Got my little farm a start today.

[Brent S]

One of my female rabbits had her second batch of babies yesterday! Luckily these are being nursed and are still alive after 24 hrs. (Unlike the first ones). With any luck in 8 to 12 weeks I'll get to see how tough I am with cleaning them for barbecue! I also traded a guy three bottles of wine for 14 baby chickens. He has an incubator and 'cooked' 21 eggs for me and today 14 of them hatched, I got them inside the house with a lamp and so far all are well. He said they have about a fifty percent chance of being male, so those I'll eat in 8'weeks and the girls will help restock my 'egg factory'. I'm going to look into getting my own incubator as it seems to really increase your odds of hatching.

 

[jimLE]

congrats daddy brent..lolgood luck with all of them..rabbits n chicks alike..

 

[Gettingreadymama]

One of my female rabbits had her second batch of babies yesterday! Luckily these are being nursed and are still alive after 24 hrs. (Unlike the first ones). With any luck in 8 to 12 weeks I'll get to see how tough I am with cleaning them for barbecue! I also traded a guy three bottles of wine for 14 baby chickens. He has an incubator and 'cooked' 21 eggs for me and today 14 of them hatched, I got them inside the house with a lamp and so far all are well. He said they have about a fifty percent chance of being male, so those I'll eat in 8'weeks and the girls will help restock my 'egg factory'. I'm going to look into getting my own incubator as it seems to really increase your odds of hatching.

Congratulations! You maybe able to find someone that will trade you one for sum eggs!?!?!? Good luck

 

[Brent S]

congrats daddy brent..lolgood luck with all of them..rabbits n chicks alike..

Thanks, chicks are allready smelling up the house! It got colder than I thought last night, is 23 this am, hope that new mama knew how to keep those hairless little ones warm.

 

[Gettingreadymama]

Thanks, chicks are allready smelling up the house! It got colder than I thought last night, is 23 this am, hope that new mama knew how to keep those hairless little ones warm.

Don't worry the mama will do her job. But be ready to lose at least one or two. As far as the smell....well good luck!! Stay warm

 

[Brent S]

Don't worry the mama will do her job. But be ready to lose at least one or two. As far as the smell....well good luck!! Stay warm

I only brought the chicks inside, left the rabbits outside but so far everyone has survived. Can't wait to see how many of the chicks are hens vs roosters.

 

[Gettingreadymama]

I only brought the chicks inside, left the rabbits outside but so far everyone has survived. Can't wait to see how many of the chicks are hens vs roosters.

I hope that were you are the weather works out for you. No matter the # vs # you have more that you had that is a great thing!!

 

[Brent S]

It is finally warm enough to get the bunnies out of the laundry room, the chicks are still under a light inside for a few more weeks though. I can't get a count of the rabbits yet, just a pile of em, but at least 5 or 6. The rooster and two hens are all that's left of my flock, so the 14 babies are a good start to replenish.

. Is that baby bunny cute or what!

 

[jimLE]

diffently don't want my mom to see them.she'll think.awwwwww how cute.thier not for food are they? LOL

 

[Brent S]

Heck, I'm going to struggle with that one too! On the other hand I get a warm fuzzy feeling from barbecue also!

 

[Dani]

Thanks, chicks are allready smelling up the house! It got colder than I thought last night, is 23 this am, hope that new mama knew how to keep those hairless little ones warm.

been there and done that one! Honestly I agree with Gettingreadymama. . . let mom do her job. Once you bring them in, especially for a long period of time and the re-introduce them, they will end up peaking the babies and some to death.

 

[Brent S]

been there and done that one! Honestly I agree with Gettingreadymama. . . let mom do her job. Once you bring them in, especially for a long period of time and the re-introduce them, they will end up peaking the babies and some to death.

Yeah I was worried at how the older birds will react. Idealy, in the spring I just would have slipped the chicks in the coop at night and that little black hen is a great brooder. It's been the coldest winter I have ever seen here though, so not an option. I may try to separate the rooster at first as I put them in and test it out a little at a time. I think the biggest problem will be that I can't tell which chicks are male, but I'm betting that the rooster can, and I doubt he'll be happy with future competition. I've had chickens several times over the years, mostly for fresh eggs, but this is the first for the rabbits.

 

[Dani]

Honestly I would love the rabbits better than the chicks; I love my furry critters more. . . yes I am partial. But I do like my chicks. I learned my lesson a few years ago when I hatched an egg inside. I raised her for a few months inside, but hunny had enough of it. I told him not to release her in the coop yet, but he did it anyway after I had to go into work. Poor babe got pecked to death.
Are you able to run a heat lamp into the coop? That is what we do now when it turns really cold. It also helps with the egg production during the cold weather.

 

[Brent S]

I've been a little worried about that. When it's been in the teens the coop still gets cold even with the heat lamp, at least too cold for chicks, the larger birds are fine. As soon as it stops going below 30 I will put them out there. I thought a nesting box with the wire top and a lamp on it, but only a small opening that the rooster couldn't get thru would help their chances. That way they can run around inside the whole coop but still have refuge. I'll let you know how it works. There about three weeks old now, which might be a little big for the brooder even, but the rooster is the bully out there, I don't think the hens are very aggressive. (Hope)

 

[Gazrok]

Wow, your bunny hutches look like mine, hehe, same roof material and all. I'm actually hoping to build a new one in a couple of months. The design is basically to be a bit more cozy for them, and easier to clean for us, etc. (I'm also going to use a sturdier wire than the chicken wire on the current one). That stuff rusts, then busts, so will go with a tight grid wire. (to also keep babies from danger).

 

[Brent S]

Wow, your bunny hutches look like mine, hehe, same roof material and all. I'm actually hoping to build a new one in a couple of months. The design is basically to be a bit more cozy for them, and easier to clean for us, etc. (I'm also going to use a sturdier wire than the chicken wire on the current one). That stuff rusts, then busts, so will go with a tight grid wire. (to also keep babies from danger).

i put chicken wire on 1 cage, and yeah, wasnt very happy with its strength. all the rest have hardware cloth which is pretty tough. i did those cages to be able to move them through the garden for fertilizer, but now there pretty stationary and i compost the manure. i like being able to segregate the rabbits whenever i like, so ill keep those cages but am doing a long one with dividers along the wall of the garage, It has cement siding, so ill just use that as the back of the cage. right now i just have 2 females but would like to make that 4 down the road. i will try your tip on the 2 liter bottle for their water tomorrow!

 

[Gazrok]

but am doing a long one with dividers along the wall of the garage

Yep, one of the reasons for the redesign. I want to be able to separate them out, breed them as I want, etc.

 

[Brent S]

Yep, one of the reasons for the redesign. I want to be able to separate them out, breed them as I want, etc.

ill shoot you a pict of it when im done, but it still has to warm up a bit before i start outside again.

 

[Brent S]

I finally got a count of my first batch of baby rabbits! I've got 8 3 week olds! She lost one on the first day, so I'm pretty happy with the final count. I read that they can have up to 24, I really feel for any mama that has to go thru that!

 

[Brent S]

The baby rabbits are doing great,

their, not so babies anymore, starting to look like regular rabbits in just 4 weeks. My baby chicks that I stupidly got in the middle of winter are all good too.

Still have all 14 alive. Had to put the rooster in 'jail' though, just to be safe, at least till there big enough to run from him! I got a lot done in the greenhouse today too.

This is the second raised bed, I need to get moving as it will be time to plant before I know it.

The right side with some winter veggies is doing fine. More an experiment than anything, but I've learned you can grow in the winter too.

Well I did get all the fruit trees pruned before spring, may be summer before I get all that stuff picked up off the ground though! Never seems to be enough time to do all the things you want, but I guess all you can do is keep plugging along. Sure would be nice to be able to hire a crew to help though. Good luck in all your preps!

 

[Brent S]

I'm up to 23 baby rabbits now! I'll try my hand at cleaning the first eight in about three weeks. Have started googling receipies on roasted rabbit allready. I do seem to be spending a lot on feed for them, so it's not as economical as I'd like, but at least I know what it's eaten and is drug free. The 14 chicks I got are all looking like chickens now and are in the coop enclosure doing great. I bought an incubator at tractor supply and plan to raise a lot more for food as well as eggs. Here's some Picts of the food preps in progress,

there's 11 new ones in that pile,

These are about three weeks from being barbecue, and there's one more set of only four that is between the two sizes. It took a while to get the rabbit set up to start producing, but now they seem to be 'breeding like rabbits'! I've been eating salads from the winter vegetables for a little while now, and am seeing the summer sprouts popping up in the greenhouse now.

 

[Dani]

Have you tried talking to a local grocery store about their produce that they throw away? Or maybe even a local restaurant that has a salad bar? We have picked up old produce from our grocery store, but had to go thru corporate office to get approved, but it is worth it, especially if you work in town and can just pick it up on your way home from work.

 

[Dani]

We supplement our pigs and chickens with it and they love it so I would think your rabbits would also be willing to go for that idea

 

[realisticdude]

Yea boy...............feed my birds every scrap I get my hands on.................And they love it ................. happy birds lay plenty eggs.... I sing a little chicky / chicky song when I visit and they sing right back.....................you should have seen them with that stale Mardi Gras King cake they got last week

 

[Brent S]

Have you tried talking to a local grocery store about their produce that they throw away? Or maybe even a local restaurant that has a salad bar? We have picked up old produce from our grocery store, but had to go thru corporate office to get approved, but it is worth it, especially if you work in town and can just pick it up on your way home from work.

Ive thought about it alot, but have not approached anyone yet. I have three stores I frequent, so hopefully one will work with me.