Thursday, May 13, 2010

Rain of Death

This whole Circle of Life thing can just stop any time. First something got into the hatchlings' chicken tractor, and killed three of them. Then we lost 4 more of the baby bunnies. Then, this morning, there were gaping holes in the chicken wire of the hatchlings' tractor, and the last two were gone.That's 4 rabbits and 5 chicks in a week's time. It's all just heartbreaking. The hatchlings were the 5 that survived the first hatch in our incubator, the ones we cheered for as they broke out of their tiny prisons. The bunnies were poor little orphans that we desperately tried to feed and keep alive, against all odds.

We almost lost the last bunny as well. It started to decline, right before our eyes. We'd been listening to the experts, and went from infant formula to kitten formula. The bunnies continued to weaken and die.
Finally, as the last one was getting lethargic and losing interest in eating, as the others had before him, I said to hell with this, and went back to the infant formula.
He started to perk back up. (Or she. I don't know if you can tell the difference at this age. We certainly can't tell the difference at this age.)
Back to perky, to our huge relief.
He/she/it enjoys a good run on the carpet. (Not so fond of vinyl flooring...)

Sort of a Bunny of the Baskervilles look in that photo.

If you hold out your hand, he/she/it will jump in.

After all we've been through with this little guy/girl, we're keeping it. So far, we're just calling it 'Bunny' or 'Bun' - we should probably go ahead and give it a name.
Like, Scamper, maybe.

Excuse me. I have to go catch a little bunny.

7 comments:

  1. Oh I'm so sorry to hear about that.... all those poor chickens and bunnies.
    That last little guy is adorable. I want to take him home with me! You definitely have to give him a name - but maybe some strange and cool - like a viking name that means "little warrior" or something - just thinking out loud, so feel free to ignore

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  2. Oh ...he (she?) is just darling!!!

    But how horrible to lose all the others - and after such effort! Heart-breaking. I'm so sorry.

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  3. I'm so sorry for the losses. But the remaining bun-bun is adorable. btw, have you ever seen this website?
    http://www.disapprovingrabbits.com/
    As a rabbit owner, you must visit it regularly.

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  4. Oh, I can empathize at the lost of several animals. Used to happen occasionally when I had rabbits.

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  5. Yay for the tiny little bunny! I hope it continues to do well! So sorry about the baby chicks. Will you try again?

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  6. What a horrible week!

    I am so sorry that you have all been through so much. What a terrible reminder that raising animals can be so heartbreaking.

    I'm so happy to see the little bunny. Hopping around the carpet must be a good sign, yes?

    xo

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  7. I'm so sorry about such a sad week. I hope Bunny stays strong--s/he is such a cutie. Good luck for a very good week coming!

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