In late fall my friend gave me his rabbitry. Yes, the whole thing, all the rabbits, cages for all of them, and their pedigrees. He enjoyed them, but realized that they weren’t his priority. He is reviving nearly extinct chicken breeds, and while rabbits are fun, easy to care for and yummy, they aren’t aiding in the poultry, so they came over here. The past couple days I’ve been inputting the pedigrees into my computer system. I use Evan’s Software, which has been very helpful, if you are in the need of pedigree software, check them out.
All the rabbits are in the computer program. I have gone through and made notes on each Doe’s file as to who they can and can’t be bred with, so I can tell at just a quick glance. I cleaned all the cages in my housing structures, and moved everyone into those. I’ll make some modifications to my friends housing for Spring. I moved 3 does into my art studio, in the basement, and will be breeding them over the next week. If all goes well, we will have kits delivered the week after Valentine’s Day!
I found a great use for my hot head torch. I am a glass bead maker, and I use an oxygen/propane mix torch to melt the glass, but there are a great many people who do the same thing with a map gas torch, called a hot head. I am in awe of those people, because map is a much cooler gas than the propane mixed with oxygen, so melting glass takes longer with that kind of torch. Hot head users are a very patience, or tenacious bunch, for sure. Some of them are doing some really amazing things with those torches, but I found a new use. I found it works great for cleaning rabbit housing. All the fur that sort of wisps about and gets caught in the cage squares disappear almost immediately with the help of that torch. I cleaned the cages, then used the torch to remove any remaining fur fluffs and debris. The cages look great, everything is clean and organized, and ready for Spring breeding to begin!
With organized pedigrees, a breeding plan, and super clean cages, the next issue to tackle was the water. It’s cold out there. The rabbits don’t mind, but the water freezes, in just a couple hours. I could buy heated water bottles for $20+, but my animals are given bowls because I think it’s nicer for them to drink out of a bowl than those little licky ball end bits of a waterer. So cost was one factor, and unpleasant drinking the other. Then I found a post on Facebook… a friend made a heater for her chicken waterers…I modified it and it works brilliantly! First night, all water frozen, except the one with the experimental heater.
Test heater made with a Valentine tin…
Today I went to the store, ravaged their 75% off Christmas tin section, picked up some very cheap lights at the local “stuff” store, O’Keefe’s in Rochester, and the remaining (they only had 7, and I needed 10) at Lowe’s. A little time, drilling, and electrical tape, and I now have heated water bowls for all the outside rabbits.
For 10 rabbit cages:
Light fixtures: $61.97
Light Bulbs: $2.83
Tins: $6.20
Not having to break water out of dishes 4 times a day: Priceless!
But really the project, for 10 heaters, cost: $71.00 plus a little bit of a roll of electrical tape and some wire that I had laying around. $7.10 each, instead of $19.99 each for heated water bottles…Plus, in the off season I have plenty of extra lighting!
Oh, note: You need to use incandescent bulbs. Those CFL bulbs do not throw heat, so they won’t work.
Finally, I have figured out the dilemma of feed. Phew, yes, this is a rabbit intensive post, for sure. Okay, in NH there are no organic rabbit feed options in bulk for a rabbitry. If I have one little pet rabbit I could get a 5 pound bag, for a lot of money, but nothing for livestock type feeding. I’ve been searching. I begged a local mill in VT to start making some. Finally, I found Countryside Organics. They are a full like organic feed company, that aren’t just organic, but they are soy free!! Brilliant. I hate that I feed my chickens and ducks soy, and that I in turn have soy in my meat and eggs. The more I learn the more I hated it. That is actually how I found Countryside Organics, I was looking for soy free options for the poultry and as a bonus found rabbit feed too.
Until now I’ve been feeding a ration of rolled oats and barley, along with alfalfa hay, and a salt/mineral lick in each cage. It is a recipe based on an old book that dates before bagged grain mixes. But to have the convenience of just putting feed in feeders, having it rationed for optimum grown and mineral content, has been a dream of mine.
If you look at the top of the blog, there is a tab for the new buying group I’ve started. If you are interested in joining us, let me know. There is rabbit feed, as well as chicken, turkey, cow, goat…well, there are a lot of options, as well as single grains like oats or barley, or field peas…so go check it out if you are curious.
I think the rabbits are now perfect. I’m excited to start breeding and for all those adorable bunnies. The girls are, too. It’s been a few months since we had bunnies for petting and playing.
Please tell me that the floor in your picture is NOT the floor that the bunnies have to walk on? Mesh floors hurt bunny feet, A LOT.
Hi Mike,
I’ve been caring for rabbits for 3 years and have never had a problem with soar hocks. I did, however, have a friend, who was keeping a rabbit on a wooden floor with bedding, changing the bedding VERY frequently, because she’s very fastidious about cleanliness, and she lost her buck to an infection, due to him liking to sit in the corner after urinating. Having a place for the urine to go is important. I do have 18″ square tiles from the home store in each cage, so they have a place to sit, if they want to, that is not wire, and they are tile so the clean and dry quickly and easily. Thank you for your concern, but my rabbits have done very well in their homes. That being said, I’d love any recommendations of what you are doing, instead of cage floors, that is working well for your rabbits. I’m always interested in learning new things.