Overtime this week, so with me prioritizing sleep it's hard to have much time at home. I get about an hour and a half at home after my eight hours, which is enough time to make a couple meals, check on things and take pictures, but not really enough time to work on anything. That's not so bad, though I really do wish I had more home time. The plan is to eat up all the overtime they offer this week and then not do any for a while.
Two whites, two tans, one brown, and one black. A colorful litter!
The pile buns are up and at em this week. I don't know how long it usually takes em to leave the nest and explore, but they're all crawling around inside the nest here lately. Their little eyes are open and when they walk around they've got their little ears perked up. We started putting our dryer lint in the nest too to add some more insulation. It looks like I'll be wanting to buy a few hay bales to supplement feed and give mombun more nest material. I wonder if I should add some of our radiant insulation from the house around the nest buckets...
It'll be time to breed the mombuns again soon. Get some more organ meats pumping out of em. I never knew, but the does consume their placenta after giving birth, and occasionally eat their young. Didn't know rabbits were omnivores, I thought they were strictly vegans. It's interesting to me to learn new things about critters.
I'm starting to think about the processing infrastructure for these animals now. Most of each animal will be used of course, but unless I find a use for the digestive tract, that part will probably be wasted. I intend to brain tan the hides once I have enough for a blanket, which will probably be after just one season. That'll be the use for the head. The bones will of course be used for stock, then the meat and edible organs will be food. As of now, the plan is to compost the inedible offal with black soldier flies and by burying some. The soldier flies have occurred naturally in the poo bins under the cages, so that will require zero additional infrastructure. I'm thinking about adding some earthworms into half of those bins as well to make even richer compost and delay harvest a bit. With four buns, we're going to have a lot of poo on our hands. I love it though and wouldn't want it any other way.
This week I've started covering the places where I intend to grow next spring. We have a lot of usable plywood from the old subfloor that I'm using to do that. So far I've just set the sheets down in their places, but when I get time I'm going to start adding leaves and rabbit poo to give the worms something to eat. So far I've got a few spots picked out in the forest garden. Most under the swales, but the biggest one is on the long hugel that I put in summer, 2019. That's a 4x20 foot bed over there. The rest are lined up along the swales wherever there's not a fruit tree. One big 4x8 bed on the top swale, and a few 3x4-3x6 beds under the other two. These are in addition to the 4x8 raised hugel and the two contoured beds I planted this year. I'm going to have to make a real garden plan for next year to be able to use this space really well. I also need to focus my energy on what plants I like eating. I'm not a big plant eater honestly. I think I'll try some beans for sure. With all the rabbits, I'll want beans to add to soups. Of course potatoes and squash will be on the menu too. I'd like to grow enough of something else to be able to trade with folks too. I did enjoy tomatoes this year, so I'll try those again, but probably from starts like I did this year. Morning eggs and salsa and hash browns was a royal breakfast more than a couple of times. And then there's chickens. We need chickens.
We had our first frost December 1st this year. Until then, most of the fruit trees still had over half their leaves. Now the big peaches have shed theirs, but the medium peach, the red Haven peaches, and the apple trees are somehow still going super strong. Part of me is skeptical and wondering who glued the leaves on. The tomato bushes and the taters of course are gonners. We'll harvest the ones in the big bed, but I doubt there's any harvestable ones in the front rows. Maybe some seed taters though. I think next season we'll grow potatoes in buckets to free up a bed. I wonder if you can grow potatoes in buckets of rabbit poop... probably not the best idea I've had, but I'm still gonna Google it.
Anyways. What're some other food crops I should look into? Beans, squash, taters, eggs, rabbits. I'll probably grow some kale because it's pretty good in soups. Peppers and 'maters too. And the onions I planted a little while back as well. That should make for some really good eating, what else should I look into for a high yielding, easy to grow homesteady crop?
Love from Texas
Nate 💚
Eggplant, baby marrows. And yes, a stressed doe will eat her litter. The odd thing about rabbits if you want to go all-out high production, does can be bred within 24 hours of giving birth. Thereafter, they aren't fertile until after weaning. You have to stay on top of things though or you will have her giving birth and eating the litter if she isn't kitted out with a new nestbox and the older litter removed for weaning
Oof, that sounds like a lot of work and planning! I had one for that birthed her kits two weeks ago and abandoned them, I'll breed her the next time I have a few minutes at home. The other doe birthed the same day, so I take from your comment that she should not be bred again until her kits are moved out?
She will only accept a buck about 5 weeks after she gave birth, that's why intensive farmers make use of that 24-hour window
That makes sense actually. I'm not really intensive like that with my animals though, so I didn't miss out on much. I'd rather have a few more animals and go easier on them for production so they're not so stressed and overworked. As a matter of fact, I'll be making a few more cages to be able to house more does.
Is there a limit to how many does a buck can service, or if he needs a certain rest period between does?
So long as you don't queue your does all on a single day, one buck will happily do all the work. Generally, a single mating is sufficient although some people will take the doe to the buck once and then follow up the next day.
I made use of the 24-hour window period and only did single matings and that was sufficient although I suppose it depends on the breed too. My rabbits were a cross of new-zealand whites and california whites so they were bred to be prolific and large, for meat production.
Your setup is more sensible for you
Awesome, that's good to know. I'm thinking five does will be more than enough, and maybe even a sufficient number to support a customer or two while not overworking the animals. Our does here are tamuk composites and our buck is a NZ white.
How many buns did you manage? I'm seeing that my little homestead operation is really small scale compared to most folks.
I did things on a very small scale, with about 10 does but with their large and prolific litters, I had plenty of little rabbits
Very nice post, I loved those bunnies! they're adorable. I see that you are applying a scheme of maximum use of resources, that seems super respectful with the environment, with Mother Earth, and also very intelligent. Thus, all agricultural and livestock activities should be carried out, and without introducing any chemical elements that pollute nature. Since I live in a tropical country, I have never experienced seasonal changes, but I suppose that it is an irreplaceable incentive to prepare properly to face times of scarcity. Greetings and blessings.
Muy buena publicación, ¡me encantaron esos conejitos! son adorables. Veo que estás aplicando un esquema de aprovechamiento máximo de los recursos, eso me parece súper respetuoso con el ambiente, con Madre Tierra, y también muy inteligente. Así es que se deberían realizar todas las actividades agrícolas y pecuarias, y sin introducir ningún elemento químico que ensucie a la naturaleza. Como vivo en un país tropical nunca he experimentado los cambios estacionales, pero supongo que es un aliciente insustituíble para prepararse adecuadamente para afrontar tiempos de escasez. Saludos y bendiciones.
Yes, seasonal change dictates a lot of how we interact with the earth here! I don't use any chemical additives here, I simply fertilize with animal products from animals raised here. So far it's working well, but I do think I'll look into natural sprays to keep the bugs off of my peaches.
Stay tuned if you like the buns. I'm about to make a post with a few more pictures of them 😁
I think it's great that you take care of nature in that way, it is the most recommended to maintain the integrity of the elements. Yeah, I love buns, I'll be waiting to see your recipe.
Me parece genial que cuides la naturaleza de esa forma, es lo más recomendable para mantener la integridad de los elementos. Síiiii, a mí me encantan los bollos, estaré pendiente para ver tu receta.
Started reading your back posts, to catch up...