The Compost Crew

LocoYokel · Jun 25, 2017

Having 4-6 adult bunnies and various numbers of kits during the year really adds up... when you start figuring the pounds of manure they manufacture! Good thing I do love rabbit doo-doo. It composts fast, you can put it straight onto the garden and it doesn't smell much. It also makes fantastic "plant tea". My chickens contribute too but that stuff HAS to be composted, and it smells. :sick

Of course the things that grow in that compost get fed back to the critters... just the small circle of life in my backyard!
Anyways... I would like to welcome 6 new lil' doo-doo makers to my "Compost Circle". :celebrate

This was their Mama's fourth and final chance, I am so happy she successfully kindled this time. Let's just hope she is a good mama...
Suki:

Suki's kits:

(Her first litter (11) she had on the wire in November during a bad freeze, I was too late to save any. Second and third were both false pregnancies. This time she had 9 of which 6 have survived so far. They are less than 18 hours old... :fl

)

thistlebloom · Jun 25, 2017

Good job Suki!

I hope they all survive Loco. Is mama a Rex?
I've been thinking about getting a rabbit or two for a couple of years (I'm a slow thinker

) . I just have about enough animals now to keep me busy, and I don't want an animal to just sit in a cage and have food pushed at it.
I do love rabbits, had them most of my growing up years. The most memorable was a big Flemish buck that used to chase the goats around.

Collector · Jun 25, 2017

Let's hope she can keep them healthy until weaning. When we raised meat rabbits we always just took the nest box in the house and brought the doe in twice a day to nurse them. We had better luck that way, although it would be easier if she can keep them alive out in cage. Good luck :fl

Beekissed · Jun 25, 2017

Great thread!!! Loved seeing the little kits and that's a beautiful doe. Will you be eating them?

LocoYokel · Jun 25, 2017

thistlebloom said:
Good job Suki! I hope they all survive Loco. Is mama a Rex?

thistlebloom said:
The most memorable was a big Flemish buck that used to chase the goats around.

Suki is a New Zealand Broken, she might not be purebred, she is very big for her breed. I bred my other NZ, Ella, to a FLemish Giant buck I borrowed this Spring... now I have two 1/2 FG does! :ya

Clawdya n' Shydoe:

(This is known as "Rabbit Math", I did not plan on keeping any kits...

)

I am now looking for my own Giant boy, or at least 1/2 blooded. Those Flemish are incredibly sweet and smart besides... I would have loved to have seen the bunny chase the goats! :gig

Collector said:
Let's hope she can keep them healthy until weaning. When we raised meat rabbits we always just took the nest box in the house and brought the doe in twice a day to nurse them.

Me too, Collector, she is really off her feed so I am worried about milk production now that she finally has some kits. My does are not very tame and weigh around 11 lbs, I think carrying them in twice a day would be too much stress for all involved... :hide

I try not to plan litters in winter but that is a great idea where my hutches are outdoors, now I just have to sell the DH on baby bunny boxes in the house. :lol:

Beekissed said:
Loved seeing the little kits and that's a beautiful doe. Will you be eating them?

Thank you! My rabbits are for meat, and compost

, but I try to sell them for pets first. The pet market for the Flemish Giant crosses seems good and I like the size they will bring into my meat breeding program.

Proud Poppa Fur'Nando (Silver Fox):

Beekissed · Jun 26, 2017

LOVE the names!

All your buns are beautiful and I admire the cleanliness of the cages, the hay racks, and all. :thumbsup

Nyboy · Jun 26, 2017

I was like @thistlebloom I would go back and fourth about getting a rabbit. Then a client dumped their kids Easter rabbit on me. I don't even know if Harvey is a male or female. I also believe in quality of live for my animals, so in the evenings a put Harvey in a dog crate with no bottom on the grass. Kind of like a rabbit tractor, he gets to pick what taste good in the lawn. He gets very excited when he sees me, maybe the food I bring is what he is excited for .

thistlebloom · Jun 26, 2017

I like Clawdya's ears! Pretty cute if they stay that way.

I saw a Continental advertised the other day. They are giants like the Flemish. I looked them up and read about them, they seem to be very personable and love attention. Biggest ears I've ever seen! Very tempting, but I'd need to build another corral

, and time for playing with more animals is a problem for me, except in the winter.

bobm · Jun 26, 2017

The most memorable was a big Flemish buck that used to chase the goats around.[/QUOTE said:
When my siblings and I were kids, we had a baby Jackrabit show up in our back yard. He decided he LIKED his new back yard home ( NO cage, just a lean to for shelter and roamed a large back yard at will) and stayed for several years. My brother ( then 6 years old ) along with our neighbor boy as well as all of us siblings (4) would play soccer with the Jackrabit. He would run after the ball then kick out with his back legs at the ball which would go in another direction with us kids in hot pursuit. We would play this game almost every day for the next 2 to 3 years. One day , someone left the gate open and Jack left never to return.

LocoYokel · Jun 26, 2017

Six kits? Did I say six? Nope, there are seven today!

Two are runts so :fl

for them.
@Beekissed I love to name things. I even named my septic tank, Septra is a living thing in my book. I sure watch her diet like she is... 21 yrs old and nary a problem. (Knocks on wood.) Thank you for the compliment on my hutches! I made my own hay racks , I just took some leftover fencing wire (2"x4") folded it into a V and wired the sides. I did grind down the sharp nubbies where I clipped the fence wire so nobody would get scratched. The wire on the floors isn't right but I will get that changed this summer. DH is the hutch builder, he rocks!

DH also made me a "grazing cage" @Nyboy, I just need to get some wire on the bottom. Talk about taking the compost straight out to where it needs to be!

My rabbits are just gonna have to learn to be carried more and now is good. I can start with my other does. My Ella was an Easter rescue and she has turned out to be a great mama bun, she is also the easiest to handle, I'll start with her and the two Jr does...

thistlebloom said:
I like Clawdya's ears! Pretty cute if they stay that way

Me too! Sometimes it is just one and sometimes not at all. The heat seems to make it happen more often. I 'spose she will grow out of it. :idunno

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