Work Progressing, and Babies Growing

Things have been fairly busy this week, as I got a new job mid last week, and yesterday was my first day. The Lady of the House is also preparing to go to Anime Next. That said, even with the rain we've managed to get a fair amount done around the house. Most of it normal cleaning and general house care, some of it though has been more exciting, like the work progressing on the studio.  We've also continued to see rapid growth in the babies. I was also excited this morning to be able to get a picture of a baby sitting on Sunny's head to eat.

As you can see Above, Sunny is Thrilled to have her babies sitting on her head. I'd thought that maybe it was something unusual with Dawn, but it seems that it is a common behavior with food dishes as high as they are. I am very glad that I figured out that having the food dishes in the door would be a bad idea before even putting rabbits in the hutches. I think that the babies would have had a much much harder time now if I hadn't.

The Lady of the House came by while I was working on the electrical work in the studio. On the Left you can see me in action. The delay was another DIY vs hire a professional situation. To install the track lighting that we are putting in to the studio required a special kind of box, one that I wasn't comfortable drilling through the wall near wiring and installing. Fortunately we know an electrician that is comfortable with me installing switches, outlets, and lights while he does the more delicate work. Letting me do the work I am able to speeds up the process significantly. We should be able to have the lighting in the studio by next week barring any major unforeseen delays. That would allow us to get that finished, and the artists into their space. Having that space in use would reduce the stress levels in the house, and allow us to focus more on homesteading.

In the same sort of vein, I need to finish another hutch within the next 2 weeks to put the babies in to grow out as they get weaned from their mother. I haven't been able to do it because of the rain, but I just have to get it done in any sunny moment at this point. Fortunately it won't take too long for me to accomplish that task as soon as there is a break in the clouds. Having the longer hours of sunlight also makes it easier since I can work on it when I get home from work.

Weight Charts

Dawn's Litter
    5/03    5/04     5/05     5/06     5/06         5/07   5/08    5/09     5/10     5/11     5/12      5/13    5/14
1:  71       80        89        87       Weights   103     113     125      133      148      158       158     167
2:  67       75        80        84       At            91      110     119      116      133      144       153     158
3:  65       73        77        84       Death       91      101     110      113      123      130       129     156
4:  65       66        68        75                       88      100     106      110      112      121       128     140
5:  54       56        58        62                       75      100     103      102      109      110       110     132
6:  54       52        55        60                       62      70       71        78        90        106       101     105
7:  52       49        50        52       46
8:  49       48        46        50       43

    5/15   5/16    5/17   Prediction 5/21   5/21   5/22    5/23    5/24   5/26   5/27   5/28   5/29  5/30  5/31
1: 180    189     192                      222    248     289    283     293    307    339    424    437   457   506
2: 178    182     191                      221    244     270    280     288    267    338    368    407   430   488
3: 175    176     182                      202    226     247    253     274    238    365    364    402   423   475
4: 163    163     170                      190    221     225    250     266    235    337    362    400   412   461
5: 145    134     136                      156    177     191    198     209    234    264    293    326   352   396
6: 116    124     135                      150    167     183    190     207    214    263    287    312   335   382

    6/01  6/02  6/03  6/04  6/05
1: 544   565   548   642   682
2: 515   545   540   619   678
3: 508   536   538   603   660
4: 499   534   535   587   648
5: 435   523   456   545   583
6: 409   445   442   519   558

Today the average weight for Dawn's babies comes out to 634.83 grams compared to 380.66 one week ago on 5/29. That is an average weight increase of 254.17 grams in 7 days! I'm starting to see how these babies, just now over a pound a little over a month in are going to be 5 lbs in 3 - 7 weeks from now. At this point we are filling the feeder almost all the way up each morning to find it completely empty the next morning. We are also starting to consider getting a second water bottle for each hutch with babies as we come home from work after 9 hours to find it bone empty having been full in the morning. We are using 1 liter water bottles, and were surprised how fast they are being drained.

The column highlighted in red is a suspect column of data for me. While it is possible that the babies all lost weight on that day, I doubt it. I find it more likely that given that it was a Sunday morning and I was in a rush to get out in time to get to work combined with the rambunctiousness of the babies right now that I was making a lot of measurement errors. It has gotten so that it is very hard to weigh Dawn's babies on my own. They all want to investigate what is going on, and most of them want to hop in to the scale. I am having to use one hand to keep the weighed babies separate from the rest, and the other to catch, weigh, and record weights. I think that the process will probably go better when I can have the Lady of the House help. By 6/04 I had figured out a system for doing the weights fairly effectively without losing track of who I had weighed. I never imagined that the babies being too friendly and curious would be so much of a problem in weight checks!


Sunny's Litter

    5/14  5/15  5/16  5/17   5/21  5/22    5/23   5/24   5/26   5/27   5/28   5/29  5/30  5/31  6/01  6/02
1: 65     65     71     92      134    163     164    167    188    198    208    212   225   237  249   265
2: 60     60     71     91      133    156     163    165    187    197    202    208   223   237  248   259
3: 57     58     68     89      131    155     156    164    182    196    201    208   222   237  248   254
4: 56     58     67     88      129    146     152    163    181    191    200    207   222   227  240   253
5: 55     58     62     83      125    145     151    160    179    191    197    207   219   226  239   252
6: 55     57     60     79      125    144     147    158    177    188    197    204   217   226  239   245
7: 53     56     58     78      121    139     143    158    176    183    194    199   200   223  236   242
8: 47     49     56     67      110    114     127    132    152    162    175    181   199   216  219   236

    6/03  6/04  6/05
1: 276   293   321
2: 275   291   310
3: 274   291   310
4: 264   283   305
5: 263   281   303
6: 263   281   303
7: 248   267   290
8: 246   262   288

At 19 days old Sunny's babies are very active, and eating constantly as you can see from the photo above. Day 19 Dawn's babies weighed an average of 219.83 grams with a maximum weight of 248 grams and a minimum weight of 167 grams. On today, day 19 for Sunny's babies they average 328.75 grams with a maximum weight of 321 grams, and a minimum weight of 288 grams. The closest average weight for Sunny's litter came on day 25 with an average weight of 317.66 grams. While the growth speed differences continue to be very apparent, as does the difference in consistency of weight, so does the temperament differences. Dawn's babies hop in to the scale and sit there calmly, only kicking if I pick them up improperly. Sunny's babies flee from me no matter what I do, kick when I pick them up properly, and try to flee the scale despite trying to treat them the same I treated Dawn's babies. So far Sunny's babies only approach me when I put my hand in and hold still. They exhibit typical fearful behavior including huddling in groups, running, and kicking. I have been trying to get them used to people by regularly handling them and giving them treats so they associate me with good things. So far I have been unable to.