Meet The "Bun Buns" PART 2

Miss D choosing Prince Eric

     Everything in moderation, right? Well, with us, not so much! The whole raising rabbits idea just popped into my head in the first place one day, and the next thing I knew I was researching breeds and visiting local rabbitries. In less than a week we had our first two rabbits! Well, here we are a mere 3 months later and they have already been bred, and are both due to kindle their litters any day now. We also just added Pablo to the mix for good, so one would think that we would be all set for a while, right? WRONG!
 
     Over the past few months while I have been (not so patiently) awaiting the breeding of Hazel and Ivy, my wheels have been spinning. I haven't said much to Mr. J about this because he is just about up to his eyeballs in projects, but all the while I have been planning where the new rabbitry will go, how many cages we will need, what kind of outdoor run they will have this spring, and what other breeds we will most likely be adding to the farm in the future.

Miss E holding Prince Eric

   
Yup, I have decided that we definitely need to add MORE breeding rabbits, even before we have really gotten started breeding our Satins. Truth be told, even though we chose the Satin breed because they are a great dual purpose breed (meat and fur,) and we will most likely continue to raise them for that very reason, we are not finding them to be overly affectionate or very tolerant of being handled by our young children, and that's just no fun!

     So, when we went to my friend's rabbitry to pick up Pablo for breeding last month and she had freshly a litter of 3 week old New Zealand babies, I decided right then and there that we just had to give the New Zealands breed a try. Miss D was with me and she and I picked out a couple furry buns in hopes of one of them turning out to be a buck. At that point we didn't know we'd end up owning Pablo, so I figured we could try a Satin/ NZ cross at some point and that way we wouldn't have to keep borrowing Pablo if we didn't end up with a buck in either upcoming litter. So, in a nutshell, that is how we ended up with the ever so handsome, so very fluffy, super-duper friendly "Prince Eric."

    

Miss E choosing Ariel

 Miss D had hoped he was a girl and had planned to name her Ariel, but was quickly swayed to take Prince Eric home instead. I promised that we would visit another rabbitry later in the week that I knew had plenty of NZ and NZ crosses to choose from, so that we would also have an Ariel to join him shortly. And, making good on my word that is exactly what we did.

Miss E showering Ariel with kisses

   

      Meet "Ariel," a 12 week old NZ/Cali cross from Penny Pond Rabbitry in Berwick, ME. Miss E picked her out and although she is a tad shy right now, we are hoping that handling her on a regular basis will make her a bit friendlier than Hazel and Ivy. Of course, it's a well know fact that the Bucks are much nicer than the Does. It's really too bad that you need more Does than Bucks in a breeding program! Oh well, for now we will keep working with Ariel and just enjoy the love of Pablo and Prince Eric until those cute, cuddly little babies arrive...  
                                                                                         

Hoppily Yours, Mrs. J :)