Wed. July 1st... Well Now, The Verdict is In..... Vick is allergic to the bunnies!!!!!

We got the idea that perhaps she was allergic to them the other night when she was scratched by one and her arm welted and started to itch, but then who doesn’t react to a scratch similarly? We held our assumption in reserve and again today, without being scratched by a bunny, she started to sneeze and itch. After remarking about it though, she said she did scratch her arm on the cage door. Again, we decided to wait until she interacted without a scratch from anything. Tonight, it happened..... she simply opened the cage door and petted the bunny inside, without picking her up and didn’t scrape her arms on the edge of the cut wires of the door opening and she reacted by sneezing and itching on the back of her hands, wrists and forearms. She is definitely allergic to the Angora bunnies.
I’ll have to do all the handling of them in the processing of the fiber and anything else needing done with them. Vick can specialize on the Alpacas. We finished hanging the cages and fitting the feed dispensers and water bottles to make them ready for occupation in two more weeks, like Claudia suggested. We can use the time, because we are a feeder short, so that will give us time to get one. Once we get past the two week mark, we will separate the four baby bunnies and they will start their lives as young adults. We will be able to harvest their fiber at five inches in length unless it becomes extremely warm. If that happens, we’ll cut their fiber and scrap it rather than risk the health of the rabbit in the extreme heat. We’ll keep a bunch of gel ice packs in the freezer of the refrigerator in the barn, so we can place a wet towel over the top of the cage with ice inside to drop the temperature in the cage below. That will work in some cases.... we must just watch the rabbit for signs of distress or relaxation, to know what to do. Well, anyway... the bunny brothel is done and we can move to the gift shop or the rear deck project. I think we’ll do the rear deck, so we can start to use it and enjoy some of the summer, eating outside or grilling, even if it rains.
Below are a bunch of pictures of the inside of the bunny brothel..... it was a neat building to utilize and we are about to release a portion of the chickens into the general population of the hen house. They’re ready now.

Today I mowed the entire farm where ever I could. Both sides of the Pupskill Bay Lake Pond were mowed to assure access for fishing to Bill for his visit. I then mowed everything else on the estate in preparation for their arrival.

Tomorrow we blend bunny feed in the big brown trash can.... should be fun!