Frostie's litter, pics of them all, and some sad news...

[wendymac]

First, Frostie had 9 babies and all are doing well. There are 7 brokens and 2 solids.

Something has been getting into my rabbitry, and has killed 6 of Adeline's kits and 1 of Marie's. I think it might be a rat, although I have never seen a single rat on the farm in the 18 years we've lived here. I went down to the barn all night, until 5 am, and never saw anything...but when we went down to clean trays there was a dead baby outside Adeline's cage. Apparently sometime last night I scared whatever was carting it off and it dropped it. Adeline seemed super stressed, and it didn't look like she fed the remaining 4 today. I gave 2 of them to Twila and 2 to Marie. Hopefully in the morning they'll be nice and plump again.

Anyway, here's a quick collage of the babies.

Oops! Just realized I forgot Boo's 11. Can't have that. haha

 

[ladysown]

rats can be a major problem. Once they figure out a food source they will be back. You'll need to block their access to the cages and keep them from nibbling bunny toes through the wire. I've lost too many bunny toes to rats until I caught the stupid things.

 

[woahlookitsme]

Oh no! Poor babies. I hope you can fix the problem. Luckily we haven't had that kind of a problem although living in a neighborhood does help.

 

[wendymac]

We've never seen a single rat, ever. But we do have muskrats at the pond, but I'm not sure if they even eat baby rabbits. PA supposedly has weasels, too, but I've never seen one of those either. I'm going tomorrow and getting some rat poison and a cage trap...hopefully we'll find either something in the trap or dead rats.

 

[Blaze_Amita]

Definently does sound like rats, they are hard to see and find, I usually have to keep poison out during my kindling seasons, spring and Fall. it's the only wy to keep those little MONSTERS from eating limbs off my babies. I lost soo many to rats last year, or had lots of babies that joined the cull cages due to only have 3 legs.

 

[Azerane]

That's terrible, I hope you can figure out and eradicate the source of the problem. Do you know how they're getting in and out of the cages? Might be worth trying to seal them off better too.

Since having moved to the suburbs, I'm more worried about foxes and cats than I was before (especially the cat that I've noticed across the road), I actually put a piece of chain around the mesh lid of the hutch (as it's reasonably light) with a d-shackle to prevent a hungry fox or cat pushing it up. It makes it a pain to open, but worth it for my bunns life. I also put bricks on top of the wooden door to prevent them lifting that too.

 

[majorv]

Aren't barn cats supposed to keep rats and other rodents under control?

 

[wendymac]

I would think rats would just kill/maul/eat the babies inside the nest box, wiping out the whole litter. Whatever is getting them is getting in through the cage wire (1"x2") and taking them away. There is no blood, no missing body pieces...just babies totally disappearing. We moved the two Californian does and Nora into cages with 1"x1" wire cages (that I had bought used and had to clean and scrub before using), and Boo and Frostie were already in 1"x1" cages. I'm heading down here shortly to do a baby check.

I know my barn cats are super about mice...there's no trace of any mice in the barn, not even in the horse blankets that are folded up (a prime place for mice to make nests). But there also isn't any trace of rats being in the barn, other than babies showing up missing. If any babies are missing this morning, then tonight I'm putting a laptop and web cam down there and see if I can catch anything on film. I'm just not sure how long it will record before it runs out of disc space.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

We use rat traps and peanut butter--works well on more than rats too, mainly due to the size of the appliance. I used to put them inside inverted milk crates so I wouldn't get our cats and put some heavy rocks on top so the dogs couldn't get to them either. Good luck!

 

[wendymac]

That's a great idea!!! All the babies were fine this morning but Adeline seems depressed her babies are gone. She even pulled more hair last night and today, but no nest to put it in. Poor doe. Next time they'll all be in 1"x1" because I won't buy a cage with anything larger.

 

[whitelop]

I think muskrats will get small animals like that. I remember someone telling me that they would sit outside of their HUGE chicken coop and wait for the muskrats to come and they would pick them off with a .22; thats one way to solve the problem.

I hope you figure it out though, it sucks that that many babies were lost from some stupid vermin.

 

[wendymac]

We definitely have muskrats, and a lot of them! They live around the pond, which is about 300' from the barn. We're actually looking for someone that wants to trap/hunt them because they're destroying the bank of the pond, and even extending their holes close to our horse arena.

 

[kmaben]

Poor babies!
I find it so amazing you can run that many litters. I have trouble with just my three! So many frenchies to choose from. When I get back from deployment I can afford a trip to PA. Teehee!! Perhaps with so many good looking does to choose from Franklin may be able to find the love of his life.

I just realized there were way to many exclamation marks and had to cut them out. Yes yes I am a frenchie stalker.

 

[woahlookitsme]

LOL Kaley has been bitten by the big furry feet bug

Its okay I have too I will always love the frenchies and dream of mine when I can get him!

 

[wendymac]

Kaley, any time you (or Sarah!) want a Frenchie, give me a holler! I love the babies, and spend almost every spare minute in the barn as soon as their eyes open and they're moving around. And once they're around 4 months old, most will be off to new homes. I really need some bucks, so hoping for 1 or 2 (a solid and broken would be ideal). And I'll keep a few broken does. And maybe a solid doe or two, depending on their type. But then the tough decision comes in...to sell or keep Frostie and Adeline. I really can't see myself ever parting with Adeline, since she was my first-ever Frenchie. But Frostie isn't Mrs. Personality so she may be easier to sell. We'll keep a few of the Polish and probably sell the broken blue doe. And Kitty will keep a few does and a buck or two from her litters and sell the rest. Time will tell!