On Monday I posted about how we updated our rabbit tractors by installing feeders. You can see a video of our tractors here. Another change we recently made to the tractors was removing the door to the “house” part of the tractor. We did this because we never closed the door, so it was always tied […]
Posts Tagged ‘Rabbits’
Rabbit Tractor Updates: Door Removal
Posted in Rabbits, tagged homestead, kits, meat, rabbit meat, Rabbits on January 11, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
Rabbit Tractor Updates: Feeder Addition
Posted in Rabbits, tagged feed, feeder, kits, meat, rabbit meat, Rabbits, winter on January 9, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
A while back we adapted our rabbit tractors for winter use. Read about those changes here and here. Elevating the tractors increased the occurence of what had previously been a minor issue: the rabbits flipping their feed dishes and spilling all the feed. When that happened and the tractors were on the ground, it was […]
Rabbit Sales Updates
Posted in Rabbits, Uncategorized, tagged homestead, rabbit meat, Rabbits on January 3, 2017 | Leave a Comment »
We look forward to selling many Silver Fox rabbits in 2017, and to facilitate that we have made some updates to our sales process. We now have pages on our website dedicated to communicating with our breeding stock and pet rabbit customers. Each page has a rabbit order form where customers can tell us what […]
Rabbits for Sale- 12/28/2016
Posted in Rabbits, tagged homestead, kits, rabbit meat, Rabbits on December 28, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
UPDATE: SOLD OUT. We have sold out of the rabbits listed below. We will be weaning two doe kits this month, and several litters at the beginning of February. If you interested in rabbits, please contact us via our breeders or pets pages. As we head into the new year, we are making some updates […]
Rabbit Colony Free Feeder
Posted in Rabbits, tagged feed, feeder, homestead, meat, rabbit meat, Rabbits on December 22, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
This fall we’re experimenting with a rabbit colony setup. This experiment is ongoing, so we cannot yet say whether or not it’s successful. One nice characteristic of the colony, though, is that we can quickly feed and water several rabbits at the same time. To feed the rabbits, we made a rabbit feeder comparable to […]
Winter Tips & Tricks
Posted in Rabbits, tagged homestead, Rabbits, winter on December 20, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
Here at Independence Homestead, winter begins when we switch from automatic waterers to bottles for the rabbits. We do this when the temperature stays below freezing for an entire day, so the automatic waterers will be frozen and won’t work. Well, that happened last week and bottles are up! If you’re facing chilly temperatures as […]
Weathering the Winter: Water
Posted in Chickens, Ducks, Goats, Hogs, Rabbits, tagged american guinea hog, chickens, ducks, goats, Rabbits, water, winter on December 19, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
Every winter we work hard to ensure the animals have access to water. With several animal pens, this can be a challenge. It can be frustrating to refill a water bowl with fresh water only to have it freeze in a matter of hours. Here are some tips we’ve learned along the way that may […]
Dispatching Rabbits
Posted in Rabbits, tagged homestead, meat, rabbit meat, Rabbits on December 5, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
We’ve had some questions about how we dispatch rabbits when processing them. We’ve had a lot of success with the method detailed in this YouTube video: We’ve found this method is quick and humane. Additionally, it requires no special tools as long as you have a broomstick around. I hope this helps those of you […]
Growing out Rabbits Over Winter (Part 2 of 2)
Posted in Rabbits, Uncategorized, tagged meat, rabbit meat, Rabbits, winter on November 30, 2016 | 1 Comment »
In Part 1 I gave an overview of our rabbit grow out practices in the growing season, and profiled a rabbit breeder’s choices for growing out rabbits in winter. Here I will detail the grow out method we are using this winter. This winter we are using our portable rabbit tractors as grow out pens […]
Growing Out Rabbits Over Winter (Part 1 of 2)
Posted in Rabbits, tagged meat, rabbit meat, Rabbits, winter on November 29, 2016 | 1 Comment »
Winter presents a number of challenges on the homestead, one of which is how to grow out rabbits. Today I’ll explain our grow out method for the growing seasons, and what we do in winter! When grass is growing, we grow out meat rabbits or replacement breeders in portable pens we call rabbit tractors. To learn […]
November Classes: Goats 101 and Raising Rabbits
Posted in Goats, Rabbits, tagged class, goats, rabbit meat, Rabbits, raw milk on November 9, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
Goats 101 Class Saturday 11/12, 2-4pm Join us Saturday for our popular Goats 101 class! We’ll focus on goats for pets, dairy, and land clearing. This class is family friendly, with opportunities to brush the goats, and get a squirt or two of milk out of the does, too! The class will cover handling goats, goat health check, […]
August Events at the Farm
Posted in Goats, Meat Chickens, Rabbits, tagged chicken, chickens, goat milk, goats, homestead, meat, rabbit meat, Rabbits on August 3, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
Goats 101 Class Saturday August 13th, 10am! This month we are again offering our popular Goats 101 class! We’ll focus on goats as pets or dairy, land clearing, and proper fencing. This class is family friendly, with opportunities to brush the goats, and get a squirt or two of milk out of the does, too! The class will […]
Raising Rabbits Class This Saturday & Rabbits for Sale
Posted in Rabbits, tagged food, meat, rabbit meat, Rabbits on July 6, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
We are offering a Raising Rabbits class this Saturday from 10am-12pm. Come learn all about raising rabbits! This class will be relevant if you’re interested in having rabbits as pets, showing, doing 4H, or raising your own meat. Get hands-on experience with handling rabbits and performing basic care. The class will include an optional rabbit processing […]
The Importance of Relaxed Rabbits
Posted in Animals, Rabbits, tagged breeding, homestead, Rabbits on June 10, 2016 | 2 Comments »
In running our breeding rabbit operation, we’ve found that having an environment where rabbits can feel safe and relaxed is important to success. We must remember that living creatures are not computers! The inputs of food, water, shelter, and mating do not necessarily equal the output of rabbit kits. As with all living creatures, the equation is […]
Upcoming Classes: Goats 101 & Raising Rabbits
Posted in Goats, Rabbits, tagged goat milk, goats, homestead, meat, rabbit meat, Rabbits, raw milk on May 31, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
Goats 101 Class Saturday June 18 at 10am We are offering our Goats 101 class again! Come get hands-on experience with goats, and learn about daily care, health care, milking, and more. Raising Rabbits Class Saturday July 9 at 10am In the Raising Rabbits class we’ll cover all the basics of raising rabbits: housing, feed, breeding, and […]
This Weekend’s Activities
Posted in Food & Beverage, Goats, Hogs, Layers, Rabbits, tagged chickens, ducks, eggs, food, goats, homestead, Rabbits on May 18, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
We have a lot lined up for the Loudoun Farm Tour this weekend! Our ducks will be out front to welcome you upon arrival. Ducklings will be showing off their antics in a pen. Then we have goat kids and piglets that are ready to be fed and petted. For the daring, the adult pigs and […]
Update: Ducks & Rabbits Sold Out! More Rabbits Coming Soon…
Posted in Ducks, Rabbits, tagged ducks, Rabbits on March 26, 2016 | 2 Comments »
The ducklings we are selling in April are now sold out. If you still want ducklings, contact us to get on the waiting list. We had 40 rabbit kits weaned at the beginning of March, and all of those have now sold! We will have another 3 litters available in mid-April, plus 7 more at […]
Rescuing Cold Rabbit Kits
Posted in Rabbits, tagged homestead, Rabbits, winter on March 24, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
Our rabbits are typically good mamas, but every once in a while something goes wrong. One challenge we’ve come across a few times is rabbit kits who get out of the nesting box too early. They’re not old enough to coordinate getting out and back in the box, and they’re not furry enough to stay […]
Rabbit Kindling
Posted in Rabbits, tagged homestead, kindle, kits, Rabbits, video on March 23, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
Delilah gave birth on March 1st, and I had the opportunity to record the process in pictures and video. For those of you with rabbits who haven’t seen a rabbit kindling firsthand, hopefully this helps you prepare for when your rabbits kindle. 28 days after the mating, we put a nesting box in the doe’s cage. The […]
Weathering the Winter: Rabbits
Posted in Rabbits, tagged Rabbits, winter on March 1, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
Rabbits are well equipped for winter with their insulating fur coats, but there are still some measures we take to make care of them easier, and to ensure their wellbeing. Housing Our breeders are housed in wire cages in semi-protected structures, and this is adequate for most winter weather. When weather is especially extreme, such […]
Yard Rabbit Caught
Posted in Rabbits, tagged Rabbits on February 19, 2016 | Leave a Comment »
If you’ve visited the homestead in the last few months, you may have seen or heard about the yard rabbit! This is one of our silver fox rabbits that escaped from a rabbit tractor. Well, truth be told, this was quite the Houdini of rabbits. We first moved this rabbit and its littermates out to […]
Recently Weaned Rabbit Kits on Pasture
Posted in Rabbits, tagged kits, pasture, pens, portable, Rabbits, tractor, weaned on June 5, 2015 | Leave a Comment »
Here is a short video showing a couple of our most recent litters of Silver Fox rabbits. These are about 5 weeks old and were recently weaned from their mothers. Once weaned we move them out to pasture in our portable pens. These allow them to forage on pasture while being supplemented with certified organic […]
Rabbit Tractors
Posted in Rabbits, tagged food, rabbit meat, rabbit tractor, Rabbits on March 26, 2015 | 1 Comment »
We have rabbits living in portable pens, or tractors, now! We mentioned this in our last Friday on the Farm post, and here’s a video of the rabbit tractors. This is our first attempt at rabbit tractors, so of course there are a few updates we want to make after seeing them in use. Overall, though, […]
Friday on the Farm- 3/13/15
Posted in Food & Beverage, Friday on the Farm, Layers, Rabbits, tagged chickens, eggs, food, hens, Rabbits on March 13, 2015 | Leave a Comment »
Spring is here! Well, it feels that way at least. As the days warm up and get longer, we are busy completing projects on the homestead. Unfortunately that means there’s been less time to record all the excitement here on the blog, and I missed posting an update last Friday. Sorry! Here’s an update on […]
Friday on the Farm- 2/13/15
Posted in Friday on the Farm, Goats, Layers, Rabbits, tagged chickens, chicks, eggs, goats, hens, homestead, kits, Rabbits, spring on February 12, 2015 | Leave a Comment »
Spring is Coming! It may not feel like it now, but spring is fast approaching! I can see it in the days that are getting progressively longer. Today we worked outside until 6:30pm, and it seems that not so long ago it was dark by 5pm. While we look forward to warmer weather, I know […]
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