Busy Weekend

We had a super busy weekend. 

Roy (DH's BFF) came over on Saturday to help me work on our fence.  The fence guy hasn't finished it since September and I got tired of waiting.  All that needed to be finished was welding the cross braces and pulling wire.

 Roy was great.  He welded all the cross braces for me.  I had the hard job, I provided the iced tea, and ran the water to make sure we didn't start any fires.      

Now I need to paint the posts and we can pull the wire.  Which we would have done on Sunday, but that is my BFF's Easter Celebration BBQ.

She puts together an awesome BBQ. We spend the day just hanging out with friends and family.  This was her 19th year of holding a BBQ.

Hope you had an Awesome Easter.!

Breed Profile: American Blue Rabbits

The American Blue Rabbit

All of the rabbits at Cypress Valley Farm are American Blues or American White. The American Blue is a heritage breed of rabbit with less than 500 Americans in existence today. The American is one of the oldest breeds of rabbit developed in America.

The American rabbit is a fast growing rabbit with excellent mothering abilities. They are also the only true "blue" rabbit breed.

The History of the American Blue

The American Blue rabbit originally comes from Pasadena, California, developed and introduced by Lewis H. Salisbury in 1917. At least three different breeds of rabbit were used in the creation of the American rabbit. The American White variety was introduced in 1925. Americans were quite popular and sold for as much as $25 in the 1920's!

American Rabbits Today

The American rabbit is classified as "Critical" by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.  This means that there are fewer than 200 annual registrations in the United States and estimated global population less than 2,000.

Slow Food USA has included the American Rabbit on its "Ark of Taste" list. The "Ark of Taste" is a catalog of over 200 delicious foods in danger of extinction. By promoting and eating Ark products we help ensure they remain in production and on our plates. Foods listed are threatened by industrial standardization, the regulations of large-scale distribution and environmental damage. In an effort to cultivate consumer demand—key to agricultural conservation—only the best tasting endangered foods make it onto the list.

If They're So Rare, Why Should We Eat Them?

With the industrialization of modern agriculture, breeds such as the American Blue have lost their "job" as a backyard meat rabbit. Without a purpose, there is little need for a breed to exist. Commercial agriculture is more concerned with the homogenization of agriculture than in embracing diversity and utilizing the unique attributes each breed of livestock can provide. When a breed doesn't have a job, it no longer needs to exist.

As part of our conservation efforts with the American Rabbit, we need to produce additional rabbits to expand the gene pool. We also need to make sure that only the finest examples of the breed are used to create the next generation. This leaves breeders of all heritage livestock with surplus animals that need a purpose. This is where you come in, by dining on American Rabbit, you give the breed its job back and create purpose for the American Rabbit.

Pictures of the babies

They all have their eyes open now.  You really have to look for them in the nest box.  Some hide better than others.

Although this one has escaped a couple of days in a row.  My sister says we should name it Houdini.

Inky checked him over after I took pictures.  She didn't like the picture taking.  She kept trying to grab the phone and move it everytime I took a picture.

Starting to open their eyes.

I had two escapees from the nest box this morning.  They were next to the box on the cage wire.  When I picked them up, I noticed this one has his eyes starting to open.  

Babies in the Nest box-getting bigger

Today we cleaned all the cages.  We took all the babies out of the nest box and cleaned it up.  I changed the hay and made sure that I put the fur back in the nest. 

We checked all the babies and put them back in.  They are 10 days old today.  Their eyes should be open soon.


Inky is such a great momma.  She came out and got brushed and lots of love.   I always give her a treat when I do anything with the babies.  She really loves banana slices.

Redesigned Cage Stand

We redesigned the cage support.  We wanted to be able to put tin above the bottom cages for run off.  When we redesigned the support, we were able to have the tin at an angle. 

We still need to add the correct tin.  This was a temporary mesure.  The tin will run from the front bottom rail to the rail in the back. 
The cages we use are ones we redesigned also.  The front isn't flat it has a 10 inch rise and a 14 in angle.  This let me put the lid in the angle piece.  The door opens out and can flip over the top of the cage to lay flat.  This allows for easier access to the bunnies.  And I can reach the back without having to crawl into the cage.
I found that the bunnies are not startled by opening the door out as they are when they open in.  The rabbits I have in cages that open it startle very easy and hate the way the door hits them.  Then they don't want to come towards the front.

The rabbits in the cages that open out will run to the opening when it's opened for attention.   They are very easy to take out.

Babies in the Nest box

We had babies born on 4/8/2011.  I am studying the genetic makeup to make the blue as dark as possible.  It can make your head spin.  But I was lucky enough to get 9 babies.  4 black and 5 blue.

These babies are 6 days old.

Black are the result of a cross between a white and a blue.  They are not showable, but if they have good bodylines then they can be used in the breeding program.  They would be able to throw blue, white or black babies.