Sunday morning

Winston playing with feeder

Junah

hammy

I slept hard last night and got a late start this morning. I had a long day yesterday. Fortunately, Page was on time and got everything done before I got there....I am lucky to have her. That meant that I got to do the good stuff, like hand out carrots and apples.

Yesterday, during the tractor work, a bunny nest was disturbed and one very tiny bunny found. He did not have his eyes open yet. We had him in the barn for a while but decided it would be best to try and reunite him with his mother. So we put him back near the nest spot in some hay and then hoped for the best. I checked on him this morning and he seemed fine, but then I found his litter mate.....dead ..and then a little further and I found another litter mate, very, very cold and still breathing a little. I knew he was too cold and so I picked him up, then called Page....."here, I said....put this bunny in your cleavage"...."he needs body heat"....Page never batted an eye, she put him under her shirt while I searched for any more bunnies. We saw the mother bunny dart off.

I made the decision that we should take the cold bunny to the my mom's house and warm him, perhaps give him a little warm milk with a syringe....so off we went. We had to pass through Beaver's paddock and he wanted to see what was going on, so he nosed us and then seemed to know that Page had the "bundle"...so he bit her. Beaver wants in on everything and he gets mad if he is cut off. We got out of there and went to my mom's house....heated a little bit of milk, put a drop of honey in it, put it in the syringe and I took the bunny and fed him a little. Then we put a wet rag into the microwave, heated it, placed it in a ziplock, wrapped it in a dry towel and placed the bunny on top of it (in a plastic bowl)...dramatic results...the bunny visibly improved and his color looked better.

Now, I know that little creatures are incredibly hard to hand feed and returning to mom is always best...so after observing him for about twenty minutes, I decided to put him back into a nest with his sibling rabbit. I trudged back through the pasture and into the woods, found the "hay" nest that we constructed for the other baby, and gently placed the other baby with his sibling. I then tightened the nest around them and deepened the nest, then built up the sides a little.
You always wonder if you are doing the right thing.

I went back to check on them about twenty minutes later......both bunnies were warm to the touch and moving and squeaking a little.

I have done what I could and I will hope for the best.

The horses LOVE the new hay and they have cleaned up every bite....then they beg for more.

Yukon is settled in at Chelsea’s and Junah was settled this morning. Junah is very intrigued by Beaver and Beaver makes threatening faces at him and rushes the fence at him. Junah just stares at him, like "what is that?"

We moved Hammy to the bottom paddock, so that he will have less to crib on....and then maybe burn less calories and just concentrate on eating.

It is overcast this morning, relatively cool...but I expect it will burn off and we will have a beautiful afternoon like yesterday.

I have yard work to do..laundry to do, dogs to walk...groceries to buy...and I still have farm work to get done. Some fence work, paddock cleaning.....and we still need another loafing shed (I love to build those!) It is just time consuming.

The un-stallion will be home and we will need a shed for him to call his own.

Next week we will take Rio up to a local barn and see how he reacts and handles. Keep your fingers crossed! We have a young girl who loves him. He needs a girl of his own.