And speaking of Fencing, Rabbits, and Breeding

Well, my prediction of a sleepless morning was true.  It is very hard to shift from a 6am wake-up call to a leisurely 8am roll-out-of-bed.  I think I was awake from about 6:30am on.

Our plans today were to get the berry garden fenced and then get to work raking rows for the potato and onion crop.  The weather disagreed.  As we headed out to feed in the morning, the clouds looked pretty dark and the wind was blowing.  By the time we were finished feeding, it was downright cold.

Looking out at the pivot through the hailstorm.

We went in to get more coffee and as we looked back outside, it was white.  You couldn't even see the field.  A hailstorm had rolled in and the ground was turning white under these little balls of ice.  I guess we haven't had our last frost yet.

Things cleared for most of the afternoon and in addition to planting three rows of spinach, we were able to work on getting a temporary fence built around the berry garden.  Instead of using the field fence (a commodity that we really want to use carefully), we chose to create a more visual barrier.  We took white fiberglass posts and put them in about every three feet.  We then took insulators and 1/2 inch polytape and created a double line of fencing.  This won't keep anyone out if they want to get in, but we're hoping that it will deter our animals.  There really isn't much to entice them in the berry garden at the moment anyway.  And surrounding the garden are lush rolling hills of grass.  So until we make a permanent fence (preferably when it's not hailing and snowing), we will use this.  We can attach a charger to the fence if the goats decide to ignore it, but a charger won't stop chickens, geese, or ducks.  It wouldn't stop rabbits for that matter.

And speaking of rabbits, our satin rabbit began to kindle yesterday.  I didn't realize that she was pregnant.  Although she had been housed with our buck for the last six months, we had figured that he was too old to produce.  When I went to feed yesterday morning, I found a single kit, dead in the middle of the cage.  I immediately moved the doe into a private cage with a nesting box, but we weren't sure what would happen.

Well, this morning she gave birth to four more kits.  I am not sure if they were stillborn or died immediately after birth, but none of them survived.  They all looked close to full gestation.  Many of the websites that I checked mentioned the fragility of rabbits and that losing an entire litter is not uncommon.  But one thing that I read several times talked about how stillborn litters happen more often when the doe is rebred within 36 hours of the initial breeding.  This most certainly would've taken place with our doe as she was in with the buck permanently.

I'm still surprised that she didn't show me any signs,  She didn't start nesting.  She didn't pull out her fur.  She didn't start burrowing.  There was no indicator that she was pregnant (except for her size, but she is a bit overweight to begin with).

We will keep the two separated from now on unless we intend to breed her.  As much as I know they enjoyed snuggling with each other when she wasn't in heat, I don't want to risk her health by allowing him to breed her constantly.

And speaking of breeding, Hammy Fae has come out of heat and we are confident that Jaws was able to get the job done.  If Hammy is not pregnant this time, we may have to consider whether or not she is able to concieve.  We witnessed several love sessions and by my calculations, we should have piglets around August 27th (three months, three weeks, and three days from now).