# true bleu's



## polly (Mar 21, 2009)

I figured I would start a blog for my beverens as they really deserve to have their own space especially now we have a breeding pair. Actually hopefully Lady marmalade is actually due a litter today (though they tend to go late) so I have my fingers crossed that we may get babies she has been very busy building her nest since tuesday 

*Lady Marmalade*



















*Sully*

it hard to believe Sully is 9 months old already he is a total different character from Lady Marmalade who is very calm and easy going Sully is a total menace and into everything!! However he is very loving and enjoys getting cuddles inbetween his mad turns lol


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## TinysMom (Mar 21, 2009)

Are you holding Sully or Lady Marmalade? Whoever it is - they're HUGE.

Now I need to get pics of someone holding Jenny for a comparison....

I am so glad you started this blog...


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## polly (Mar 21, 2009)

I am holding Sully Peg, lady marmalade is a lot more narrow in head and finer boned. (the does always are) I will get better pictures of her once she has had her litter!!

Sully now weighs in at around 8 lbs and thats classed as to small!!! Lady Marmalade is a month younger than Sully but she was in pretty bad condition  so itwill take a while to get her up to her correct weight

ps Peg I am 5ft 2" just so u have an idea of his size comapred to me lol


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## SOOOSKA (Mar 21, 2009)

OMG, Lady Marmalade and Sully are *BEAUTIFUL*. Boy if I lived near you I'd be begging you for one of their babies.

Susan


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## paul2641 (Mar 21, 2009)

There so cute, Where did you get the Lady Marmalade, Why was she in bad condition?


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## missyscove (Mar 21, 2009)

They're beautiful!


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## TinysMom (Mar 21, 2009)

Two questions...

Can you post Sully's baby pictures in here (when you first got him) - for folks who are new to your breeding program w/ him...

and...

Did you have to rework your rabbitry cages when you made the decision to do this? I remember all of your customizing of the rabbitry- it was so impressive.....so I'm wondering how much work you had to go to in order to have big enough cages....


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## polly (Mar 22, 2009)

*paul2641 wrote: *


> There so cute, Where did you get the Lady Marmalade, Why was she in bad condition?



Hey Paul Lady Marmalade came from a breeder down in England and she was brought up to my friend Kenny who is the only other person in Scotland whois breeding beverens and is who I got Sully from. He had Lady Marmalade for for around 3 weeks before I got her and he actually helped her put on a bit of weight and mated her to Sully's dad for me.

We think the reason she was in such bad condition is because Beverens have a major problem with coccidosis and she was feeding her does on medicated pellets (which is like you getting an antibiotic every day of your life even when you aren't ill) and also that she wasn't feedign them enough. Beverens get 4 ounces of pelleted feed per day as well as lots of hay and vegetables. SO she is quite underweight however we have treated her for coccidosis and she will get retreated again we also have to keep an antibiotic on hand in case she does get ill because she will have a weak immune system because of the medicated pellets she was on. Neither myself or Kenny feed or believe in feeding the medicated pellets we are instead trying to wean them through it and so their immune sytems get a chance to strengthen up.

I hope that makes sense to you. SOmetimes breeding rabbits is very hard. I think what I will try to do is post a bit of the beverens history for anyone hwo is interested  as they truly are a heritage breed in teh UK


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## Flashy (Mar 22, 2009)

i just found this  i love these pics and cant wait for the fday i have my own polly bev 

any sign of babies yet?


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## polly (Mar 22, 2009)

*TinysMom wrote: *


> Two questions...
> 
> Can you post Sully's baby pictures in here (when you first got him) - for folks who are new to your breeding program w/ him...
> 
> ...



Hey Peg, I can post you some pics of Sully but he was already5 months when I got him so length wise he hasnt grown to much but he has filled out now He is now hitting 10 months. However Lady Marmalade has given us a litter of 4 this morning so I will get soem pictures of them growing up and will show u a comparison to my baby nethies which are nearly a week old (will do them later for you)



Here is him when he was around 7 months old (bruce is around 5ft 8")






and when he was 5 months when we had just got him






as for the rabbitry our first shed was made with dividers in the hutches so we could have 15 hutches or if we wanted we could have 3 massive hutches lol. The beverens have to have a 5 ft hutch for the boys that is 18" high and brood does are in 6ft hutches. Just now they have 2 hutches joined together which is around 5 ft long but not quite high enough.

Our plans are to get a 3rd shed which will be joined onto the oldest shed so our sheds lie in an L shape and the 3rd one will be equipped more for the beverens but I would guess Bruce will make them dividable incase the nethies encroach onto that space!! I will probably post in teh rabbitry as it gets done like i did with shed 2.

In this country beverens are usually kept outside because of the fact they are fur rabbits and you want to keep their coats nice and thick however with having a super electrician husband  he will be making them air conditioned as you have to watch for their fur colour fading in the sun so being in a shed is probably better.

I thnk we are also lucky because our weather is colder than england so their coats are much nicer up here


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## polly (Mar 22, 2009)

*Flashy wrote: *


> i just found this  i love these pics and cant wait for the fday i have my own polly bev
> 
> any sign of babies yet?



4 babies this morning Trace  they are huuuuuge lol will try and get soem pics comapred to the baby nethies so you can see.

ANd you better believe you will have a polly bev at some point Trace


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## paul2641 (Mar 22, 2009)

*polly wrote: *


> *paul2641 wrote: *
> 
> 
> > There so cute, Where did you get the Lady Marmalade, Why was she in bad condition?
> ...


I remember you mentioning Kenny before. What exactly is coccidosis? And was this medicated pellet used to fight coccidosis? Would you class the breeder who lady marmalade came from a good breeder?Will you keep some babies from this litter of baby beverens for your breeding programm?


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## paul2641 (Mar 22, 2009)

*paul2641 wrote: *


> *polly wrote: *
> 
> 
> > *paul2641 wrote: *
> ...


Oh cool you had the kits this morning how cool!!inkelepht:


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## polly (Mar 22, 2009)

Paul, coccidosis is a digestive problem it can take a few different forms bloat is one muccoid enteritis is another there are some articles in the library here that explain them pretty well  I wouldnt really comment on the breeder as I don't know her but I know Kenny wasnt happy with how the does came to him and especially after the one he got already pregnant died a few days after having her litter  which is why we have to keep a close eye on Lady Marmalade!! The medicated pellet basically stops them from showing the symptoms but when you take them off it their immune system is really poor so you risk losing them. Ideally you should not have rabbits on medicated pellets at all! You want your rabbits to thrive and be healthy. If however say Lady Marmalade got cocci we would treat her and if she got through ti and survived then her immune system should be stronger as it should help give a natural immunity.

The reason Beverens have problems is because there are so few blood lines in the UK I think we now run off 3 or 4 bleu blood lines so inbreeding has not helped. unfortunately because small breeds came in such as nethies and mini lops and peopel preferred them so lots of people stopped breeding beverens (as well as many other beautiful breeds) which then left very limited stock for the people who did keep breeding them to work with. 

I will try and do their history later which explains them pretty well but basically the beveren is teh only blue rabbit that is such a pale colour. and because of that we cant breed them through other rabbits because it will damage their colour!!


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## tonyshuman (Mar 22, 2009)

Such big beauties! I never would have guessed at their size until I saw the pics of them with you guys!


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## polly (Mar 22, 2009)

4 baby beverens born today sunday 22/3/09 3 good sized and 1 is a bit runty 

the white one is a 5 day old nethie for comparison


























size comparison to my hand


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## polly (Mar 29, 2009)

Lady Marmalade saw grass for the first time today and she was so funny she kept coming up and when I sit down she can stretch and give me kisses. I have added a couple of JB pics so you can see the difference in size!









































size comparison comapred to a normal sized football


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## polly (Mar 29, 2009)

baby Bevs now 1 week old and boy have they grown lol!! have used the same white nethie who is a week older for comparison


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## polly (Apr 6, 2009)

Well Lady Marmalade enjoyed the garden sooo much she now goes on nightly grass eating jaunts lol the other night I had to chase her round the garden for 10 mins before I could persuade her that her tea was out!!!

The babies are getting big and have turned into proper bunnies now 2 weeks and 1 day old the smallest one is a doe other 3 are bucks one seems very huge keeping fingers crossed more now that they dont get ill!


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## naturestee (Apr 6, 2009)

Ooooh! I need to snuggle them! And then snuggle their parents! I like big bunnies. Lady Marmalade looks so happy on the grass. She must be having a great time with you.


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## ilovetegocalderon (Apr 7, 2009)

OMG, what a huge bunny! Adorable.


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## kherrmann3 (Apr 8, 2009)

I love the picture of her squished into the tunnel outside. Big bunnies never seem to understand that they are big bunnies.


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## kherrmann3 (Apr 8, 2009)

Oops! Double post! I guess I should say that the babies are adorable, too!


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## polly (Apr 21, 2009)

babies now 3 weeks
























and Lm doing her "up Periscope" impression lol


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## Wabbitdad12 (Apr 21, 2009)

I just discovered this thread! and I am glad I did. Your bunnys are beautiful, wonderful photo's. Congrats on the litter, they look like they are doing great.

Bruce did such a impressive job on the previous bunny shed, it will be tough to beat. I look forward to seeing it.


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## fuzz16 (Apr 22, 2009)

beautiful rabbits, i love the blue color. how are they personality wise? i never heard of them before this


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## polly (Apr 22, 2009)

*fuzz16 wrote: *


> beautiful rabbits, i love the blue color. how are they personality wise? i never heard of them before this


They have cheeky personalitys lol like very big nethie. They are also very loving. Full of energy and quite demanding especially when hungry lol!! So far the babies are very inqusitive and love to lick you. I would say they canbe a bit nervous well the adults are anyway. We will see how these babies are when they are older.


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## BlueCamasRabbitry (Apr 23, 2009)

Just discovered this! 

I love your Beverens! A boy in my 4-H club raises them, I think...I'm pretty sure...

Anyway, they're such beautiful rabbits! I never knew they got that big though! Gosh! Lol. 

I am going to have to own/breed them some day!! 
The babies are SO cute!! 

Emily


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## polly (Apr 28, 2009)

The babies are 5 weeks now and soon will be getting their own hutches LM has taken about as much as she wants to lol!!


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## Flashy (Apr 28, 2009)

YAY! Big babies


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## kherrmann3 (Apr 28, 2009)

They are still flippin' adorable!


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## polly (Apr 28, 2009)

Lol yep you just fall in love with them they are def. not the brightest buns on the block either which makes it so much more fun 

On saturday I had Lady Marmalade and her babies out for a run but LM didn't like me not being in the run with her so she took to jumping out and onto my knee lol When I went in to sit with her she would jump on my knee for cuddles there is quite a force in a rabbit that size who decides your knee is her fave place and you are perchin on a tube!!


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## Wabbitdad12 (Apr 28, 2009)

They are absolutely beautiful! Bruce looks like a proud papa!


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## NorthernAutumn (Apr 29, 2009)

I think they might believe that YOU are a Beveren, Polly, in your lovely grey sweater 
What lovely babes! Momma and Dad ain't no slouches neither! :biggrin2:

I agree, Tracy definitely needs a bleu!


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## kherrmann3 (Apr 29, 2009)

I think I need a Bleu!


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## polly (May 5, 2009)

MEET Monster  he is the biggest in the litter and quite a sook











He loves his human mummy 






and I believe this one falls in the I like big butts!!!








these are soem comparison pics with the baby REW nethie we used right at the start you can really see the size difference now!! ( Mini Miffy the REW looks like she is levitating lol)


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## Flashy (May 5, 2009)




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## kherrmann3 (May 5, 2009)

AWW!


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## BooLette (May 5, 2009)

Oh my goodness! They are way too gorgeous! Never heard of them before, are they really rare in the states?
:inlove:


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## polly (May 6, 2009)

You do have them in the states but there probably aren't that many of them. We dont have many over here either!!


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## Wabbitdad12 (May 6, 2009)

Too cute! Wow he isa big boy.

What is a sook?


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## polly (May 6, 2009)

*Wabbitdad12 wrote: *


> Too cute! Wow he isa big boy.
> 
> What is a sook?


ummm good question lol its a word for affectionate and cuddly.


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## polly (Jun 9, 2009)

Sully is doing well and has retired from showing now to be a stud buck which he has proved to be very good at as LM had a litter of 7 with Sully as the father last thurs will post their pics in a mo just wanted to put soem sully pics up first. He is still a total mischief lol and very lovable












hmmm whats this??






whatcha mean its a dogs toy!!!!


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## kherrmann3 (Jun 9, 2009)

Aww! Still as adorable as ever!


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## polly (Jun 9, 2009)

This is Lm's new litter 











And this is Monster now from her first litter  he is gorgeous and very friendly


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## kherrmann3 (Jun 9, 2009)

:inlove:


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## JadeIcing (Jun 9, 2009)

OMG! I wish! Stop posting such awesome bunnies.


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## Wabbitdad12 (Jun 9, 2009)

*JadeIcing wrote: *


> OMG! I wish! Stop posting such awesome bunnies.


I agree! I am glad your breeding went well. They are so beautiful.


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## Elf Mommy (Jun 9, 2009)

Wow...what a gorgeous breed! I absolutely love how luxurious the fur looks! Thank you so much for sharing the photos.


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## polly (Jul 26, 2009)

This is Monster from LM's first litter you can see how big they have got now 






and Chewie also from the first litter






and here is Lm and her babies enjoying breakfast indoors they have had great fun today and caused lots of mischeif it took ages till they wore themselves out then they all squished in the corner and looked like an F1 line up lol


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## JadeIcing (Jul 26, 2009)

Great another breed to add to my list.


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## kherrmann3 (Jul 26, 2009)

They are so adorable! The salad-time pictures are just too cute to handle!


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## Wabbitdad12 (Jul 26, 2009)

*JadeIcing wrote: *


> Great another breed to add to my list.



I would agree, I think I would have to have another house just for all the buns I would like to have.

Great pictures as always Polly. They are so beautiful, I can't believe how adorable they are.

Dave


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## kherrmann3 (Jul 27, 2009)

What does their fur feel like? I've never seen a bleu before, but their fur looks so soft! Is it just like normal bunny fur, or is it softer? I've felt many different bunnies, and they all feel similar (for the most part). I'm just trying to get an idea of a bleu's fur type. 

Side note: My two rabbits have different coat types. Sammi has really coarse hair that is laid flat to her back. Toby, on the other hand, doesn't have the stiff guard hairs as much, so his hair sticks up and is a little more fluffy.


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## fuzz16 (Jul 27, 2009)

thier such beautiful rabbits!  i always like the blue coloring on any animal and i definately love how this breed looks


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## polly (Jul 27, 2009)

*kherrmann3 wrote: *


> What does their fur feel like? I've never seen a bleu before, but their fur looks so soft! Is it just like normal bunny fur, or is it softer? I've felt many different bunnies, and they all feel similar (for the most part). I'm just trying to get an idea of a bleu's fur type.
> 
> Side note: My two rabbits have different coat types. Sammi has really coarse hair that is laid flat to her back. Toby, on the other hand, doesn't have the stiff guard hairs as much, so his hair sticks up and is a little more fluffy.



Their fur is soft  its quite silky feeling (not like the velvet of the rex) def. more like silk. It is meant to be quite dense Like Sully has I don't really know how to describe his except he is like cuddling a huge teddy bear 

Beverens are meant to have a very dense coat ( so if you roll it the wrong way you should not see any skin) monster and Sully have that. 

They are also meant to have a good length to it around 1,1/2" and when you put your fingers in it they should get lost 

they are so soft tho whether they have thick hair like sully or thinner hair like Lady Marmalade.

the netherland dwarfs feel a lot courser to the touch than Bevs. DUtch are much shorter but pretty smooth I have felt soem lionheads that feel a bit like a beveren.

TBH one of my favourite coats is on the satins though it is sooo thick and soft its wonderful 

I know its not very nice but in days gone by beverens were very coveted for their fur to make coats with as well as their meat. especially because they didnt need to dye it. The royal family had Beverens in their royal rabbitry just as a random point 

I hope that helps lol


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## Wabbitdad12 (Aug 1, 2009)

They are so beautiful, I am going to have to watch for one at the next rabbit show.

Green with envy!


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