Besides bar hopping and playing Polish Yahtzee with the bunnies, one of my favorite past times is plucking Frannie feathers. In case you don't know what those are, and why would you, some bunnies get their hair follicles clogged up with dry skin or whatever, and they push out of the skin and stick out. When you pluck them, it is like a bouquet of flowers (don't smell as nice though), a bundle of hairs with a staple around the bottom. Sometimes I use them for my painting by numbers. Anyway, here is a bad picture of one that I took for you:
Anyway, it is clear enough for you to get an idea of what I am talking about. Aren't they so cool? I swear, it is like an addiction, if I don't pluck at least 5 feathers a day I start to break out in cold sweats, I start to get desperate. When that happens, I start stealing from relatives to finance my habit. Anyway, that is a painful story, one that Fran would like to forget I am sure.
One thing that really bothered me though, recently a Scandinavian Midget Geneticist discovered that plucking Frannie feathers has a direct link to morbid obesity in bunny rabbits. OMG! Poor fat Frannie! No wonder why she has such a big rumpus! All because of my damn feather plucking addiction. Well, they say you always hurt the ones you love the most.
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I must confess, I am also a compulsive bunny plucker (much to the disliking of my bunnies). Sogna always seems to shed in feathers, never having a nice, constant, even shed. Biffy gets feathers in specific places, mostly in his cheeks and his behind, just over his tail. He tolerates it better than Sogna, who hates being touched anywhere except her head.
ReplyDeleteInteresting thoughts on the link between constant plucking and rabbit obesity. I guess that explains why my buns are both so overweight!
I will confess too. It is an addiction and cant be helped. There is no cure.
ReplyDeleteIs this the Bunny Plucker's Anonymous on-line meeting? Hello, I'm c., I'm a bunny plucker.
ReplyDelete(group responds hello c.)
I just can't stop! I love plucking Frannie feathers, she gets real good ones too, feels like there is industrial staples around the hairs. Poor Fran, she is such a odd one that bunny. I tell you, for a rabbit that loves to be left alone she sure as hell wound up in the wrong apartment. Poor Fran. Well, maybe if she didn't eat so many Chocodiles I wouldn't remark about her weight so much.
ReplyDeleteLadies, the first step is admitting you are a pluckin' addict. Next we all have to make a list of those we have plucked and promise to make amends to them.
ReplyDeleteHow do we do that exactly? Do we get donated feathers from other bunny rabbits and sew them into our bunny's fur? Sounds more like torture than amends.
By the way, for Easter Frannie wants a human shaped chocolate bar, hollow in the middle. She also asked for one of those Peoplbury Eggs, the one with the commercial where the human is standing there going, "Bubbububububub".
Lisa, Biffy gets feathers in the rumpus area? Not Frannie, always on the cheeks and nowhere else. Poor Fran.
ReplyDeleteYup, Biffy always in the rumpus and cheeks. Sogna gets them just about everywhere, poor girl. of course the bun who hates it most needs the most plucking. But what's really interesting is that she gets a little feather 'skirt" trimming the edge around her rumpus.
ReplyDeletelol with the feather skirt, Frannie looks like she has little paintbrushes sticking out of her. I swear to god, when I brush her there is so much hair that you could weave 12 more bunnies with it.
ReplyDeleteMr B is a solid dark chocolate lop and his feathers are on his chest and above his tail. The feathers are pure white with the slightest brown at the tips! Can someone explain that?
ReplyDeleteC -
ReplyDeleteAre you sure he's not agouti? When he sheds (not in feather form but just regular hair) if you look closely can you see a "banding" aka white or tan band in the middle of the individual hair with darker color on the ends? My rabbit Biff is agouti... that's why he appears to be black brown and tan at the same time (Well he's actually broken agouti, hence the white spots). Otherwise, sometimes buns just have down-like fur on the inside! soft undercoat.
Amazing aren't they? Tey're coats are so intricate with many different characteristics. I love dem dare fedders though!
ReplyDeleteMr B is so dark brown that he disappears on the brown wood floor or even in a shadow. And he is solid brown. He sheds brown fluffy fur but just those 'clumps' or 'feathers' are solid white with the faintest brown tips. It's the weirdest thing. It's like he has a brown fur suit on and underneath he's really a white bunny!
ReplyDeleteLOL. I know what you mean. I pull hair off of Frannie, and it is like a bunch of colors I can't find anywhere else on her body. Strange happenings. I just plucked 5 new feathers this morning. I am gonna collect them and sew a new couch for frannie.
ReplyDeleteIf you pull too many feathers out you're going to have a new breed of bunny, the hairless bunny. Just like those hairless cats and hairless dogs. Imagine Frannie with fur only on her head and tail - the rest of her body is that wrinkled skin. OMG.
ReplyDeleteLOL, actually the feathers all come from her head
ReplyDelete