A couple of weeks ago two of our rabbits gave birth. Isabella, my favorite, unfortunately didn't manage to keep her babies alive. Sadly it is all too common for first time mothers to lose their first litter, in fact breeders do a three strikes rules for new moms. Other than Bella one of our new rabbits, Cinnamon, also gave birth. She was bred before we bought her so we will probably keep one of the doe kits to breed =)
The Kits are all different colors! You can see them huddled up together in the hay and fur. I haven't spent much time with them. Some does will actually kill the babies if owners are overly attentive, which I was with Bella. Knowing Cinnamon has experience and is a good mother I checked on the kits once or twice and left them alone. Cinnamon has begun warming up to us, but when we got her she was afraid so I didn't want to push her with kits involved.
Other than the kits being new, so is part of the rabbits feed: WEEDS! Ever since I got the rabbits I debated this. From everything I have read rabbits plus weeds equals worms, so its generally encouraged to keep meat rabbits in wire cages and feed only pellets... I'm a fan of nature though so after reading this inspired blog post http://theelliotthomestead.com/2013/03/naturally-feeding-the-meat-rabbits/ I decided why not!
Can you tell the rabbits are loving it? I'm also weeding my yard at the same time as getting them a delicious nutritious treat! The benefits of weed feeding rabbits for me are cost, happiness, and discovering new plants in my yard. I have already found and identified some spearmint and a strawberry plant!
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