In Canada we have four seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter.  Rabbits, in case you didn’t know, can breed all year round.   Caring for babies in the spring and fall is EASY.  In the summer it’s pretty easy as long as you check on babies on those super hot days to make sure they aren’t fully covered in fur. There is usually no need to be shelving baby rabbits. 

Winter on the other hand… shows the skills of your does. Will they have a large litter?  Or will they cover their litters with enough fur?   Perhaps they will jump cleanly in and out of the box? Sometimes, your does will need help.  Helping a doe in the winter is as simple as shelving them. 

What does Shelving Babies Mean?

Shelving babies means you take the babies away from mom.  I leave them in their nestboxes, whereas others choose to have a nest of hay prepared for them.  Regardless, you take the babies and you put them some place safe overnight.  Where you put them depends entirely on your housing, predator issues, and the temperatures. 

How I have Shelved Baby Rabbits

I have brought bunnies into the house… usually litters of three or less in the deep cold of winter. Putting them on the corner kitchen counter covered with a towel worked well.  We now have voracious Miss Lizzy so this is less of an option for me. 

There is an empty wood cage in the rabbitry that I have placed larger litters in overnight.  I cover them with a towel to keep babies in their own boxes.   In the cold of winter this works well as there are no predators about.  But what could I do for the early and later winter times?  How could I keep them safe from the odd possum and the neighbour’s idiot cat?

My solution: I made some shelving boxes.   Three inexpensive rubbermaid-type bins, clear so I could easily see the kits, with lockable lids.

Building Shelving Boxes

I made three boxes in total, each a bit different as I figured out what would work best.  I allowed a couple of them to “accidentally” fall in such a way that I would break a corner off a lid.  This allows extra heat to vent.   The rest was just some holes drilled in at different levels. 

It’s a balancing act right?  You want the babies safe in their boxes for the night where they will stay warm, and yet you can’t let them over heat either. 

What’s Great About Shelving Baby Rabbits?

What is great about my new shelving boxes is 

1. They are stackable .. this is why corner vents work!
2. I can put two litters in one box. 
3. Bunnies stay warm enough I don’t need to bring them in the house.  Keeping them safe from our hunting cat. 

Since using the shelving boxes when the weather is cold (or at least chilly) I haven’t lost a single kit.

• No kits dragged out of boxes by mom when feeding. 
• Kits not lost when at that 10-14 day really bouncy mark.
• No separation from the group between 14-20 days when the box is filled on it’s side. 

At night the kits are safe.  I’ve also not had damage done to babies by passing possum or coon either!  WOOHOO!!!  

This method works well for me in the area that I live.  I don’t have to contend with fire ants, snakes or other such critters that would take advantage of my vent holes. I can leave them outside where they don’t have to adjust to temperature changes between inside and out.

Safe and secure my babies can grow up!

Others in This Series

• American Fuzzy Lop.
• Baby Bunnies.
• Culling well.
• Discussing Death.
• Errors in Judgement.
• Feeding Rabbits.
• The G’s of rabbits.
• Holland Lops.
• Interesting facts about rabbits.
• The Joy of Bunnies.
• Choosing Rabbits to Keep. 
• Leaping Lagomorphs. 
• The Scoop on Poop.
• Not Wanted Rabbits.
• Over the Hill.
• Educating Pet Rabbit Buyers. 
• Quarantine. 
• Rescues and Breeders.
• Shelving Babies.

Letter S Link Up

Each week we will be linking up with the hosts of Blogging Through the Alphabet. Please visit some of these other blogs to get things like book lists, vegan recipes, and wonderful places to visit, just to name the topics I can think of off the top of my head.

• Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
• Christine @ Life’s Special Necessities 
• Kimberly @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
• Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag
• Wendy @ Life On Chickadee Lane
• Yvonne @ The Life We Build
• Jennifer @ A Peace Of Mind
• Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest To Teach
• Kirsten @ DoodleMom Homeschool

Quarantine.  Before I got serious about my bunnies I always thought quarantine was restricted to animals coming in from a foreign country.  You didn’t want illnesses being brought that could bring devastation.   There I could see the importance of quarantine.

I was raised on a farm but my dad didn’t quarantine anything.  Livestock were brought in an added to the herd.  When I worked on a pig farm and on a dairy farm, quarantine wasn’t practiced there either.  So the concept was rather new to me when it came to a personal herd.   The idea might also be new to you, so bringing it – and reasons to do so – to your attention seems wise.

What is quarantine?

Quarantine is a state, period, or place of isolation in which people or animals that have arrived from elsewhere or been exposed to infectious or contagious disease are placed.

It basically means that you take the animal that is new to your herd and put in away a spot away from your other animals.  

Why Quarantine?

There are two basic reasons to quarantine

1. To prevent spread of disease from the new animal to your herd. 
2. To give your new animal time to adjust to new surroundings.

How to Quarantine

Every rabbit breeder needs to determine for themselves what length of quarantine to follow. For most breeders it’s 30 days, but I’ve talked with several who do it for 60 as they’ve had odd stuff pop up at day 45.  An extra 15 days acts as a buffer zone. 30 days tends to be the minimum time period.

Quarantine doesn’t mean that you put the bunny in a separate cage or on the other side of your bunny room.  It means putting the bunny in a completely separate area away from bunny food, bunny line of sight, air breezeways etc. 

I have a tool shed and generally only bring in rabbits from outside herds in the summer.  The bunny stays in there.  Has protection from rain, can see everything, hear everything and can acclimatize well.  It means I have to take the extra step to go over and care for. Bunny is a minimum of 30 feet away from anything so the chances of contamination should there be an issue is greatly decreased.  

Bunny is separate and away from all other rabbits.  This is important because rabbits are great at hiding illness.  They can act and look perfectly fine when they are home.  Add a stressor… and suddenly they are not.  THIS is why quarantine is so important.

Care for Last and Don’t Blame Breeder

You care for the quarantined rabbit last.  That way you only carry from your herd to it (thereby only affecting one rabbit) as opposed to potentially carrying something from the new rabbit and infecting your whole herd.  Don’t forget to change your clothes and wash your hands before going back to your herd.  If you don’t, you may as well take your chances and not quarantine.

Rabbits can carry diseases that can be invisible like pasturella, bordetella, syphilis, and other illnesses. Many of these will flare up when the rabbit is under stress even if the rabbit has exhibited no other symptoms prior. 

This means you CANNOT always blame the person who sold you the rabbit.  They may not have any snotty noses, dirty pawed rabbits in their herd.  So when one of their rabbits leaves and develops issues they can be completely caught off guard.  Many diseases only show up if the rabbit is stressed.  No stress… no symptoms. 

Rabbits aren’t released from quarantine until they are 30 or 60 days symptom free. 

What to Look For

What to look for in a quarantined rabbit is also what you look for when you are purchasing a rabbit.

• Sneezing
• Snot
• Blisters on vent
• Sore feet
• Mites (fur or ear)
• Dirty feet from wiping nose
• Breathing problems
• Clean eyes, nose, bum
• Eating and drinking well
• Eliminating normally
• Blood where there shouldn’t be 

Stressed Rabbits Show Illness

It’s one of the things I really needed to learn.  Stressed rabbits show illness.  Knowing this fact is a good thing to know.  It’s means that placing a new rabbit in a calm quiet environment, might good for the bunny, but it isn’t good for new it’s new owner.  I want a bunny in quarantine to experience MILD stress.  So not heart-pounding stress, but the stress that comes from being in a new place. 

Mild stress is : hearing a lawn mower or a dog barking, to being able to see cat prowl the yard, to get wet from rain (not soaked but damp is okay). Being picked up at odd times, and watching people work. 

Some rabbits NEVER see this.  They live their lives protected in a barn or a shed and life is quiet and serene. 

Here.. my rabbits will hear dogs bark, hear the pounding of horse hooves, and the roar of a lawn mower. They might have an opossum climb their cage (much to MY horror) or have the neighbour’s jerk of a cat spray the cage.   If a rabbit weathers mild stress well, by the time I add it to my herd, I know it will handle the stress or being in my rabbitry.  It means I won’t have to worry about it once that month passes.

Breeding

Long term rabbit owners know this important fact.  Sometimes rabbits die when you buy them.  ERGO if they are adult rabbit, they will often breed that rabbit the day it arrives.  GACK!!!!  What does quarantine mean in such situations?!?!?!

1. You breed to a rabbit you can afford to lose
2. All rabbits who come in contact with new rabbit go into quarantine as well. 
3. You still handle the newest addition to your herd last. 
4. It means you watch your rabbits so any signs that something is amiss.  Breeding is also a minor stressor so if new rabbit DOES have something it will show up with the rabbits you bred as well.  Gives you a broader pool to observe. 
5. AND if all rabbits pass… you have babies!!!  You have a month’s head jump start on adding those new genetics to your herd.
6. If your new rabbit is a momma and has littles and she shows signs of pasteurella you can foster her kits out the day they are born (again to a doe you can afford to lose), generally her kits will be fine.  They would stay in quarantine, you cull the sick momma, and then watch the babies and fostering doe.   Once they hit 8 weeks and have shown no signs of poor health you are generally good to go.  You want those new genetics.. it will help your herd.  Sometimes the road to getting them is a bit rougher than hoped for.  The risk is still worth it.

Others in this Series

• American Fuzzy Lop.
• Baby Bunnies.
• Culling well.
• Discussing Death.
• Errors in Judgement.
• Feeding Rabbits.
• The G’s of rabbits.
• Holland Lops.
• Interesting facts about rabbits.
• The Joy of Bunnies.
• Choosing Rabbits to Keep. 
• Leaping Lagomorphs. 
• The Scoop on Poop.
• Not Wanted Rabbits.
• Over the Hill.
• Educating Pet Rabbit Buyers. 
•  

Letter Q Link Up

Each week we will be linking up with the hosts of Blogging Through the Alphabet. Please visit some of these other blogs to get things like book lists, vegan recipes, and wonderful places to visit, just to name the topics I can think of off the top of my head.

• Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
• Christine @ Life’s Special Necessities 
• Kimberly @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
• Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag
• Wendy @ Life On Chickadee Lane
• Yvonne @ The Life We Build
• Jennifer @ A Peace Of Mind
• Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest To Teach
• Kirsten @ DoodleMom Homeschool

I do need to remind you about the sale at SchoolhouseTeachers.com this month.  Use the code firefly to get your first month for $5. It’s an excellent way to further your families education.  Electives galore!  🙂

I have been breeding rabbits for over 15 years now.  I started as a child breeding meat rabbits and selling them at the market.  I simply love it.  I learned, as an adult, the important of educating my pet rabbit buyers.

I admittedly didn’t know a whole lot about raising rabbits as a teen, and when I look back, I made TONS of errors.  This knowledge helps me to be more tolerant of the errors I see others making.  Sometimes a person just doesn’t know any better eh?   To that end, when I sell a bunny I do my best to educate the buyer in how to best care for a bunny. 

How to Educate Pet Buyers

The education of pet buyers takes many forms for me.

1. conversation when picking up a bunny
2. bunny care sheet emailed and handed out depending on form of communication
3. website information
4. emails, phone calls and texting

Conversation when Picking up a bunny

If this bunny is to be a child’s pet (Over the age of 8) I do my best to engage the child.  Talking to them about what they think a bunny needs (Carrots and hugs is often the answer) and then telling them what a bunny really needs.   I engage them in learning how to pick up a bunny safely … not only for them but also for the bunny.   Learning how to feed a bunny, water and housing requirements and how to litter train their pet. 

One of things I often ask them is “does your mom let you have a chocolate bar every day?”   Sometimes the answer surprises me with a “yes” but usually it’s no.  I then help them understand that to a bunny, sweet food like carrots and apples is like giving a bunny a chocolate bar every day and do they think that would be healthy for the bunny?

If the bunny is for a child younger than 8, I emphasize that the bunny is a family pet.  They can’t expect a youngster to independently care for the bunny or know what to watch out for. To that end I talk with the parent about care, show them how to pick up a bunny, tricks for helping their child handle the bunny and so forth. 

Some people when they come for a bunny merely want to pick bunny up and then dash off.  It’s hard to engage those folks in conversation, so I remind them I’ll send them a care sheet and off they run.  I can’t force people to learn. 

Care Sheet

I have a PDF that I send people.  This contains a brief summary of how to care for a rabbit along with links to my website that has a number of helpful articles for people to read.  It contains my return policy and other basic information.  A two page document meant to give information without being overwhelming.

Website

I have worked hard on my website over the years.   Writing articles to help the pet buyer, answering questions, rabbit friendly veterinarians and more.  I think overall I’ve done well though sometimes think some tweaking has to be done. 🙂

Email, Phone Calls and Texting

I much prefer conversing with people over email.  It’s easier to be clear about what I am saying.  It’s easier to link to articles and websites to facilitate communication. I can easily clarify points made, send pictures stored on my computer, and send files.

Long phone calls require the most patience for me, particularly when people don’t seem to listen to what I say.  I find that often the message is not heard and needs to be repeated.  This gets rather frustrating.  It’s hard to remain patient when what you are trying to say isn’t heard because emotions or agendas get in the way. 

Texting, though quick, and excellent for communicating whereabouts, vehicle descriptions and quick question/answers is not ideal for long discussions or linking to relevant articles. Texting is an excellent way to share a picture of good weed to feed bunnies, or one to stay away from. 

Knowing when to let go

Even though I dearly want to make sure that I am educating my pet rabbit buyers I know there is only so much I can do.  Despite conversation and communication people will choose to think they know better and want to do things a different way.   Sometimes they are influenced by the preponderance of house rabbit society information on the web. Often times they are misinformed by vets and well meaning people. Then there are financial constraints that sometimes hit people and they cut corners and figure bunny is okay so they continue to cut corners.   Things happen that I cannot control.   I can only do my best.  

Others in this Series

• American Fuzzy Lop.
• Baby Bunnies.
• Culling well.
• Discussing Death.
• Errors in Judgement.
• Feeding Rabbits.
• The G’s of rabbits.
• Holland Lops.
• Interesting facts about rabbits.
• The Joy of Bunnies.
• Choosing Rabbits to Keep. 
• Leaping Lagomorphs. 
• The Scoop on Poop.
• Not Wanted Rabbits.
• Over the Hill.
•  

Letter P Link Up

Each week we will be linking up with the hosts of Blogging Through the Alphabet. Please visit some of these other blogs to get things like book lists, vegan recipes, and wonderful places to visit, just to name the topics I can think of off the top of my head.

• Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
• Christine @ Life’s Special Necessities 
• Kimberly @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
• Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag
• Wendy @ Life On Chickadee Lane
• Yvonne @ The Life We Build
• Jennifer @ A Peace Of Mind
• Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest To Teach
• Kirsten @ DoodleMom Homeschool

I had a fellow breeder ask me the other day “when do you decide to sell your breeding rabbits”? When someone suggested a post on over the hill bunnies that conversation came to mind.

Through keeping records and paying attention, I generally know what’s going on with my bunnies.  Twice a year, I give my rabbits a good hard look.  Who will stay, and who will go? My thoughts concern age, reproductive rates, temperament, number of bunnies raised to sell to pet/breeding homes, and peculiar traits. 

Age

I used to have a hard and fast rule.  My bunnies start to breed at five months normally (some are slower some insist on earlier) but the average is five months.  Therefore once they hit a year I’d have gotten two litters at least out of them.  These litters told me alot about the quality of the doe and what type of offspring she would throw.  Every year I would rehome any rabbit over 14 months old.  It meant that I changed my herd over almost yearly.   

I changed to a three strike rule, as it seemed a better approach than looking at age alone.  Three strikes…. move the bunny out.  So if ALL my other rabbits are raising kits and one doe isn’t.  She gets a strike.  If all my other rabbits are raising healthy kits and one isn’t… she gets a strike.  If all my other male rabbits were doing their job and one isn’t.  He gets a strike. 

Once you reach three strikes, you are on my “sell list”.   Age is no longer my primary reason to sell, it’s now just one of many factors.

Reproductive Rates

As part of what I do is breeding rabbits for the pet market, rabbits that get pregnant and raise their kits is part of my business.  My approach is different for a first time mom having a singleton, versus an experienced doe giving me a singleton.  The first might be first time mom jitters, the later is a sign of a doe aging out.  Now, if all my other first time does aren’t having problems and just one doe.. that doe will get a strike against her. 

Temperament

Did you know that rabbits are as individual as people? It’s surprising eh?   You have dominant and submissive personalities, bunnies that are hard to read, and bunnies that will surprise you. 

I’ve had hormonal young does chase my hand when I go to feed them.  The odd one nip me unexpectedly. This isn’t a strike against them, it’s just a young rabbit telling me she’s growing up. I give her a couple of days to settle down and then introduce her to one of my boys.  But a doe biting me just because? Well different story.  A doe lunging out of the corner of her cage to bite will get a strike against her.  A doe being a goof because of hormones… different story. 

I recently had a doe who was “tetchy”.  I thought her a wonderful rabbit overall, just didn’t like people messing with her. Having one rabbit out of 15 like that isn’t a bother.  Then she had kits.  She was okay but nervy, actually settled a bit.  Her kits acted scared all the time once they got out of the nestbox and I was curious as to why.  I stood quiet in the rabbitry and watched and speedily learned why.  This doe would randomly nip her kits.  EVEN IF they weren’t in her space, she’d just go over and nip them.   That behaviour was an immediate three strikes.  A doe attacking her own kits… I can’t have that.  Not good for the kits to be bullied by their own mom when they were still dependent on her. As soon as they were old enough to hold their own, that doe was culled.  She didn’t have the temperament for a pet home and I wouldn’t pass a doe like that on to someone else.

Kits raised to 8 weeks

Occasionally you’ll get a doe that despite everything can’t raise her kits to eight weeks of age.  It can be hard to track down why most of the time, but some reasons are: failure to thrive, digestive issues, nestbox eye and what not.

Failure to thrive happens in holland lops… where a kit is doing well, then hits four weeks when they are transitioning to solid food as the bulk of their diet.  Some kits simply can’t make the transition. Supportive care can help them pull through.  When a doe has a litter where she has kits like this she gets a strike, and then if it happens again… another strike.  Often times if I change the buck she is bred to, it solves the problem, but occasionally it’s just the doe.  Her genetics passed on to kits just don’t work.   

Digestive issues where kits get poopy butt.  This happens when kits are learning to take care of their own elimination clean up.  Sometime they are lazy, other times it’s environment (no longer needing the nestbox), other times it’s just too much fur getting in the way.  Trims help, removing nestboxes early, and bathing the lazy kits helps.   Too many lazy kits earns doe a strike.  I don’t keep poopy butt kits as I don’t want to breed it in.

I used to get nestbox eye (when kits have eyes stuck together with pus while still in the nestbox) in most of my litters.  Rabbit folks tend to blame a dirty nestbox.  My own research disputes this, and since breeding against it, my numbers dropped radically.  Ergo I don’t keep kits who get it, and I don’t keep does that throw it in more than one litter. If I could totally eradicate it, I would.   Perhaps one day my numbers will be only one a year!  🙂

Peculiar Traits

Since rabbits are so unique from each other it funny to see how they turn out at times.  I have one doe who loves her babies.  She’ll be seen licking them, and snuggling into them.  She’s a love you-love me bunny.  BUT once her kits hit three weeks she won’t feed them.  A fantastic doe in many ways, but not one I will keep in my herd, despite the ease of fostering older kits to her.

Then I have another doe, whose not keen on being picked up, though loves the odd ear rub and head pat. Young, small doe who had eight kits in her first litter and fed them until I took them away from her.  Her second litter she’s doing the same.  Fat, sassy, sweet kits. I adore does like this.

I have another doe who EVERY Tuesday takes the door of her cage off.  She makes me laugh.  I’ll come in and she’ll be hanging her head out waiting for me. I don’t know why she does it, but there she’ll be. This girlie will also stomp her feet at me if I don’t feed her first… ONLY on Tuesdays, go figure eh?  She’s a silly old thing.  If I could get kits from her I’d be delighted, but, as a predominately pet rabbit it’s not an issue.  She’s my “make me laugh” doe.  🙂  The best pet rabbit ever!  

Summing Up

Since going to a three strike rule I sometimes have rabbits stay in my herd until they are three years old.  Many leave by the time they are a year old.  Temperament and health play a huge role, and now, as my rabbits are getting better, their type comes into play as well.  I consider rabbits a wonderful animal to raise and I want to give people the best pet I can.  That means finding my “over the hill” bunnies the best way I can.

Others in this Series

• American Fuzzy Lop.
• Baby Bunnies.
• Culling well.
• Discussing Death.
• Errors in Judgement.
• Feeding Rabbits.
• The G’s of rabbits.
• Holland Lops.
• Interesting facts about rabbits.
• The Joy of Bunnies.
• Choosing Rabbits to Keep. 
• Leaping Lagomorphs. 
• The Scoop on Poop.
• Not Wanted Rabbits.

A surprising thing happens when you raise animals. They produce manure. I KNOW! It’s so shocking. And rabbits well.. they produce WAY more then you’d think they should. Want to know the scoop on poop? Read on eh?

And unsurprisingly maybe, monitoring their output is actually kinda important! It tells you a lot about a bunnies health. The scoop is all on poop when it comes to bunnies. IN FACT I have a bunny right now that I’m fussing with.

Miss Treble is a three year old bunny that is new to my herd. Her previous owner had to downsize so I took her and two herdmates under my wing.

A buck Max gave me two hard days but then came around. A doe Aida didn’t even blink for the first few days though tonight she’s snubbed her pellets (she’s a two year old). But Treble.. she’s a special case. Doesn’t want to drink from a bottle and a bowl is scarce tolerated. Doesn’t like my pellets and thinks mixed grain is questionable. BUT she will lick water off her coat if I give her a soaking AND she thinks leaf lettuce and dandelion flowers are to die for… so I have a fighting chance! One of these days this feisty doe will come around. In the meantime… I poop watch!

The poops she is having right now are Stasis Faeces… hard small dry poops. At least she is still pooping! When they stop, it’s not a good thing.

Hormonal Links & Poop

On facebook this morning I talked about FlamesLight, she’s getting a tad bit too big for her britches (picking on her littermates) so it was time for her to get a cage to her own. 

I think she’s a bit hormonal, she’s having abnormal caecotrophs right now.  Does often have that when they are hormonal (having babies, due to breed, maturing etc).   They are messy and rather ick,  Ick with a bossy teenager means a cage all their own otherwise I end up with three young does covered in ick.  BLECH!

 Anyways, what do you do with all this lovely manure?

Rabbit Manure Compost

I have the best garden dirt EVER.  It grows well, holds water decently, and is a lovely dark healthy soil due to all the rabbit waste in it.  Each spring I empty my compost/manure bins into my gardens and cover it up with dirt from last year.  Over the summer the worms break it down nicely into a rich compost. It feeds the roots of my plants and helps them grow.  If you want to know the specifics of rabbit manure this post or this one would be helpful. It’s good you know, to have the scoop on poop!

Others in this Series

• American Fuzzy Lop.
• Baby Bunnies.
• Culling well.
• Discussing Death.
• Errors in Judgement.
• Feeding Rabbits.
• The G’s of rabbits.
• Holland Lops.
• Interesting facts about rabbits.
• The Joy of Bunnies.
• Choosing Rabbits to Keep. 
• Leaping Lagomorphs. 
•  

Letter M Link Up

Each week we will be linking up with the hosts of Blogging Through the Alphabet. Please visit some of these other blogs to get things like book lists, vegan recipes, and wonderful places to visit, just to name the topics I can think of off the top of my head.

• Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
• Christine @ Life’s Special Necessities 
• Kimberly @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
• Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag
• Wendy @ Life On Chickadee Lane
• Yvonne @ The Life We Build
• Jennifer @ A Peace Of Mind
• Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest To Teach
• Kirsten @ DoodleMom Homeschool