I've mentioned occasionally on other threads that my GF and I raise rabbits, and I thought perhaps some of you might be interested in seeing them. So I'm starting a new topic for that, because there wasn't a place where they'd be on-topic: they're not garden animals, and they're emphatically not companion animals. I suppose there are a couple of things that might have fit into the "food ethics" thread, but that would have been pretty limiting. So here we are (and for anyone who's not interested in the nuts and bolts, there will be pictures of cute bunnies).
Our year-round rabbitry is in a lean-to shed that was built off the side of our barn by a previous owner. They used it for their little tractor (the barn was for horses). We took all of the equipment from the lean-to, put range fencing around it to keep out predators, and an electric fence to deter my stepdaughter's mastiff (truthfully, she mostly keeps other predators at bay). In the autumn as the weather deteriorated we also put up tarps to block the wind and snow. The plan for this year is to tweak the tarps so we can raise and lower them like blinds, giving the bunnies more light and airflow during pleasant weather but still protecting them when it's inclement. During the summer, the young 'uns we're growing out get to live outdoors on the grass. We currently have three cages outdoors, and one more will be moving outside as soon as I can find the time and an extra pair of hands to help.
So here's what the wee ones look like in their nest box, when they're just little and their eyes are almost open (the grey fuzz around the edges is mama's fur, the rest of the bedding is straw). It's a few days already since I took these pics, and in that time their eyes have opened and they've begun exploring their cage.
These ones come from a pretty silver-grey doe we've dubbed Silverbell. You need to give 'em names or numbers in order to track the bloodlines and which doe/buck combinations give you the best outcomes, and with grandkids in the mix there was never any question that they'd get names.
One of the reasons we sometimes lose bunnies at this stage is that Mama bunny will hop out of the nest box when she's done nursing, and occasionally one of the little guys will still be latched on. If you're lucky, you'll find the teeny critter before it dies of exposure. If not, you lose a bunny (we won't be actively breeding them next winter, partly because of this). This little one was lucky. Here's the before:
...and here's the after (the same little one, three weeks later).
You'll note the wire cage bottom, which allows most of the droppings to simply fall through to the ground (we do periodically scrape out any accumulation, as well). We were using a gravity-fed watering system last summer, with hoses and Ts and metal nipples that attach to the cages, but that's not usable in winter so we switched to open dishes. The cages have been reconfigured since autumn to accommodate our burgeoning bunny population, so we need more hose and fittings before we can get it re-established.
Here we have a couple of does with their litters, a bit older and more developed than the ones in the first photo. The white doe is Sugar, and the black doe is Ebony (and no, we haven't expended a lot of mental energy on the naming process).
Sugar's litter were exceptionally lively right from the start. Trying to count them, my GF giggled and said "They're like popcorn!" Note that the coloration is pretty random, even within a given litter. This was Sugar's first all-white litter, but her third litter with the same (white) buck. Go figure.
This little guy is one of Ebony's litter, mostly black but shot through with brown. My granddaughter's daddy's girlfriend (as a culture we really need to find shorthand terminology for this kind of relationship), who is a veterinary tech, fell completely in love with this one and dubbed him/her (we haven't checked yet) Coco Bean.
Here's a litter of adolescents, from our silver-grey doe. As you see, we only had one in this litter with the coloration we were hoping for. He's a cutie, though (and this one we have checked).
This is the cage that will be moved outside within the next few days. Our other adolescent bunnies are already outside:
It's easy to tell which spots were under a cage and which ones were between 'em, isn't it?
The three white ones in the cage to the left (that's two bunnies, not one deformed mutant) are now of harvesting age, but they've had a brief reprieve because somebody's possibly coming today to buy one. The middle cage are roughly the same age as the ones still indoors, and have a month or so to enjoy the grass. The bunnies in the three individual enclosures in the right-most cage are our next-generation breeders (it's good to refresh your line every year by swapping out the breeders). Here are some closer pics:
It's fun watching them react when they realize that "Dude, it's food! Everything we're walking on is food!" It always reminds me of the first time we took our granddaughter to the apple U-pick.
Finally, this handsome gent is Parker, one of our two current bucks (the other is Snowball, who's white). They're both Flemish Giants, but Parker is the smaller of the two at probably 13 or 14 pounds. Snowball is a chonk, and probably checks in at 18 or so. Parker was a pet before he came to us, and will become a pet again once he's done his duty by the gene pool.
Oh, and little Wembley has appointed himself Deputy Bunny Inspector, and comes with me each morning and afternoon while I attend to them. Can't leave him out.
I will fill in some details shortly, but right now I need to go feed and water the critters.