Ack! I've been betrayed! I thought men were supposed to have each others back 
lol,but if there is one or two good things that come out of this I've at least given you family something to talk about and laugh over. <br /><br /> __________ Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:48 am __________ <br /><br /> Just thought I'd update my "mad-hatter" project. All 4 does have kindled. The first kindled on 1/20/14 in the dark of the morning. I wasn't expecting her to so I didn't have any nesting box in there with her like I did one of the others. She did a great job pulling fir and trying to make a nest. They probably would have made it if I had the bottom of the cage made out of hardware cloth but I don't so all 8 fell through. Came out and they were dead. My fault, feel bad, learned and moved on. I rebred her that day and she lifted nicely, which is a huge plus as concerns her future life.
After that loss I palpated the others to get a feel (no pun intended) for how far along they were. They all felt ready to pop so I put the two nesting boxes that I had already built in for 2 of them and then thought about using a 5 gal bucket for the other. I scraped that idea as the bucket is round and it just didn't seem like they would be well in there so I went ahead and found some left over pieces of wood and made a 3rd box for her.
It wasn't any time at all after I had put the boxes and straw in with them that they started working on their nest. It was almost as if they were simply waiting for it. Two of them kindled within hours of the box being put in on 1/20/14. One of them actually kindled while I was still making the third box. The two that kindled both did well with feeding and having the babies. I was impressed. One had 6 with 1 death. Not sure how it died. Wasn't elongated or out of the fir, just dead. The other had 8, all healthy as of this typing.
The last doe kindled last night, 1/21/14 with a healthy 8 kits. I was worried because yesterday it was a very comfortable 45F and that was supposed to drop to 20's for the high with snow storms today. She did great though. All the nests, except 1 were well made. The one that wasn't well made was....meh, ok. I'd have done better.
All in all I'm very satisfied with how everything turned out. After over 24 weeks of not even being able to get my does pregnant I finally have foo...I mean cute little bunnies. I would post pictures but they are just pink balls of flesh. When they get fir I might post since MC made posting pics soooo much easier now
lol,but if there is one or two good things that come out of this I've at least given you family something to talk about and laugh over.
<br /><br /> __________ Tue Jan 21, 2014 10:48 am __________ <br /><br /> Just thought I'd update my "mad-hatter" project. All 4 does have kindled. The first kindled on 1/20/14 in the dark of the morning. I wasn't expecting her to so I didn't have any nesting box in there with her like I did one of the others. She did a great job pulling fir and trying to make a nest. They probably would have made it if I had the bottom of the cage made out of hardware cloth but I don't so all 8 fell through. Came out and they were dead. My fault, feel bad, learned and moved on. I rebred her that day and she lifted nicely, which is a huge plus as concerns her future life.After that loss I palpated the others to get a feel (no pun intended) for how far along they were. They all felt ready to pop so I put the two nesting boxes that I had already built in for 2 of them and then thought about using a 5 gal bucket for the other. I scraped that idea as the bucket is round and it just didn't seem like they would be well in there so I went ahead and found some left over pieces of wood and made a 3rd box for her.
It wasn't any time at all after I had put the boxes and straw in with them that they started working on their nest. It was almost as if they were simply waiting for it. Two of them kindled within hours of the box being put in on 1/20/14. One of them actually kindled while I was still making the third box. The two that kindled both did well with feeding and having the babies. I was impressed. One had 6 with 1 death. Not sure how it died. Wasn't elongated or out of the fir, just dead. The other had 8, all healthy as of this typing.
The last doe kindled last night, 1/21/14 with a healthy 8 kits. I was worried because yesterday it was a very comfortable 45F and that was supposed to drop to 20's for the high with snow storms today. She did great though. All the nests, except 1 were well made. The one that wasn't well made was....meh, ok. I'd have done better.
All in all I'm very satisfied with how everything turned out. After over 24 weeks of not even being able to get my does pregnant I finally have foo...I mean cute little bunnies. I would post pictures but they are just pink balls of flesh. When they get fir I might post since MC made posting pics soooo much easier now
