After the death of Fiddlesticks a few weeks back, I've been getting concerned about Pumpkin and Dexter's weight. Tonight, I decided that as the OH was here, I would give them a good health check and bring them in to be weighed.
I checked the other 4 over and they feel chunky... Can feel their spine and need to press in a tiny bit to feel their ribs. When I checked Pumpkin and Dexter however, I can feel their ribs very easily and picking them up, they feel so tiny.
So, checked their weight... Did it on my scales with me so won't be 100% accurate. Dexter was 1.4/1.5kg, which, I think for a dutch, puts him 0.5/0.6kg underweight.
Pumpkin, is a harlequin, a small one though... She's 1.7/1.8kg, so around 1kg underweight although, in all honesty, she doesn't feel it. Dexter feels worst.
I know, ideally, you're not supposed to split a bonded group but in November when D and P had their vacc's, D was 2.1kg and P was 2.6kg (maybe 2.7kg). That's an awful lot smaller. Due to Fiddles passing away and feeling so tiny when I found her, I'm really worried. So, have brought P and D in and put them in the bathroom (no heating on in there and it's cold all the time in there anyway...tiled floors, felted roof (not a proper house roof on it as it's a rubbish extension!)
I've put some veg in for them and their hay... No pellets as ran out yesterday and OH just got home tonight.
What should I do????? Fill them up together until their weight gets better? How would I do this, just unlimited pellets, bit more veg/herbs and their usual hay?)
Then what do I do? Re-bond with the others and hope for the best again? I'm not sure I can do this bonded 6 thing... They are just constantly back and forth with weight and I just find it hard to make sure they are all getting their fair share. First it was Fiddles who died, now who else?
Would I be better splitting them? If I were to do 2 trios, what would the accomodation have to be like? I'm not even sure I could do 2 trios... Milly doesn't really fit into either group. It's Dexter, Pumpkin and their 3 babies (not so much babies anymore as they're just over a year - from the accidental litter)
I don't know how I'm going to do all this. I don't have the garden space :/ If they had to be split, Milly would need to go and I don't think I could bond Bramble and put him outside because my garden is tiny. I can't knock down the outhouse yet as we don't have the funds... So one group would need bought a hutch/run combo and one would have to stay in the shed till it was knocked down. Then, I could do two hutches/runs or two playhouses/runs but nothing else will really fit... And I could only have a 6x2 hutch with an attached 6x4 run. I honestly don't think I could could much bigger than that...
What am I going to do I'm so worried....
ETA: Just realised, when the outhouse is taken down (the stone one we have now, where the 6 buns live), which should be around March/May time, I will have the room for a bigger run. So, they could have the 6x2x2 Happy hutch with the 6x4 run underneath and I could add on the 4foot run extension too.
I checked the other 4 over and they feel chunky... Can feel their spine and need to press in a tiny bit to feel their ribs. When I checked Pumpkin and Dexter however, I can feel their ribs very easily and picking them up, they feel so tiny.
So, checked their weight... Did it on my scales with me so won't be 100% accurate. Dexter was 1.4/1.5kg, which, I think for a dutch, puts him 0.5/0.6kg underweight.
Pumpkin, is a harlequin, a small one though... She's 1.7/1.8kg, so around 1kg underweight although, in all honesty, she doesn't feel it. Dexter feels worst.
I know, ideally, you're not supposed to split a bonded group but in November when D and P had their vacc's, D was 2.1kg and P was 2.6kg (maybe 2.7kg). That's an awful lot smaller. Due to Fiddles passing away and feeling so tiny when I found her, I'm really worried. So, have brought P and D in and put them in the bathroom (no heating on in there and it's cold all the time in there anyway...tiled floors, felted roof (not a proper house roof on it as it's a rubbish extension!)
I've put some veg in for them and their hay... No pellets as ran out yesterday and OH just got home tonight.
What should I do????? Fill them up together until their weight gets better? How would I do this, just unlimited pellets, bit more veg/herbs and their usual hay?)
Then what do I do? Re-bond with the others and hope for the best again? I'm not sure I can do this bonded 6 thing... They are just constantly back and forth with weight and I just find it hard to make sure they are all getting their fair share. First it was Fiddles who died, now who else?
Would I be better splitting them? If I were to do 2 trios, what would the accomodation have to be like? I'm not even sure I could do 2 trios... Milly doesn't really fit into either group. It's Dexter, Pumpkin and their 3 babies (not so much babies anymore as they're just over a year - from the accidental litter)
I don't know how I'm going to do all this. I don't have the garden space :/ If they had to be split, Milly would need to go and I don't think I could bond Bramble and put him outside because my garden is tiny. I can't knock down the outhouse yet as we don't have the funds... So one group would need bought a hutch/run combo and one would have to stay in the shed till it was knocked down. Then, I could do two hutches/runs or two playhouses/runs but nothing else will really fit... And I could only have a 6x2 hutch with an attached 6x4 run. I honestly don't think I could could much bigger than that...
What am I going to do I'm so worried....
ETA: Just realised, when the outhouse is taken down (the stone one we have now, where the 6 buns live), which should be around March/May time, I will have the room for a bigger run. So, they could have the 6x2x2 Happy hutch with the 6x4 run underneath and I could add on the 4foot run extension too.
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