the scream you never want to hear :S

[Luke0987654321]

ok, hi
new here, but i have had rabbits for about 4 years now
well the two days ago i had left the bunnies out for a free range that i do most days for about an hour, so i was feeding the chickens, and i hear one of the rabbits screaming, as i was running over to the area, i thought a stray dog or something had managed to get in to the area and was killing my does, so i get there and there is a hawk an top of my doe (two weeks pregnant (suposedley)) and she is screaming her head of, i imeadetly call my dog to go over to scare the hawk away, (he loves the rabbits to bits and has never ever even hurt a rabbit, but he hates big birds, unlucky for the chickens) so he goes over and grabs the hawk and runs of with the hawk in his mouth :/ .
i catch the doe up and check her over, all she has are two cuts on her back, co i clean her up and disinfect them, (they are healing up reall good) .

anyway, about half an hour later domino (my dog) comes strutting up to the house with abald hawk, he had plucked almost all of the feathers of the body, and the head was partially chewed
so i am wondering, do you think my doe will re-absorb her kits?
i have never had this happen to me before.
i feel sorry for the hawk

luke.

 

[chinbunny1]

Poor rabbit. Poor hawk. i would watch who you tellabout this,because those birds are sverely protected in a lot of states. I would have tried to make the dog let the bird the bird go instea dof allowing it to be killed. I would also watch that too, because now he has killed a bird, your rabbits and chickens may be next.

Dealing with hawks is scarey. I had to fend one off one of my ringneck doves last year when it escaped its cage. Luckily I was finally able to catch the bird and put him back unharmed. A young redtail had swoooped in to try and catch him with me standing directly under it. We have a pair hanging around here now. They like to hunt small birds at the local childrens park. They are pretty, but now everything of mine goes out in cages to protect them from them. Including my rabbits.

i would sugest investing in some sort of tractoring pens to put the chickens and rabbit sin in case you have more hawks around there. where ther eis one, there are usually more. At this time of the year they are hunting to feed their babies. Dog cages are very sturdy and make excellent tractoring pens. However, They are not dog proof. So it may be wise to tie the dog up somewhere where he can't get around them.

 

[Luke0987654321]

Poor rabbit. Poor hawk. i would watch who you tellabout this,because those birds are sverely protected in a lot of states. I would have tried to make the dog let the bird the bird go instea dof allowing it to be killed. I would also watch that too, because now he has killed a bird, your rabbits and chickens may be next.

Dealing with hawks is scarey. I had to fend one off one of my ringneck doves last year when it escaped its cage. Luckily I was finally able to catch the bird and put him back unharmed. A young redtail had swoooped in to try and catch him with me standing directly under it. We have a pair hanging around here now. They like to hunt small birds at the local childrens park. They are pretty, but now everything of mine goes out in cages to protect them from them. Including my rabbits.

i would sugest investing in some sort of tractoring pens to put the chickens and rabbit sin in case you have more hawks around there. where ther eis one, there are usually more. At this time of the year they are hunting to feed their babies. Dog cages are very sturdy and make excellent tractoring pens. However, They are not dog proof. So it may be wise to tie the dog up somewhere where he can't get around them.

hi chinbunny1,
i didnt intend for the dog to actually kill, he normally goes up to them and just barks untill the bird goes away,
the rabbits are fine with him, i had them before him and he grew up with them, he has never killed anything before :/
thanks for the info, from now on i will sit with the does when they r out and free ranging.
i have bad news on the doe that was pregnant this morning when i went out to give them some dry bagget, and change their bedding, she had blood aroung her but, so i got her inside and with a wet towel i wiped the blood of and she sat on my lap for about half an hour just chilling, then she had a big contraction and 7 little blobs about the size of my big toe came out
it was terrible i put her on the floor and went to the toilet, i felt so sick i threw the towel away. i couldent pick them out of the towell, then i really would have been sick.
so now she i9s almost back to normall, she is eating like there is no tomorrow, i dont blame her.
the only predators that could pose a reall threat to any of my animals are the hawks (this is the first time in four years that they have actually attacked) and foxes that only atempted it one time and they failed.
i live in spain, so there arent coyotes or anything like that.

i think i will rebreed her in about a week, se how she is feeling.

luke.