Sorry for the delay

I woke up early Friday morning, October 16th, to go find out if Princess had her babies. She was almost two days late and I thought for sure she had a false pregnancy...

I was devestated to find my Princess dead in her nest box. I ran inside and woke Brett. We both balled as we tried to grasp that we had just lost our Princess. He scrambled in from the barn with a tiny baby in his hands. Princess had had one baby before she passed.... We've spent the last 12 days, spending every waking (and sleeping) moment keeping our orphan alive with the help of our friends and family. Cathy and Jim (our breeders) gave us all the info and help they could and set us up for the long haul.

"Princess Annie" is on day 12 today and is doing super so far. It's been a long long week and a half. I've been up ever 2 hours every night now checking on her. I have kept a log of what she is eating and other things that happen with her growth that I'll post when I have time.

Cathy and Jim graciously gave us another doe to replace Princess even though we knew it wasn't something under their control. None of us knew this was going to happen or we would never have bred Princess... We all decided for us to adopt Lily's mom, Chocolate Mama. She's a 22 month Satin Angora Chocolate Doe. That way, we would have an experienced doe. Cathy and Jim encouraged us to breed her to Lily's dad so we'd get the same beautiful babies that were out of Lily's litter (lilac and copper agoutis). So we agreed and will be breeding her next month. They wanted us to have a good breeding experience.... We're waiting until Choco Mama is comfortable in her new home and we're waiting till Annie is off milk when Choco Mama's babies are born. Brett built her a large, beautiful nest box that is permenantly in her cage rather than a hutch box so there are no stresses of box changing just in case...

Everyone has been incredibly helpful and supportive. Brett and I get very attached to our animals and losing Princess was devestating. Princess Annie was the only thing left that we had of Princess and we were determined to beat the odds with this orphan baby. So far she is a real fighter and continues to thrive, even through mishaps. She will always be our Orphan Annie. We are even thinking about letting her continue to live in the house with us...

I have video and pictures to catch you up on but I am at work right now- I'll post them when I can. For some reason, this isn't letting me post pictures...

Babies are almost here!

Early this week, the red satin buck baby, Duke, gave me a frightful scare.  I had been feeding the four rabbits organic vegetables I'd picked up from the Farmers Market- a small handful of red leaf lettuce, broccoli, carrots with tops. By Wednesday, Duke had developed diarrhea from too many veggies (shame on me for not knowing better!!!!).  He hated me with an evil vengence after I tried to clean him up and give him yogurt with a syringe.  I finally managed to squirt it on his paws so he'd have to lick it off.  We took away his pellets and gave him hay and oatmeal just like I've read.  He was very grumpy and sitting in a corner.  He only looked for Brett to handle him that day after I "attacked" him with yogurt and rags.

By evening, he was getting back to his normal self.  By the next morning he was fine and back to standing at his door, waiting to be held.  Whew.  It was a lesson learned.  NO more veggies for juniors.  I stopped giving them all the vegetables this week and I am sure the other three were furious with me!

Thursday, I got Duke out and gave him a good grooming.  He was back to his lovey self.  Brett will be handling him in and out of his cage and the pen until he learns to quiet down as he is very unruly and very strong.  I've been letting Dutchess out this week too and she is loving it.  She loves to be groomed and to run around the pen.  They both are learning that it's a good thing when I walk up to the cage with treats, food and the opportunity to be out of the cage.  They are becoming like Lily and Princess in their affection and trust. 

Princess is the only one I haven't been letting out as she is due in just a few days!  She has had ALL the signs.  Nesting, grumpiness (as grumpy as she can get.  She only hopped away from me once), lethargic, less eating.  Earlier this week, I took out her hutch box to see if she'd meld to the nest box.  This morning, I found that she had finally taken the loose hay and finished up the nest in the box that I had started.  Victory!  Can't wait for Wednesday!

We are also getting our English baby next weekend.  Cathy and Jim are bringing him out so they can see the babies and meet my new rabbits too. 

Exciting days for the rabbit world! LOL

(Funny Picture of Princess in her hutch box)

New Pictures of the English Angora baby

Cathy just sent me new pictures of my 5 1/2 week old English buck baby!  He's so pretty and very cute!  I can't wait to get him in two weeks!

We tried to take Princess' hutch box out and put the beautiful nest box Brett built into her cage but she hated the nest box and was very distressed so Brett built a ply platform for the hutch box to sit on.  We took the ramp off the box so we could lift it easier to see the babies.  She was extremely happy about the box being back and made her new nest that night.  She has all the signs of being pregnant and I can't wait till the Wednesday after next!