You have to start somewhere...

I have been keeping a journal on raising our rabbits but it's been in written form. I'm going to type all of my entries up on here and continue online. I started this journal in August.

Aug 15

I've decided to record all of our experiences with rabbit raising. I hope to compile all of the things I learn into a book one day. I hope to take lots of pictures and record all of the things we've learned, both good and bad. It might end up being more of a comedy. LOL.

We finished the hutch for our Flemish Giant, Harley. We already had a nice wire cage I made a few months ago, but weren't using because we didn't have a stand for it or a place to put it in the shade. We salvaged 2 big pallets from Jacob's work and, after I spent an hour tearing them down (which, by the way, was a great stress reliever) Jacob built a really nice hutch. Besides the cage we already had, it only cost us $15. All of the wood came from pallets and the hinges we salvaged from an earlier piece I broke down.

Here's our boy Harley.

We are going to have to change the floor here in this section. For some dumb reason, I didn't put a wire bottom. The poop has nowhere to go. So that will be changed soon I hope.

My hubby did a pretty good job!

We currently have our male, Harley - a Flemish Giant, 2 females, One Ear (she literally has only one ear) and Oreo, and 12 babies. 10 of the 12 are ready to cull now. We are going camping tomorrow for Nick's (my oldest) birthday and will be butchering a couple tonight to take with us. I'm pretty excited about that. Our neighbor's son is going to come down and feed/water them while we're gone.

I already have 3 nice pelts in the freezer and when I get enough stocked up, I am going to tan them The 4 black ones are going to become a couple of hats (at least 1 hat, but hopefully 2). I have been giving the liver, hearts and kidneys to the neighbors dog. She loves it and is my best friend now.

*NOTE: I have noticed in the last 2 cullings there was a difference between males and females, as far as their hides and ease of removal. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but the female skins just slipped off where the males were much harder to remove. I will continue to make a note of this and test the theory.

I will breeding Harley with my females around or on the first of the next month. It somewhat depends on how busy I get with school schedules and such.