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Maukin

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2007
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Location
Pine Grove, Pennsylvania, USA
Hi there all!!

Let me introduce myself <stands>...

"Hello, my name is Hollie and I am addicted to Flemish Giants..."

I had my first experience with them on a farm where the farmer had all sorts of amazing creatures. In an old wooden hutch, he had the sweetest, cuddliest looking bunny outside of a Gund Catalog. I of course had to open the hutch and take this creature into my arms, where he immediately snuggled in. My godfather, who was a friend of the farmer said: "I'll take the bunny too."

"He's one of those Biggun Rabbits, he is." drawled the farmer. "He's gonna be around 20 pounds when he's done growin'." He pointed to the father of this youngster and I saw the most enormous rabbit I've ever seen.

I took him home. He followed my children around and played tag with them. He layed beside me when I worked on the competer. He would jump on my chair and demand my attention. I named him Maukin and I loved him to pieces. We even took him to craft fairs and showed him off. People were dumbfounded by the fact that he was bigger than most cats and not even six months old. I had plans to breed him, with many people wanting babies. My son and I were going to show him at the county fair.

Then one afternoon, something went wrong, as sometimes they do. Maukin was in the dog pen for excersise. I noticed that he had dug underneath the fencing. I went to complete a project that I was working on that would take just a couple more minutes. And in that time, my big friendly dog went over to him to play and I think he scared my bunny to death. There were no marks on him and my dog was sitting beside him with the most sheepish, sorry look on his face. I cried like a baby for an hour and still choke up.

But life goes on. In my case, it has gone on in the form of a bratty grey buck by the name of Lichen and I just purchased his baby brother whom I have named Bracken. Lichen is a beautiful boy while Bracken is the color of a wild rabbit and a bit of an ugly duckling. But I have seen an older brother who was the same as a weanling and he is magnificent. The color is called "sandy". Looks more like mud to me.

I'm going to start a small breeding farm of Flemmies, two litters a year. I have a degree in Agriculture and have spent years immersed in the not-so-hot side of it, so I'm not afraid of things going wrong. But I would love others to discover this breed of wonderful animals and so am looking for to converting some to the Rabbit Path :)

I have no girls for my boys yet. Anyone in PA that has a fawn colored doe or a grey doe that are for sale? Papers are not necessary, pet quality is fine.

Looking forward to gaining some knowledge and advice from those of you in the field.

Talk to you all later!!!


 
Welcome, i too am a flemish addict!

the person i think you should talk to is blue giants...

she breads Blue flemish, and i believe some other colors...

Cathy is a welth of information, and hopefully will see your post and give you some good advise and point you int he right direction..

the one thing i can say is be CAREFULL who you get your buns from. my next flemmie will be from cathy. not some random shaddy guy at the bun show..I wish i hadnt been so impatient.

long story short, got a sandy baby girl died 3 weeks later... :( (Coccidiea):grumpy:

and CONGRADULATIONS!!!

and welcome!

there is alsorts of good info in the rabbitry on breading and selection!



 
Welcome to the forum! :)

Jupiterannette is right on, Blue Giants aka Cathy is extremely friendly and helpful. I cannot express my gratitude to her for the help she provided me. You see, I went to a rabbit show and unknowingly bought a pregnant flemish doe. Being totally unprepared, I barraged her with questions and she quickly replied with terrific helpful information.

I love flemmies and I have three does, a blue, a grey and a black. I also have a steel buck.

This is a great website with very friendly and helpful people.:D


 
:hello
Hello Maukin! :welcome1

Welcome! This is a great place to do anything rabbits!!!! I also have Flemish Giants. I have Blues (my Favorite!!!), Blacks and Whites. Love my rabbits. I breed for show and companionship.
The Flemish is a fabulous breed with the most fabulous personality and a lot of issues all it's own. If I can help out in any way, let me know.

I might be able to help you find a doe or two for your Light gray and Sandy boys. (You don't want to cross those two colors!)

There is a very big Rabbit show in Lebanon, Pa the first weekend of February. I expect a lot of Flemish breeders to be attending. Might be a good place to look for Flemish if you can get there.

Hope you enjoy "hanging out" here.
 
I will be at that show with bells on. Ok, I'll be there. Bells might be a bit weird... I'm about 20 minutes from Lebanon. I'll bet it's at the fairgrounds. I'm also going to be at the farm show this year. I'll be taking my six year old son who is the "assistant manager" of my rabbits. He takes his responsibilities very seriously.

I've been talking with a woman by the name of Kim Croak. Anyone know her?

Cathy, I would love your help in finding a girlfriend for Lichen. First of all, I did not know that you should not breed the colors together. Why? Ugly babies? Lethal genes? Inquiring minds want to know.
 
Welcome Hollie! I'm another newly formed flemish giant addict. I recently got my first flemish, a blackboy, named Nebula, from wabbitdad's suprise litter. You'll enjoy it here. A lot of very knowledgeable people in this group.



Betsy
 
Welcome to the forum - I have a flemish giant named "Tiny". I adore flemish and imagine that I'll probably always have to have a flemish giant around the house.

I also encourage you to be wary of who you buy flemish from. We used to have two flemish owners on the board....and both boys died at fairly young ages. They were bred for the huge heads and stuff - but if I remember right - they had some heart issues (Vash & Apollo). I find myself wondering if that was for the whole line of flemish from that breeder - or only certain lines- or whatever.

I have bought lionheads from Kim Croak before and she has been breeding for a long time. My concern would be how socialized her flemish are before you get them....as I believe she keeps her rabbits outside and I don't know how much time she has to socialize them....but maybe its just the lionheads that are like this - I don't know.

Once again - welcome to the forum!

Peg
 
There are 7 varieties of Flemish Giant that are accepted for show. Even if you don't show or keep pedigrees, certain colors shouldn't be crossed in the Flemish. Generally, you do not get asthetically pleasing (OK "pretty") bunnies.You shouldn't cross the red/brown agouti colors with the gray agouti colors... ie: don't cross sandy's and fawns with light gray and steel gray.

If you are going to all the expense and time of breeding such beautiful animals, why not keep pedigrees? And you can most certainly show without pedigree's.

Pennsylvania has a number of Flemish Breeders. Make sure when you are looking, you tell them exactly what you want. Age, color, (colors behind them), breedablity, etc. (By breedability, I mean make sure the doe comes from a line that generally breeds well, good maternal instinct, etc.).

You should contact any breeder you're interested in and ask them if they will attending the show and what they are bringing for sale and what they will be charging. Gives you an idea what will be there and what to expect.

I think you're son will really like this show. It's very big (11,000 entries last year!), generally 3-4 shows per breed over 2 days.( I would suggest you come on Saturday morning for the best selection. )
 
The woman that I got both of my boys from kept them outside. Her cages were clean and her rabbits were healthy. Lichen was not the most social of rabbits, he hates to be picked up and will be affetionate only on his terms. After my cuddly guy, I was not used to being rebuffed in that manner. With work and dedication, he has really come along in becoming social. He now comes up and gives kisses and pushes under my hand to be petted. He still is not a lap rabbit and probably never will be. But his charming personality and quirky sense of humor has endeared him to me immensely.

Bracken I've only had for a day. He was just weaned last week and I figure I can take care of his handling myself. He was the least "squirelly" of the litter and sat quietly in my lap "relaxed bunny style" the whole way home. I know, should not have had him in my lap but....

So I'll keep in touch with Kim, she's been a source of good information so far. But I'll take in any comments or advice you might have about local PA breeders.
 
Welcome to RO!! :wave: :D

Hope you enjoy posting here, it's a great community. I love the Giant breeds also, though I've never had any myself, I'd like to at some point in the future. :)

Michaela & bunnies Madison and Ebony
 

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