Ready, Set, Go!
We have been busy building hutches and rabbit tractors, splitting wood for winter, canning, making repairs, especially to the roof of the garage, aka the barn because when it rains it pours...into the barn. It is all done with that sense of urgency you only get having lived in a seasonal climate. I know the nice days are limited and like the ant I am busy preparing for winter. There will be time later to relax, to visit and to read a book but for now I am invigorated by the cool weather and by the sense of urgency.
We are late getting the wood done because we thought we may be moving so we waited until the last possible moment to buy wood which thankfully isn't too green. We have decided not to rent a splitter this year and are splitting it by hand. I do a few hours in the daytime and Jim does some when he can. He is also junking (cutting up the eight foot length trees) with a chainsaw we bought second hand two weeks ago.
My mornings are filled with animal care but I don't mind as the novelty has not worn off and by October the meat chickens will be in freezer camp and hopefully the bunnies will be mating and begetting other bunnies. My morning is as follows: let bunnies into their outdoor pen, make sure they have water and pick greens from yard for them, carry meat chickens by box to their tractor, take water out to them, let layers out, fill water dish, feed layer babies, check their water, throw table scraps to layers and bunnies. I have containers for all of the scrap separation. One for worms, one for chickens, one for bunnies, one for garden compost and one for green bin compost.
The layer chicks are tiny in comparison to the meat chicks who are the same age. Boy they sure are bred to gain weight. We are limiting the grain feed and trying to get them to eat free range from the yard's greens. They are awkward with big feet but are sweet and soft. They have all of their feathers except on their little pink butts but we are moving them to their chicken tractor this week anyway. Stressing a little because it seems so cold for them but all of the books say they will be fine.
We have rabbits. The male bunny is a California-New Zealand White cross and we have named him Jack after Jack White because the White Stripes were playing on the radio on the way home from getting the bunnies and after twelve thousand names, it was the only name we could all agree on. He is my favorite and can be seen in my living room from time to time ever since we realized he will stay on the towel because the floors are too slippery. The Doe and her daughter are New Zealand Whites, very skittish and scratch but they seem happy enough in their new digs. Next month we will place the Doe into the Buck's pen, play a little Barry White and hope for the best. We were told by the German woman whom we bought the females from to never put the Buck in the Doe's pen as she is very territorial and will likely kill the buck. It is a learning process and we have read a lot but are always open to advice from experienced breeders.
The bunnies like to stay inside quite a bit and venture out for snacks and to look around but they don't seem to need wide open space like chickens do. The other big difference is the bunnies like to eat almost anything. They love mint which grows in a huge hedge in my garden. They also love sage, broccoli scraps and dandelion leaves. Here is something I did not know. Rabbits can't eat many carrots or much lettuce. Both upset their bellies. Go figure. We are supposed to be giving them hay but until this past weekend I didn't have a van to haul it in. My problem right now is the only hay nearby is in one of those huge round bales which is way too much hay. Feeling pressure to figure something out and quickly.
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