April Showers Bring May Litters

Maybe that's not exactly how the old saying goes but that is what it seems. May is off to a jump start with three litters being born into the herd thus far. Small litters at that but beggars can't be choosers. The largest of the three consists of two fat and sassy little kits born to Trio's Abby- a solid chestnut doe who gained a single leg for a class win before veering in the direction of brood doe. The sire is Ivy Crescent Brando, pictured on the home page for some time.

The other two litters were both singletons so I put them together to keep each other warm.

Once the babies arrive I prefer to leave the nest boxes out of the cages at all times. Twice a day I bring the does to their individual box to feed and then return them to their cage. This takes place in the evening when I feed and in the morning when I hay. It has been my experience that left to their own devices my does get themselves into trouble by over mothering the kits or the polar opposite which is neglect. By "over mothering" I mean always hopping in and out of the box resulting in scattered kits. As many HL breeders can vouch for the fact that there are enough hurdles to overcome in raising this breed. It is my goal to eliminate as many potential risks as possible. Usually by 2 1/2 weeks when the eyes have fully opened and the fur has come in I will leave the box in with mom. By this time they are becoming curious about their environment and often times beginning to venture out of the box to explore. I hope to see these kits at that milestone in the coming weeks.

I Don't Know What's Considered A Great Photo But . . .

I like these. The first three were taken while I accompanied my family on a fishing trip a couple weeks ago. I'm not an avid fisherman er...? woman so I went off exploring. This is what I found.

The rest are just some spring themed shots from the past few weeks.

Cameras...Convenient...Rattlesnakes...Not So Much

I try to bring my camera everywhere with me and enjoy photographing everything from nature to live music concerts.

My family spends alot of time outdoors in the woods hiking and riding bicycles and it never fails that a camera comes in handy during these excursions. Last summer we were out for a bike ride and ahead of us were two women afraid of something just off the bike path in some brush. When we reached them they told us a huge snake had just slithered across the path in front of them. One of them pointed to something in a patch of leaves and upon closer inspection my husband revealed it was a Timber rattlesnake. Incredibly rare in the state of Connecticut, but there it was coiled up in an attempt to relax and enjoy some afternoon sunbathing.They say you can estimate the age by the number of rattles on the tail and if that is the case this one was approximately 12 years old.

It's That Time of Year . . .

Warmer weather brings with it the onset of spring cleaning within the rabbitry. Over the past two weeks the rabbits have spent their days lounging under the cedar trees in the backyard while I've rolled up my sleeves in an effort to tackle the seemingly impossible.

This is the time of year I'm especially thankful for having a small herd. I can move all the rabbits outside for the day allowing me to power wash every cage and disinfect the rabbitry in one big sweep as opposed to when I kept a larger herd of 50. In the past I would have to clean the rabbitry section by section- BLAH!

The biggest hurdle which accompanies spring cleaning is the unavoidable moult. It's a bittersweet feeling when all is said and done to enjoy the "fruits of your labor" in this case a sparkling clean rabbitry- only to fill up the cages with flying fuzzballs.

Which is why I've enlisted the help of my 7 year old daughter. She earns between $3 and $5 for each carrier of rabbits she brushes out for me. She would like to get more involved in the showing aspect but as anyone who's ever been to a rabbit show knows, patience plays a large part in showing- something that can be difficult for children to understand. People who've seen me at shows know that my kids (and husband) are almost always in tow anyways, but for the most part when they get bored my husband can drag them off in an effort to entertain them while I'm waiting for Holland Lops to be called to the table.