bunnyhenge

The bunnies have an enormous burrow underneath the barn.  Every Autumn, I place a big piece of wood over the entrance, as they utilize it year 'round.  But every Winter, the heavy snow breaks the wood, plus it looks really junky. So yesterday my neighbor helped me move some  large landscaping stones down to the barnyard to make a stone entryway to the burrow.

 

his return

Most of you reading this know that my beloved rabbit Timothy disappeared for three weeks, and I assumed he had died.  Last Friday morning, there he was in the hen yard, returned from wherever he had been, or awakened from whatever had happened to him.  My theories:

- He really IS the Easter Bunny, and was a few weeks late getting back from his rounds

- Snow falling from the barn roof hit him and he was in some kind of coma or knocked out and was sleeping it off

- He witnessed the murder of Tukka and was so traumatized, he went underground for 3 weeks. A weasel killed Tukka a day before Timothy went missing

- He was sick, and as animals do, healed himself down in the burrow

Whatever the answer, words cannot express the joy I felt seeing my bunny friend back again.  

greens & buns

side turkey leg

a morning DTL compliments of Timothy

in the meadow

the sweetest creature

love him so much

on the beach

snoozing Pinky

they are free

My Mom and I set the baby bunnies free into the woods after a rest at Sue's home for wayward rabbits. They had grown and were eating whole foods (fully weaned) and off they hopped, back to where they belong.  

bun bathing

Timothy isn't dead...he's sun bathing!

we love watermelon

chickens love it

and so does Richard!

all better

Trevor (on the left) has recovered from a case of rabbit syphilis (yes, that's a thing) He spent a week convalescing at my Mom & Dad's house, where he received daily penicillin injections from Nurse Margaret.  They also generously let him free range, and poop, all over their house.  He is back at the farm now and all healed up - here he is reunited and out to dinner with his girlfriend Willow

meet Richard

Richard has joined us here at the farm and is a totally delightful bunny!  He arrived with the unfortunate name Taz, which we changed to Richard at the suggestion of my neighbor's young son Nathan.  Richard is very friendly, docile and getting along fairly well with the others.  Introducing bunnies to one another can be rough at first, but within a few weeks they are usually bonded and all hanging out together.  He has beautiful markings and is a sleek boy!  I watched him go outside for what was probably the first time in his life this week, and it was a great pleasure for me to see him explore, smell fresh air and dig in the dirt in the hen yard.  I love rabbits.

I'm a hen

chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, bunny, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken

Blackie with alfalfa

lop lop lop & cole slaw

lops with napa

chicken scratch

'

When I feed the chickens, sometimes the rabbits camp out underneath the feed table, because they LOVE chicken scratch, a mix of corn and other coarsely chopped grains. Here's my bun Blackie, happily parked underneath the chicken table at feeding time (the chickens don't mind her at all), eating her fill, with chicken feed all over her head.

eating greens

The garden got tilled over for the winter and I fed what was left of the collard green plants to the buns

Trevor goes in for the brussel sprout attack

Willow with brussels

I never get enough

that face

lop update

Clockwise from top: Trevor,  Willow and Finney - all happy, heathy, bonded and not fighting with the original bunnies any longer