tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29471929191357847962011-04-21T14:42:56.009-04:00Updates from Verdant Rabbitry, general information & tips on rabbits, and random musings.Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.comBlogger331100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-86660277698409478492008-07-21T13:58:00.002-04:002008-07-21T14:04:46.860-04:00

I should be working on a term paper right now, but this is much more fun. (I need something to jump start the ol' brain.)We are selling out of Californians. Yup. That's right. No more wonderful, chunky white bunnies. It was not an easy decision, but it had to be done. Thus... if you would like a great start with an established herd of meat rabbits, email me. It would be great if they went as a

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-76195992996333388162008-05-06T09:39:00.003-04:002008-05-06T09:41:01.300-04:00

In case anyone is wondering, my website went poof a few weeks ago and I haven't been able to reload anything. I don't think Yahoo likes excessive bunny pictures. ;-)Yes, I am still raising rabbits, but if you are interested in learning more about Creme d'Argents or Californians, please email me at bennettsva@aim.com for more information.

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-60415327256793462222007-12-30T12:44:00.001-05:002007-12-30T13:21:09.239-05:00

When I wrote the last blog entry mentioning the does due this weekend, I thought it would take a few days for everyone to deliver. Well, late Friday evening, four does kindled within two hours of each other! It's good that rabbits don't need help delivering.In all, 23 Creme d'Argent bunnies were born. The largest litter was iRabbit's (pictured) with seven kits. Since she is a first-time mom, we

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-28982298410638500632007-12-28T09:57:00.000-05:002007-12-28T10:24:10.665-05:00

With 2008 only days away, a lot of us are thinking about the last year and making plans for the coming year. (Ok, so New Year's resolutions usually don't last more than 3 weeks.)The bunnies are doing well. We have an eight week old litter of English Angoras on the ground and lots of Californian and Creme d'Argent litters planned for the next few months! I'm on baby watch this weekend. Five Creme

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-80349778449447487802007-08-09T16:38:00.001-04:002007-08-09T16:38:02.612-04:00

_MG_0051 Originally uploaded by markfftangHere's another gorgeous Mini Rex pic - is this guy good or what??

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-35725157736620192872007-08-09T16:30:00.001-04:002007-08-09T16:30:01.191-04:00

_MG_0037 Originally uploaded by markfftangI came across this photo today - what a wonderful shot!

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-82233276730192343802007-08-01T12:40:00.000-04:002007-08-08T19:30:11.989-04:00

We have a dog, a ninety-pound Doberman. He's a complete mushpot, totally unlike what you might expect from Hollywood's favorite canine villain. But his displays of affection are a little odd. The dog follows my father around the house like a lurking spectre, looking for an opportunity to reassure Dad of his undying loyalty by poking him in the leg with a cold, drippy nose.He's always trying to

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-13476447726410107422007-07-30T19:26:00.001-04:002007-07-30T19:39:00.590-04:00

Guess what? The 2007 Farm Bill passed the House of Representatives last week. I haven't been following the legislation that closely, because I simply don't have the time to study the subject in-depth right now. I am a little ticked off, however, because [unless it was shot down and I didn't hear about it] the part of the bill covering Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) contains a provision that

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-26781438752478926302007-07-30T16:18:00.001-04:002007-07-30T16:18:38.317-04:00

Demure Rabbit Originally uploaded by AngoriaI feel like such a redneck. See, I just figured out how to post pictures from my photo album on Flickr directly to the blog. (Sheesh, how long have I had an account on both sites?) Anyway, here's a pic of one of our "new" Angora babies - Paris is about six weeks old in this photo, although she's more like 9 weeks or so now. Ain't she adorable??

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-82261841676485642302007-07-30T16:12:00.001-04:002007-07-30T16:22:21.339-04:00

Just tried something...disregard this post...

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-974420295989323782007-07-25T14:08:00.000-04:002007-07-25T14:32:43.025-04:00

Some days, I'm so glad to have rabbits. I had a rough day last week. I trekked out to the rabbit barn later in that afternoon to make sure everyone had water.I could feel the stress drain away as soon as I got out there. Most of the rabbits were sound asleep, since it was mid-afternoon. They looked so peaceful. But Maximilian, one of the junior bucks, was stretched out on his side - at first

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-65023803749439885752007-05-08T16:07:00.000-04:002007-05-08T16:40:09.602-04:00

I made hay yesterday. Sort of.Our old garden spot was overgrown with tall fescue and villainous herbage. Now, in most parts of the world, forage is pretty harmless. You mow it every Saturday and it behaves nicely. But we have a special kind of pasture plant here in Virginia.When I say that our garden was overgrown, I don't mean "Your lawn needs mowing, Ma'am", I mean the last thing that walked

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-28930447114791893892007-03-30T13:31:00.000-04:002007-03-30T14:07:28.148-04:00

I just discovered Flickr.I know, I'm a shelter case. I'd heard of Flickr before - who hasn't. It's only one of the biggest sites on the whole Internet for shutterbugs. I'd anticipated cutesy, but poor-quality photos of people's pets and friends. There are a lot of photos like that, of course. But there's also some amazing works by incredibly talented people. This one, by user "williscreek" is my

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-85591163833697796632007-03-22T16:00:00.000-04:002007-03-22T16:50:54.705-04:00

I love spring. This year is especially exciting because we have a lot of kits in the nestbox right now and several promising juniors.Tulip, a Creme d'Argent, gave us a litter of six in the middle of the winter, four of which are shaping up nicely for the spring shows. I really wasn't sure how these youngsters would look, because this is the first breeding to combine the two bloodlines we're

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-30064680620054248582007-03-21T20:25:00.001-04:002007-03-21T20:25:46.074-04:00

We made it to both shows hosted at the North Carolina State Convention this past Saturday, and let me tell you, it was a blast! The NCRBA had more than 500 rabbits entered just in the open division! This set a new record for entries.Since the whole family loves rare breeds, we were thrilled to see several breeders there with some of the nation's most endangered breeds - Lilacs, Belgian Hares,

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-16300458041814704372007-03-06T21:51:00.000-05:002007-03-06T22:54:23.645-05:00

I just got my 2007 membership card from the ARBA and I realized that it's been three years since I plunged into showing rabbits. Wow! It seems like a lifetime, but compared to so many other breeders, I'm a newbie!We got our first rabbit, a pet New Zealand White, several years prior to the show bunnies. "Fluffy" was only with us about a year, but he taught us a lot about bunnies. His quirky

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-10160316914296478632007-03-04T22:16:00.000-05:002007-03-04T22:38:53.849-05:00

If you've never tried pesto sauce, you are seriously missing out. I've only had the pleasure of eating that sumptuous stuff a few times but I am hooked. What's pesto? Minty basil, garlic, olive oil, and rich Parmesan cheese join forces to create a hearty, versatile sauce fit for the pickiest eater. My mom - I love you! - treated us to homemade pesto over pasta tonight. If my tummy were a kitten,

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-319235461156176622007-02-22T23:05:00.000-05:002007-02-22T23:34:05.583-05:00

Members of the Animal Liberation Front, an animal rights group, allegedly raided a rabbit ranch in South Carolina Monday evening, taking several animals.Blue Chip Farms, owned and managed by Dean and Arlene Goforth, is one of the largest commercial rabbit farms in South Carolina. A recent Yahoo article reported that there was no sign of illegal activity on the farm. Blue Chip Farms is also

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-22085504848002083062007-02-20T21:53:00.000-05:002007-02-20T21:59:41.641-05:00

This article is about heritage livestock breeds in Britain, but I believe anyone would be interested.How Farmers Aim to Save Ancient Animal Breeds From Extinction"There are just a few thousand tigers left in the wild, and mountain gorillas are down to a few hundred. With figures like these, it's easy to overlook those less exotic animals closer to home that are facing extinction. But, while they

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-19766043346868740972007-02-16T23:17:00.000-05:002007-02-16T23:31:57.941-05:00

This is a little sad. A friend of mine just lost her sweet German Angora buck this week. I/we thought it may have been gut stasis at first, because he'd stopped eating. It turns out that it wasn't, since our vet didn't see any signs of intestinal problems in the necropsy. The vet thinks the rabbit may have contracted pneumonia, but we're really not sure.Anyway, in the initial

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-45047521668101402482007-02-13T22:57:00.000-05:002007-02-13T23:13:31.872-05:00

Does this particular post really belong in a bunny blog? Well, perhaps...Guess what? I finally bit the bullet and submitted a rabbit-related article (along with a few photos) to a magazine. The editor emailed late last week to let me know that she'd recieved my submission, but I won't know for at least a week if they'll be able to use it or not. Rejection slips are something I'll have to deal

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-60079938638667426962007-02-13T22:04:00.000-05:002007-02-13T22:42:52.767-05:00

Whew, another photo shoot. The Nursery page on our Angora website finally got an update, and [drum roll...] we have a whole photo album with pictures of each of the Angora babies! Woohoo! Take a look...they're CUTE. [grin] (I'm developing another website right now, so keeping the blog and the bunny sites up-to-date have been put on the back burner.)My loving family-of-the-warm-bodies (see earlier

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-78086737071051464302007-02-06T17:19:00.000-05:002007-02-06T18:44:11.930-05:00

Anytime you're expecting six litters of rabbits during the coldest night of the whole winter, something offbeat is bound to happen! This party started Sunday afternoon. Doe #1 (Californian) kindled a bouncing litter of nine live kits, and really didn't pull a lot of fur. The kits got chilled and my wonderful family stepped in and helped warm them up. So, we're good there. The kits made it through

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-31562611567000551512007-02-04T22:12:00.001-05:002007-02-04T23:06:51.262-05:00

Guess what? Rare breeds are taking off in Virginia. Besides yours truly [wink], there's several other folks here in the Old Dominion state with heritage bunns:Heidi Brashear, Roseline Bunnies - Silver FoxRanch Phoenix - American Chinchillas (just found this link yesterday, so don't ask me any questions about them)Cher Brown, Rabbits of Harvest Moon - Beverens and Creme d'Argents

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-36398414699124048222007-02-04T22:12:00.000-05:002007-02-04T23:01:38.036-05:00

Guess what? Rare breeds are taking off in Virginia. Besides yours truly [wink], there's several other folks here in the Old Dominion state with heritage bunns:Heidi Brashear, Roseline Bunnies - Silver FoxRanch Phoenix - American Chinchillas (just found this link yesterday, so don't ask me any questions about them)Cher Brown, Rabbits of Harvest Moon - Beverens and Creme d'Argents

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-51197004099926386562007-02-04T21:27:00.000-05:002007-02-04T22:12:17.766-05:00

Who'd have thought it: today we *almost* had a repeat of the disaster with Liberty last week. I think I'm developing a complex!Anyway, one of my Californian does kindled this afternoon (a whopping litter of nine!). I remembered the nestbox *this* time, but the ol' girl didn't pull much fur. I can't say as I blame her: it was COLD and WINDY this afternoon. They were chilled when I found them. But

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-79395714897247958842007-02-02T22:37:00.000-05:002007-02-02T22:43:27.252-05:00

I snapped some pictures today of our five-week-old English Angora kits. The pictures didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, but the bunnies sure are cute! (You can see them at www.freewebs.com/cremerabbits/nursery.htm.)Those little fluffballs are totally fearless. Gideon (dog) was chilling out in the living room when we had the bunns out and the rabbits were all over him. I think he was a *little*

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-52635817156832914612007-02-02T22:31:00.000-05:002007-02-02T22:36:54.941-05:00

Remember the post from two weeks ago on raising rabbits naturally? You'd never guess what I found: a whole forum on Yahoo! Groups dedicated to raising rabbits in colonies (family groups) and pasture pens! Click here to check it out."Colony Raising Rabbits" is a relatively new e-group, but it looks like there's some interesting messages in the archives. If you're thinking about ditching the rabbit

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-5774668299901196612007-02-02T00:26:00.000-05:002007-02-02T00:40:17.396-05:00

Egads! I realized I haven't updated the blog for two weeks: bad, bad.I learned a hard lesson over the weekend. About a month ago, I bred a doe, but I didn't mark her exact due date down on the calender. I knew about when I needed to put in a nestbox, so when the day arrived, the rabbit got a nice nest full of bedding. No kits. "Oh well," I thought, "she must not have concieved."Wrong.I left the

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-39641584583699946192007-01-15T22:51:00.000-05:002007-01-15T23:57:01.202-05:00

It’s hard to believe that spring will be upon us in a few months! We pretty much missed winter this year in Virginia – which I really appreciate. It was nice to only have to thaw frozen bunny water bottles a few days this winter. On the farm, we’re busy making plans for 2007: refining our poultry housing, planning bunny breedings, and taking care of all those little chores that pile up on a farm

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-11987831091996151112007-01-08T16:50:00.000-05:002007-01-08T19:25:54.404-05:00

I subscribe to a number of rabbit-related forums and e-mail lists, and over the past year or so, I've noticed a growing interest in raising rabbits naturally. Some people just want to move away from a "traditional" pelleted ration and brew their own rabbit diet; others are interested in something a bit more extreme like colonies and "tractoring".I can tell that "tractoring" is conjuring images in

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-25468535954090675812007-01-02T23:52:00.000-05:002007-01-03T00:16:17.864-05:00

Today's post will have to be short, but I did want to let you know that our first litter of English Angoras was born Saturday! Lacie, the mother, delivered nine kits. One was stillborn, unfortunately, but the other eight are healthy and growing bigger every day! Pictures are coming soon (check our Nursery page for the latest updates)

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2947192919135784796.post-73043978880096940332006-12-31T22:50:00.000-05:002006-12-31T23:21:56.359-05:00

Happy New Year! Thought I'd start this new blog with a little introduction.My name is Hannah. I raise rabbits. Lots of rabbits, LOL. The bunny barn houses several breeds, although my true passion is Californians and Creme d'Argents. I also have five Angoras and a lonely Silver Fox buck. I show, but the rabbits also help provide food for the family, with a few extras for a local abattoir.I'm a big

Hannahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05042096458956416159noreply@blogger.com0