Tom and I have watched with wonder as the baby bunnies matured. I have been very surprised that an open nest could be successful. This nest was not hidden in any way such as in the tree line, under bushes or in high grass near the trees. This one was in the middle of the garden out in the open. We put stones around them so we would not step on them accidentally and we kept putting a little bit of grass and twigs on them every day so we could tell if the mother was taking care of them and keep them hidden from the hawks and snakes. They made it through heavy downpours and freezing weather. They are a lot tougher than they look! They grew very fast. By the 10th, most of the bunnies had opened their eyes. By the 12th, all but two left the nest. On the 13th in about 3 weeks, all were gone. Below is a picture on their last day with everyone in the nest.
So on the 14th, while I was checking and repairing the fence line, I found that one of the babies had gotten stuck in our fence. We have a double layer at ground level and it was stuck in between the inner plastic deer fence and the outer galvanized steel anti-rabbit fence. (Guess it worked to keep them from getting through.) I was able to free it and it hopped off as fast as its little legs could go. Lucky break for it since it had eaten all of the grass in the immediate area of about two inches. We have at least a dozen healthy, hungry rabbits on the property. Um, yay?
So now we are redoubling our efforts at keeping them out of the garden! Tom has been adding tougher fence posts since some of them had begun to lean quite a bit during the winter. I also bought Tom stakes (not steaks!) to anchor the bottom of the rabbit fence. At the places where they had previously gotten in, we have added large stones as well. Tom thought that adding some “used” kitty litter might discourage critters as well.
All of this is in preparation for putting out our broccoli, brussel sprouts, sweet peppers and tomatoes. We are in the process of hardening them off. So, in a week we will have those in addition to peas, spinach, onions, red potatoes, black beans, kidney beans and corn. We aren’t quite done planting either. We still have green beans and zucchini to go! At least we are no longer raising baby bunnies!