WHATCHA FIND WEDNESDAY/ THURSDAY

    Hey everyone, hope you are having a blissful week. I know we are. We had a beautiful weekend with great weather. We finally had a chance to do some yard cleaning and organizing. I also had a chance to catch up on some information overloading. Nothing like cramming your brain full of useful knowledge. I just hope I can retain it all. I mainly wanted a refresher on some rabbit knowledge I had acquired months ago. The more I talk about it the better it sticks. Therefore, I have been talking about our rabbits to everyone I've come in contact with. We have a new litter from our doe Pepper and we wanted to make sure everything goes as smooth as possible since we lost the last litter. So far everything appears to be going swell. I thought we may run into some trouble with the cold weather that has blown in, which is Ohio weather for you...65 degrees one day then below freezing the next, but all the kits were warm and cuddled together in the nesting box. I can't wait until the kits get bigger and start popping out of the nesting box. Just the anticipation of a successful litter is driving me crazy.

    I can remember the fist time I experienced a brand new litter, let me tell you what an experience. I was taking care of my brothers rabbits while my family was on vacation. This was when All I knew about rabbits was to keep them watered and fed. I was cleaning out the trays used to collect dropping when I noticed bloody matter in one of the trays. I examined it for a little trying to figure out what the heck these bloody lumps were. I went back to the cage and looked around for a little bit before I noticed baby bunnies crawling on the floor. I freaked out and then realized that what was in the tray were placentas. I had no idea what to do. So, I called my brother. He didn't know that his rabbit was pregnant but told me where I could find a nesting box to put in the cage for the new mommy and babies. I frantically found a nesting box, laid down some wood shavings and placed the kits in the box before putting the box in the cage with the doe. Luckily, my brother and family were planning on returning home the next day because I don't think I could have handled any more surprises. A few weeks later I stopped by and was amazed to see that the kits had survived and were quickly growing. Definitely an experience I will never forget. It had instilled in me, with raising my own rabbits, to be diligent in knowing if a doe is pregnant and having a nesting box readily available for just in case. I also decided to make modifications to a couple cages by adding 1' x 1/2' wire along the bottom of the sides, that way if a kit is born on the wire or is drug out of the nesting box it won't crawl out and fall to the ground. With the reading I've been doing, they call that baby saving wire.

Well this week for your Whatcha find Wednesday/ Thursday...Thursday because I wanted to add photos for you all...we have:

 

Our new born kits

 

Pulled them out of the nest to check on them. Their fuzz is coming in nicely and they had nice plump bellies.

 

 

All nestled back into their nest.

 

a nice little bird house

 

An old bug sprayer

 

 

A wooden eagle

 

An old Bernz Torch

 

All, but the bunnies, were found at a local auction. Not only are auctions fun and get the adrenaline running at times, but you can usually find nifty old things that others may see as trash.

 

For any questions or suggestions feel free to leave a comment or e-mail us at the homesteadjones@yahoo.com