My Winter Setup

Now that it is winter, I have moved the rabbits into the winter shed. It is an old grain storage building that we skidded from one of the neighbors farms. It is divided into two halves. We installed two windows, one on each side.

I have eleven rabbits in it. Two years ago, we built some cages to put in there. They each hold four rabbits. The have a frame under them to hold them. Since we have chickens in there sometimes, we put sloped steel over it, too. We store nest boxes under them. We also have a cage by the door. On top of that cage we have a light. On the back wall I have three cages. Two have rabbits. One is storage.

In the middle I have a frame that holds two storage buckets. Under it there is a chicken nest box. I keep my feed in a 30 gallon trash can.

That is my winter setup. I have two bucks and nine does. I put straw on the floor and when it's available on the floor of the cages. I will hopefully have some pictures on soon of the shed. I hope this has been a help.

Raising Rabbits Podcast!

(press play above to listen to my podcast interview)

Something I really like doing is working on the farm. A way I do that is by raising rabbits. For awhile I planned how I would raise rabbits. Then one Saturday, in May 2012, I built a cage with my dad. The day after that I got my first rabbit, Myuki. Awhile later I got five more rabbits, one buck and four more does. With my new buck we mated Myuki. We still have two of the kits!

My dad asked me to be on his podcast to interview me about rabbits. You can listen to Episode 118 on The Beginning Farmer Show. Below are some of the topics of the interview.

•  Start with 2 junior bucks and 2 junior does
•  Rabbits are a good way to start a farm
•  It's hard to get hardy meat rabbits to raise outside
•  When you have a lot of rabbits they take a lot of labor

Please check out The Beginning Farmer and thanks for listening!

2014 Marion County Fair

I showed some rabbits at county fair.  I liked doing showmanship even though I got bit and scratched doing it. The rabbit was scared. This is how I did:

• Pen of 3 = 3rd place
• Individual fryers = 4th, 5th, and special recognition
• Senior bucks = 1st, 2nd, and best of breed
• Senior does = 1st and 2nd
• Junior Showmanship = Champion

My pen of 3

Practicing showmanship

Watching the judge with my pen of 3

Doing showmanship

My showmanship rabbit

Bunnies!

I have 26 bunnies as I type!
One of them had 10. That is a lot for a rabbit. The others had 3, 8, and 8. Right now I have 3, 8, 8, and 7. They are doing well! Here are some cool pics!

The oldest

The second youngest

Miyuki at Home

 I had a rabbit named Miyuki. Let me tell you about her at home.

Well, you heard about getting her and her cage. Let me tell you about her at home.

Well, when we got her she needed to get use to her cage and the place. I got her food and water in case she needed some.  Then I looked at her.
The next day I checked on her and gave her dandelions. After Dad got home, I checked on here again.
The next day, after nap, I gave her food and found that she had made a pile of straw. When Dad got home I gave her fresh water and Dad and I put the nest box in. After Dad got chores done, I watched her.
That is my story!

Feeding Miyuki some grass

Buying Miyuki

On Sunday, March 25, 2012, I got Miyuki with Mom, Dad, Isaac, Jonathan and Hannah.
We got her in Iowa City. We got her so I could raise rabbits. We got to pet her. We talked to her owners. Then we bought Miyuki!
We got Miyuki's pedigree paper. Then we brought Miyuki home. Next we put Miyuki in her cage.
It was fun buying Miyuki.

Petting Miyuki

Miyuki in her box

Building the House for Miyuki

On March 25, 2012, I got a rabbit named Miyuki. We thought she was pregnant but she was not.
Here is how Dad and I made her cage.
At Farm and Home we got chicken wire, a water bottle for Miyuki, feeder for Miyuki, feed for Miyuki, a nest box, screws, and drill bits.
At Spahn and Rose we got we got twelve 1x2's, six 2x2's, and three 2x4's. Two of the 2x4's were treated.
At home, Dad and I started to build. First we put the treated 2x4's in place. Then we cut the other 2x4 in half. Then we put the pieces in place to make a rectangle. Then we screwed the pieces together. Next we did the slats for the floor. After that we did the room to nest in. After we did the posts to hold the roof up, we put the sides on the room. Next we did the chicken wire. After that we did the roof. Last we did the panel for the feeder and water.
It took a long time.

putting the slats on

putting the roof on

My Beginning Of Rabbit Raising

My name is Caleb. This is my beginning of raising.

So you may be wondering why I have this blog. I made a company named Five Loaves Two Fish. I was selling potholders and I wanted something that you could continually sell. So I started thinking of ideas and came up with rabbits. And this where my story starts. A while back my dad suggested a blog. And so this is my blog.

For awhile I planned how I would raise rabbits. Then one Saturday, in May 2012, I built a cage with my dad. The day after that I got my first rabbit, Myuki. Awhile later I got five more. With the buck we mated Myuki. She had five kits. Two made it. One we didn't know if it was born alive.

I enjoy raising rabbits!

The first five kits.

The first four rabbits.