Sunday 13 March 2016

Baby bunnies!!!

I was reading in the paper that social media and text messages means people are using too many exclamation marks. I am aware of doing this myself sometimes - although I try not to.
I think the three in the title are warranted though. We have been trying to breed the darn bunnies since about this time last year. The last litter was maybe September 2014, then we gave them a rest over the winter (perhaps we won't do that again - did they forgot what to do - or spent the spare time inventing womens lib for bunnies?)
Bernedette has had a litter. Top Harvey (the white male without broken leg - top because he lives in the higher cage) is the father. I don't think the litter is very big, although I didn't look very closely as they are new this morning and Bernedette needs some time to settle down. I saw 4 I think. It is also pretty cold, but she looks to have made a good nest by pulling plenty of fur, so hopefully they will be ok.

Mum

Inside the nest box

The bald blind babies

The overakl cage setup - the cost per baby bunny has been very VERY high so far with the investment in cages as well as time cleaning and feeding. These cages are great though. We empty the tray underneath everyday on to a slope right beside where the cages are, we grow squash there. We are trying to think of another crop that doesn't need much care as it is hard to get at them while they are growing on the steep slope. Perhaps sweetcorn although you want to be able to pick those as you want them one at a time rather than harvesting all in one go.

As far as we can tell Ginger is not pregnant, but we have opened her nest box anyway and we will see.
Batty - who was a boy, then might have been a girl and we are tending towards being a boy again - wasn't keen to mate with either white male. So someone might be for the pot. He/she is going to get a chance to mate with a male and a female sometime a bit later in the spring and if he/she doesn't perform, he/she is for the pot.



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