One More Day Until Bunnies

[amberfocus]

And I'm not talking plot bunnies.



This will be our third livestock adventure. The first two, of course, were chickens and ducks for their eggs.

I will be bringing home 1 junior (means less than one years old, but old enough to breed) buck, 1 senior doe (senior just means it is at least one), and one junior doe with six kits that are six weeks old. So nine altogether. They are New Zealand Whites. I would like to eventually have a total of 2 bucks and six does for breeding. That should eventually supply us with enough meat for a weekly meal of rabbit for a year, without overbreeding the does or having them kindle during the coldest part of the year.

We will also be getting some male chicks for fryers this year, if my mother is to be believed. But that is her baliwick. The rabbits are mine. We will be breeding the doe that does not have kits after they have had a few days to settle. We will not breed the junior doe until her kits have been weaned.

We spent most of yesterday getting the shed prepared and the hutches moved in. Today I have to pick up the feed, the food troughs, the water bottles, and dedicated cleaning supplies for the hutches. I have orchard hay and timothy hay already. I will also need to get or make a couple of nesting boxes within a couple of weeks of breeding as it only takes 28 to 34 days for a rabbit to kindle.

It is exciting. I am really looking forward to raising them. Well, almost all the parts of raising them. Probably not the sending them to freezer camp part so much. But if we are going to move more and more towards self-sufficiency and sustainable living, this is one of those things I'll just have to get used to. It is very easy to buy your meat on a polystyrene tray wrapped in plastic and have no knowledge of how your food was raised or that it was in fact, once an animal that gave it's life to sustain yours. Do you know that 70% of elementary age children do not realize that chicken nuggets come from an actual chicken? Although that's debatable, in my opinion, as I'm not sure there's any actual chicken in chicken nuggets, but there is supposed to be. We have moved so far from farm to table some kids don't even realize there is a place beyond the grocery store, that eggs don't automatically come in cartons, and that broccoli actually grows in the dirt. There is quite a lack in food education today.

By raising my own I will know how it was raised, that it lived in a wonderful environment, and was fed the best food, got some time on actual grass, and that it was harvested humanely and with thanks for its sacrifice. That does not, however, mean you won't find me crying like a baby after the first harvest. Youtube vids can only desensitize you so much. I have made the decision to look my food in the face. I consider myself fortunate to even have this opportunity. That does not mean it will be easy, though. Still, we are only 2 generations removed from the farm. We can find our way back.

Comments

[azriona.livejournal.com]

Now I want to know if you're going to name the bunnies. I mean, I know you name the chickens, but for some reason, I think of bunnies as being more like pets, whereas chickens are more like livestock. If that makes any sense at all.

Then again, I name the chickens I cook, but that's after they've been plucked.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

We will only name the breeding stock, not the ones we will eat. We also won't name the frying chickens. We just name the ones that will be around for a while.

[apurplepatch.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my rule growing up on a large scale farm was you only name pets, not anything destined for the plate. We only broke this rule once and it was horrible.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

I can imagine. I think the most we might do is bunny A, bunny B, etc.

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

Good luck with your rabbits!! I had pet rabbits, so I don't know if I could raise rabbits for meat. Having them all be white and not naming them will probably help. But I applaud your effort. Rabbits make a lot of good fertilizer as well.

I really wish I could keep chickens, but they're against our homeowners' code.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Yes, they won't have much in the way of distinguishable personalities or any of those super cute markings. Have you seen the Lionheads? I could never think of eating one of those.

Sometimes you can get a variance from your HoA to raise chickens, especially if you keep them in a coop with an enclosed run, and if your city allows it. It might be worth checking into.

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

I was raised on a farm, but we didn't have rabbits or chickens. A lot of the meat I ate growing up was venison -- I also love squirrel, it's the most delicious thing of all in my opinion. :)

My rabbit Tina was a lionhead. She was an angry, angry bunny.

I belong to a housing co-op and they just re-released their rules about chickens, because the local food movement is very big in my town. There is also an organization advocating for people who want to keep Hens. Oh how I would love a source of fresh eggs. Yum. Plus chickens are rude; I think I could eat them way more easily than rabbits. Rule to remember: conejo = food. Conejito = pet.
In German it's even clearer : Hase = food. Kaninchen = pet. :D
It's good to keep it clear in your mind. The French don't make the distinction, but maybe they never kept rabbits as pets at all!

[editrx.livejournal.com]

Because of where we've moved to, and because of how I want very much to live -- far more self-sustaining - id really love to email with you about this. Amber.

The Upper Valley has a lot of opportunity for me to buy the necessary basics to start on chickens and maybe even bunnies, but I'm afraid to sound stupid and naive. Would you be open to talking o me a bit about the basics of setting some stuff up on a small lot (we only have one acre, behind the farmhouse) to feed 3 people? (it also gets DAMN cold here -- we're zone 4.5 or so, now, though maybe warmer due to the last few years, I'm not sure)

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Sure. I mean, I'm no expert by any means, and I feel like I've asked the lady who is selling me the rabbits a lot of dumb questions, but she's being awesome. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. I'm still learning, of course, but I'll happily share what I know or point you in any direction I know of that can help. First of all, start reading from the library.

For rabbits I recommend reading Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits or Raising Rabbits Successfully both by Bob Bennett. I would imagine any rural library should have a copy on hand.

I like The Complete Beginner's Guide to Raising Small Animals by Carlotta Cooper. It has an extensive section on chickens and of course many other small farm animals (plus a cow for some reason, not a small animal by any stretch of the imagination).

Even if you are not looking to sell chickens at some point and just wanting to raise your own food, I'd read Joel Salatin's book Pastured Poultry Profit$, especially the part about chicken tractors, if you plan on raising chickens for meat and not just eggs.

For the first time gardener I'd recommend the book Lasagna Gardening. Or the hay bale method, which is fast and easy for your first year and is easier on people with disabilities to garden in.

http://www.cleveland.com/insideout/index.ssf/2012/04/straw-bale_gardening_lets_you.html

http://suite101.com/article/organic-straw-bale-gardening-a85982

http://thegardenersrake.com/hay-bale-gardeneing-techniques

Feel free to contact me. We are doing all of this on only 1/2 an acre, so I think you should do quite well on a whole acre. It may take me some time to get back to you, but I should answer within 12 hours or so.

[slayitalldown.livejournal.com]

I love reading about your farm adventures! I'd love to be self-sustainable. I was raised on a farm and there are honestly times I see critters and my mouth waters. Life steered me off the farm but I dream of going back some lucky day...

I loved having chickens - they are hilarious - and goats are good value too. I'm curious as to why you chose bunnies for meat and not something a little larger? Bunnies are yummy and farm-raised meat is beyond compare but goats are good for milk as well as meat and honestly, they are yummy. Nothing beats beef (our family would raise a potty calf or keep a cow for calves and send them away to be butchered and processed. We'd end up with about a year's worth of meat depending on how it was cut and a LOT of dog-bones! People around here still do it, even in suburbia - there are plenty of places to keep cows around here!) but they are a large-scale investment so I can see why starting small is going to be easier. Goats are a lot less lovable too, by the time they're big enough to eat, no one is thinking about how cute the damn things are! I have never considered them - prefer chickens - but I always imagined skipping from chickens to goats to get red meat. Bunnies in Australia are bred for their pelts - Akubra hats are 100% bunny-pelt - and they are actually banned in some states so perhaps its part cultural, we do eat them and the local butcher supplies them but its more of a speciality - like crocodile or camel.

My grandmother was a big fan of quail. I mean HUGE. She was like a fox - she went through them by the dozens. I must admit, it gets a bit intensive when you have to take down the best part of a flock just for a meal but she was onto something, they sure are tasty little birds!

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

We are only on 1/2 an acre and cows are not allowed in town. We don't have the proper fencing and shed structure to keep a goat in town, though it would be legal if we did.

We chose rabbits because it takes 4 pounds of feed to make a harvestable rabbit that will yield about 4 pounds of meat once dressed down. There isn't another animal that is as efficient as that when it comes to converting feed to body weight. Feed costs 37 cents per pound. Add a little hay and round that up to 45 cents So for $1.80 in feed costs you end up with 4 pounds of usable meat. There is nothing that can beat the cost of 45 cents a pound for meat. Then there is the fur if you are willing to stretch, dry, tan, and work it. There are rabbit's feet. And usually the wildlife center will take the heads for their recovering birds of prey.

Also because we love the taste of rabbit. Harvest takes about five minutes from start to finish and is easy to do ourselves. And because we have the space to house them, they are quiet, they are legal in town, and the neighbors don't mind. And then there is that when we go on vacation, my mother won't mind looking after them. She has no interest in looking after a milk goat. LOL

Once we sell our house and buy a small farm we may very well get a couple of goats.

[slayitalldown.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, I had no idea rabbits are so efficient! I can see why you chose them now, well done on your research! I'm more than impressed - I'm inspired! They are a lot easier to harvest than chickens and way more efficient than the high yield critters. I knew they were easy to keep but I hadn't thought of it in cost to uses terms before. They really are an excellent choice!

LOL, I guess it would be hard getting someone to tend a goat if you wanted to go away on trips and things... like I said, they are feisty little things... ;)

At worst, rabbits can nip and scratch a little but if they are handled everyday they pretty easy to keep settled. I had a white rabbit and a feral x fop as pets - the white one liked to jump on my chair and bite me on the ass as I tried to sit down, the fop chased and terrorised my cats every chance they got. I had to remind the cats to stay away from him!

Still more manageable than goats! :)

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's that efficiency that really makes them worth raising. Not to mention that rabbit meat sells at $15 for 2 pounds at the food co-op here on the occasion they actually have some, so I wouldn't be out of line asking $16 for a whole 4 pound rabbit when we get to that point. That's $14 profit per animal. It'll pay back their feed costs pretty fast. The hutch costs on the other hand will probaby take a year before the rabbits pay those off.

I already have one person who wants to buy some once we are really up and running, my daughter's best friend's mother, who really likes rabbit meat, but has a hard time finding it. I wasn't even looking because it'll be at least the end of summer before I'll have enough to sell a couple and I have to look into getting a license if I'm going to butcher for people.

[develish1]

yes, I'm even further behind than normal, lol, so how are they settling in?

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

They are doing very well and the kits are growing like weeds. Tomorrow they will be four weeks old. Two days ago they started eating pellets and I swear you can see them growing overnight.