Hillside Amber
Hillside Amber
our first 'red' bunny
She provides fiber for the
"Beach Bunny"
color of Hula Bunny yarn
Hillside Amber
Born: 3/29/2021
Sire: Whimsical Woods Vincent - agouti
Dam: Hillside Vanna White - Ruby Eyed White
Ear Tattoo: 133
Color: Red Agouti
Color Genes: Aa __ Cc D_ ee + rufus
COI: 3.959%
Offspring: none yet, first litter hopefully mid-January 2022 with Axial
Hillside Amber was originally determined to be a buck (oops!) Her color was also unknown when she was small since she looked like a tortoiseshell yet she had the agouti color pattern of white around the eyes and in the ears, but she didn't have the agouti color rings in her wool. She's the first 'red' bunny we've had so we didn't know what color we were looking at. Colors of bunnies can be difficult to determine without some study. Since she was a buck of an unknown color, she was in the 'spare buck hutch' with the rest of the extra bucks for most of last year. She was retained because I couldn't quite figure out her color and at the end of last year it was down to just two 'spare' bucks left in the hutch. The best of the black bucks and the 'unknown' color buck.
When they were about six months old, I went out to feed the bunnies and there were babies in the spare buck hutch! That hutch isn't rat proof so the babies didn't survive, which is sad but they weren't expected at all! Bunnies always seem to be doing surprising things.
Generally when the Gender Fairy makes surprise visits, she turns a doe into a buck, this is the first time the Gender Fairy has gone the other way. We're really happy that Amber is a doe, we have more room to keep a doe than another buck. She was almost sold to Maui at one point, but I'm glad she stayed here.
Since Amber was still with Axial when she gave birth and bunnies can become pregnant the moment they give birth, I'm assuming she's pregnant again. Axial is a bunny we would have chosen as a possible litter sire for her, although he would have been choice #3. Choice #1 would be Phineas Phogge to determine possible color recessive she may have. Choice #2 would have been Vladamir for density of color and wool. Well, hopefully there will be more than one next litter. She's now over in a nesting hutch and we are hopeful that there will be better results for this next (hopefully) upcoming litter.
Baby Amber
she's the orange one
That's Amber with her littermates when they were about four or five weeks old. Her mum, Vanna White, is a good mum bun and takes good care with her litters, we are hoping for the same with Amber.
Amber has grown to a nice sized doe with lovely dense wool and a pretty calm disposition after she figures out she's not going to be eaten. Since she was a 'spare' buck and was in a group of nine extra bucks, she didn't get a whole lot of handling as a really young bunny, but bunnies are trainable so she will be up to the friendly level of the rest of them pretty soon. Even as a 'not as friendly' bunny, she's still pretty mellow since these are, after all, angora bunnies and get a lot of handling for haircuts at the very least.
Damp Amber After a Haircut
we had a rainy week and the buns got damp
This is Amber at about five months old and rather damp around the edges. We had a torrential downpour and the wind blew some of it sideways into the bun spaces. They didn't get totally drenched but they weren't what I'd call exactly dry, either. They don't seem to mind but it does make their wool a mess.
Amber and Axial
during the torrential rain
This is Amber and Axial during that rainstorm and after some pretty raggedy haircuts. Fortunately these bunnies aren't vain or they'd grumble a lot aobut the end results of their haircuts. But, the purpose of the haircut is to get exquisite spinnable fiber off the bunny, not to have a pretty haircut on the bunny afterwards. They grow it out within a few weeks so they're back to their fluffy selves soon eanough.
They are expecting a litter mid-January 2022, so hopefully it will be a bit less rainy at that time.
Click the picture to go to Hillside's Farm Girls
