Wow, today was an interesting day around here. It started out typical enough with me going about my regular routine of letting the dogs out while enjoying my morning coffee, then changing into my gardening clothes to work outside while the chickens and a couple of the rabbits have some free range time.
My fall plantings are coming along nicely. Green onions, spinach, kale, lettuce mix and kohlrabi are all doing well. I planted red onions, black seeded Simpson lettuce and I transplanted the broccoli into the garden.
My son took care of the feed and water for the animals and spent time with a couple of the new rabbits, giving them lots of attention. Once ready to head back into the house, I grabbed some rose petals and called the chickens back to their coop/run. My son thinks it is funny that they come running from wherever they are so they can get their treats.
All very ordinary until a couple of hours later. The setup to the story... after a couple months of research, we decided to raise meat rabbits. We brought them home on Saturday. We decided the buck would have his own cage and the 3 females would share a large dog kennel turned rabbit cage until we were ready to move them into their own cages for breeding.
We purchased them all from this sweet, hard of hearing, near 90 year old man who lives alone and was downsizing his livestock. Yes, he said, they are all proven breeders, but no, he said, they haven't been mated since their last litters. Good, gives me time to do things on my timeline.
Note to self - a sweet, hard of hearing, near 90 year old man who lives alone will probably NOT remember putting and doe and a buck together 28 days ago so be prepared.
I let the dogs outside, then followed them out to check on things, as I normally do. Then, hmmm, what is on the ground by the rabbit cages? My slow pace picked up to a quick run, a scoop up of a baby, a glance around and a sprint for the house.
Me: "I NEED YOUR HELP, NOW!"
Son: "What happened?"
Me: "I have baby bunnies and dogs everywhere and I need help"
Son: "WTF?, oops, sorry mom"
My son went for our Basset first, which had already found one that had squirmed out of the fencing and onto the grass. As he was occupied with his find, he was ushered into the house, which can be a feat in itself if you know anything about Basset Hounds. I had the one kit tucked into my shirt for warmth and ushered the other dogs into the house since they really could care less and the comfy couch was more inviting.
There were 2 more kits on the ground and one safe on the cage floor. They were all cocooned in the folds of my shirt for warmth while we adjusted the cage to accommodate a nest box and litter, and I texted with my very experienced sister for advice. I snuggled them in and hoped for the best with mom.
I set up the other two does into separate cages just in case that sweet, hard of hearing, near 90 year old man who lives alone also forgot about mating them as well.
In the mean time, mom spent time pulling fur and going in and out of the nest box to get the kits settled. Hopefully their fall from grace, I mean ungraceful fall, will not be an issue and they all eat their fill tonight from mom.
It is a good thing tonight was a leftover, hodgepodge dinner night!
~ Kelly
<div align="center"><a href="http://www.homegrownonthehill.blogspot.com" title="Homegrown on the Hill"><img src="http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/resized-homeacre-hop-button2.jpg" alt="Homegrown on the Hill" style="border:none;" /></a></div>