Our hearts and best hopes go to everyone impacted by the Covid-19 virus.
Just because we're doing non-Covid things, doesn't mean we have forgotten the folks suffering from the virus.
We also really, really appreciate all those folks out there keeping things going and keeping everyone as healthy as possible.
It's still out there and getting fiercer! Be vigilant and continue to be safe!
Wear your mask!
Wash your hands!
yeah, I know, it sucks, but do it anyway
October 3rd, 2020
Wear your mask!
Wash your hands!
yeah, I know, it sucks, but do it anyway
Vote!
seems like everybunny is getting political this year
Political Bunnies
they'd vote if there was a 'carrots for all' party
I don't think the baby bunnies are old enough to vote yet. Not that they actually keep track of political this and that, being bunnies and all. It does seem as if this whole political stuff has been showing up in areas where it didn't use to appear. I kinda liked it old school where we didn't have to pay attention to all the kerfluffle, maybe it will go back to boring again soon. I really want politics to go back to boring, it's so much more comfortable that way.
Actually, the bunnies aren't making a political statement, they were in the middle of a Bunny Census when their picture was taken. There's ten of them in the litter and it's really helpful to have one of our Rabbit Wranglers assist in the Official Bunny Census. Her sister had sent her the tee shirt and she was keeping them in her shirt while they were being counted.
These are the same bunnies at their previous 'census' which was a week earlier. I guess they weren't feeling particularly politcal then since they were in an apron and not holding up any political signs. They're about five days old in this picture, they still don't have their eyes open although they've grown some fur and have figured out their colors.
Just for reference, this is the baby bunnies when they were born. Just some of them, we didn't have our trusty Rabbit Wrangler to assist with a newborn bunny census. They are less than 24 hours old in the picture.
Rose had eleven in her litter, which is a really huge litter for an English angora. One of the little white ones didn't make it past the first two days, though. It was the smallest one, so perhaps that's why. Still, ten is an enormous amount of baby bunnies to feed. Rose has as much feed as she can eat and gets lots of fresh grasses and leaves everyday. She's been quite the chow hound but is keeping her weight up and is in good condition. The next week will be tough on her since they won't be weaned yet and will be getting all their nourishment from her. The week after that, they will most likely start nibbling on the grasses, bunny pellets and barley as well as drinking water. That will help take a lot of the feeding load off of Rose.
Here's some current pictures of them
Rose & Caesar's babies
approximately one week old
Rose & Caesar's babies
approximately two weeks old
Two weeks old and out and about
They're just over two weeks old and learning how to walk around. They're also learning that they can come up to the front of their nest and get ear scritches. There were four of them lined up at the front of their nest getting ear scritches yesterday and they were unbearably cute but if the fingers are busy scritching bunny ears, it's hard to take pictures. Guess we need a bunny cam or a bunny photo drone or something. But, the baby bunnies didn't care if they didn't get their picture taken since they were getting ear rubs.
One of the tortoiseshells seems to have a darker coat and it may be one of the 'extra fluffy' ones as well. That bunny will probably stay here at Hillside Farm no matter what the gender. If one of the white ones is female and if the largest black one is female, then they will probably stay here, too. The rest of them are likely to go to new homes sometime around the third week of November. Send me an email if you want to be put on the 'interested in a bunny' list.
Baby Bunnies!
Daisy & Caesar's September 11th litter
These are the newborn and day old pictures, just for reference. They were born on last month on the 11th so they're now just barely over three weeks old.
Three days old
This is another 'reference' picture. At three days old, their colors are starting to be much more apparent. The pink is becoming white and the tortoiseshell is becoming more obvious. The black is still black. They don't do much color change. But you can notice how the tortoiseshell has morphed from 'not quite the same pink' to a definite brown color. The tort is at the top of the first picture, in the middle and at the bottom of the pile in the second picture and the brown one next to the black in the third picture.
Three weeks old and able to be out and about
These are Daisy & Caesar's babies. She had seven of them and she still has seven of them, so she'd a great mum bun. The little tortoiseshell baby did get his leg tangled in the wool when he was just several days old, though, and it was injured. It wasn't broken, just strained so he will hopefully be okay. The doe pulls her wool out to line the nest and I'll clip it into shorter lengths so it won't get tangled around the baby bunny necks and feet, but either I didn't get it all or she added more after it had been cut.
When there's babies, it's kinda a compromise between keeping an eye on them and disturbing the doe. I'll check on them and to see if they're all in the nest and doing well, especially when they're really small and don't have any coat on them yet. However, the little tort looked like he was fine in the nest, it was hard to see his leg was stuck. I should have been more hands on and picked up each of the babies, but Daisy wasn't real settled the first week after she had them. She's gotten more mellow and doesn't mind the babies being checked on as much now.
The little tort is able to get around and is getting fed, so he will survive, I don't know if he (or it could be a she) will have a limp or not. Baby bunnies are extremely delicate but I'm pretty sure he will survive the incident. They're just over three weeks old now, so it's way too early to determine genders so I usually just call them 'he' or even 'it'.
Hopefully new parents
their litter is due next Friday
This is Hillside DaffyDill and Hillside Black Rose. (She's the one with the haircut.) They will hopefully have a litter next Friday, we will see if they got the memo or not. Daffy has some sort of 'extra fluffy' gene and Lotus has a lovely dense coat with nice texture. I'm hoping they will have some lovely offspring with great wool on them.
Daffy is a black tortoiseshell and Lotus is a black. Daffy's genetic color code is: aa Bb Cc D_ ee and Lotus' color code is: aa Bb C_ Dd Ee. So, there will be blacks, maybe some chocolates, haven't a clue if there will be any albinos (Ruby Eyed Whites) or any blues, there should be some tortoiseshells. Providing, of course, that the litter shows up. We will find out this Friday.
Young Veronica
part of the hybrid angora experiment
There's been an ongoing experiment here at Hillside Farm Hawaii with 'hybrid' angoras. Partly because it opened up the genetic pool a bit to keep down the level of inbreeding and the experiment has been partly to see if we could improve the English angoras.
Veronica is 7/8ths English angora and 1/16th Satin angora and 1/16th German angora. We had a hybrid buck, Zorro, who was 1/2 German and 1/2 Satin angora. He met up with a full English doe, Suzie. Their black buck offspring, Nero, was half English, one quarter German, one quarter Satin. Nero met up with Jessie, a purebred black English angora doe. They had a white doe offspring named Petunia II. Petunia is three quarters English angora, 1/4th Satin and 1/4th German. Petunia met up with Phineas Phogge, a purebred lilac buck and they had Veronica.
Zorro had a cylindrical body like the Satins & German angoras do. He also had wool that wasn't as soft as a pure English. He had no face 'furnishings' which is to be expected because the Satins have an entirely clean head and the Germans don't have very much 'furnishings'. Usually just some ear tassels, if that. Although, I don't have any Germans, so I could be entirely wrong about the amount of face furnishings they have.
Nero was a good sized black buck, he almost had some face furnishings, but mostly a clean face and ears. A more cylindrical body, coarser wool than a pure English. So far none of them showed the Satin 'shine'. Nero and Zorro moved off to Volcano after they'd sired a litter or two here.
Petunia almost has face furnishings. She has a pretty good coat, it stays pretty mat free. She still has a more cylindrical body than an English angora should have. She's a good doe and has moved off to Oahu now.
Veronica is 7/8ths English, 1/16th Satin and 1/16ths German. She is starting to look like an English angora with the face furnishings and fluffy ears. She doesn't seem to have the proper type of coat, though. It mats much more than her parent's coats. Her coat texture is soft like an English, but it's much more on the 'cottony' dry side instead of the slick 'silky' texture I'm trying to breed for. She has face furnishings and is starting to look more English, but she's still got a flatter body than a pure English.
I don't know if I should try breeding her to a pure English buck and see if the coat gets back to the more easy care pure English coat or if the whole hybrid angora experiment should be phased out entirely. It doesn't seem like the hybrid mix is improving the English angora and if there's enough genetic diversity in the herd, then I'll probably phase out all the hybrids. At the moment, there's Iris & Camellia, two REW hybrids and Veronica.
Road Trip!
Vicky visiting Honokaa Treasures
Victoria went visiting last week to see some folks at Honokaa Treasures who wanted to see where Hula Bunny yarn came from. Vicky likes visiting with people and she had a great time. There were also bunny treats involved, so there may have been some bunny bribery as well. Vicky loves being bribed.
The bunnies here make bunny fluff for Hula Bunny yarns which are sold at Honokaa Treasures here in Honokaa. The bunnies don't visit the shop very often, I've been thinking a shop bunny would be a great thing, although they'd probably most likely end up more as a Swiffer than anything else so maybe not.
I need to update the "Available Bunnies" page as well as the "In the Nestbox" page. With this many baby bunnies, there should be enough for everyone, although there's a waiting list so many of them already have new homes once they're big enough. But, I think there's still a few more than are being asked for, so if you want a bunny of your own - send us an email. Click on the 'Mail To' link below.
Mail to: Hillside Farm Hawaii
The male bunnies are usually $50 and the females are usually $75. They have a four generation pedigree and most of them are pure English angora. They are all pure angora, although some of them have a touch of Satin and/or German angora several generations back in their pedigrees.
If you're interested in setting up a breeding herd, ask about unrelated pairs. Due to the difficulty of getting good bloodstock in from the mainland, it will be great when we have more folks in Hawaii raising angora bunnies. If there's several herds, then we can occasionally swap bucks back and forth to keep down the levels of inbreeding and have healthier bunnies.
We can fly bunnies to Maui, Oahu, Molokai and Lanai. They can also go to Kauai, although that has some additional fees since there's a long layover on Oahu which needs a bunny sitter and a second airfare on Aloha Air Cargo to get them to Kauai. Email and ask for details.
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