Eenie, my "Evil" Californian doe died yesterday (Friday). I found her in her nesting room when I got home from work. She was just starting to let me pet her without freaking out too much as long as I moved slow. Her high strung personality probably didn't help her with the heat stress.
The heat has been pretty tough so far and today was the worst yet. My DW said it was 108 today. I saw the thermometer in the rabbit run reading 105 with the misters and fans on when I was running a 2nd round of ice out.
We took Eeinie's 7 kits inside Friday and hand fed them a mixture of 2 parts KMR to 1 part Goats Milk formula. I gave them a blade of grass each to test them out on eating on their own. They were 3 weeks old Friday. After I took them back out to the Rabbit Run, they were picking at the Manna Pro and Calf Manna mix. I added BOSS and oatmeal today, but they're just nibbling here and there.
We fed them the formula mix again tonight and they'll be staying indoors until tomorrow. It's still pretty hot out there and it's past midnight. A cold front tomorrow should drop the temps back down to the high 90s. We'll put them back out then.
I'm hopeful that we can hand rear the kits until they're completely weaned. I don't want to put them in with our other Cali doe since she's also struggling with the heat and her 5 kits.
None of the kits meet the planned breeding program, so none are keepers. I'll need to find another purebred Cali doe to replace her to get back on track.<br /><br />__________ Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:14 am __________<br /><br />Added - I wouldn't have thought that I'd miss my "Evil Doe" as much as I do. She was high maintenance. She didn't like me much, but was starting to accept me. She even let me pet her a few times, but would revert back to her skittish ways shortly after. I think that given enough time, she would have learned to trust me.
My wife knows me better than I know myself. She said she knew I'd miss Eenie since I spent so much time with her. I'm a little down today, but it'll pass. There's too much to do to dwell on it. At least her kits are doing well.
The heat has been pretty tough so far and today was the worst yet. My DW said it was 108 today. I saw the thermometer in the rabbit run reading 105 with the misters and fans on when I was running a 2nd round of ice out.
We took Eeinie's 7 kits inside Friday and hand fed them a mixture of 2 parts KMR to 1 part Goats Milk formula. I gave them a blade of grass each to test them out on eating on their own. They were 3 weeks old Friday. After I took them back out to the Rabbit Run, they were picking at the Manna Pro and Calf Manna mix. I added BOSS and oatmeal today, but they're just nibbling here and there.
We fed them the formula mix again tonight and they'll be staying indoors until tomorrow. It's still pretty hot out there and it's past midnight. A cold front tomorrow should drop the temps back down to the high 90s. We'll put them back out then.
I'm hopeful that we can hand rear the kits until they're completely weaned. I don't want to put them in with our other Cali doe since she's also struggling with the heat and her 5 kits.
None of the kits meet the planned breeding program, so none are keepers. I'll need to find another purebred Cali doe to replace her to get back on track.<br /><br />__________ Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:14 am __________<br /><br />Added - I wouldn't have thought that I'd miss my "Evil Doe" as much as I do. She was high maintenance. She didn't like me much, but was starting to accept me. She even let me pet her a few times, but would revert back to her skittish ways shortly after. I think that given enough time, she would have learned to trust me.
My wife knows me better than I know myself. She said she knew I'd miss Eenie since I spent so much time with her. I'm a little down today, but it'll pass. There's too much to do to dwell on it. At least her kits are doing well.
