Mels mix surprise

kbb964 7/24/2012, 10:19 am

Sorry no picture but found something growing in my lettuce bed yesterday.... a rabbit nest!
Momma Rabbit had not touched any lettuce, not a single carrot but she had relocated a few onions so she could dig a nice hole and prepare it with fresh bedding for her babies. No babies in there so I removed it and dug it over.
Smart rabbit for using the Mels Mix ( good stuff) but a little dumb to not eat my wonderful veggies . haha.

Frenchbean 7/24/2012, 1:41 pm

erm where is said rabbit who by the sounds of it is about to give birth??? thinking

kbb964 7/24/2012, 4:40 pm

Mrs Rabbit has been building beds off and on since Spring. Her first one was in the hay bale over by the spud towers. I use a scent deterrent and havent seen bunny in weeks and to be honest my lettuce bed has been shaded with burlap for a week or so so only noticed this nest last night when I took the last of the lettuce out.
Dont worry Mrs. rabbit has plenty other gardens to lay down in... and of course had there been babies I would have not disturbed it , I would have had to protect it from the dog OHHHH!

Photo is 5th August 2009 .......... 5 day old babies under my day lillies

Mels mix surprise 6089_110

AvaDGardner 7/24/2012, 4:44 pm

Do we live in peace with the bunnies? She may see your garden as her pantry, all stocked up when she needs to feed her babies.

Are they pets or pests?

Ava

**camprn** 7/24/2012, 4:48 pm

How sweet! Where I live the New England cottentail rabbit is currently a candidate for species protection. I haven't seen a wild rabbit in about 20 years! And that makes me sad.

CapeCoddess 7/24/2012, 4:49 pm

My gosh, those are beautiful bunnies! If you keep them you'd get to use all that bunny poop. What a Face

CC

**camprn** 7/24/2012, 4:49 pm

AvaDGardner wrote:Do we live in peace with the bunnies? She may see your garden as her pantry, all stocked up when she needs to feed her babies.

Are they pets or pests?

Ava

I surmise she views the garden as safe place rather than a pantry, since she has not eaten anything from the lettuce patch.

kbb964 7/24/2012, 4:52 pm

In 2009 when I took daily pictures of the babies, I had no veggies plots. I have a funny feeling that she probably lived under the deck. I could not bring myself to disposing of the babes so during the day I put a upturned hanging basket over them with a large rock so the dog couldnt get at them. I was surprised that he didnt even sniff them out. At night I would remove the cage. When they eventually hopped out of the nest, the bloody dog got one Sad

The rest escaped.

Following that year I have deterred them with sprays. They tend to stay out if I keep on top of the spraying. I guess I was lax this year. I have been watching for evidence of feeding from my veggies and seriously nothing has been touched at all in the last months.

I think Mrs Rabbit doesnt know what a real veggie is like.

kbb964 7/24/2012, 4:53 pm

I try my hardest to deterr them because it upsets me when the dog chases and catches them !
Dog also likes to eat bunny poo

cpl100 7/24/2012, 4:54 pm

camprn wrote:How sweet! Where I live the New England cottentail rabbit is currently a candidate for species protection. I haven't seen a wild rabbit in about 20 years! And that makes me sad.

There is a rabbit in my neighborhood that you can gladly have in yours.

kbb964 7/24/2012, 4:56 pm

lolol

littlesapphire 7/24/2012, 4:58 pm

That's surprising, Camp! I seed cottontails everywhere here. They must like it in the city.

CindiLou 7/24/2012, 5:56 pm

I have several rabbits i can send your way! Cats tend to keep them down manageable.

If you try to keep a wild bunny. Chances are it will die. They are very susceptible to stress death.

**camprn** 7/24/2012, 6:59 pm

On the flip side.... rabbits are yummy Wink

**walshevak** 7/24/2012, 8:41 pm

camprn wrote:On the flip side.... rabbits are yummy

Poem from my childhood

I'm a mean ole grumpy weasel
and if I had my way
I'd have rabbit stew for breakfast
every single day

**Josh** 7/24/2012, 9:14 pm

kbb964 wrote:Mrs Rabbit has been building beds off and on since Spring. Her first one was in the hay bale over by the spud towers. I use a scent deterrent and havent seen bunny in weeks and to be honest my lettuce bed has been shaded with burlap for a week or so so only noticed this nest last night when I took the last of the lettuce out.
Dont worry Mrs. rabbit has plenty other gardens to lay down in... and of course had there been babies I would have not disturbed it , I would have had to protect it from the dog OHHHH!

Photo is 5th August 2009 .......... 5 day old babies under my day lillies

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Mels mix surprise 370856013

LittleGardener 7/24/2012, 10:32 pm

camprn wrote:On the flip side.... rabbits are yummy

We've kept bunnies for pets, & fertilizer too. - Growing as a child tho, they were additionally meant for the dinner-table, so adults made up stories of what happened to "MY bunny"; never caught on that MY bunnies, fed my tummy too. And yes! - they are good. We grew all our own animal foods, (one of which you would not eat I'm sure).

Frenchbean 7/25/2012, 7:30 am

What lovely bunnies. My daughter thought she'd been given 2 girl rabbits a few months later they gas birth to 6 sweet beautiful kits. The foxes around here got through our home made deluxe fox proof cage affraid

2 of them worked together to undo the bolt, before being scared of by my dog; who protected them. Rabbit stew is lovely. However my children wouldn't let me put them in the pot. We had to bury them 5 years later in a special place Very Happy

Dunkinjean 7/25/2012, 8:02 pm

Last Spring/Summer as I was weeding my Petunias under our Japanese Weeping Cherry Tree I was startled (screamed) when there were a pair of eyes staring at me.......lo and behold there were baby bunnies under the Petunias!
This spring/summer my husband was mowing our back yard when he noticed a pile of grass but not until he had already ran over it and to his surprise there were baby bunnies! Luckily they were fine and we left them alone and they eventually hopped away.
Surprisingly the bunnies/rabbits have left my garden alone. Laughing

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Mels mix surprise