'Miracle', The Flying Bun...

 Many of you are not old enough to remember a small obscure television show called 'The Flying Nun', but if you do then you will understand the gist of my joke regarding the title of this article. Heck, I only remember seeing it in re-runs. Anyway, if you have seen any of our videos, or follow our Facebook page, then you know that our homestead was hit by a E3 (136 – 165mph winds), although some sources mention E4 (166 – 200mph winds) tornado on April 29^th, 2017. To be honest the devastation on our county road was unbelievable, but no one nearby was killed although some sustained minor injuries.

Yesterday, May 9, 2017, I was out on the property letting the chickens out of their coops and feeding the for the morning, As I was heading for the small storage shed where the feed was kept, much to my surprise and astonishment I saw a rabbit on our roof! Yes, I said there was an American Blue doe walking around on the roof of our house. How she got there I can only surmise by looking at the only route to the roof and that is by the large tree that is sitting in our kitchen. You see a large tree, of which has a diameter larger than I can wrap my arms around fell through our kitchen and four other rooms of our home making it impossible to access part of the kitchen and the pantry (mud room).

The rabbit hutch was lifted out of the ground and thrown up against the back porch in that specific area and there was a lot of debris everywhere and all of the cages were mangled, many beyond repair. We found a three empty cages in the yard, two on the back porch and one in the front yard, but we only recovered two loose rabbits. We assumed that the missing American Blue doe (who was unnamed) was lost. I believe that this American Blue doe had been hiding in the pantry area for more than a week, as she definitely was not on the roof when we removed the branches and top of the tree that had fallen through the house to cover the roof with tarps. She eventually decided to go 'walkabout', using the tree as a ram and climbed up onto the roof where I found her yesterday.

In a near panic, as only a rabbit person could do, I found a ladder and set it against the roof of the house and tentatively climbed slowly with a bowl of food. Surprisingly she came over to me easily and I was able to grab her where she ate. Not knowing how she would react, the next issue I encountered was how to safely carry her down the ladder without falling myself. Cell phone to the rescue as I slowly reached into my pocket with one hand removed my phone and called my wife to come down from my mother-in-laws house to hand me a small dog kennel to put her in so that we both could safely descend the ladder.

Conclusion

She appears to be doing well, and she finally received her name. My wife said ti was a miracle the she survived. Calling her survival a “miracle” may be a little over the top, but so be it, that will be her new name from this day forward. She seems to be doing fine at this time and when my wife was feeding and watering her, she came to the front of the cage to be loved on. Only time will tell if 'Miracle' continues to flourish and recover from her ordeal, but rabbits are pretty resilient, and our hope is to add her to our line breeding program of American Blues which is why she was originally kept from our last litter. We will keep y'all informed of her progress.

At this time TAP Rabbitry is in recovery/rebuild mode. All of our rabbits are being cared for (at her expense) by a wonderful woman of God and fellow breeder Bonita Hunt (Baileywick Rabbitry 903-946-4666) until we get the new outside hutch up and running. Not only is Bonita housing and feeding our rabbits, she has reached out to the rabbit raising community. Many have donated new cages, feeders, and all the other necessary equipment to get us back on our feet. In addition, I suspect she has spent more money of her own than she is willing to tell us. Thanks again Bonita for all that you have done. As always, if you have enjoyed this article or have found it informative, then please share it with your friends. Don't forget to send us a friend request on Facebook or Google+ so that you will not miss any of our latest articles.

So if you need rabbits at this time I can recommend two friends of mine, Steven Coyne (Texas Bunny Barn) and Bonita Hunt (Baileywick Rabbitry) you will find contact information for these great folks below. Thanks again.

Steven Coyne (Texas Rabbit Barn)
texasbunnybarn@yahoo.com
(972)742-4922

Forney, Texas
Breeds: New Zealand, American Blues

Bonita Hunt (Baileywick Rabbitry)

bhunt1961@yahoo.com
(903)946-4666

Honey Grove, Texas
Breeds: New Zealands, Meat Pens, Dwarf Hotots, Californians, Mini Lops, Dutch, Lionhead lops, Lionheads, Mini Satins, Jersey Woolies, Netherland Dwarfs, Polish, and Holland Lops.

Tornado Update

Just a video update for all of our family and friends to know how we are doing. Thanks for all your continued prayers and support!

Canton Tornado 2017

Days after posting or latest rabbit offerings for sale on many different Facebook pages, our rabbitry in Canton, Texas was hit by a tornado. They tell me that the wind speeds were 140+ miles per hour. From the damage that our small homestead revived as a result of these winds I believe it. Essentially the farm has been destroyed and most of the buildings, greenhouse, and chicken pens were destroyed. We are safe, and miraculously we only lost 2 adult American Blues (a male and a female) and one of the American Blue litters (8, 10-week old kits).

To say we were at a loss as to what to do next is an understatement. A fellow breeder (Bonita Hunt of Bailywick Rabbitry) whom we have bought breeding stock before contacted us and offered to come and house our rabbits for us. She drove more than two hours and brought her truck and horse trailer and took the whole herd to their home. She refused to take any money for feed to house or livestock, she is truly a good Samaritan and we can thank her enough.

Needless to say, all rabbit sales have to be put on hold at this time. Thank you for all the prayers and messages and calls that we have received in support. We will keep you updated on the status of the farm. I have included a link to the video that I shot we we first arrived on the scene. Thanks again.

If you need a good source for rabbits please contact our friends below:

Steve Coyne (Texas Bunny Barn) Forney, TX 972-742-4922

Bonita Hunt (Bailywick Rabbitry) Honey Grove, TX 903-946-4666