# Naked Micro-sheep



## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

That's Sunny after a haircut. His fiber goes to make "Hula Bunny Beach Bunny" yarn. It's a sandy colored yarn made from the fawn and tortoiseshell colored bunnies.



















This is either Petunia, Iris, Dolce, Maile, Moon or Momi, it's hard to tell without looking at their tattoo. They are all white bunnies and their fiber goes to make "Hula Bunny Coconut Smoothie" yarn.












This is thirteen pounds of angora fiber ready to go to the mill. Each bunny provides about four ounces of good fiber at each haircut (sometimes more) and they get three or four haircuts a year. So, this is roughly sixty bunny haircuts. It takes about an hour and a half to give a bunny a haircut.











This is "Hula Bunny Moonlit Dance" yarn. It's made from the gray fiber which is from the black, blue and agouti colored bunnies. 

Here's all the bunnies who provide the fiber for Hula Bunny yarn: *Hillside Farm Hawaii Bunnies*


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## Falls-Acre (May 13, 2009)

Do you blow out your Angoras? Also I noticed clippers, what kind do you use? When I had Angoras, I used livestock clippers, but they were so big and heavy, really hard to use on rabbits. So I usually just plucked them twice a year (during spring and fall molts). I only have 1 Angora now though, my allergies became so bad, I could no longer blow out their coats. The remaining is just a pet really.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Do you have a local mill that You send it out too?


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

Those micro sheep are so cute!! Are those all your bunnies, Hotz?!!! That's awesome! And is Hula Bunny yours or do you just provide fiber? How cool! I have been so tempted to get an angora since I have bunnies already, but I really don't think I could keep up with their maintenance and grooming!


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## Taylor R. (Apr 3, 2013)

They look so tiny whey they're hairless!! That yarn looks simply delicious.


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

I don't have a blower, Falls Acre, since they rarely go to bunny shows so a perfect coat isn't necessary. I've been breeding the ones who have coats that don't mat so much so they pretty much only get groomed when they are getting their coat harvested. They get their coat harvested when they are about halfway to a full show coat so it would be about the time that they would require grooming to keep the coat mat free.

The clipper is an Oster "Golden A-5" horse clipper with a #40 blade. If the coat is open and free flowing, it works great for the back and sides. Doesn't go through any matted areas. I usually use embroidery snips (the ones that look like old fashioned sheep shears except they are bunny sized) for the mats, undercarriage and delicate spots. They usually get mats behind their ears and under their chin and occasionally on their feet. Which fortunately are the areas that don't produce the good fiber. 










Did you have English angoras? The ones here are all English and all molt, folks have been breeding some of them to not molt, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not but it seems nice to have the ability to comb the wool off instead of shear.

7thSwan, nope, no local mill. :sob: The guy with the Merino sheep in the next town over wants me to start a mill and I'm hoping he will start one. I've heard rumors someone with a mini-mill may move over here from the mainland, but that may just be hopeful rumors from the alpaca people. If there was a mini-mill that could do cotton, then we'd have enough fiber to keep a mill busy. Even a mid-sized mill or bigger, if it could do cotton. I'm working on the Sea Island cotton, trying to get that revived (it's almost an extinct strain of cotton) and growing over here. If there was enough fiber to keep a mill busy, then one will show up. Kinda "grow it and they will come" mentality or hope, I suppose, but in the meantime it gets sent away to be spun. Should anyone want to move to Hawaii and start a fiber mill, I'll help find a spot!

Yup, all my bunnies, MDKatie. At one point, there were fifty five of them which was just way too many. The herd is down to around two dozen at the moment which is probably also a few too many. I'll downsize to between sixteen and twenty and see if I still get enough fiber. I've been selling bunnies to folks hoping to be able to buy back the fiber and it's finally starting to trickle in. It's my evil plan to get everyone else keeping the bunnies as pets and collecting the fiber and selling it back to me to pay for bunny food. A self-supporting pet seems like a good idea to me!

Yup, "Hula Bunny" yarn is all mine. It is a product of "Hillside Farm" which is our "farm" although we don't have the lease land that started the farm anymore. It was too far from home and didn't have irrigation and wasn't fenced so every time something was ready for harvest the feral pigs got it before we did. We ended up with more sausage than vegetables from the farm, but we couldn't legally sell the sausage. It was tasty, though. The freezer still has feral pig in it and we've been out of farming the lease land for several years now. The "farm" is now in the backyard and it's actually more profitable than farming our little three acre lease land farm was. Although that's not a high bar to get over. I do miss the backhoe, though, that was a really fun toy.










The maintenance and grooming of an angora isn't as ferocious as it seems if you are keeping them as a fiber critter or a pet instead of as a show bunny. Keeping an angora in show coat is the high maintenance version, IMHO. Of course, you're still clipping them several times a year, but you end up with lovely fiber to play with. 

I'm not sure about delicious, Taylor, it's pretty fuzzy for tasting.  Although I end with enough fiber stuck to my tongue around these bunnies that actually tasting it is redundant. The person who sells it for me at the local farmer's market calls it "yarn porn". Folks pick it up, rub it on themselves and moan. Great stuff. It's forty percent English angora, twenty percent Merino (for stretch) and twenty percent silk (for shine). Spun to fingering weight, which is 2,000 yards to the pound. I'm _really_ glad I'm not spinning it all.

The bunnies are about five or six pounds. They produce about a pound of fiber a year, so that means every five years they've produced their body's weight in hair. Busy little bunnies! They are pretty friendly, too, and don't mind getting haircuts. They actually seem pleased afterwards even though my hair cutting ability is atrocious. Critters usually look better after they've gone to the groomers.

Well, two bunny hair cuts yesterday, maybe I can finish five more today and that will finish off the white bunnies so their fiber can go to the mill to make Hula Bunny's "Coconut Smoothie" yarn. At least, I think that will be the name of it. It's pretty hard to name white yarn.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

That is so cool, and I can't imagine having 24 little fluffballs to take care of! Yarn porn.. hehe! I bet your yarn is so soft!!! I love the name Coconut Smoothie! It fits perfectly. 

I saw this Craiglist ad a few days ago....they're not terribly far from me...a couple of hours.


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## Miz Mary (Feb 15, 2003)

AWESOME bunnies !!! I have a French Angora .....not a big deal to keep up her maintenance !!


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I like your names of the yarn. I made(sent angora/alpaca in to be made into roving) some once-Chocolate Dream Pie. I also only make 3 final colors,fawn,grey,white. Your grey is fablious(sp).


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## DragonFlyFarm (Oct 12, 2012)

Hotz--- LOVE the pics of your bunnies! They are so cute after you clip 'em. Sunny looks a bit embarrassed about his new do "ummmm, I'm nekkid!" Watched a gentleman spin right from his bunny at a local fiber festival. I was amazed at how patient the bunny was.


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

I love the pictures! Thanks for posting them. They look so naked without their fur! Do they get all excited and hop about after they get clipped?


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

So are you going to get bunnies, too, MDKatie? That's not a bad price for them, especially if you can get the two does for $75 for the pair. (Warning! Bunny enablers around here!)

French angoras are so cute. How many do you have MizMary? What colors are they? Do you make them into yarn?

Chocolate Dream Pie sounds lovely 7thSwan. Tasty, too! The French & English bunnies have the same color choices but don't alpaca come in a lot of other colors, too? The alpaca people here have them in lots more colors than the bunnies. 










This was a farm fair at the local alpaca place several years ago with some of the different colors of alpaca that they have. 

Sunny wasn't upset about being naked, DragonFly, the grandfather clock had started bonging while he was getting his picture taken so he was concerned about the odd noise. Sometimes the bunnies here get spun from at a fiber festival or other event, but that's generally just for event and such. When I'm spinning at home it is usually from a jar of fiber instead of off the bunny. If they get really bored they fidget or nibble on clothes. Sometimes, though, they are fidgeting because they have to pee and not because they are bored.

Yup, bunnies love being naked, Kasota. They get happy and bounce around. Probably because they just lost about eight percent of their body weight. About the same as a 150 pound person losing twelve pounds in an hour. That would be worth jumping around about wouldn't it?












This is Trinity "before" her haircut. 












Trinity at the beginning of her haircut. The best fiber is from the back and rear.












Doesn't she look happier now? Although it was past her nap time so she was yawning. So much for exciting hair cuts.












That's Twinkle after a grooming session where he didn't get a haircut. All that fiber in the bowl came off the bunny yet he's still not hairless.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Yes, I had the roveing made in what is called a 3 way swirl. There was white, beige and chocolate colored fibers, they were not mixed,just kinda wrapped around each other, so when spinning one can see the different colors in the yarn.


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

That's a lovely way to make a multi-color yarn. All natural colors, too! If the different fibers are mixed, then the result is usually a lot less colorful.

Someone in spinning group used to make yarn by taking one ply of multicolored yarn - she would just grab different colors of fiber and spin them randomly. Then she had a single of one solid color. When those were plied together it made a nice multicolor yarn that still seemed to be tied all together by the solid color constantly being there.


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## MDKatie (Dec 13, 2010)

hotzcatz said:


> So are you going to get bunnies, too, MDKatie? That's not a bad price for them, especially if you can get the two does for $75 for the pair. (Warning! Bunny enablers around here!)


I think I may wait, and just focus on my NZW meat rabbits for now. I'd love to get another bunny, but with lambing and kidding coming up I think I need to realize my limits!  They're on my "one day" list. 

Love the pic of that yawning bun!!


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## Miz Mary (Feb 15, 2003)

Just wanted to share my Micro sheep !

Angora = Racetrack...


Lionhead = Sophia


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

More buns! Miz Mary, they are so precious! Sophia almost looks like a Himalayan kitten!


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## raccoon breath (Aug 5, 2010)

Ha ha ha!!! I love the pics! One of my rabbits is about to have babies


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

Yay! More bunnies! Has she had her babies yet? What type of bunny is she? Who's the sire?

I've been trying to figure out which ones here should be bred. I think this one, Twinkle, will be the buck, so I sheared him down so he will be able to "do the deed". If he has his full coat on him, it's more difficult and sometimes doesn't get done.









This is the "before" picture of Hillside Twinkle. He's a lilac tortoiseshell buck.









And this is the "after" picture.

There is an hour and fifteen minutes between the "before" and "after" pictures and 4.5 ounces of fiber were taken off the bunny. Now I just need to figure out who he wants to meet up with tomorrow.


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## raccoon breath (Aug 5, 2010)

My copper satin angora doe (AaBbCcD_E_ ++) was bred to a satin angora buck (not mine) that throws copper and red. If the breeding worked, she'll be due next Sat. If the breeding failed, I'll try her with a satin angora buck (aaBbCchdD_Ee Ww(?) )that has produced brown, chin, fawn, tort and red.


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## raccoon breath (Aug 5, 2010)

I'll post pics when they come. My gosh, I love babies  

Miz Mary - your bunnies are beautiful!


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## raccoon breath (Aug 5, 2010)

Im having another sleepless night. Too much spinning lately and my hands are pretty swollen and painful..rheumatoid arthritis but over use aggravates the troubled spots. I was looking at your website Hotzcatz. I love the rabbits and you habe a beautiful variety of colors. I would like to have that one day. Im a little nervous about the rabbit having her babies only because it's a first for me. She's experienced and knows what she's doing so I hope it goes well and I'll stand back and not interfere unless absolutely necesary.


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

RB, I hope your hands will do better with a little rest. Can't wait to see pictures of the wee buns when they arrive!


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## Kasota (Nov 25, 2013)

If you cross breed rabbits do you end up with hot cross buns?


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## raccoon breath (Aug 5, 2010)

LOL Kasota - We'll find out! My first group of rabbits I got, I was going to name them Cinna (bun), Sugar (bun), Sweet (bun) and Honey (bun). I had trouble telling them apart so I ended up going with Clean Face, Black Face, Nibbler (the biter) and Buckley.

Thank you


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

We only get hot cross buns in the summer when they get grumpy in the sunshine because we are giving treats to some other rabbit other than them. 




raccoon breath said:


> My copper satin angora doe (AaBbCcD_E_ ++) was bred to a satin angora buck (not mine) that throws copper and red. If the breeding worked, she'll be due next Sat. If the breeding failed, I'll try her with a satin angora buck (aaBbCchdD_Ee Ww(?) )that has produced brown, chin, fawn, tort and red.


What's the "Ww"? Wide band? Is that for red?


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## raccoon breath (Aug 5, 2010)

Heck if I know Hotzcatz! ha ha JK, I'm learning this and understand parts, but don't test me or I'll fail! lol 

Ww - Yes, it's for wideband colors, but I can't remember exactly what the breeder was thinking on that regarding the question mark..maybe red or fawn but we'll find out as we breed him (I think). Valentines weekend has been a killer. I'm on chocolate overload and wore myself out. May have to repeat the Ww conversation with the breeder when my blood sugars go down. :bouncy:


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## hotzcatz (Oct 16, 2007)

Keep all the blood sugars and add caffiene! Hmm, that would be BsBs & cafcaf, huh?


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