Preparing for birthing(Done)

Pearl began pulling fur, from her body, this afternoon. She will line the hole in the hay with it and cover her babies. She has a lot of fur so maybe she won’t look too bad from the ordeal.  The doe that had 10 kits pulled all the hair from her chest area and down her front legs. I guess she knew she would have a bunch of babies to nest. Possibly, we will have baby Flemish Giants come morning.

Pearl delivered her babies Tuesday afternoon. From all appearances mother and babies are doing well. Best I can count she has 7 dark gray Flemish bunnies. She is wanting to get close to me. She seems to need physical contact and I am more than happy to give her the attention.

About Us

We are a couple trying to find our place in the world of retirement, scheduled for October 21, 2010. You know that thing one does where you leave your job or life long career and work harder than you ever have. This blog is the story of a couple going into that next phase of life when the children are no longer children and home is where you would rather be more than anywhere else in the world. I have always said I haven’t suffered from empty nest syndrome, but now I wonder what’s with the 45 + rabbits and 3 canine kids to care for. Hummmmmm

Taylor Made Rabbitry is an effort to find something enjoyable and challenging, on some level, and profitable enough to pay for itself and to help us find our place in the world of retirement.

Winging It!

In the beginning an on loan rabbit hutch made it’s way to our house. It was inhabited by two mother rabbits and nine babies. After a couple of weeks a new rabbit hutch was built and the loaner returned. Easter was approaching and the original owner of the moms and babies needed Easter Bunnies. Five volunteers went back to the original owner in trade for two bucks, now known as Tux and Dexter, and three does, now know as Molly, Fancy & Abby. Well, about 3 weeks later Molly and Fancy gave us eight new bunnies between them. A week later Abby gave us four new bunnies. So since about three weeks before Easter 2010 we went from no rabbits to: Nellie, Nancy, Dexter, Tux, the 4 sisters, Molly, Abby, Fancy, 12 new bunnies and a new arrival from the auction, Handsome, a huge Rex. My math says 24 rabbits. From such humble beginnings. Oh yes there is an expecting Flemish Giant in the very near future.

So at present I am playing slave to 24 rabbits and trying hard to organize to bring some sort of sanity to this mix. Thus the birth of Taylor Made Rabbitry. I’m doing a lot of running to Tractor Supply Co. and Walmart and online cages. Try this. No that won’t work. Try that. Nope. How about this. Finally, it seems to work for the moment.

Babies Booming!

We’re in June now and as of Memorial Weekend we have added 17 bunnies to our Rabbitry. Two does produced 17 babies. One with 10 the other with 7. Our Flemish Giant is due any day. She is beginning to get a little anxious stuffing hay in her birthing box. We put the hay in her cage and she gathers it in her mouth and puts it in the nest.

Newborn pictures, the Memorial weekend babies, have been posted. You can see more pictures at the Taylor Made Rabbitry Pictures link.

Rabbitry Slideshow

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