The Gentle
Art of Plucking an Angora Rabbit
by Pegg Thomas
Plucking results in the most desirable angora fiber for
handspinners. Sheared angora has its place in the spinner’s
menu also, but prime plucked is just that, prime. Plucked
angora needs no other preparation to spin. It will flow into
a beautiful yarn almost by itself.
There are two common mistakes made by beginning pluckers.
1) Too Timid – this beginner is usually
afraid of hurting the rabbit. Plucking requires a certain
amount of time in which the rabbit much be held still.
Rabbits, particularly young rabbits,
are not overly fond of being held still. Therefore, many have
been
known to struggle and even squeal on occasion. The too timid
plucker
will then over react by not completing the job. A couple of
weeks
later the ‘sort of’ plucked rabbit is a matted
mess. Of course,
the problem is now worse, not only has the fiber been lost but the
rabbit
must be held still even longer to have all the mats and mess cleaned
off
its body. The good news for the too timid plucker is that
rabbits
do seem to settle down and even enjoy plucking as they get older.
2) Over Zealous – this beginner doesn’t
want to miss a fiber to be had off the rabbit. The problem
arises when the rabbit isn’t ready to give it all up. Don’t
ever force fibers off your rabbit, if it doesn’t easily pull, and it
isn’t matted, webbed or felted, then
it just isn’t ready to come off. While most rabbits have a 12
– 14
week wool growth cycle, every animal is an individual.
When to Pluck
Before you can pluck a rabbit, it has to be ready. Rabbits
always give several signs when they are ready. There will
often be ‘trailers’ of wool following the rabbit around the cage for a
week or so before it is ready to pluck. There may
also be tufts of wool loose inside the cage. The wool over
the shoulders will usually start to molt (shed) out and maybe the hair
on the face. Most important, on a colored animal, when you
blow into the coat you can see the new coat growth ¾” to 1” from the
skin. The new growth is easy to spot on the colored animals
due to the intense color of the guard hair tips. The new
guard hairs may show up on a white animal by their shine. If
you’ve waited too long before plucking, the coat will look dull,
lifeless and probably be
full of mats! Always pluck the coat when it still looks shiny
and healthy, a dead coat makes a dead yarn and wastes your time and
energy.
How to Pluck
As mentioned earlier, plucking takes some time so make sure you have a
comfortable place to work. Sitting or standing is your
choice. I prefer to stand and have my grooming table four
feet high. This allows me to groom and pluck without bending
over. If I’m more comfortable I’m happier and I’m less likely
to get grumpy so the rabbit is better
off too. Also, make sure you have all your grooming tools and
wool
containers within easy reach but not in a position to be knocked over
by
the rabbit.
There is no “tried and true never-can-fail” way to pluck a
rabbit. I like to blow the coat out before plucking to
separate the hairs and
clear out the extra dust and dander. I start by plucking a
strip
right down the backbone. This allows me to see a clear
reference
from either side where the new growth is. Other people like
to start
with the rump or sides where plucking is sometimes easier.
Try everything
once and find what works for you.
These photos show a
rabbit that is half plucked. Notice that the rabbit has
no bald areas. There is a nice undercoat that is grown out to about 1
1/2" and will keep this rabbit plenty warm even in the winter months.
No
rabbit in good health should pluck bald. Baldness can be caused by poor
health, overzealous plucking or excessive matting (which
causes the
undercoat to be pulled away with the mats).
Always pluck the hairs by
pulling in the direction that the hair naturally grows. Grasp
the tips of the wool between your finger and thumb
and slide that lock right out of the coat. It really is that
easy! Be careful not to reach down deep into the coat or you
may strip off the new growth underneath as well. I can
usually strip out 5 or 6 locks before I need to empty my hand into the
wool container. This just
takes practice. Be sure while you are stripping out the locks
that
you keep them all nice and straight, don’t wad them up in your
hand.
Don’t try to take too much with each pull, small locks slip out easier.
Rabbits shed all their wool so you need to take it all off. I
find it easy to sort while plucking instead of sorting later.
Three containers make shorting handy; one for prime, one for shorter
fibers from bib, belly and britch area, and one for mats, webbed and
felted locks. Dirty areas get thrown away.
Some wool grows on areas harder to reach than others. For
instance, wool growing on the bib is very hard to remove unless you
change the position of the rabbit. I like to turn the rabbit
over using the conventional hold of “neck scruff with ears” while
plucking the bib. Your hand is quite close to some very sharp
teeth while plucking here and I can’t
see taking needless chances. While I have the rabbit turned
over, I
also do the belly and lower sides. Make sure the rabbit’s
powerful
back legs are not aimed at you. Kicks can hurt!
Reaching the wool that grows on the hind legs and around the tail is
easier if the rabbit is setting on the grooming table. Now
slide
your arm under the rabbit’s body, place your hand between and under the
hind legs and lift. The tail will usually drop down, out of
your way,
to make plucking around it easier and the back legs are now extended so
you
can see and reach the wool back there.
Expect to spend about 45 minutes on each rabbit as you start
out. With practice you should be able to finish a rabbit that
is ready to pluck and not matted in about 20 minutes. Young
rabbits take longer as they are often flighty and nervous, also the
baby wool can be harder to pluck due to its very soft texture being
harder to get a grip on. Don’t
give up, remember, with plucking you can; 1) completely strip the
animal
2) sort your fibers and 3) produce a useable end product in 45 minutes
or
less. Compare that to shearing which goes faster but leaves
you with
the tasks of sorting and carding which take more time later.
Good
plucking!
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