Good news: The first doe kindled in nestbox - 4 kits, on 10/4. Doe #2 kindled in same box, managed to get 3 of her 4 kits in along with her hair. It was easy to tell what happened because the rew doe had white hair/pink kits, & the blue doe all blue.
Bad news: Immediate rat attack during daytime hours while at work. Lost 2 out of 4 pink kits & the other 2 have substantial bruising & bite injuries. 2 out of 3 blue kits have more minor bite injuries. I cleaned them up & fostered them to 2 different does in cages - not sure either pink kit will survive, but the one in photo is super strong.
It was horrific to find & really sad. Moments like this, I feel like I have failed the rabbits in my promises to them of a good, healthy, safe life.
We feed pellets in the morning & greens/hay only at night to help with rats. We do have a cat, and do trap, but rats continue to be an issue. I am very reluctant to poison, as we have a hawk & owl population on the farm that I do not want to damage or kill with residuals. My research on rat poisons (that I have used in years past, with success), has shown these same chemicals are being found in alarming levels in birds of prey now, much like ddt was in decades past.
Super frustrating.
I am currently building new doe cages for our other breeding stock that will be rat-proof (hopefully) by design, but would love a colony option that is not so intense & expensive to build.
It has been about a month since we started this colony with an American trio. Today the nestboxes went in & the buck got crated. We will probably hang him up in a cage in there when the kits start to move about, but will have to make a urine diverter to do so.
