June 29th, 2023
Hillside Amy
Hillside Amy
She provides fiber for the
"Moonlit Dance"
color of Hula Bunny yarn
Born: 3/2/2021
Sire: Whimsical Woods Vincent - agouti
Dam: Hillside Black Lotus - VM black
Ear Tattoo: 110
Color: Agouti
Color Genes: Aa B_ C_ Dd Ee
COI: 18.3%
Offspring: three who are currently six days old
Hillside Amy is an 'agouti' doe. The agouti color is the wild rabbit color, it's created by all dominant color genes. It is more of a color pattern than a color though. It has the white around the eyes, in the ears, the whole undercarriage. There's also 'rings' of color when you blow into the wool since each hair shaft is banded in different colors. The agouti color bunnies help us with fiber for the 'Moonlit Dance' color of Hula Bunny yarn.
She met up with Hillside Aster, a REW (Ruby Eyed White) buck in March of this year, but didn't have a litter. She was two at that time, which I'm now learning is a bit older than optimum for a first litter.
In May of this year, she met up with Hillside Alexander, a fawn buck. This time she built a nest and now has three babies in it. They're all of six days old, but that's old enough to hope that they will all survive. Baby bunnies are extremely delicate but if they make it through the first week, then their probable survival rate increases considerably.
Amy & Alex's babies at two days old
This is Amy's first litter. The one at the top of the picture is a tortoiseshell. It may be a blue tort, although usually they darken up as they become older so more than likely it will be a black tort. The one in the middle who looks black is actually an agouti. His ears will be white on the inside as he's older. There's another picture of him which shows the white insides better, but this picture had all three babies in it. The one on the bottom will be a fawn. That one also has white inside the ears which is hard to see in this picture.
Since one of the babies is tortoiseshell and another of them is fawn, we now know that Amy has the recessive color gene for torts and fawns. Since Alexander is a fawn, that recessive gene is the only one he could give.
This is Amy's first litter and she is doing excellently well, although she did actually have five. Two of them were born outside the nest, which has an almost zero survival rate. Of those two, one was black and the other was probably blue (unfortunately a color we've been hoping for). We already knew both Alex and Amy have the recessive 'a' in their color chart for the 'self' colors - which would be the tortoiseshell and black. However, in order to get the blue, both parents are required to have the recessive color gene 'd', which wasn't previously known for her color chart.
Since the herd here is to provide fiber for Hula Bunny yarn and since Hula Bunny yarn comes in three 'standard' colors which are created by the color of the bunny fiber, the colors of the herd is important. Which is why the color genes are tracked pretty carefully.
Here's a few Hillside Amy pictures. The bunnies here at Hillside Farm just get their pictures taken in a haphazard manner so there's no specific ages or time when they get their pictures taken.
Amy
it's a windy day
She is two and a half years old in this picture. On a windy day, too, so her fluff is blowing in the wind. You can almost see some of the color circles in her wool. She's almost ready for a wool harvest, too. The wool dilutes in color as it grows longer so when they become a pastel version of their color, then it's time to harvest their coat. Which they generally like. Six ounces off a six pound bunny lets them bounce better.
Click the picture to go to Hillside's Farm Girls
