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First 3 Rabbit Cages Essentially DONE

Done! (Basically …)

Just need to install the roof and move the cages out to a pasture stall tomorrow.

I’m thinking I need about 15 cages in total, so 3 down … 12 to go!

Some people might suggest that I’ve over-engineered the cages, but I would beg to differ. Sure, I could have just stuffed the rabbits into tiny, metal-only breeder cages, but that’s not how we roll around here. I’m really bummed that I have to migrate the rabbits out of their geodesic dome colonies … because I would much rather they live in conditions that more closely approximate their natural living habitat … but that just didn’t work out.

Perhaps the cages will just be temporary until I can figure out how to build out the domes with better environmental controls (specifically moisture).

But, if they have to live in cages, might as well be nice cages. 😉

I actually designed the cages to fit standard greenhouse flats, so I can provide each cage with a flat of fresh wheat grass about once a week. Gives them fresh veg and fiber, and a grass mat to hang out on so they don’t have to stand or lay on the wire fabric floor all the time.

This was a relatively expensive project (e.g. premium grade wood, new tools, heavy-duty hardware, …), but I don’t care.

 

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New Project: Rabbit Migration (Domes to Cages)

Long story short … the geodesic dome rabbit colony concept isn’t working out. I’ve lost WAY too many rabbits (mostly recently weened kits) to what I’m pretty sure is mucosal enteritis (ME).  Don’t get me started about how fickle of a species they are.

As much as I wanted to raise rabbits in a natural habitat, they just don’t seem to do well in the two geo-domes.  So, I’m going to migrate the rabbits into cages … which just SUCKS … but at least that way I’m pretty sure their survival rate will dramatically increase.

So, for the last two and a half days, I’ve been building the first 3 of probably 12 cages. I found a design online that I really like, which you can see in this video.

I hope to have the adult (breeder) rabbits out of the domes and into the cages by this weekend. I may pull the juvenile rabbits out of the domes and into a temporary communal cage of some sort while I build out the remaining individual cages.

My plan is to convert the two geodesic domes into aquaponic gardens (tilapia fish + vegetables). Uugghh … more work!

 

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Dome 1 Escapees Caught & Returned

As documented in the video below, I found four more baby bunnies outside the Dome 1 rabbitry this morning.  Caught them and returned them to the dome.

Looks like they have been slipping out between the bottom struts of the dome, and the cinder block wall the dome rests on.  Normally I fill the cinder block holes with dirt, but hadn’t filled them all back in after renovating the dome a month ago.  Soooo, the little sneaks found and exploited that weakness and escaped.

 

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Sweet Mystery of Life

Headed out to rotary plow a garden extension, and saw something out of the corner of my eye. Somehow, one of the new rabbit kits from the Dome 1 colony mysteriously ended up about 120 feet outside the dome!

In hindsight, but bun was sort of ‘damp’ head to toe, so I’m thinking somehow it got out of the dome, Hunter found it, and she carried it in her mouth to the area I was working in.

While she’s treated to rabbit “parts” when we harvest meat from the colonies … she also smart enough to know that baby bunnies, when alive, are not food, but family members to be protected.

THANK GOD the bunny is pure white and not grey, or Hooey would probably have mistaken it for a mouse and just munched it, as she’s currently dispatching about a dozen mice a day from the barn as we trap them.

Might have name this bunny ‘Lucky.’ 😉

 

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New Dome 1 Rabbit Litter

Been an interesting morning already. 2 of 3 mice escaping Hunter’s dispatch … releasing a sick rabbit (Houdini) into the wild … and now finding a few new bunnies (kits) underground in the Dome 1 colony, which was only constituted a few weeks ago.

If you review the video from a few weeks ago when I migrated the first few does from Dome 2 to Dome 1, you’ll see that I commented on how fat the matriarch doe was … obviously about to pop with a new litter of kits.

Well … apparently she did!

2018.05.08 UPDATE:  New Litter Top Side

I just went out to feed and water the two dome colonies and found the new litter in Dome 1 to be top side en masse.  As always, they are just so damn cute.

I’m working pretty aggressively to combat the current disease outbreak in both domes.  I’ll be monitoring these little guys daily for symptoms.

 

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Another Bitter-Sweet Rabbit Episode

I’m still working my butt off trying to figure out why I have so many sick juvenile rabbits in both geodesic domes (colonies). It’s either Cocci or Mucous Enteritis (ME). The mortality rate has been pretty high (about 75%), so I suspect ME.

After doing some research on ME, I put the two most recent symptomatic (severe abdominal bloating, diarrhea, severe pain exhibited by teeth grinding) rabbits into a hospital cage and provided them a special diet (dark green leafy veggies, carrots, apples) and Pedialyte with a little pineapple juice.

One of the two (I call her Houdini) escaped from the hospital cage 3 times. I found her outside the hospital cage, and outside the surrounding enclosure cage, just eating grass this AM.

Soooo, I released her into the wild. She is still sick, and now at risk of falling to any of the numerous predators around here, but through her behavior, she made clear to me her desire to not be in a cage. So be it. With my blessing, she’s now free to experience whatever life has in store for her.

 

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Dome 1 Refurb Project

Back Story …

I built two 18′ (diameter) geodesic domes last year to raise livestock in.  I started a rabbit colony in Dome 1, but it became clear the rabbits were trying to dig down to China, so I ripped out the floor of Dome 2, excavated down about 4 feet, wire meshed the bottom, added a raised platform and wood paths, then backfilled the dirt back into the dome.   When completed, I migrated the whole rabbit colony from Dome 1 to Dome 2.

In less than a year, the rabbit colony has grown from 4 (3 does, 1 buck) to somewhere around 40.  I processed out all but one buck, but there’s still at least 30 in there, with two new litters added in the past few weeks.

So, I decided the time had come to refurbish Dome 1 to replicate the success of Dome 2.

Took me about 3 and half days to complete, pretty much working all day.

Here are a few videos and photos that document refurb process.

 

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~14 Gallons of Rabbit Manure … Per DAY!

I generally de-poop the Dome 2 rabbitry every morning, and usually get about 14-15 gallons of new rabbit pellet manure per day.

Going to be literally SWIMMING in organic compost this (and every!) growing season, which ain’t a bad thing.

Best I can tell, there’s still only about 20 rabbits in the dome.  As soon as they hit their reproductive maturity (any time now) I expect a few new litters of kits, which means it’ll be time to start thinning the herd.

Rabbit stew, anyone?