My Flemish Giants

[SarahFair]

I bought these for my "kids" for easter (and by kids I mean me

). But wait now, I didnt fall for the whole easter thing! Lets rewinde to fall of 2008
I went to this ladys house to buy a cochin chicken. She has a koi farm and was showing me around and she showed me her rabbits. They were HUGE and I fell in love instantly. Her "daddy" rabbit was trained by a professional magician to count cards and do various other tricks. Hes traveled all over and has done shows in las vegas and on cruise ships.
Well ever since I saw these rabbits I knew I just had to have one. So over the next year I doddled here and there gathering information on them.
Well a little over a month ago my dad and I started on a hutch for the kids for easter (we just said easter since 1. it could be a gift and 2. it would give him plenty of time to work on it). Not have seen many ads for flemish giants (unless I wanted to drive across the state) or if I wanted to pay $50 for a flemish cross I was just going to settle on a $10 rabbit. Well one day on craigslist I entered flemish giants on the search engine and there was the lady I got the cochin from!

So saturday monring my dad and SO brought the hutch (I typed coop cause Im so use to chicken coops

) and that afternoon we went and got our babies.
All her rabbits are registered so I will be wanting to reg. these (anyone know how? She told me I had to take them somewhere but I cant locate anyone..).

I got a 9 week old girl and a 4 month old boy. They were $50 each (the male would have been more but he got a cut in his ear from fighting another.. That wont be a reason he cant be registered or show, right?). Im not sure if the colors are light grey or steel grey.. I forgot what she told me


Here is the 9 week old female:

Here is the 4 month old male @10lbs:

The male is a little skittish so I have him in a xlarge dog crate in the house so he can get use to us. My smallest dog (about 35lbs) thinks it a small dog!

She keeps getting down on her front legs to encourage play...

 

[Whitehouse Quail]

Wow, what a pretty boy!

I love the Flemishes, I had one (Mr. Nose) who recently passed away, and it was like losing a dog! You could open his cage and he'd hop out, go to the door and open it. Then, he'd run around but not away, then open the door and come back into his cage when he's done having fun.

Make sure you get the males out very often, because they have more folds in there body to get infections/abscesses. But they do have the best personalities!


Quote:
Ermmm, does the ear have scarring? Like, there's a nick in the ear? Depending on the severity, it may disqualify him, or severely fault him. Maybe post a pic?



LOVE THE BUN!

 

[SarahFair]

It has 2 "tears" in the ear..
No skin is missing it looks like a piece of paper that was torn and left

 

[chickensioux]

I'm looking at that cute little boy. Beautiful bunny too. I love my Flemmie too

 

[Bunnylady]

Flemish are something else, aren't they? I keep toying with the idea of getting one (or two, or three . . . !) Most of my rabbits weigh 4 pounds or less, so when people see my Harlequins (6 to 9 pounds) they invariably say, "those are big rabbits!" I'd love to be able to point to a Flemish and say "No, that is a big rabbit. These are just medium sized!"

the male would have been more but he got a cut in his ear from fighting another.. That wont be a reason he cant be registered or show, right?

For a rabbit to be registered, it must meet these criteria:
1) It must be of senior age ( that's at least 6 months old)
2) It must have a legible tattoo in its left ear (can be any combination of numbers and/or letters that suits the breeder/owner)
3) It must be free of disqualifications (this includes things like non-showable colors and weight less/more than allowed by the breed standard)
4) It must have a complete 3-generation pedigree
5) Its owner must be a current ARBA member (even if you just became one 5 minutes prior to the registration!)
6) its name must not be more that 22 characters long

To register a rabbit, you need to take it to a rabbit judge or registrar (all judges are registrars, but not all registrars are judges), or get one to come to you. All ARBA sanctioned shows will have one person there whose job it is just to register rabbits, so many rabbits get registered at shows. A form gets filled out, listing all the pertinent info (including the pedigree and the owner's ARBA membership number) and the rabbit will be weighed and examined. If the rabbit is found to meet all the requirements of the breed standard, a small fee is collected, and the registrar will put his tattoo in the rabbits right ear (the registration mark is the only mark ever allowed in the right ear). The application will be sent off to the ARBA by the registrar, and in a few weeks, the official registration will be mailed to you from the ARBA.

The DQ part gets tricky. There are some DQ's that are permanent (like white spots where there shouldn't be any), and some that are temporary (like a claw that is broken off too short to see its color). I am not 100% sure about your buck's ear. I know that, if a chunk were missing, he'd be unshowable and unregisterable. The rulebook states that torn ears are a judgement call, "must noticeably detract from the general appearance of the animal." I can see where one judge might have no problem with it, and another might be having a bad day and DQ him for it!

I don't do Flemish, so I'm not really sure about the color. I would think light grey, they don't really look dark enough for steels, IMO. When you blow into their coats, can you see rings (like a target)?​

 

[SarahFair]

Yes I see rings..


And how would I go about tatting a rabbit?

 

[storminstaffs]

wow they are something else, one of my normal size rabbits are probs the same size as the baby girl one

 

[Chickenmaven]

The third photo is just darling! What an expression on your boy's face. Thanks for sharing.

 

[gypsy2621]

The tear in his ear will heal over, some judges will fault for it some will disquailfy for it.

They are both Lt Greys and very nice ones also. if he is weigh 10 lbs at 4 months old he is going to be a beast at 12 months old , this a very good thing.

Vert pretty and well put together rabbits, sign up with ARBA and become a member so you can register those babies.

ARBA.com

I miss my light grey Babe, we taught him how to sit up like a puppy and beg for treats, we lost him to old age , most heartbreaking day of my life.

 

[Lunawriter]

We got our boys a lt gray Flemish Giant for Easter, too! My three year old named her "Hoppy" (and our hens' names are "Pecky", "Pinky", "Spotty", and "Blacky"--all named by the same little guy)

I'd post a pic, but I'm not sure how.