Our hearts and best hopes go to everyone impacted by the Covid-19 virus.
Just because we're doing non-Covid things, doesn't mean we have forgotten the folks suffering from the virus.
We also really, really appreciate all those folks out there keeping things going and keeping everyone as healthy as possible.
It's still out there and getting fiercer! Be vigilant and continue to be safe!
Wear your mask!
Wash your hands!
Wear your mask!
Wash your hands!
August 15th, 2020
Flying Bunnies
or "you can't get there from here"
Bunnies Ready to Fly Away
except the planes aren't ready
It is kinda amazing how many things are different in this Time of Covid. In a perfect world, we take the bunnies to our local little airport, check them in and they fly off to their new people. Nice and easy, and the world is good. However, now that there's more virus on Oahu, there's now a two week quarantine for anyone who visits there and anyone from there has a two week quarantine on our island, Hawaii Island. Unfortunately, that means there's less airplanes flying around so instead of flying the little propeller airplane (quieter than a jet) from Hawaii Island to Maui then Molokai and finally Oahu, the bunnies weren't able to go since part of the flights were cancelled. Hmpf!
There was also a clerk who hadn't noticed the rules changed when the little airline changed owners last year and she was very anti-bunny. The bunnies have been flying (the pilot even mentioned to the clerck that she had flown the bunnies the week before) and other small critters like ducks have been flying as well. But, the clerk still said 'no bunnies'. So the original 'no fly today' was because of a lack of airplanes, when trying to find out if there would be enough flights the next day, then this anti-bunny bias appeared so no bunnies the next day, either. Hmpf! Well, I'll see if I can get a mandate sent down from the head office and work on some education among the front line workers. You'd think, what with the lack of business these days, these folks would want to accept as much cargo as possible.
A quick call to the larger cargo planes didn't help with the bunnies flying out that day since the larger airlines require a reservation made at least one day ahead. So, the bunnies were delated a day in going to their new home and had a lot longer drive to the bigger airport and the larger planes. But, they did finally get there!
If anyone knows a better way to ship little bunnies from one island to another, please let me know!
If we bought gas for the plane, can a private pilot relocate bunnies? I used to know pilots who would have to periodically fly between islands and do 'touch and go' landings to keep their pilot's license current. Landing long enough to drop off a bunny in a box in exchange for the gas to get there (since they'd be going there anyway) would maybe be a thing? Hmm, there's probably rules against it, commercial cargo airlines would want to protect their company from competition by little guys. It would be nice to have more than one method just in case something happens or there are policy changes with the one method.
Actually, they did change their policies. It used to be I'd drop off a bunny around 4:30 pm at an airport on Hawaii Island and the bunny would fly off to Honolulu (the hub for the airline) and then the bunny would fly from there to Maui and they'd get to Maui around midnight. Kinda a humbug schedule, but at least the bunnies got there. Now, the drop off and pick up times remain the same, except the airline now tells me the layover time on Oahu is "too long" and someone on Oahu has to go get the bunny from the airline and then bring it back in two and a half hours and check it in again and pay for another flight. Okay, so they want to double the fees. But who do they think I have on Oahu to go to the airport, pick up the bunny and then take it back in a couple hours?
There's some sort of pet shipping service on Oahu who can baby sit the bunnies for the two or three hour layover. That then adds an additional fee of $120 to the getting the bunnies to their new home on any island other than Oahu. Also, the bigger airline doesn't go to Molokai or Lanai, although they are the only option to get to Kauai. Hmpf! Well, it's a mess and we need to get better shipping services between the islands.
The largest inter-island passenger planes don't allow bunnies as carry on pets and they also don't allow them as cargo. Yet cats and dogs can be carry on pets and they make a lot more noise than bunnies. Discrimination against bunnies, I tell ya! That's what it is! (Okay, I'm done ranting now, off to something more fun.)
Baby Bunnies!
waking up in the early morning sunlight
Three week old baby bunnies like to sleep in but the early morning sunlight is relentless. Buttercup & Hadrain's five baby bunnies all have their eyes open and are starting to come out of their nest box. There's two white ones, two chocolate ones and a tortoiseshell. Still haven't got a clue as to their genders yet, though.
One of the chocolate ones will be heading up mountain to Sunbonnet Farm where she will meet up with Hillside Chappy and hopefully have lots and lots of cute little bunnies. Sunbonnet Farm makes yarn from their sheep's wool and the bunnies will add their bunny fluff to the yarn making. One of the bucks from Buttercup & Hadrian's litter will remain here as well as one of the does so that only leaves two from Buttercup & Hadrian's litter to go to new homes.
Olivia & Hadrians litter of three week old chocolates are all well and thriving. She had a litter of seven and she still has all seven of them. They are all pretty much the same size, too, without any runts in the litter. One of the bucks from that litter as well as one of the does will stay here, most likely. That leaves five, though, to go to new homes.
I need to update the "Available Bunnies" page as well as the "In the Nestbox" page.
Seven weeks old now
They are getting really close to being beyond absurdly cute
Petunia & Phineas' babies are seven weeks old now and getting absurdly cute. They seem to have gotten some sort of memo about basing their genders on their colors. All three of the white ones are boys, all four of the black ones are girls. At least, as far as I can tell at the moment. I'll check again in two more weeks when they're ready to go to their new homes to make sure they having 'changed' their genders. It's pretty hard to reliably determine gender of bunnies at a young age. Well, at least for me, maybe other people are better at it.
Possibly one of the boys and definitely two of the girls will stay here. One of the boys is going to fly off to Kauai, but that still leaves at least one boy and maybe several of the females to go to new homes.
They are 8 weeks old now so they can go to new homes on Hawaii Island and can fly away to homes on the other islands starting next week. If you would like a fuzzy bunny of your own, you can send us an email at:
Mail to: Hillside Farm Hawaii
The male bunnies are usually $50 and the females are usually $75. They have a four generation pedigree and most of them are pure English angora. They are all pure angora, although some of them have a touch of Satin and/or German angora in their pedigrees.
If you're interested in setting up a breeding herd, ask about unrelated pairs. Due to the difficulty of getting good bloodstock in from the mainland, it will be great when we have more folks in Hawaii raising angora bunnies. If there's several herds, then we can occasionally swap bucks back and forth to keep down the levels of inbreeding and have healthier bunnies.
Lawn Roombaaas at Work!
Flower stealing Cypress' grass 'noodle'
The Sheepies are doing a great job of eating grasses in the back yard. They've nibbled the short stuff down and are making inroads in the tall stuff. When we whacked back the tall grass to put in the fence line, we just tossed all the cut grass into a pile along the fenceline. Which was about three feet deep and which hasn't broken down much so we kinda have a vegetative 'fence' inside the wire fence. I've been cutting breaks in the piled up grass line so the sheepies can go nibble on grasses in the middle of the field.
They still get rations twice a day since I don't know the nutritional value of older Guinea grasses. Plus it keeps them friendly if we give them snacks all the time. Actually, they may be too friendly since I'd planned on scything down the taller grasses and that's hard to do when there's sheepies nudging me for tasty things and not paying attention to sharp things on long sticks. I've been using the clippers to make paths through the piled grasses and will figure out how to cut down the tall grasses after the paths are cut. It will take awhile to get the sheep pasture properly arranged.
Beginning the Sheep Pasture
I hope they're really hungry
This is the beginning of the sheep pasture, August 2020. It's just under a quarter acre of really tall grass. They're starting to make dents around the edges but there's still a long way to go before it looks anything like a 'real' sheep pasture.
Waiting for Breakfast
They seem to like having breakfast with the neighbor's pit bull mix, Kai. I've been surprised at how well they get along with each other. So far Kai hasn't even barked at the sheepies. The sheep seem to not be overly concerned about being stared at while having breakfast so it's all good. Not sure what Kai thinks about sheep food, but he seems to be trying to nibble on the grasses like they do.
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