*bunny news and such

Sometimes it is good to get away, to take a break and refresh from whatever task is at hand. It has taken me a bit to get back to my regular blogging, there has been no lack of things to blog about, just motivation to get it down in words.  I hope you all have been doing fantastic!

Last weekend one of our pregnant does kindled. She had an odd time of it this time around. Isis, our Californian doe, had her first kit of this litter on Thursday morning, one solitary baby.  She did not give birth to the remaining kits until more than 20 hours later.  It was the oddest birthing I have been through with one of our rabbits thus far. As you might imagine I had to keep that single baby warm until others were there to join it in the nesting box. So, I wrapped it up in a soft cloth after I brought the body temperature back up (the poor thing was stone cold when I found it), and then I kept it on my person for the next day until there were other warm bodies to maintain body heat.   Isis did finish her birthing.. bring forth 9 kits in all.  She was acting very much out of the ordinary this time around, as I stated before and unfortunately the third morning of having birthed, we found all of the babies in their box dead. I know, I know.. nobody wants to read about these things -trust me, I didn't want to live it either. I am sure some of you might be thinking.. um, don't you raise these to kill for meat? Yes, yes we do, but having a mother to neglect her  young so severely and humanely raising them to process for healthy clean lean white meat later is totally different.

This month thus far has been super fulfilling.  We have gotten so much done in the barn and in the gardens. Flowers are bursting forth. Grass is turning green, although I am not super excited about that part as 4 or so acres of our land is all grass... Our prospects on a Nubian buck are getting better. Yadda yadda... On the other hand it has been a bit heart breaking, in the respects of a homesteader.  We had a hen to abandon her nest after 2 and half weeks of being broody, leaving 5 embryos to die after almost completely forming, and the baby rabbits dying.  Eric always catches me and reminds me that this is part of this lifestyle.  He does his best to protect me, to help me stay focused and not get too attached.

This weekend we have a gentleman coming to pick out 3 of our rabbits for his breeding stock, we are excited to be selling some of our girls and boys to a family who will too use them provide a self sustainable meat source for their family too.