Learning to live a permacultural life … one day at a time! … by Damon E. Farnham
Checked in on the rabbit litter this AM. They are all looking healthy (read: dry, warm, active, FAT).
Starting to think the smaller (younger) of the two does is the mother. If I can catch her nursing, I’ll know for sure and move the other doe out, out of an abundance of caution.
Because of the unexpected new rabbit litter born in one of the cages 3 days ago, I’ve worked damn near non-stop since to create 10 new rabbit nest boxes, and now 3 new cages.
I still have a TON of work to do, so I’ll keep this commentary short.
So far, the baby bunnies (kits) are all seemingly doing great. I checked on them this AM and they had fat little tummies (evidence they’ve indeed been fed mamma’s milk).
I’ll have these three cages up-and-running tomorrow.
I still have about 18 more cages to build, but I plan to take a day or two to build 4 to 8 new chicken nest boxes first, because my ‘other dilemma’ is I have about 5 broody hens occupying laying boxes now, which is causing the non-broody hens to go nuts for lack of boxes to lay their daily eggs in.
Never a dull moment on a farm.
Onward. Upward. Eyes open. No fear.
Today was a day of atonement, for a series of assumptions and misjudgments that Mother Nature called me out on.
I was up late the night before and slept in a bit. Seems like most SNAFU days start out that way. 😉
Checked in on the newbie chicks, out in the garden pasture coop, then went to the barn pasture to feed and water the rabbits, only to discover a set of newborn kits in one of the cages!
This particular cage has two rabbit does in it, that were recently migrated from geodesic rabbit dome #1. Over the last few days, I noticed a little bit of fur beneath the cage, and traces of fur inside the cage … but ASSUMED it was from the two girls scuffling a bit, as rabbits will sometimes do. I further ASSUMED neither of the them were pregnant, as both are rather young and not showing any telltale signs.
That’s what I get for assuming.
So, I ran to the local DIY center (Lowes) and plunked down another $500 for lumber, metal fabric and hardware, and set upon building 3 more rabbit cages, 10 new nesting boxes, and a new 4-cage rabbit nursery that I plan to install in one of the barn stalls.
Hopefully that will reset my karma balance at the Bank of Mother Nature, for having goofed and caused 8 baby bunnies to be born on a cold, metal floor. Broke my heart to find them in that condition. Helluva way to start life. — AND a helluva way to start one’s day — before my first cup of $%^& coffee was on board.
I got the 10 new nests constructed, and transferred the new kits into one of them and returned to their mother (whichever of the two does it is … still don’t know).
Since I started the video with the morning check on the baby chicks, I ended it with the evening check, finding them all tucked up under mamma.
Long … but productive and successful day.
Onward. Upward. Eyes open. No fear.
1. Feeding the loud-mouth (when they are hungry) ducks
2. Recycling the worm farm
Hunter was in rare form last night, barking at something. I can generally tell by her bark and behavior whether she’s barking at a deer, coyote, skunk or ‘unknown.’ Last night was an ‘unknown,’ as her bark was less excited, but more scared, and she came upstairs and barked in my ear (at 2AM!).
She has ‘that look’ on her face this morning … like ‘sorry about that barking thing last night … we good?‘
And, check out those talons on her! I probably cut her nails about once a year. Why? Because more so than ANY dog I’ve ever seen, she grooms herself and actually gives herself a mani-pedi pretty much every night. I watch her work on individual nails, trimming and shaping them. No joke.
As you can see, she’s pretty damn good at it.
You DO NOT want to be on the receiving end of those talons. Especially if you’re a skunk. Just brutal. 😉
We had a nice thunderstorm pass through a little earlier. One of the motion detectors on the perimeter started going off for a bit, so I wasn’t surprised to look up and see 6 or 7 deer on the driveway.
At night, Hunter can see a deer about a mile away. When the sun is up, I think her brain short-circuits and she seems to have less visual acuity.
When I was composing the video, she said she wanted to do a voice-over to redo that weak-ass woof of hers, then she choked and forgot to bark when I queued her. One chance baby girl, time is money! You snooze, you lose. 😉