We're getting ourselves back on track after some serious gastroenteritis fun. We Still haven't gotten a lot done because of that, but now we're just now recovering, but at least we're starting to do so! It's a good thing we're getting back on our feet now because we have a lot to get done and some of it is urgent.
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| Copyright 2015 Cynthia Vigeant |
First things first, Dawn's Daughter's kits need to come out of this hutch due to the gap in the wire at the back that I need them out of the hutch to repair. As you can see
Left they're starting to move around, but I don't think the adults are letting them out of the private area yet. Also, we need to start consider getting the next breedings done as I think I mentioned last post. I'm concerned about not having heat sterile bucks for too much of the year, and given that it's already up in the 80s during the day despite the nights in the 30s heat is already a concern during the hottest hours of the day for bucks. Given that concern instead of my normal of re-breeding after a month +, and remove the kits after 8 weeks I have to consider re-breeding after 3 weeks, and taking out sooner. The catch of course is, that time they'd be taken out earlier is socialization time.
While we aren't intending to keep any of these rabbits for breeding stock, especially given our freezer situation, we prefer to give them the time with their moms to learn to be rabbits when possible.
So on to the big hutch for a moment, I'm not going to have time to get all of the work done on this that I want to right now to include fixing the doors, what I can do before I get everyone moved in is put a shelf running the length of the back of the hutch, or at least most of it. I also need to recreate some of the private spaces which I'll probably just do with some scrap plywood easily enough. I think Dawn, her daughter, and the kits will be very happy in there with lots of room to move around.
Splash and Streak are doing well, and their babies are doing ok. The moms have shifted their bathroom from the top shelf on the Left of the hutch to the top shelf on the Right of the hutch. I do wish I could get them to shift their bathroom to the wire, but at least they had the good sense to move their bathroom spot to not above their kits which is something I was afraid they wouldn't have the sense to do. These two I'm looking forward to breeding again because I really hope to see better nests, and more babies out of them than I've seen so far out of them.
I'm amazed at how different the progress between Splash and Streak's babies, and Twilight's babies is though. Splash and Streak's babies are a little over half the size of Twilight's babies. Twilight's babies eyes are open, theirs aren't. Twilight's baby was so active we couldn't get a good shot of the two together to show the size differences at all because if the Lady of the House let go of Twilight's kit for a second it was gone up her chest and into her arm pit. This was the only photo of that baby that wasn't a blur where hand wasn't completely covering the little thing. As usual, Twilight's kits are quite the monsters, and will be out and about soon I am confident. I need to get a weight check on them shortly, but obviously with being sick nothing as precise as weight checks got done lately.
On an aside, being sick out here has its advantages. One of them is that it's really quiet. Well, that's a lie. The chickens are noisy, there are 3 different wood peckers in the nearby area. The owls are noisy at night, and there are small creatures moving around. The day and night sounds of the small and large motions of the rabbits. The river rushing down the hill. What I mean is, human sounds are minimal, muted, or non existent beyond our own. It is a quiet place where I feel ok being sick, and recovering in my own time. Sure I have to get things done, but I don't feel pushed, I don't feel watched, and I don't feel overwhelmed. It's interesting.
Anyhow, last but not least for what's going on right now is the chickens. At this point they're almost entirely foraging for their food out and about. I've been providing pellets mostly for the convenience of our broody Australorp that you can see
Below photographed by Cynthia Vigeant. The main inconvenience with them is I feel like we have less usable rabbit manure. On the other hand, the lower number of flies (though non zero) is much better than it ever has been in the past, and I have to credit them with that. So hopefully Tuesday I will have a post with pictures of moved rabbits, and a removed barn. By the by, if anyone nearby is free Sunday, more hands in barn removal would be greatly appreciated. Contact me if you have the time and I'll give you info.
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| Copyright 2015 Cynthia Vigeant |
Splash and Streak are doing well, and their babies are doing ok. The moms have shifted their bathroom from the top shelf on the Left of the hutch to the top shelf on the Right of the hutch. I do wish I could get them to shift their bathroom to the wire, but at least they had the good sense to move their bathroom spot to not above their kits which is something I was afraid they wouldn't have the sense to do. These two I'm looking forward to breeding again because I really hope to see better nests, and more babies out of them than I've seen so far out of them.
On an aside, being sick out here has its advantages. One of them is that it's really quiet. Well, that's a lie. The chickens are noisy, there are 3 different wood peckers in the nearby area. The owls are noisy at night, and there are small creatures moving around. The day and night sounds of the small and large motions of the rabbits. The river rushing down the hill. What I mean is, human sounds are minimal, muted, or non existent beyond our own. It is a quiet place where I feel ok being sick, and recovering in my own time. Sure I have to get things done, but I don't feel pushed, I don't feel watched, and I don't feel overwhelmed. It's interesting.
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