Have a chuckle at my expense:
Last summer we moved from a barn with cages system to an open air rabbit colony. 23 does are in the colony, 4 bucks in the barn. We have Californians and Silver Foxes. I netted a Cali doe I wanted to breed, ear tattoo E1, and put her in a cage with our lovely, friendly, top performing Cali buck Fatso, tattoo number F1. Fatso lives up to his name. He is big. He has a bit of a dewlap. We named him because he was a sole survivor in a small litter and we had to rescue him from being overfed. When I pulled him from the hutch as a kit, he was almost a perfect square and his feet wouldn’t touch the floor. Miraculously, and with advice found on this forum, he lived.
Anyway, I put E1 in Fatso’s cage at about 2pm, and put her back in the colony at dusk when we feed. I checked the ear tattoo and put E1 back in with the does. Then I went on to my chores. About a week later, I dumped a wheelbarrow load of weeds harvested from around the property in the colony. The does all formed a circle around the pile and started chowing down. Except one. This one was circling around behind the other rabbits trying to mount them and getting shaken off. I went back in the barn and checked the rabbit in Fatso’s cage. In my defense, E1 and F1 look a lot alike in the twilight.
Fatso wasn’t fat. He looked lean and healthy. His dewlap was gone. He was all buck. I’d made a HUGE mistake.
It’s been 31 days now and I put lots of covered nest boxes and bucket burrows in the colony to give the bunnies lots of choices for birthing kits. They chose…..none of the above. They have dug a deep and curving hole that I cannot reach nor see the end of. They cover the entrance with sticks and dirt and there is always one rabbit sitting on top of it. There is a trail of pulled hair going the length of the tunnel. I have no idea how many kits there are. I have no idea if they’re alive or dead. I know the temperature inside the tunnel is in the mid 50’sF when it’s 34degF at night, so it was probably a good choice. I know does are going in and out of the tunnel, covering the entrance back up each time. I know they can cooperate in a digging line and dig long tunnels wicked quick. Fortunately, one of our functions aside from pet and show rabbits is that we are a meat operation and colony is big enough to hold LOTS of rabbits.
I’ve learned that rabbits might be smarter than I am. They are certainly more organized. I will post an update and pictures when I find out if there are kits and how many. In the meantime, I watch and I wait.
Last summer we moved from a barn with cages system to an open air rabbit colony. 23 does are in the colony, 4 bucks in the barn. We have Californians and Silver Foxes. I netted a Cali doe I wanted to breed, ear tattoo E1, and put her in a cage with our lovely, friendly, top performing Cali buck Fatso, tattoo number F1. Fatso lives up to his name. He is big. He has a bit of a dewlap. We named him because he was a sole survivor in a small litter and we had to rescue him from being overfed. When I pulled him from the hutch as a kit, he was almost a perfect square and his feet wouldn’t touch the floor. Miraculously, and with advice found on this forum, he lived.
Anyway, I put E1 in Fatso’s cage at about 2pm, and put her back in the colony at dusk when we feed. I checked the ear tattoo and put E1 back in with the does. Then I went on to my chores. About a week later, I dumped a wheelbarrow load of weeds harvested from around the property in the colony. The does all formed a circle around the pile and started chowing down. Except one. This one was circling around behind the other rabbits trying to mount them and getting shaken off. I went back in the barn and checked the rabbit in Fatso’s cage. In my defense, E1 and F1 look a lot alike in the twilight.
Fatso wasn’t fat. He looked lean and healthy. His dewlap was gone. He was all buck. I’d made a HUGE mistake.
It’s been 31 days now and I put lots of covered nest boxes and bucket burrows in the colony to give the bunnies lots of choices for birthing kits. They chose…..none of the above. They have dug a deep and curving hole that I cannot reach nor see the end of. They cover the entrance with sticks and dirt and there is always one rabbit sitting on top of it. There is a trail of pulled hair going the length of the tunnel. I have no idea how many kits there are. I have no idea if they’re alive or dead. I know the temperature inside the tunnel is in the mid 50’sF when it’s 34degF at night, so it was probably a good choice. I know does are going in and out of the tunnel, covering the entrance back up each time. I know they can cooperate in a digging line and dig long tunnels wicked quick. Fortunately, one of our functions aside from pet and show rabbits is that we are a meat operation and colony is big enough to hold LOTS of rabbits.
I’ve learned that rabbits might be smarter than I am. They are certainly more organized. I will post an update and pictures when I find out if there are kits and how many. In the meantime, I watch and I wait.
.
