Rabbits
We picked up three New Zealand White does yesterday evening. They are quite young, just weaned. About 3 or 4 weeks old. When they're big enough they are going to live outdoors in a rabbit colony rather than the traditional rabbit hutch. The colony is a fenced in area about 15' x 20'? Maybe bigger.
My research indicates that rabbits in a colony fight less, have less problems with parasites and disease, are less likely to kill/eat their kits, and are more fertile because they can go underground to cool off when it's too hot.
We're keeping these does in a large dog crate for the time being (Rolf's old crate) and when they get bigger we'll take them out to the colony area and put the crate out there so they can explore and get used to the area while still having their familar hidey-hole and feeding area available to them.
When they get old enough to breed we'll get a Callifornian buck, maybe two. We don't want the bucks to fight or wear out the does but we don't want to be reliant on only one buck, in case he's not fertile or gets killed.
Labels: rabbits
posted by Leslie @ 10:01 AM
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My son came home from college with a bunny (a flop?), but I doubt that we'll be eating it.
Hi Leslie! I'm wondering about the fenced-in area for the rabbits. If they tunnel, what is to prevent them from digging through to the other side? Are you breeding them for meat or to sell or just for pets? Hope the chicks are doing well. Ours are feeling the heat a bit today. It's humid and 90 degrees so I shut their light off and put a fan in the room for circulation. They're getting so crowded in their bin that yesterday I built a larger enclosure for them out of 2x4's and wire. They'll go into that today. Still indoors though because I'm "chicken" about putting my babies out yet.
Pablo, rabbits make good pets and can be trained to use a litter box, like a cat. Or so I hear.
Emily, there are several folks who post on Homesteading Today who raise rabbits in a colony and they say that although the burrows can extend out beyond the fence, the rabbits do not pop up on the outside. I don't know why - maybe they know "outside" is dangerous, or maybe they like being where the free food is. These will be meat rabbits.
My chicks are looking okay - no panting. I'm changing their water frequently and I turned off their lamps. Their little internal clocks are hosed. They stay up all night chasing the little flying bugs that congregate around their lamps, and then snooze all day.
Your bin sounds nice. I don't know where I'll put mine when they outgrow their present "brooder" as I have no free space larger than where they are.
We inherited a nice chicken house when we bought this place, with an attached run. The run needs to be re-fenced but that shouldn't be too big a deal. Fencing all around and on top. Nice and safe while I'm still in my own "chicken" phase.
I like the idea of colonies for rabbits, but they wouldn't work very well for angora fiber. I'll be interested in hearing how it works!
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