Once Upon A Rainy Night

So, why do bad things happen on rainy nights?  I still can't figure it out...

Our farm has had more than one shady character invite itself over in the middle of the night (most of the time when it is raining or storming).  Before you worry, I will say that the 'shady character' was not a human.  Anyways, enough with the mystery...for now. 

Our first encounter was on a stormy night around 12:00.  Our ducks were shoved back under a pine tree with a tarp over the cage to keep them dry.

- Rain pattered on the roof, lightning lit up the sky.  A shadow slipped in and out of the dim light, watching, searching -

Sorry, I had to add a little drama...........................

I was sleeping and I was rudely awoken by my sister digging around for clothes to throw on.

"Whats going on?"  I mumbled.

"Something got the ducks..."  She replied.  She looked sick.

"What???????!!!!! Are my rabbits ok?!"

"I don't know."  Was all she said.

I traipsed out to see what the goings on were.  It was dark and I was worried.  Dad had the pellet gun out because we couldn't find the ammo for a bigger gun quickly enough. Two of the ducks had been gotten hold of and chewed on through the cage bars.  Dad had to do-away with them :(

None of the flashlights had batteries and dad was getting upset, he wanted to get whatever had torn up our ducks. One of the brothers spotted eyes up in the pine tree.  Muahah!

Dad pulled the van up on a rise in the yard and shone the high beams into the tree (what desperate measures we take!).  It was a raccoon. 

Anyways, the end of the story came with a really big bang...

That was two years ago.  Since then, we have had opossums and fox carry off our chickens.

One event that we never have figured out was the brooding duck (Harriot) that we had who disappeared along with her mate (Ozzy) on the morning their eggs were supposed to hatch.  That night it rained.  Never a drop of blood or a feather was found.  We would like to think that they were shirking their duties as parents and packed their bags for warmer parts.  We did, however end up with their 14 babies!

Last night it was raining and my puppy started barking.  She sleeps in a cage on our porch.  Well, she must have to go pee or something, I thought.  I let her out and she ran right to the door wanting to go in the house.  That's funny, I thought.  I did everything I could to get her off the porch.  Nope.  I put her back in the cage and went back to bed.

In the morning it all made sense.

My sister went out to take care of her rabbits.  The male rabbit's cage was dragged from it's spot and he was found lying dead next to the driveway.  Disturbing, yes?  Betty's cage and stand was smashed to pieces and she was no where to be found.  Basically, the rabbit community of ours has been shaken and left partly dead...

Big paw prints were found around the cages.  No wonder the pup was scared! Well, it looks like we'll have to figure some things out.  We think it was a big dog or maybe coyote.   We just don't know.....

Learn from our mistakes! 1.)  Be prepared  2.)  Have your gun loaded  3.) Beware of rainy nights (don't be superstitious, I'm just saying, creatures like to eat other creatures on those nights.)

Post written by Rachel.

Baby Rabbit update

I wanted to give you an update on the rabbits and show you what a transformation they have had since the little pink "rat" picture I posted a while back.  We moved their hutches out under our Bradford Pear trees for the summer months.  They will be much cooler in the shade all day, especially with the early 90 degree weather we have been having.  My husband has offered to build a rabbitry if I draw up the plans for it.  With 16 little rabbits that are growing quickly, we are going to need the room. They are eating and drinking pretty well now.  


Did you know that when a baby rabbit eats, they lay on their backs with their bellies up in the air, that rabbit milk is one of the richest forms of nutrition in the mammalian world, and that adults have a special "poo" that they produce at night that they eat to help them with digestion.  The reason it is so hard to hand raise a baby bunny is because we can't simulate this special "poo" that their mom produces to help their guts start to work right.  We tried to raise a baby bunny once and I swore I would never do it again.  He lived for a month or more.....long enough for us to get attached to him even though we knew the prognosis wasn't good.  We were just beginning to think we beat the odds when he passed away.  We named him Tink and fed him a goat milk mixture day and night with a dropper.  Like I said, never again.  We let nature take its course now.

The little guys are too cute and too funny to watch right now.  The one hutch has a larger plastic food dish in it and when you walk by they run in and pile into the dish as quickly as they can.  When you open the roof and look in least nine of them are crammed into the dish and piled on top of each other.  It is so funny I will try to get a picture and update this post.

New Babies

Rowan our New Zealand Rabbit had 10 little ones yesterday.  This is a picture of them in the nest box.  They are born with their eyes shut and no hair.  They aren't what you would call very cute at this stage but their eyes open and their hair grows in quickly.  By the end of the first week they will look totally different than they do in this picture.

 

Mama rabbits have very rich milk and don't need to feed their babies very often or very much.  Other than trying to keep the active little guys in their nest and trying to keep cool in the heat, Mama and babies are doing well.

5/10/12 update- babies are looking cuter and have hair now.  We are waiting for them to open their eyes which should be any day.  Mamma has quite a nest of them as you can see.