thank you everyone for your comments!!! i appreciate it!!!
me- i want to show rabbits. i live for the 2 county fairs every year, its better than xmas to me! i love looking at all the bunnies, and i love talking to all the breeders. i learn so much from them! i want to show bunnies too. the guy who runs the rabbit barn at one fair has seen me for 3 years now, coming in and talking to everyone, and he said next year i hope we see you showing the babies you get.
the breed- woolies are a hard breed to raise. they require a lot of work. most breeders i talk to say they keep the rabbits trimmed unless they are showing them. the woman i bought the 4 month old from said it was the only jersey she had left, she was getting out of them because they are too much work for her now (she's in a wheelchair), and she said they need special food. i said tell me about it, i go thru timothy hay at my house like crazy! the woman i bought the 2-3 yr old from said she is cutting her herd from 80 to 40-50 because feed is so expensive.
my herd- i'd like to keep it at 7 or so. i want to make sure i have time for mine to not only brush feed and change cages, but most importantly to be able to give attention. the 4 month old i bought is scared and skitterish. my daughter is not into rabbits like i am, but even she knows- she said mom, you're gonna need to spend a lot of time with her, its obvious she is not used to being held and played with a lot. my rabbits are all tame gentle snuggle bunnies. they are used to not only being handled, but being loved. some of you will know what i mean about the difference between used to being handled and used to being loved. kisses constantly on their head are routine to them and dont startle them, but make them comforted. the older female rolls her eyes, and the younger one jumps. they are going to be getting intense socialization from me.
selling bunnies- i do know there are a lot of bunnies out there in shelters. that is sad. but the majority are other breeds. jersey woolies are rare in nw indiana.
only one breeder at the first county fair had jerseys at the show. she had none for sale. i told her how i was having a hard time finding a good female for benny, and she agreed to sell me one from her herd, the 2-3 yr old. obviously if she was keeping and breeding her, she's good breeder quality. and her female that won best in show was a mutt compared to the one i traded back to the breeder last year. (arent i modest? lol) but giggles really is a nice female. great head and body, nice torti coloring. she said she would sell her to me cause she needed to thin her herd (had several breeds) cause feed is so expensive, plus at 2-3 she was probably figuring would be retiring in a year or so, and she told me she couldnt sell her to anyone with kids cause she is VERY cage territorial, charges and grunts and puts up a big show. i said i could work with that. i put her in a small cage with a top opening lid that i have found is good for problems like that.
the second county fair- the woman in the wheelchair was the only one with a wooly for sale. there were two other breeders showing jerseys. that was it. the barn was full of lionheads and several other breeds.
now please dont be offended lionhead breeders, but i remarked to the wheelchair womans hubby about the overflow of lionheads there, and said i heard you gotta breed 50 to get 1 decent one, and he said they arent even recognized by some rabbit organizations, and the lady said and they are not as gentle natured as the woolies either. seriously i couldnt believe how many lionheads there were. its the "new thing". there were a couple other breeds with very high numbers also where i felt like they all looked the same and it was crazy to see 20 identical rabbits around 1 breeder. i saw one breeder with 2 jerseys, and another one with 2 jerseys, and that was it. all the breeders i talked to said everyone was getting out of them, too much work.
i told the woman who sold me giggles that the only breeders i could find were either in indianapolis area (3 1/2 hours from me) or michigan *3 hours from me, and she said there's some nice breeders in wisconsin too, but they are all really expensive, you're talking 150, and she sold me giggles for $25, and i paid the same for the 4 month old.
so you see, there is very little competition for showing or selling in my area.
in fact, one breeder i talked to at the 2nd fair had 2 she was showing at 7 and 8 yrs old. she said she was hoping to breed one at home this fall and would gladly sell me one from her litter but wanted to buy one from my first litter. not even breeding yet and i have an offer for one!
another guy heard me talking to people and came up and said he had a litter at home that would be ready in a month. i asked any broken colors? and he said no, and asked his daughter if she would part with a 3 month old broken one she had been planning to keep, and she agreed only after hearing about all my rabbits and how loved and cared for they are. the woman who sold me the 4 month old told another breeder after hearing about how i cared for mine, she wanted to go live at my house! i told her how giggles is cage territorial and i take her out on the porch all the time to sit on the bench with me cause my rabbits love that, and how crazy they are chasing my daughters cats around in the bedroom (doing her 20 lb tubby male a favor giving him exercise if u ask me!) and how they are all well fed- i told the judge smiley is beautiful but too big, a good 5 lbs. she has big bones and loves to eat. he said you could always cut down her food and i thought to myself NOT! smiley loves food why would i make her diet to go to a show? i'd rather she have meat on her bones, if she ever got sick it could help save her life if she wasnt eating well to have some fat to fall back on. that rabbit is like a lawnmower going thru her hay. she loves all treats, and i admit. she gets the biggest carrot in the bag. (grins) spoiled rotten.
quality- i'm not buying buying pet quality just to breed rabbits. i'm sure of giggles since the breeder kept her herself, and she is a really nice looking doe. the 4 month old i asked another breeder who said that woman has good rabbits, and i showed it to another really reputable breeder there that i ve talked to before. she said she has a
really nice coat, her one fault is her ears are "summer" ears and too big. benny has really tiny ears tho, so im hoping he can balance that out. benny is breeder quality, the breeder kept him a year to use, and the only thing that keeps benny from being showable is his size. benny is TINY. he weighs 2 lbs. he looks like a dwarf, and ive seen some dwarf bigger than him. but the breeders all said that was good, cause i can use bigger does with him, and bigger does do well with the litters. the judge told me the standard calls for 3-4 lbs. i told him the breeder was breeding for smallness, and he said he doesnt know why some breeders breed a 2 lb to another 2 lb and wonder why they get peanuts. but benny is perfect for what i want, because i want my does to be bigger and fatter so they can feed the babies and birth more easily.
homes- i had one litter of mixed breed when i first got rabbits. i had homes for everyone before they left at 8 weeks. i wanted to get into lionheads at first and bought one, only his ruff didnt grow out and he turned into pet quality. i sold him to a little girl who lives on the next block and loved holding and playing with her cousins guinea pig, and the cousin came to me about getting a rabbit for her. i see them outside sometimes playing on the porch and wave, and she knows to come to me if she has any questions or problems. i have another lady who has a little girl who wants a rabbit and had one before she loved, and they are waiting patiently for me to come up with a rabbit for them. i had a woman stop once by my house and ask to see the mixed litter. she wanted to buy all 3. i told her these are male and female, they would need separate cages for all 3. she said she had a big barn and lots of old cages. i said no, sorry, im not selling you any. she seemed like an animal hoarder to me. i said i want to make sure mine will get the proper attention they need, and people who buy litters often want them for snakes. she got really irate with me, and i said sorry no, i am not selling you any of my rabbits. the babies i sold were given lists of instructions, from food to cage materials (no cedar chips!) to watching for teeth growth, to all the reasons timothy hay is vital to their diet, and they were told you know where i live, if you have any questions, any problems, cant keep them, come to me. one came back a couple months later just to tell me the bunny was fine, the pg wife had a baby girl, and now there were 2 baby girls in their house.
so you see, i will not have a problem selling baby rabbits, and i will carefully screen buyers and advise them.
keeping babies- i wont. i wont keep them just because they are cute. i will only keep them if they are show quality or excellent breeder. no breeder is gonna sell me a beautiful show quality doe to breed (unless its totally unaffordable for me), i have to breed that myself. and i will sell those if my herd is too big. i have to keep my numbers down. the older does when they retire will be sold as pets, and then they can be replaced by show quality babies. the retired does will be placed with the same careful screening. all except smiley. smiley is my first jersey i ever owned, she is my forever rabbit who will stay with me till she goes to bunny heaven.
why jerseys?- i am allergic to short haired animals, when they shed the hair splinters and the dander flies in the air. long haired animals fall out in clumps and the dander is trapped in the hair. jerseys i can handle fine, short haired bunnies make me itch. jerseys are beautiful rabbits. they have sweet faces and almond shaped eyes. they are smaller rabbits which makes them great indoor pets. i think a lot of people get a baby bunny and when it gets big, the size of it overwhelms them cleaning up after it. jerseys have some of the sweetest dispositions of all the rabbits i think. this makes then excellent pets, many people i have heard say we used to have a rabbit but it was mean and would bite you. the only time you hear this with a jersey is a cage territorial female, and a small cage with a door on top often works wonders in combating that problem.
did you all read the post by the kid who is looking to buy rabbits and listed like 8 different breeds and wants 1 or 2 each? this is someone who needs to be carefully discouraged as the responders were. but thats not me. i have owned this breed for 4 years. i only want to breed that breed. i have carefully studied them at fairs for 4 years and talked to many many breeders. i am conscious of the keeping my herd size at a number that i can handle and being able to give my bunnies the food, space, and attention they will need. i am breeding a breed that is not widely available here and thus not contributing to overpopulation. (unlike all those lionhead breeders at the fair) i screen carefully for new homes. i have people on a waiting list. i make sure new owners know how to care for them. i am breeding a breed that i know will make great pets. i love the rabbit shows and want to be a part of that. ( i even love the cow shows and sat at both fairs for hours watching them being judged, and i will never own a cow, no room!) lol so hopefully you can all see now that i have the very best intentions as a new breeder.
you were all new to breeding once. i first came to this site over concern for my sick bunnies. i post in this forum because i want to be a good breeder, and i value being able to talk to other breeders. i told the old man who runs the bunny barn at the fair that i always learn SO MUCH from talking to the other breeders there. i appreciate your advice and comments because i feel you can never know too much about something. thank you for reading and commenting, i truly appreciate it! even when people post to try and dissuade me (which they wont) i look at it as they are just trying to make sure im not breeding rabbits for all the wrong reasons or not properly caring for them, and i understand. that young kid who wants 8 breeds needs to be dissuaded. but i promise you, my bunnies are well cared for, well placed, and i want to be a part of the breeders in the show rings at the fair, not standing on the sidelines like a kid outside a candy store window. i feel at home there, like i belong. the breeders there are so nice to me. and the old man said make sure you fill out a card for registration before the fairs over, next year we want to see you here with your own rabbits. god willing, my day is coming. and i cant wait!
