Introducing Minnie...

Hamilton's Minnie

Minnie got her name because she's my 1st Minneapolis MN (2010 ARBA Convention) hopeful. 

She is out of Hamilton's Amor~(my Sable Point Buck) and Willow Walker Pepper~(a Broken Black doe I got from Janice)

Right now, I have a few litters born & due soon.....I'm hoping I'll have a few nice Jrs. to take and show at Convention.  Most of these litters are being sired my LOV's Maestro, a new buck I pick up at the Ohio mini convention.  Hope his babies turn out nice! lol

-Malena

Bunny Talk

Sure, bunnies can't really talk but they sure have cute ways of telling what they want or need.....for example, when I go out to feed & water if someones out of water they start rattling the water bottle nozzle as if to say:  Hey, I need some water! lol   I've got one rabbit that is such a character, her name is Holly....when its feeding time, she knows it and if you watch her closely she will look at you and hop over to the food bowl, put her head in it and hops back over and look at you again....and if you've already fed her neighbor, she'll look over there and then look back at you and stick her head in the bowl.  lol
Another thing Holly did the other night,  I was sleeping downstairs on the otherside of the rabbit room wall and I could hear someone digging and digging away at the cage....which doesnt usually happen so of course it caught my attention.  I went in the bunny room and found out it was Holly, and guess what she was trying to tell me this time??  I forgot to put in her nestbox, she was supposed to be due the next day and with it being summer and all the kids home from school, I've totally lost track of what day it was!  >.< 
But thanks to Holly's reminder, I was able to get the nestbox in on time and she had a litter of babies last night  :)

-Malena

HUGE Summer Sale!!!

I have great news, Brendan was able to fix our main computer!  :)
So late last night I took pictures and updated my website, we are having a huge Summer Sale....I reduced prices on all the bunnies that will be available soon.  We need to make room for upcoming jrs & litters that are due soon.  Please feel free to check out my for sale page....We have Holland Lops & Netherlands Dwarfs available!  :)

www.hamiltonshoppinlops.com/ForSale.html

I am so happy the computer is working again, I cant wait to print up some pedigrees & mess around on my Evans Software again!  =)

-Malena

>.< Dogs!

Yesterday our neighbor was putting together a swingset for his young son, they had a friend over that was helping....the friend brought his dog.  We live in a fairly new neighborhood, not many people have fences yet.  Our yard is too big & it would be too expensive too fence in, all the way around.  When we first moved here, we had an incident with loose dogs....I had just recently gotten my first pair of pedigree Holland Lops, and 2 dogs wandered into our yard and came across the bunnies under the deck,  they were jumping up & down barking and snapping at the bottom of the hanging cages.  In the end, after I chased them off, I noticed my Doe named Punkin ended up braking a back leg.  She later had to be put down, because the break was so severe  :(
After that happened, I begged my husband to buy some fencing to go around the the deck to help keep the rabbits safe.  I am VERY protective over my rabbits and freak out anytime I see a dog off leash in the neighborhood and really freak out when I see the stray dogs wandering around, and going thru our yard.  The Animal Control here is pretty much useless!  I've called them several times about the stray dogs, and guess what??~the dogs are STILL here! 

Anyway, back to the neighbor & his friends dog....they werent paying much attention, and his dog wandered right up to the rabbit fence.  I of course freaked out and ran down stairs and stepped outside and stomped my foot and quietly yelled GET! in a mean sort of voice....the kids were up on the deck watching and said, what'd you do....hit that poor thing?? cuz he ran back next door whimpering & whining! lol

I wish more people would be more responsible when it comes to owning dogs.....if you own a dog, keep it in your own yard, dont let it wander!

Sorry for the rant! lol

-Malena

Flies

With warm weather, comes flies and lots other bugs....Yuck!
You really got to keep an eye on things during the summertime, to make sure things dont get out of hand...its possible for bunnies to get fly strike.  I personally never had this happen, thank goodness.  But, I hear its pretty bad, a fly can lay eggs on a rabbits bottom, the eggs hatch and you then have maggots & the maggots burrow into the skin and wreak havoc.  Make sure your rabbits bottoms are kept clean and dry, this will decrease your chances of fly strike.

In the indoor part of our rabbitry we have an automatic sprayer, that sprays every 15 minutes.  It works great, I highly recommend it.  Its a Country Vet Sprayer, that we bought from Tractor Supply.  It really keeps the flies down, and kills any other bugs that may also be in the rabbitry.  And whats best, is that its safe to use around the rabbits.  I prefer a spayer over using sticky fly strips.....although they work, they arent very attractive and if you arent careful they can get get stuck in your hair :P

The outdoor part of our rabbitry has lots of airflow, which is great but its almost impossible to keep flies away.  One thing we do is, sprinkle lime on the manuer beds to help keep the smell down~which helps keep the fly problem down.  So far we havent had a problem.....*knock on wood* lol

-Malena

Looks like the fuzzy fairy paid us a visit! lol

Uh oh, looks like 3 of Marie's babies are gonna be fuzzy Hollands.....they are sooooooo adorable!  Boy is it tempting to keep some and start raising fuzzies! lol  But, I gotta keep reminding myself we dont have enough cage space for 3 different breeds.

If anyones interested a Fuzzy Holland, she has 3 broken torts~(I'm pretty sure they are gonna go fuzzy)
One is a doe, and the other 2 are bucks.....I really had my eye on one of the bucks but wont be able to keep him if he's a fuzzy.  They will be ready July 21st.

-Malena

HOT!!!

Whew!  The past couple days have been really hot around here, up in the 90's!  So, I've been taking out frozen bottles to the rabbits to help keep them cool.  Here is a pic of Marie, enjoying her frozen bottle! lol  I put in a couple frozen bottles for her and her babies.....I tried to bring them in the basement yesterday, where its cooler but they really freaked out so, I thought it was best to just keep them outside since that is what they are used to. 

During the hot summer months you really got to keep an eye on your rabbits, so they dont overheat and die.  The outside part of our rabbitry is in a nice shady spot~we have hanging cages underneath our deck.  Shady spots are best, if a rabbit is kept outdoors.
Here are some signs of overheating:
*panting heavily & wetness around the nose & mouth
If you see any of these sign, act quickly.....you can mist the rabbit with water, or put water on their ears~this will help cool them down. 

-Malena

Wowza!

This morning, I went down to feed the basment bunnies....which are mostly moms & babies or moms to be.  Today I have 2 Holland Lop Does that are due to have babies~ Cynabun & Charlotte.  Cynabun was a very early nester, about a week and a half before her due date she started plucking fur and stuffing it in a back corner of the cage.  As soon as I saw that, I was a little concerned because it was so early but went ahead and put in a nestbox anyways.  Of course, she dug right in and plucked a bunch of fur.....at this point I thought maybe she was having a false pregnancy.  But boy did she surprise me this morning!  She had a litter of EIGHT!!! (only one was DOA)  We havent had a litter this big a long time!  They are sired by LOV's Maestro, this is our first litter of Maestro babies....I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Charlotte is also due today, so far not too much progress.  She's got the nest hollowed out and ready but no fur plucking yet.....she's just kind of resting right now.  She is also bred to Maestro  :)
As soon as she has babies, I will update.

***UPDATE***
around 2pm Charlotte had 4 babies sired by Maestro  :)
-Malena

On baby watch tonight....

As I write this, I am sitting in the basement~the indoor part of the rabbitry.....watching Spazz plucking fur!  I'm trying to keep a close eye on her, to make sure things go okay.  Last time, Spazz had 2 babies~one was dead on the wire and the other one, I found freshly born but not breathing.  With a little work, I was able to get the little baby to breathe....he is known as our "miracle baby"  After he was born, I went ahead and rebred Spazz and the little miracle baby was fostered to one of my Holland Lops.  He is doing great, by the way  :)
This time, I made sure to breed a couple other Does the same time as Spazz, but neither of them took :/
So, we'll have to wait and see how things go.  My good friend Nita~from Birdtown Bunnies in Cherokee has a couple Lionhead Does due around the same time, so if we need to foster thats always an option.  I'm kind of curious if Spazz would do a good job by herself....she's kind of hyper and runs really fast in circles but has seemed to calm down abit since having babies last time.

I'll keep you guys posted on how things go....update coming soon so check back!  ;)
*keep your fingers & toes crossed for some live babies!

-Malena

***UPDATE!!!***
Spazz had 5 babies total, 2 were DOA but there are 3 live ones.  Looks like 2 Black Otter & 1 Black.  The 2 DOA's were, 1 Black & 1 Blue.....I tried to revive them but didnt have any luck this time  :/