Rabbit preparations

Hello! back to the farmy posts. I have wanted rabbits for a while now because they make a great addition to any homestead/farm.

Rabbits have so many uses. Their droppings can either be composted or applied directly to the garden for great fertilizer, some rabbit breeds are good for meat and pelts, some are good for pets, some are good for both. Rabbits reproduce very quickly, normally having large litters of 5-8 babies within a month. (about 31 days to be exact)

Their babies can be kept and until they are large enough to be used for meat and pelts or sold as pets providing a great income. I plan to do both. In addition to all these awesome uses, rabbits can be cuddled and played with and are just entertaining animals overall.
Those are the reasons I have decided to get rabbits.
After convincing myself to get rabbits with all of these great reasons, I did the fun task of deciding what breed of rabbit I wanted to get.

There are SO many options when it comes to rabbit breeds. I spent a long time researching and contemplating the different breeds that stuck out to me. After a while I came to the conclusion that the silver fox rabbit would be a great one to start with, after meeting a silver fox that a fellow homesteader has and falling in love with her. She goes by many names, her given one being "the evil bunny of death" but her personality is very far from that, she is the sweetest rabbit ever. Her coat is SO SOFT, and her coloring is gorgeous, a beautiful black with silver undertones.

This is not evil, just an example of a silver foxes coat.

Another example.

Gorgeous! Silver foxes are a great breed overall, they make great pets but can also be used for meat and pelts if you so desire. I definitely recommend this breed for any homestead.
I plan to try breeding dutch rabbits as well as silver fox because I have read that they are great pets, generally calm and easy-going and can also be used for meat and pelts. There are a lot of color options when it comes to dutch rabbits. These are the three that stuck out to me.

This is a black dutch rabbit, so cute!

Brown dutch rabbit, beautiful.

I believe this coloring is called either blue or lilac, either way I love it.

I just love the markings on the dutch rabbit. The words that come to mind when I try describe them are authentic and simple. Now I thought I had my mind made up but then I remembered holland lops.....

 

THEIR EARS!! So cute. And there is so many color varieties, I could have a lot of fun experimenting with coloring. If I did get holland lops they would probably just be to sell as pets.

After picking the breeds I wanted(or trying), I started making plans for my rabbit setup. To start out I am going to have eight cages, for one silver fox doe, one dutch buck, and two dutch does, or hollands...(as you can see, my mind is definitely "made up") The extra four cages will be for the babies I plan to keep.(And I'm sure the number will grow over time : ) I am also going to get a silver fox buck at some point.

I'm going to use all wire cages because they are easy to keep clean and are fairly simple to make. 

I plan to make them 2'x3' so that the bunnies have enough room to stretch out and hop around. 

My rabbit setup is going to be on the side of the shed we have in our front yard. It's a nice spot that is usually shady and can easily be turned into a cool rabbit setup. 

For food, I plan to feed them whatever extra veggies or kitchen scraps that are safe for them and their main diet will consist of timothy hay because my guinea pigs eat it as well so I can just buy a big bale of it and it will feed them all.

Now I just need to start saving up for all this and begin building the rabbit setup. I'll try and post updates as the project moves along.

Thank you for reading!

Blow up your tv, move to the country, keep homesteading and stay farmy!