Sprague River Rabbits & Poultry

Sprague River Rabbits & Poultry We are a small farm specializing in pedigreed American, Harlequin, Silver Marten and Silver Fox.

05/11/2026

The last week has seen some challenges in the rabbitry. We've had smooth sailing for the most part, so something was bound to come up.
Rainy Days Emerald had some nest box placement challenges, but in the final hour did end up kindling in her nest. Those babies are doing great, and she's the last chin we had bred. Three more still to go!
SRRP Katastrophe had, well, a catastrophe. She pulled an excessive amount of fur, kindled four, lost them in the fur, and as of yesterday morning had only one white American left. That's been moved over to our sole New Zealand Izzy's litter, since her kits are looking great.
SRRP Zahara also had box placement issues, and after much negotiating still decided to kindle on the wire. 🤦🏼‍♀️ I'd been watching her closely and was ready for it. I got all 8 American Whites into the box along with all of the fur she pulled. As of last night I'm not sure she's feeding them though, so I may have to force her into the box today to feed.
And Tex's Alien lost both of her two week old kits. I'm not at all sure what happened there, but will put her back in to breed this week.

05/06/2026

We're starting the wind down. Only 8 does left to kindle this month. I've got two Harlies and three Chins that still haven't been bred for this year, but everyone else has either bred or had a litter this year.
I think we're in for a hot summer, but I'm going to keep breeding until the end of this month. There's a couple of Harlies and a handful of Martens that will be ready to rebreed. Possibly one American as well. Everyone else will wait until fall.
And just in time! Goat kidding season starts tomorrow. To follow along, hop on over and follow our farm page Sprague River Homestead

05/03/2026

I've noticed an interesting trend over the last few months and confirmed that a local friend is seeing it too.
My rock solid, reliable, 31 day kindling herd has shifted in the last few months to 32-33, even 34 days. I'm not sure what the change is from, and it's in both first timers and experienced does. Kits look great, moms are doing fantastic, litter sizes are good and I haven't had any issues aside from a couple of first time girls who birthed on the wire.
Is anyone else seeing funky gestation lengths?

After seeing this updated list, I've contemplated bringing in some Giant Chins if/when I move out my Silver Fox project....
04/30/2026

After seeing this updated list, I've contemplated bringing in some Giant Chins if/when I move out my Silver Fox project.
We're proud to be doing our part to help with the Standard Chins. I have 7 breeding does, 4 bucks and three litters! I'd love to get somebody started in them, so if you are looking to get into them, juniors should start to become available in another couple of months. PM for more info!
On the Giant Chin front, I've always found them mildly intriguing. They're one of the only breeds that were truly developed to subsist on a mostly hay diet. I don't know if that's still true, simply because other breeds have been used to expand the gene pool. Like all giant breeds they are slower in meat/muscle growth, just because they grow frame/bone first. Still, might be an interesting project 😄

04/30/2026

A bunch of new litters this week! Two American litters, a nest of Standard Chins, a small litter of Silver Martens, Magpie Harlequins and a group of Silver Fox.
Two of the litters surprised me. The blue Marten bred to a black that carries blue had only black kits. Not what I was hoping for, but not unusual since there's only 2. I'm going to foster them off and rebreed mom.
The Fox litter was the one that I wasn't prepared for. Smoke is a blue doe that I bred to Monte, one of our black bucks that is not supposed to carry blue. She had four, and sure enough, all four are blue! No convention hopefuls this year, but if we get anything nice I may post them as available since there's a fairly good chance that Blue is going to become a recognized variety (again) this fall at convention.
Tomorrow I put in five more boxes, and on Sunday, three more!

04/17/2026

This is your reminder to make sure all of your rabbits have their ear numbers and weights listed on your pedigrees.
And don't be an ass and list every buck with the same weight, and every doe with another weight. 🙄 Seriously. You aren't fooling anybody and just look lazy. That information is actually super important for preservation and improvement breeders.

04/16/2026

Three new litters in the rabbitry this week. Chin doe Hubba Hubba figured things out this time and managed a beautiful nest. She's nervous, so I'm not messing with them yet. After a bit of negotiating on just where the nest needed to be, chocolate Japanese Harlie doe Adrianna has a box of babies as well.
I had no doubts that black Marten doe Paparazzi understood the assignment, and she didn't let me down. This is her fourth litter and she knows the routine. Only 5 this round, but so far they're looking great.
Only one Harlie is due next week, but the 25th we're due for two Marten, a Fox and three American litters. Exciting stuff!
And yesterday we bred four more Harlies and our last unbred American doe.

04/15/2026

I went peeking through Harlie litters tonight, and am pleased overall by what I see.
That said, very few show animals. Quite a few "showable" animals, and animals which will make good breeding stock. The thing is, I'm full up on breeding stock. Most of these guys are still in the box so don't get over excited yet, but I do believe I'm going to have at least 8 magpies available in June. 🤞🏼

04/13/2026

We made it home super late last night from the Cascade Summit. We had so much going on that I'll have to post on placing when the show reports come in. It never cease to amaze me how you can sit for hours at a show and suddenly have all three of your breeds called to tables at once 🙄
The highlight of the weekend (other than spending time with some great breeder friends) was our Senior Standard Chinchilla buck King's Fenris (KC59) being award the Best in Show for the Rare Breed Show.
The trip home took about three hours longer than expected, thanks to rain, an accident on Mt Hood and an even worse accident on south Hwy 97. And just when I thought I'd made it past it all, I got stuck for 10 minutes waiting for a train to pass in Chiloquin.
That's largely it for showing until this fall. I do have a picnic show in July at a friend's farm near Spokane on the calendar if the weather isn't too hot.

04/07/2026

We're breeding heavy in hopes of a good crop of convention animals. I have 12 litters, 20 bred does and 10 does left to breed to breed/rebreed. 😳
There should be buns of all breeds available this year, with the exception of the Silver Fox which is an in-house project. Remember, I'll post them when they are available and am NOT keeping a waiting/buyer list.

Address

Sprague River, OR
97639

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Sprague River Rabbits & Poultry posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Sprague River Rabbits & Poultry:

Shortcuts

Share

Category