New Litter last night

[Prairiechick]

I just had one of my Cali does kindle last night. She had about 8 from the feel of things. I don't want to start pulling out to count for a couple of days or so. I just feel around for any that are dead, but these all seem to be alive and well and wiggling. The doe is about 3 1/2-year old. She gave me some wonderful freezer fillers last summer. I should probably breed them more often, but I don't need that many rabbits for myself and haven't found out yet if I could sell them if I raised more. My kids show them in 4-H, so these will be Juniors for summer showing. This same doe lost a litter on Christmas day when temps plummeted. They all froze to death in the box. I think the bedding was just too wet and that chilled them over the course of the day when it got so cold. They are in an insulated but unheated garage. It was too bad, but she bred back pretty easily.
I bred the other two does this week too, so we will see how many I end up with in a month, the one is a about 3-years old and she has good sized litters around 10-12. The other is a first time momma who is just a year old.

 

[SuburbanFarmChic]

Congrats on the litter and I hope you have better luck with this one. I have mine in outside cages so we're holding off breeding until mid-late March.

 

[Prairiechick]

Thanks. I did count them today since I was cleaning pans and sprucing up a bit, and she has 10! She is a good doe and has some awesome offspring. I have been wishing I would have saved back one of her bucks last fall, but I can probably get a good one out of this litter to hold back.
I will post pictures as they get older. I just love watching my kits growing up.

 

[sagewoman]

Congrats, My NZ kindled kindled six days ago and gave my 8 new babies. My other doe kindled five weeks ago and gave also gave me 8. Two from that litter were dead and one managed to escape the cage at two weeks and unfortuneatly froze. Good luck.

 

[Prairiechick]

Here they are with their eyes opening.

 

[alsea1]

sooo cute.

 

[KS Homesteader]

Thanks for the photo - always nice to see other folks' animals and setups. Congrats and best of luck to you!

 

[Prairiechick]

Thanks. They are getting big --- fast!
They freaked me out a bit when I saw they were gettiing gray! These are pure Cals, but I talked to the breeder I got the parents from and they said it will molt out when they start getting their more grown up fur in. Does anyone else have comments on smut color in baby Cals?

 

[Bunnylady]

The gene that causes the Californian's signature pattern of a white rabbit with red eyes and dark points is called the Himilayan gene (from the Himilayan rabbit breed, which also only comes in this pattern). The expression of the Himi gene is a little bit weird, in that it is temperature dependent. Dark pigment only gets deposited in the hair as it grows when the skin temperature is a bit on the cool side (sorry, I don't know the actual temperature required). Because the rabbit's extremities are cooler than its body, you usually only see the dark pigment there, though sometimes a Cali doe will get dark patches on her dewlap when her skin cools after she pulls fur for a nest. Himi patterned kits that get a little cool in the nest will develop pigment in the part of their hair that was growing at the time that they were cool, which can produce such heavy ticking or banding that they may look a little like Chinchillas!

Heat can have the opposite effect. Babies that are born in the warmer months may have only very small nose markings, and only the tips of their ears showing color. Adult animals' points often fade or shrink during the hot months, and grow larger and darker when the weather is cooler.