent me. I'm starting to understand the colors and how you can breed to get them, but still trying to learn how to identify good/bad conformation.

I started raising rabbits because they are fairly easy keepers and very tasty. I have only sold 3 rabbits so far, all the others I've bred have been eaten or I've kept. I think there are too many rabbits out there in the world to just breed to sell as pets, and prefer to eat most of the ones I'm not going to keep. I'm just paranoid that if they go out as pets they won't have a good life and I'd hate to have caused that situation. I'm glad you have been able to find good homes for your bunnies.

Are both parents you are breeding together spotted?

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

This weekend I hatched out 10 coturnix quail chicks. It was a test batch to determine fertility from the three quail pens. Jumbo pen 0/6 fertile. Silver boy pen 11/13 fertile, 8/11 hatched. Red pen 6/11 fertile, 2/6 hatched. The last 4 Red eggs are still in the incubator but I'm not expecting them to hatch; the incubator will be turned off this evening. The two Red chicks look like they are traditional pharoah coloring. The Silver boy chicks are a mix of traditional pharoah coloring and silver coloring, plus one that looks like it will turn out red.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Still waiting for baby bunnies to appear, due date is Tuesday. Pepper and Coffee both have nice nests prepared. Coffee looks huge and a bit uncomfortable, she wanted head rubs this morning and she's usually not super affectionate. Pepper always looks fluffy, so not sure she's pregnant but I'm hoping. She actually let me pet her this morning and she usually avoids all contact. It might also be that I've been bribing them with fresh greens more often than the other rabbits..

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Pepper had babies overnight!! I felt at least 3 but didn't pull them out to get a full count. The ones I saw look chinchilla, so I think this confirms that Pepper has two chinchilla genes.

Still nothing for Coffee, but she looks big and it's her first litter, so I bet she will have them today or tonight. I'm hoping she has at least 6. The most her mom had in a litter was 6, so I'm hoping Coffee does the same or better. She did have 4 fall offs with Expresso, and more fall offs is supposed to help increase litter size. I'm glad Pepper had her babies first, since I can probably foster kits to Pepper if needed.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Coffee had her babies!! I felt at least 4 in the nest, and she had them all in the nest too! I think the one I looked at was a castor. I am going to wait until Sunday to pull them out and look.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Pepper babies! Looks like double chinchilla gene has been confirmed, all 5 kits are chinchilla like mom, third litter that way with same buck (REW). One kit has Vienna marking on it's nose.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Coffee babies! One week old. Looks like there's 3 castor and 4 opal.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Sunday update: I cleaned cages today, and everyone received apple tree sticks to chew on. Some even had leaves attached. I've been trying not to mess with them too much, but I was able to peek in both nests today and see the baby bunnies. They still don't have their eyes open yet.

I practiced bunny subtraction today as well, and culled the REW buckling and the 4 sable agoutis (dilute and non-dilute). Live weights were 5lbs 2oz for the REW and 4 lbs 7-8oz for the others. Pelts were saved to be tanned later.

I think I slightly messed up my timing, I was supposed to breed Toffee and Sugar with Expresso on Saturday, but got caught up in other projects. I bred Sugar with Expresso tonight (Sunday) and since my work is closed due to the statewide stay at home order, I will breed Toffee tomorrow morning. Sugar was very cooperative and lifted, they had 4 fall offs. Hopefully we get a good litter.