Winter & summer visitors

I was just in my kitchen watching the snow fall and the birds at the feeders. One thing I love about living in 6 acres of old growth forest is all the wildlife. Now it is not the kind of wildlife that my Alaskan rabbitry friend Trent sees (moose, bear, lynx, etc...), but it is great none the less. Some of the birds that frequent our feeders on a daily basis are:
Redheaded Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Redbellied Woodpecker
Whitebreasted Nuthatch
Northern Cardinal
Bluejay
Blackcapped Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Mourning Dove
Dark eyed Junco
Goldfinch

The above listed birds are usually here year round, but are joined in the summer by:
Pileated Woodpecker
Indigo Bunting (LOVE them)
House Wren
Ruby throated Hummingbird
Rosebreasted Grosbeak
Turkey
A plethora of warblers
Purple Finch
Brown Creeper
Northern Flicker
Baltimore Oriole

We also have flying squirrels on our property! While they are not a bird, I love having this mammal here. It is nocturnal so we don't get to see it. Our evidence that they are here came with a dead one we found in the backyard. =(

Last year we had a huge fan of our bird feeder -- a Cooper's Hawk. I witnessed him capture a Cardinal at the feeder one day. While I didn't like having one less Cardinal to enjoy, it was amazing to see this part of nature that isn't often witnessed.

Again, how is this rabbit related? Well, I'm stretching it, but the birds often enjoy the food and habitat found in my gardens. The gardens wouldn't be as nice as if I didn't have the rabbit manure to spread on them. The goldfinch love the Echinacea (coneflowers) seedheads in the fall and I have numerous wren houses throughout my gardens which are often occupied by the brave little House Wren. By the way, if you don't have a wren house I highly recommend putting one in your yard somewhere. House Wren have a beautiful song and I love to watch them flit around. Dispite their small size, they are very territorial and have NO problem chasing the cat away!

Here's a link to a site about House Wrens. It even has a small file with the House Wren's song (enjoy a little sound of spring!).

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/House_Wren.html#fig1

Somewhat rabbit related...

Lately, my rabbitry chores have consisted mainly of thawing out frozen water bottles. After a short (but wonderful) warm weather spell in the 60's, winter has joined us again. It is bitterly cold here right now and it keeps snowing. To keep me going on these days (which are spent indoors, making me stir crazy), I have been drooling over the Burpee catalog that recently arrived in the mail. I've decided that a raised bed vegetable garden will be part of my project list for this spring ("my" includes my husband which he doesn't realize at this moment).

How is this related to rabbits? Well, the huge pile of rabbit droppings I have behind the barn will become the medium my veggies will be growing in. Rabbit manure is EXCELLENT fertilizer for many reasons. It is very high in nitrogen, breaks down easily, doesn't smell, and is not hot like other manures so it can be added right to your plant beds without worrying about it burning your plants. I had always read about how wonderful it was so I decided to liberally spread some over my herb garden last spring. My herbs grew like crazy. I decided that the remaining pile will be spread over my perennial beds and start my veggie garden. For those of you that have rabbits, you know that with rabbits continually eating and pooping, I have an endless supply of this "black gold".

I (meaning my husband) will be building a compost bin this spring. All the rabbit manure will be dumped right from the trays into the bin. This will keep it more contained and will look nicer.

So...if you're a gardener like me and have rabbits... be sure to add that wonderful black gold to your plants this spring if you haven't already done so. Who wants to throw away free, natural fertilizer?!

Very last babies of 2007...

Well, my bkn. blue doe, Kokomo, decided that she wanted her babies born in 2007, not 2008 and had them this evening. Her due date was January 1. I'm not complaining though! I have been waiting for a new litter for a long time. This litter was particularly exciting for me as it is Icon's (chocolate buck) first litter and I was eager to see what he would produce. We have 5 kits total with 2 being peanuts. Three are definitely broken (2 of those are the peanuts), 1 is a solid (yipee!), and one is a mystery kit. I think it is a white, but I'm sticking to "mystery" as I'm hoping it is something other than white (grin).
They are now safe and warm in my office. I always take the winter kits in the house. My dog, Daphne, loves it when we have winter kits. She is very protective of them and attentive when I am taking them out of the nestbox for a checkup. I originally thought she would want to tear them up, but realized she just wants to clean them. For this reason, the nestbox and babies stay on a shelf on my desk away from doggy kisses.

Time to get blogging again...

Wow, it has been a very long time since I have posted anything. Who knows if anyone reads this anyway so it probably doesn't even matter (grin). A lot has changed since my last post. I am focusing more on self colors (black, blue, chocolate, and lilac) and brokens in those varieties. I guess more the chocolate and lilac in solids and black, blue, and chocolate in broken. I still have a few tricolors, but they are not dominant in the barn anymore.

It is winter again with it's frozen water bottles and no hose to wash off dirty pans. I love winter, but not when it comes to keeping up with rabbitry chores! My does are also proving difficult this winter. I was very excited to get some solids to show this spring. I bred all my does to my chocolate buck. One doe was due, but didn't take. All the others are due next week. They have not been very cooperative about breeding. Hopefully at least one of them will have a litter. Keeping my fingers crossed!

The babies have arrived...

Susie had her litter on February 12. She was pulling fur when I left for work. I wish I could have stayed home and watched. Her nestbox now has 7 squirming babies. It is a rainbow litter for sure! It will be fun figuring out all the different colors.
Holly, my broken black doe, had her litter on Tuesday. I was going to bring her inside like I did with Susie, but decided to leave her in the barn. She did a great job of covering her babies and did not get cold before I could bring them in the house. She has 2 babies left in her nestbox. She had a total of 5, but 3 were peanuts. Both babies are solids. I have a little break before the next litter is due.

Babies on the way!

Susie "chillin" in the office

I bought a new cage to house expectant moms during the cold days. They are set up on a table in my office. Heavy plastic surrounds the cage and is attached to the walls to keep everything clean! Susie, my booted chocolate/orange tricolor, is in here now with a litter due tomorrow. Once she has her babies, she will move back outside and her babies will stay in here until they are big enough to stay outside in the cold. Holly, bkn. black doe, will move in after Susie gives birth because she is due on Tuesday. Her babies will also stay inside. We'll see how it works. This is the first time I have tried bringing them into the house to have their babies.

Just keep snowing, just keep snowing, just keep snowing...

Our backyard. One of our English Cocker Spaniels, Daphne, is busy looking for squirrels visiting the feeder. If you look closely, you can see one of the little trails the dogs have made through the snow. They have created a whole network of these trails throughout the backyard. It looks like a huge ant farm.

View from our back deck. The red barn to the left is our rabbit barn.

Another snow day today. We still have below to near zero temperatures and it is still snowing! I love this weather as long as we don't have to go anywhere.