Captain’s Log - Feathered Fiasco

We had a bit of a crisis this weekend in the bunny shed. 

The chickens appear to have taken over the shed where the bunnies live – instead of politely sleeping on the shelves and the perches they’ve been provided, these large, imposing chickens I’ve managed to grow have taken to hanging out on top of the bunny cages. 

You know how when you park your car under a tree where birds are perching, you have to take it to the car wash more often. Well, imagine that scenario over the top of the rabbits. And remember, these are fancy English Angora rabbits, raised specifically for their long, beautiful wool, which at this time of year, going into winter, is at the height (or shall we say length) of perfection – prime for being harvested and spun into gloriously soft, luxurious yarn. 

I have had to make cute little roofs for all of the cages where large birds have decided they like to sleep to prevent “contamination” let’s say, of the bunnies and their wool.

On Sunday morning, during feeding time I discovered that Galahad, the huge new rooster that was born in April had slipped the lid off of Jane Russell, my absolute best wool producing rabbit, and the unimaginable mess that he left had drenched the entire right side of her head. 

English Angoras are hairy. And if you know anything about wool and fiber, you know that if you get it wet, it will felt (mash together and turn into a whole new product) and then shrink. But the only way to rectify this situation was to grab Jane and run to the house and gently but vigorously run her entire head under the shower. 

Imagine now, a bunny, with a full coat of seven-inch-long hair, fighting you in your shower stall because she is quite literally covered in what hit the fan but now, she is also soaking wet and doubly mad, scrambling to get away and also shaking all that fur to get the water off. And did I mention rabbits have disasterously long nails. 

Once she was clean and I had apologized appropriately with an entire head of lettuce, Jane got to hang out in the house with me all day while we intermittently blow dried her fiber, gently coaxing it to health. We managed to save what will eventually become a beautiful grey/blue yarn and be knitted into a beanie and in the process get Jane’s dignity restored. 

But Galahad is on now on the “list.”  

So, while we repair rabbit roofs and bandage our scratched up arms, we’ll still be right here… 

…Keeping you Posted. 

Rach