Update - The Native American Winter Horse Feed Experiment

On day 4, I weighed the three rabbits and they had lost about 3 ounces each. Looking at the feed I noticed that they were not eating as much as I'd normally suspect. My suspicion is that they needed more time to transition from pellets and the large supply of apples they had been eating. So, for now I'm stopping the experiment. I will try again later. 

Over the last week I've just been putting a small amount of pellets in a bowl and am gradually seeing the limbs getting stripped more thoroughly. I'm not expecting to ever get fast weight gain on winter tree limbs alone but would like to see if they can get some growth. I'll try again over a few days and monitor their weight and will post another update on how that goes.

I always try to give a few small branches daily to my rabbits. I've noticed since doing that, I've had no problems with weaning stress or digestive diseases. I believe the coarse fiber helps regulate the good bacteria in their gut and prevents the bad from taking over.

I've got a few more does to breed over the next week. That's sometimes tricky when the days get short. I've also noticed the percentage of males in my litters is higher in winter and my female count is higher in spring. I'll write more about this and my upcoming mini feed experiment next week.

Day 1 - The Native American Winter Horse Feed Experiment

Despite the title of this post, this experiment is on rabbits. It was inspired from reading biographical stories of American Indians and fur trappers on how they fed their horses during the winter months, primarily on cotton wood bark, stems and branches.

Today I started the experiment with three white kits that are 6 weeks old and were born October 14, 2015.  I weighed 4 brown kits out of the same litter and am keeping pellets in front of these but they'll still get some forage. Up until now they've been eating some forage, apples and have had pellets always available. I've stacked all my Jerusalem Artichoke stalks that froze recently, thinking I was going to chip them. I gave some to the rabbits to eat and they loved them! They only left the older 1/3 base part of the stalk but even chewed on those pretty heavily. These plants were nearly 12 foot tall. Every part of that pant is usable and it grows like a weed.

I've gathered fresh branches from Chinese elm, Russian olive and cottonwood. I'll also include the Jerusalem artichoke stalks in their feed. No pellets will be given going forward.

I've got a scale that is accurate down to the half ounce and weighed all the kits.

Those in the experiment weighed in ounces: 43.5, 48.0, 42.5

The siblings left as the control weighed in ounces: 43.5, 46.5, 47.5, 48.5

Upon placement in the pen the test subjects are already enjoying their tree branches

I'll be weighing everyone again on Sunday and provide an update. If everyone is losing weight, I'll be ending the experiment.

Stay tuned!

Planning - The Native American Winter Horse Feed Experiment

I'm finding many references to Native Americans and trappers feeding their horses cottonwood branches and bark during the winter. Louis and Clark witnessed prized horses kept in great condition through the winter on this diet. Time to put this winter diet to a test on domestic rabbits. I'm a bit skeptical of much success but if weanling rabbits can gain wait on tree bark, that's very valuable knowledge to have if any catastrophe happened during winter months.

I have a couple litters that will be ready to wean in a couple weeks. Here's the plan for my first experiment on this feed:

1) Choose two rabbits from each litter and place in grow out pen on their own. Keep fed with a steady supply of branches from cottonwood, siberian elm, aspen, russian olive and willow.

2) Two other rabbits from each litter will be weighed and monitored for comparison as the control group. They will be fed a typical diet with some pellets always available.

3) Weigh rabbits every three days.

4) Keep experiment going until rabbits reach 10 weeks or reach butcher weight.

5) End experiment early if rabbits lose weight or appear in poor condition.

Keep tuned, I'll be posting pictures at the start and weekly updates throughout the experiment.

New Buck

Since I'm limited to 6 rabbits per city ordinance and one buck can breed 20 does, I prefer to just keep one. I do occasionally breed a doe to someone else's meat breed buck so I have something to compare against and to offer prospective breeders stock not so closely related.

My main buck Peter broke his back after I left him out with a doe that was being shy. Not sure how it happened but I ended up having to put him down. I did hold back a buck from a litter and he was almost five months when this happened. He has an agouti colored dutch pattern, so I'll just call him Dutch.

Dutch a NZxFG buck at 4 months

This week I used Dutch on four different does. He's about five and a half months old so a bit young but did get fall offs on three out of four. We've got decreasing day length now so none of the does was very enthusiastic. I'll try the last doe again tomorrow. His testicles are dropped and full so we'll find out in a month how fertile he really is. 

His behavior is what I like to see in a buck. He has good stamina and does not tire easily. Dutch has a good grip and is firm but is not overly aggressive or mean. He lets me position himself and the doe without getting distracted which can be very important in the winter when some does become hard to breed. Being able to hold the doe in breeding position can make a huge difference in fertility. 

Normally, if I can get a fall off, I have a litter, regardless of the doe's receptivity. However, you need to make sure the doe is in good condition. A skinny doe feeding a litter of 12 needs more time between litters. Fat does in general are harder to breed and have smaller litters, so breeding her quickly again might be what she needs to get her down to a healthy weight. Lots of factors to consider. I don't stick to an exact schedule for rebreeding, it all depends on the doe's condition. I still expect 6 litters a year from a doe.

Rabbit Popsicles

Our dog Jax has not eaten any commercial food in the year and a half we've had him. We give him leftovers and he gets the bones, internal organs, feet and head from the rabbits we butcher.

When I butcher a rabbit, I place the carcass in cold saltwater to soak for a few hours. I roll up the hide and put that in a used plastic grocery bag. In another grocery bag, I put all the internal organs, feet and head (offal). Both the offal and hide plastic bags go in the freezer for later use. Once frozen I call them rabbit popsicles.

I usually butcher several rabbits at once. The dog gets the offal from one rabbit fresh and that's plenty for him. He eats it fresh but not enthusiastically.

Today I pulled out a rabbit popsicle from the freezer. When Jax saw me with the bag he got really excited. I dumped the popsicle and he excitedly went to work on it. That frozen rabbit offal was completely gone within one hour. I've had other dogs in the past that preferred fresh but not Jax.

The BARF (bones and raw food) and other raw diets are becoming popular for pets. I've noticed that wild predators normally will start with eating the internal organs and even the stomach contents and intestines. I strongly suspect the enzymes and bacteria that grow naturally in the prey's digestive system, not only are beneficial for the prey animal for digesting their food but are beneficial for the predator eating them, just like live culture foods such as yogurt and sauerkraut are good for us.

Jax feasting on a rabbit popsicle 

Rabbit Jerky

This time of year the rabbit market is flooded so my surplus fryers do not get sold. Freezer space is running low and I don't especially like eating white meat everyday. Jerky is a great alternative, healthy snack and is simple to make. Keep it dry and it stays good for months without refrigeration. I don't really care to follow an exact recipe but use spices I have on hand. You don't have to just eat out of hand, experiment by using it in soup or other dishes. I like to add small pieces to ramen noodles along with some vegetables.

Directions

• After butchering rabbits of any age, I soak in cold salt water for a few hours. You can also use rabbit that's been in your freezer. 
• Pat dry and let the carcass dry to the touch.
• Cut the meat from the bone. Use the bones for soup or feed to the dog rather than buy commercial dog food. Actually our dog eats everything from the rabbit that we do not eat.
• I prefer to coarse grind the meat like you would for sausage so it's not so chewey. If you don't have a grinder, you can cut into approximately quarter inch slices.
• Add salt and spices, then mix thoroughly. Do not leave the salt out. I prefer coarse kosher salt but any table salt will do. Salt helps it dry and retard bacterial growth. If you are drying at lower temperature, you'll need more salt.
• Ground meat is easier to shape on a tray if you use a jerky press, which is a contraption similar to a caulk gun.
• I place strips in a food dehydrator set at 160 F and they usually dry in less than one day. You can alternatively put in the oven at low heat and crack it open to let the humidity out. Smoking at low heat is also a great option.
• Once it's completely dry I just store in a cookie jar or other container to keep insects away. If you live in a humid environment, you need to watch out for condensation and mold. You can put it in the freezer but it usually doesn't last long at our house.

Spices (pick any of the following to your taste)

Black pepper, chili pepper, Worcestershire sauce, sugar (I never use), thyme, lemon juice, liquid smoke, cloves, coriander, garlic powder, onion powder, grated citrus peel, use your imagination!

rabbit jerky

Experiments with Root Crops

Farmers have been growing root crops to feed livestock for many centuries. They can be stored through the winter and are a high energy source of food that help animals keep their weight on. I'm still in the experimental phase with root crops. My hope is to find options that are easy to grow and will provide that extra nutrition to help a doe keep producing well through winter without commercial feed. I'm looking at root crops to be supplement not the sole feed. I'd keep hay and branches as the core feed.

Last year I grew a lot of purple top turnips. They grew quickly and did well in cool weather but got woody and wormy in the heat. The rabbits ate them but not enthusiastically. Turnips are a brassica and while rabbits can eat them, I don't consider it safe to feed in large quantity.

I've read that fodder beets can reach 20 pounds and that they are very palatable and keep the rabbits fat. I'll be able to experiment a little bit this year but I've only had meagre success growing them so far. I've had a lot of problems with insect damage and they've been growing slow. It's late August and I planted in mid April but only seeing medium sized beet roots so far.
Carrots are good but I've never been good at raising them in large quantity. I kept some in the ground through the winter. They were still good in the Spring and the rabbits loved them. Rabbits love both tops and root.

Fodder beets - not doing too great for me

Sunchokes - rabbits eat the top and the tubers

This Spring I planted Jerusalem Artichokes in part of my front yard. Jerusalem artichokes, also called sunchokes, are in the sunflower family. They are in the front because it's claimed they can be invasive and hard to eradicate once established, so I didn't want to take space where I grow vegetables. They are now over 8 feet tall and growing really well. They are still not in flower which I hope means they are putting all their energy in producing tubers. My rabbits like the foliage and younger stems. My family will try the roots ourselves after the tops are frozen in November to see how we like them ourselves. Here's a video I found that gives me reason to suspect they'll make a great additional winter feed. Once the top is dead, I plan to let it dry then chip them up into mulch and save some of the chips for nest bedding. If these prove to be a good feed source, next year I will be expanding my patch to take up that entire section of lawn. The nice thing about sunchokes is that they grow like a weed and I don't need to buy seed and replant every year.


I'll write more on my success and failures with root crops as I gain more experience with them.

A Good Nest

Since it's summer time, we've been sleeping with the bedroom window open. I've got two does due to kindle in about ten days. They have gained weight and and I've been hearing them being restless and rattling and digging on everything in their pens. Pretty good signs they are indeed pregnant. Breeding stock I've had in the past usually don't start nest building until within two days or the day before giving birth. This line starts two weeks before.

Since we feed a lot of tree branches, I accumulate a rather large pile quickly and some are pretty thorny. We do use some for grilling or smoking meat but most I run through an electric chipper. I save the chips in a feed bag after they have dried. Instead of buying pine shavings I've been using these wood chips in the nest boxes.

My nest boxes are permanently attached to my hutches and are large, about 24x16x12 inches. I worried about the size being too big but they have been working well, I believe due to using a few inches of wood chips or shavings in the bottom. The solid bottom, I do not like because the babies end up using the box as a toilet and they become a mess to clean. I'll eventually put a wire bottom and use a cardboard liner. The rabbits love these attached boxes as a place to hang out or if they ever feel threatened, the box is a refuge, like a burrow would be in the wild. In the very distant past, I did on occasion let a doe dig a burrow for her litter, with generally good success but I have much less loss with these attached boxes.

Traditional nest boxes that you put inside the cage work fine. The main concern on a nest box is that after it's filled with bedding, you want a couple inches of lip on the entrance so babies do not get dragged out after their mother feeds them. Some latch on to a teat too hard as their mother leaves.

One thing that has really impressed me with using hutches with permanently attached nest boxes, even for bucks, is that if you ever sell the rabbits with the hutch, just load the hutch on a trailer, rabbits and all. The rabbits will go inside their refuge and feel perfectly safe speeding down the interstate at 75 mph.

The key to a good nest for extreme cold or hot weather is to have a few inches of wood chips in the bottom. Then dry grass, straw, shredded paper or similar on top and filling the corners. The doe will dig away some of the chips to form an indentation big enough to put her babies, about the size of a cereal bowl. The other materials get pushed around and fill out the corners where otherwise a kit could get stuck and potentially chilled. In the winter I fill the box with dry grass or shredded paper, just very lightly so it's not packed. She'll push them around and they tend to form almost a tunnel from the entrance to the hollowed spot in the back corner.

Before giving birth or even during, the doe will pull hair and use it as lining in the depression. Sometimes I'll also add some dryer lint if I'm concerned there is not enough pulled fur or it's especially cold. You can have too much fur too. I've seen babies get wrapped in a thick wad of fur and get isolated or smothered. If too much, I'll remove the extra and put it in a bag in case more is needed later or another doe doesn't pull enough. There should be just enough fur that they can fluff it up and stay cozy underneath. It's not uncommon for the young kits to push the fur down and spread out more during the heat of the day and then gather together close at night and fluff back up the fur that is matted at the bottom. The babies do this themselves with their movement, not the mother.

Doe rabbits are not like mother cats, who will return lost babies or move them to a safer place. If a hairless baby gets tangled in bedding, dragged out of the nest or just stuck in a corner, she'll do nothing to save it or put it back with the others. The mother only gives them attention to feed them. She will just hover over her kits and let them feed and may lick them clean. This only happens once or twice a day so you may never see it. Just look for fat baby tummies. I try to check the nest daily. I remove any that may have died, and make sure it's not easy for the kits to leave the nest by making sure corners are filled and that there is just one depression with everything sloped slightly toward the depression.

During extreme heat, usually if it gets over 95F, I will take any babies under ten days old inside to stay cool. After noon, we put them in a box with some of their mother's fur and the same bedding that was in the nest. Once the sun goes down we take them back to the nest with their mother. I've never had a problem with the mother rejecting them. If a doe were to reject her babies, I would not keep her. Older kits handle the heat better, I believe because their digestive system has become more stabilized with good bacteria. By that age the babies will already have been chewing on nest bedding and any manure pellets their mother left in the nest. If you see a few of the does' dropping in the nest, leave them, they are important for digestive inoculation of probiotic bacteria, so the kits can eat the same food as their mother without getting diarrhoea.

If you have plenty of wood chips and plenty of other bedding and the doe has been able to make a nice tunnel to her babies through it, cold winter weather is easy. After they get more fur and can handle the weather, you may need to remove some bedding as they grow and take up space. Sometimes I'll expand the depression so the pile is not so deep causing those on the bottom to smother. Little things can make a big difference in the survival rate.

When a doe has babies on the wire and doesn't build a nest. Try building one for her and put the babies in it. There is a good chance she'll still care for them.

I've never had an issue with a mother abandoning her babies because I touched them. If I did, I'd cull the doe. While the kits are young, it's easy to give some extras from a doe with a huge litter to one that has a small litter. I've never had a problem with the mother killing them except in a couple of situations where an older kit, over three weeks old got put back in the wrong cage and most of my does will even tolerate that. I do limit the handling sessions to at the most twice a day and only for a few minutes.

Hopefully this will give you some ideas that will help you wean more kits.

Tamarix, Who needs salt blocks?

Saltcedar (Tamarix) is an extremely invasive species prevalent in riparian areas throughout the South Western US. It is native to arid regions of Asia and Eastern Europe. It sends it's roots down deep sucking up scarce ground water and concentrates the salts in it's leaves. The leaves are shed in the winter and accumulate on the ground and drastically increase the salt content of the surrounding soil, destroying any chance of survival for other plants and trees. There are vast riparian areas choked with saltcedar with all the natives now gone. The diversity needed by wildlife gone.

I took my boys on a hike in a wash near our home, pointing out various plants and their uses. They've been enjoying our chokecherry syrup and jelly and we found a tree loaded with ripe fruit. It was sweet but still left a hairy after taste on the tongue. Scrub oak, chinese elm, russian olive, cottonwood, poplars and wild rye, all have their uses and can be fed to rabbits. Tamarix is also gaining a foothold and from everything I've read it's assumed to be useless. While the boys were throwing sticks, I picked a few tamarix leaves and stuck my tongue against them. Salty! Each of the boys tried it and spit, yea, it's called saltcedar for a reason.

Last week I stopped by Steve Regan Company for some feed. Since I'm feeding lots of natural forage, I've been a bit concerned that maybe my rabbits needed a bit more salt in their diet. However, the feed store was out of mineral block salt spools. With that in mind, I grabbed a few small branches and we brought them home.

Surprisingly the rabbits seemed to enjoy it in small quantity. A beneficial use for a hated environmental pest. Maybe I don't need those salt spools after all.

Free Feed Everywhere

Our semi-arid environment limits the crops that can be grown without irrigation. Human populations in semi-arid areas have been historically limited due to crops needing to be grown near rivers or other bodies of water. Most indigenous people were pastoral; raising their own cattle or were hunter gatherers. They relied on animals digesting plant material that is mostly inedible to humans and turning it into meat.

Most of us now grow up relying on the grocery store for all our food. Whatever doomsday scenario that were to come to fruition would render the general population desperate. We are dependent and at the mercy of the technology that drives our society. What would you do if there was no food in the grocery store?

I'd be trimming trees, gathering weeds and make sure I had a good water supply. I'd just keep growing meat from plant materials most people consider worthless or even despise as being foreign invasive species.

We get a bonus with rabbits. The amount of meat you produce is about double what you'd get feeding a calf on the same feed and they reproduce 50 times faster and take up a fraction of the space, especially if you have stackable cages.

Here's some ideas on where to find free feed:

• Industrial areas
• Vacant lots
• Canal banks
• Transportation right of ways
• Lawn & Garden
• Cracks in the sidewalk
• Fence lines
• Roadside
• Frontage road
• Abandoned Property
• Public Buildings
• Your neighbor's garbage

Surviving Heat

Rabbits prefer cold to hot weather. I've lived in Arizona where temperatures got over 120F and was able to avoid losing rabbits to the heat but you have to make accommodations to help them stay cool.

Heat is especially hard on newborn babies up to about two weeks when they can finally leave the nest. The fattest fastest growing babies in the litter will look fine then be dead and hour later. Some get stuck under the bedding under a pile of siblings and become over heated. Heat also can make a buck, especially older ones, temporarily sterile. All rabbits look miserable in the heat of the day and appetite drops off. When a doe isn't taking in as much feed, she can't produce as much milk or maintain her weight. So, she can't raise as many in a litter or they'll grow slower and you'll have to wait longer to rebreed. If rabbits get too hot they die, whereas adult rabbits can handle extreme cold as long as they are kept dry.

Keeping rabbits cool

Provide shade

I keep my rabbits under my apple trees. Anywhere sun can shine I have attached white feed bags to reflect the sun and keep them shaded.

Evaporative cooling

Works well in dry climates. This will not work well in humid conditions. In Arizona I used a mist system surrounding my rabbit hutches. I'd also hang heavy cloth or burlap drapes around the exterior and spray them with water. Spraying water around and under the pens also helps create an evaporative cooling effect. Ears function for your rabbit like the radiator in a car. My rabbits enjoy me wipping water over their ears and fur.

Conduction

A ceramic tile to lay on will help draw away body heat from the rabbit. Ice bottles to lay next to can help them get through an especially hot day.

Take kits inside

Bring the nestbox inside during the hottest part of the day, then return after the sun goes down. This method has virtually eliminated losses due to kits getting overheated. My mothers don't mind their babies being handled. I've only needed to do this until they start leaving the nest at about 2 weeks.

Keep indoors

Some rabbit breeders will have a climate controlled shed. In dry climates a swamp cooler makes a big difference. Air conditioning is expensive. Rabbits can be kept in stackable cages in a basement. You'll just need to have that room well ventilated and clean daily.

Underground burrow

Rabbits like to dig. Going underground is the natural way a rabbit would keep comfortable and keep their young safe from the elements. The downside is they can dig under fencing and escape or a burrow can collapse or fill with water. I have successfully raised many litters underground in both extreme heat and cold.

Heat can be a great filter for deciding which rabbits to keep or determine those that need to be replaced. I keep an eye out for my does that do best in the heat. If they can raise large litters during the summer and maintain their weight, I target their young for replacement stock.

Field Bindweed

Convolvulus arvensis L.

Bindweed aka morning glory is one of the most invasive and hard to control weeds in the world. Most of the literature indicates that it is mildly toxic to livestock but then others list that sheep and hogs have been used to control it. Most of the feed lists for rabbits list it as toxic. However, studies have shown that deer and other wildlife use bindweed as a significant part of their diet. So, I smell bias.

My rabbits enjoy bindweed and I've been feeding it for years with no problems. Bindweed has deep roots that store protein and carbs which allow it to regrow quickly. I feed it fresh or dried.

Be warned that if it's in flower, you most likely will be spreading seed as the dry ones drop under the rabbit pen and mix with the manure or the seed goes right through your rabbit and stays viable. Unless you can get your compost very hot, there is a good chance some will survive to grow more rabbit feed when you spread it in your garden. That's true of many of the invasive plants I feed my rabbits. I've started using wood chips, leaves and grass clippings to heavily mulch my garden, so the problem is minimal. 

When I was a boy we called it morning glory. What a lovely name for a plant most gardeners loathe. I see a patch, smile then fill my bucket. More free greens to turn into meat that feeds my family.

References:
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/vine/conarv/all.html

Winter Squash & Pumpkins

Winter squash and pumpkins are a great source of high energy carbohydrates to help keep weight on your rabbits through the winter. In a cool dry place, they store well into Spring when other feeds start to grow

The first part of last October I put a bunch of spaghetti squash and pumpkins on shelves in my basement. We ended up only eating a few ourselves. It's almost June and these winter squash are in great condition. I just throw a few in the oven whole and cook them until they are soft. Some of my rabbits snub them but others love cooked squash and pumpkin. I've given fresh squash and they eat a bit but my rabbits definitely prefer cooked. As always don't just feed one thing for a meal, give variety. 

Winter squash still good in May

To help all your rabbits develop a taste for squash, give it to them when they are still with their mother. At four weeks my does are already weaning their babies and they are ravenous. That's a good time to give variety so you have rabbits that enjoy a great variety of forage.

Some claim giving cooked squash or pumpkin and seeds are a good rabbit wormer or at least prevents infestations. I've never seen worms in my rabbits so I can't verify that from experience.

After Halloween pumpkins are cheap. I plant them in my garden between rows of corn to save space. The corn stalks themselves get fed either when I thin the corn or after I harvest the ears.

I've noticed rabbits are a lot like people. Most only want to eat what they ate growing up. We've been doing foster care for a few years now and some of the pickiest eaters I've seen were teenage refugees from totalitarian dictatorships who grew up often not having enough food to eat. You would think if someone were hungry they'd learn to eat anything, not true. I'm convinced many have died throughout history because they snubbed food that was strange that would have helped keep them alive. 

Part of the reason I raise rabbits is to accustom my family to eating a large variety of food. It's a skill that must be learned, it doesn't come naturally unless started when the child first starts eating solid food. I've seen older children raised in homes where from weening they were only given processed junk food. When they were given real food cooked from scratch with fresh ingredients, they have a difficult time eating it. They get a gag reflex that makes it physically difficult to swallow. This condition can take years to overcome.

Mallow - Malva parviflora

When I was a boy my friends and I would often pick the immature fruit off the cheeseweed and eat them raw. We'd collect hand fulls of them, peel off the outer covering and pop them into our mouth. The flavor was a bit sweet like carrot but no after taste.  Some cultures make a green sauce out of the mallow leaves and they can be boiled like spinach. I'll have to do more experimenting.

Mallow grows in soil that has been disturbed. It has a deep tap root and in our area over winters and is one of the first greens that emerge in the spring. If you pull them from the top, the branches typically break off and it keeps coming back. That's fine if you want a steady supply of greens for your rabbits but I use a grub hoe to dig deep and get the root. Rabbits can eat all parts of the plant. Most of my rabbits will eat at least some mallow but some of them obviously like it better than others. I never only feed mallow, as always, give variety.

I've read that mallow is poisonous for some livestock such as sheep and horses but sounds like it depends on the nitrogen levels. I've never had any problem feeding mallow to rabbits but if I feed more than they can eat, it gets left in the cage. I just throw any left over in the compost.

You can dry the entire plant and store it for winter hay. Fresh or dry be sure to mix with several other plants. When feeding without pellets, I always offer at least five different plants at one time to my rabbits. Keeps them healthy and happy.

Malva parviflora

Has large tap root

Bunnies by the Dozen

12 healthy kits. 3/4 New Zealand 1/4 Flemish Giant

Nine days ago Tawney had a litter of 14 kits. Two were runts and didn't make it. If I'd of supplemented the two they'd probably of been fine but were just too much smaller to compete. The other twelve are growing fast and should have their eyes open in the next day or two. Tawney must really be a good milk producer. Eight teats and no problem with raising twelve. Her daughter Amber has been a great mother too. Best producers I've ever had. I'll never go back to purebreds.

Super Mother, New Zealand X Flemish Giant

Here's some of the previous litter 2 months older

Here's part of a previous litter in a grow out pen. Notice they have feed in three dimensions. The manger to the right holds garden weeds, grass from below and tree branches above. They actually prefer the branches and food from the manger, something about stepped on food must not be as appetizing.

Never hide - Recruit, Educate and Mentor

I'm hearing more and more of people who raise meat rabbits who will either not sell to strangers or will only meet people in a public location. They spend time to teach someone about raising rabbits and then end up being reported to the local authorities for animal abuse or for breaking an ordinance. Most of the general public is too disconnected from where food comes from. They are immersed in fantasy and are very susceptible to anthropomorphize and make animals human.  They will eat their chicken nuggets and be horrified if their neighbor butchers a chicken in their own backyard. I understand the fear and have seen the arbitrary punitive laws that many municipalities have adopted.

Hiding only makes it worse. It's time to stand up and be proud that you raise your own meat and don't rely on the factory farms for your family's protein.  We need to network with like minded people and stand up against the tyranny of the majority. We need to recruit and mentor others to be self sufficient.  Growing your own food on your own property is as natural of a right as breathing. Is it moral to pass a law that you are not allowed to breath? Then how is it moral to make law restricting growing food? Is it okay to fine someone, threaten to take their home and even put them in a cage for growing a crop in their front yard, and yet require growing a useless lawn with chemicals and huge volumes of water that all end up in the landfill? It is disturbing that anyone can give validity to such "law". We need to start standing up for each other and repudiate and ridicule these laws and anyone who would support, enforce or create them. If there is no damage to your neighbor, then it's not their business. 

Raising rabbits can be tricky for someone new to it. I've seen many people try fail, get discouraged and give up. It's a great sideline that meshes with gardening and even chickens. A little mentoring can go a long way to helping someone learn a new skill that can help keep their family healthy and prepared if times get hard. I've heard many people comment how their family survived the war because they raised rabbits. Even in the US, during World War II, there was meat rationing, so rabbit raising was popular. 

There has been a trend of people starting to demand zoning changes, so they can raise chickens. More people are interested in gardening and being independent and self-sufficient. Fear of GMO foods, herbicides, insecticides, industrialized food production, food additives and preservatives, are pushing more people to eat naturally. Interest in healthy eating is increasing.

Let's encourage this trend. Tell people you raise your own food. Share your rabbit sandwich. Bring your favorite rabbit dish to the company potluck. Grow more rabbits than you need and sell the excess for meat and breeding stock. Keep in touch with your customers and encourage them to call you when they have questions. Show people your rabbitry and what has worked for you. Encourage others to be open and share their rabbit raising skills.

Hiding only serves yourself in the short run and ultimately makes the situation worse. Take a risk and share, then stand up for each other.

Adjusting to a new home

The riskiest time in your new rabbit's life is likely the first few days after you first bring them home. Limiting change and stress is the key to a smooth transition and survival in their new home. Stress weakens the immune system and can also make them more suseptible to digestive issues with any change in food. A rabbit can look fine then be dead from inflamed intestines within a few hours.

I do offer free replacement if a rabbit dies for any reason soon after taking them home. So far I've only needed to replace one this year.

Rabbits in the wild have a territory. They know where all the tastiest plants are, water sources and where to hide if there is danger or bad weather. When I was a young boy growing up in Oregon, I'd always see the cottontail rabbits browsing near the nastiest thicket of blackberry vines. When startled, two bounds and they'd be deep in the cover, I'm sure kicking back and laughing at me or any other predator. They seemed immune to the nasty thorns and would just relax in the thicket until danger passed.

Getting forced out of the place they know is extremely stressful. Rabbits know they are at the bottom of the food chain so any change spells danger. Not having their spot to hideout leaves them terrified. 

Things to do:

1) Get at least a few days worth of the food they have been eating and mix it to gradually transition to your feed. Lots of fiber is good. Avoid rich foods such as alfalfa and plants from the cabbage family until they've had time to settle, and even then sparingly.

2) Make sure they have something to hide behind. A cardboard box is good.

3) Have a good cage or enclosure that will keep them from escaping and keep predators out.

4) Put up some tarp or other obstruction to protect from wind, rain and view of other animals in your yard. Minimize new sites and sounds so they can try to relax. Make sure they are shaded and no direct sun. Frozen plastic bottle in the summer to snuggle up to will help reduce heat stress along with spraying water around the area for evaporative cooling. In extreme heat, consider a mist system. Rabbits handle cold well if they are dry and protected from wind.

5) Make sure they have plenty of clean water.

6) Keep interaction with children down to a minimum the first few days. After a few days when the rabbit seems relaxed, gradually introduce children and teach them how to properly hold the rabbit but only for short intervals in the beginning. Have the child give safe treats such as timothy hay or apple twigs. 

7) Pets need to be kept away and their view obstructed. Dogs can tear through wire cages and just running past the cage can startle a rabbit to where it could blindly crash into the wall of it's cage and hurt itself. You may need to later do some heavy training of dogs so they will leave the rabbits alone.  Good luck with that. Success varies drastically between breeds.

8) Predators will be a problem if you don't have your rabbits in a secure building or fenced yard. So, at least get some fence posts and wire and get them enclosed.






9) Rabbits are not a herd animal. Meeting a strange rabbit is stressful and sometimes violent. So being alone is best.

Siberian Elm: If you can't beat em eat em

Elm going to seed

Most people hate Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila), common incorrectly referred in our area as Chinese elm. This creates a great foraging opportunity for both yourself and your rabbits. In the Spring before the leaves emerge they green up with millions of flat seeds called samaras. These seeds get scattered everywhere the wind will blow them and start coming up as weeds in your garden. During the Summer the deep roots and sun combine to gather nutrients and energy into the tree in preparation for a burst of reproductive power first thing in the Spring. These seeds are edible for both human and wildlife at any stage in their development but are only available for a couple weeks before they get dispersed.

Elm seed AKA samaras

Rabbits love the green seeds before the edges dry out and turn papery. Once dry the seeds are converted into minature flying saucers. I harvest the young branches and cut or break them small enough to fit in their cage. You can also just strip the seed, handfulls at a time into a bag and put them in a bowl or J-feeder.

Gave some to our three chickens. They ate a few fresh green elm seeds but preferred them cooked.

12 week female eating immature elm seeds straight from the branch

Jordan and I tried some fresh while harvesting. The taste is slightly sweet and mild in flavor. They would go great in a salad. Ana cooked some up in some ramen noodles for breakfast. The boys ate it all with no complaints.  The samaras seem to take on the flavor of whatever you cook them with. Next we'll have to try them in soup or curry.

Samaras give this ramen some real nutrition

Growing in Pure Rabbit Manure

I've always used rabbit manure in the garden but thought I'd try starting seeds in pure rabbit manure and various mixtures to see what happens.

Rabbit manure is made up of round hard pellets that appear to be made up of plant fiber particles. It only smells if mixed with urine and gets wet. Rabbit manure is nothing like cat or dog scat where you need to really hold your nose.

Here's a popcorn stalk growing in pure rabbit manure. I tried growing 4 different pots but only one made it. The manure doesn't smell but it gets moldy quick and I think it's a bit too hot. However, if you can get it going it grows great.

yellow popcorn in 100% fresh rabbit manure & moringa tree seedling in soil on top of manure.

The moringa tree on the right, is in a pot with 50/50 potting soil on top of a cup half full of fresh manure. I had 50% success on this one too. The manure was too rich for one of them.

So, my conclusion is that fresh rabbit manure is too strong for starting seeds. I will just start seeds in straight potting soil or completely composted rabbit manure. Once the plants have a good start, liquid fertilizer made from fresh rabbit manure tea should be fine as a booster. I'll continue using the manure as a dressing around my garden plants. I'll do more articles on this subject as my garden gets going this year.

Dogs and Rabbits

Having a predator near a small prey animal can be risky. When I was young my Grandfather had an African basenji given to us. They were bred to hunt and the only way that dog could view my rabbits was as lunch. One time my favorite buck escaped, got within reach of the dog and it was all over. I tried training and socialization but the instinct to kill small furry animals was what he lived for.

In Cache Valley I had an Anatolian shepherd. While in her puppy stage during the first year, she would catch small animals and eat them. She had to be supervised around my other animals. After she matured it's like her motherly instinct kicked in and she looked at them all as hers. The kid goats would play king of the mountain on her back and she finally became safe around all the other animals around my place. Her issue was she liked to roam and could sail over a 6 foot fence and hated our neighbor. Livestock guardian breeds bond well with animals but work purely on instinct. They are very independent and don't have that "I want to please you" mindset.

Farm and ranch dogs that work around livestock do not survive if they are breaking into the chicken coop or attacking small animals that belong on the farm. Even the farm cats are typically at least tolerated. The problem when it comes to rabbits is that shepherd or collie type dogs have a lot of energy and prey drive. If anything large or small is running from them, their instinct is to control their movement and they do bite. Their attempt at maintaining control of disobedient underlings on "their" property can be deadly for a rabbit.  The great thing about these dogs is that they are very trainable and usually want to please. So if you can make it clear that you don't want the rabbits hurt, you've got a chance at a good protector.

Our current dog Jax is a mix of border collie and blue heeler. He is about one and a half years old now. He loves to play tug of war and can do battle longer than any of us can. Tons of endurance and energy. While he was young, he was fine with the rabbits as long as they are in their cage, which from past experience is all I hope for that first year. He's very territorial and protective of anything in our yard.  I put him in his crate when anyone comes to get rabbits. He doesn't like non-family messing with "his" rabbits.

Once while eating breakfast we heard a squeal. I could see that a cage door had been left open and found Jax laying on top of a 4 week old black kit. It's like he didn't like to see it run around and so thought he should control it by holding it down. Surprisingly the kit was completely unhurt. However a larger rabbit that might struggle would be met with more force. Rabbits are somewhat fragile and it's easy for them to get a broken spine. Over the last few months we've been working on obedience training and teaching Jax to be gentle with the rabbits and that it's really bad to use any force on them.  Part of it is training and partially just growing up and getting out of the puppy stage but now he's being much more relaxed about critters running around loose.

Jax (australian cattle dog X border collie) and 11 week female rabbit

If you have a dog that lives to kill small furry animals, then I'd just make sure you are able to keep it isolated from your rabbits. Puppies of any breed need to be supervised. I like the livestock guardian breeds but they are not a good choice in town due to their huge size and love of roaming. The herding breeds are not perfect but workable for my needs. Herding breeds are probably too high energy for most families to handle. Some dogs can be good with rabbits but definitely not all.

The other aspect is can your rabbits adjust to a dog running around their hutch? Even if the dog is not a danger, a high strung rabbit could hurt themselves running in fear at the sight of a predator. Some rabbits may have a hard time relaxing and the presence of predatory pets, could effect a doe's mothering. Having calm rabbits is an important trait to select for. A rabbits temperament and disposition can effect many other aspects of it's life. I suspect a lot of poor mothers have poor temperament. I like a rabbit that is not easily spooked and can calm down quickly. Temperament is definitely inheritable. Calm parents typically have calm kits.

It can take time for a rabbit to adjust if it's never seen a dog before. So any new rabbit should have a place in it's hutch where it can go hideout if it feels vulnerable. Usually it just takes a few days and they stop running and hiding when the dog approaches. A cardboard box, large nest box or partition to hide behind has worked well for me.

Rule of Five Forages - when feeding no pellets

Do you like to eat the same food all the time? Niether do rabbits. Like humans, sometimes rabbits eat small amounts of certain plants that in small quantity make them feel good but can be damaging if too much is ingested. Maybe it's for added spice or for medicinal benefits. You'll notice some plants are:

• Completely uneaten no matter how often you introduce it. I might still try during other seasons if my research show it should be a good feed.
• Only small amounts eaten. So, only give small amounts. Maple leaves & ornamental pear.
• Only certain parts are eaten such as the leaves. My rabbits will eat Linden leaves but won't touch the bark.
• Seasonal changes in palatability. Cottonwood & poplar leaves and bark are usually only lightly eaten but in winter they eat more of the bark. It may have more protein stored during the winter months. Cottonwood bark was the main source of winter fodder for Native American horses.
• They love it but too much can cause diarrhea. Cabbage and other brassica, clover and alfalfa.
• Eat it until they get their fill; corn stalks, sprouted grain, various grasses, elm, russian olive, alfalfa. Some feed is high in protein and some is high in carbohydrates.
• Poisonous. I do lots or research to avoid these. I've found my rabbits sense something isn't good and they don't eat it. Be careful there are probably exceptions.

Google is your friend. Identify plants that live in your area. Especially look for agricultural college studies on livestock palatability. If some kind of livestock or wildlife likes to feed on the plant, then there is a good chance it could be a good feed to try. However, always introduce slowly. Every animal digests their food a little different and has different tastes.

I feed forage at least twice a day, morning and evening. Making sure there is always water in front of them.  For good growth I start with highly palatable feed; one item that is high in protein, others high in carbs and then provide a mix of at least 3 others.  When feeding no pellets I like to give at least 5 different feeds simultaneously and only introduce small amounts of anything new. The new feed I give over a few days and gradually increase amounts. I always take note of what's been left from the previous feeding and cut back a bit on items consistently left uneaten and look for new items to add to the rotation. Root crops are convenient for staying fresh and available longer in front of your stock. Sometimes what you think is a large pile of vegetation can be gone in one hour. Rabbits can eat a large volume of feed so don't scrimp and always give a minimum of 5 different forages so you're not forcing them to eat something that may not be good.

Feeding forage can be a lot of work but much of what you feed can come right from your garden. Pellets are convenient but it's good to know your rabbits are able to thrive on natural feed and from plants with deeper roots than anything in a feed bag, you are collecting valuable nutrients into your food chain. It takes practice and experience to learn to identify the plants, find where they are and get your sources, then learn to feed it without lots of waste and in appropriate quantities. Remember the rule of 5 and give them all they can eat.

Easter Bunny Candy Canes, Elaeagnus angustifolia

In the spirit of the holiday, here's a recipe to treat all those Easter bunnies out there. My does and their kits love to chew on Russian olive leaves, small stems and bark. I've seen a few rabbits raised solely on pellets that take time to acquire a taste or to learn to strip the bark but kits pick it up as soon as they leave the nest. Rabbits love to chew, better to chew on these canes than their nest box or cage.

Feed in the evening and by morning Russian olive branches are stripped like on the right.

The Recipe

All you need is one pair of loppers and a Russian olive tree. Prune off a branch of any size you can handle and cut into 8 inch chunks. Knock off any nasty thorns. You can save any slaller stems for feed, they love them too and will often eat the smaller ends entirely.

If I'm not feeding forage, I at least like to give my rabbits one Russian olive cane per day to keep their digestion in top shape. It's a great treat and keeps them healthy. It's a nitrogen fixer that can grow in salty and depleted soils and reach deep for water and minerals that pasture plants can't reach.

Being an invasive species, Russian olive can be found in most semi-arid climates. It's normally hated and considered a weed. Many people are allergic to the pollen and governments sometimes pay for eradication efforts. Google Russian Olive or the scientific name elaeagnus angustiolia to learn more. Once you recognize it you'll see it everywhere and because of it's status as invasive, not hard to find and get permission to collect.

Sick doe with young kits

Last week my doe Four-Eyes went off her feed. I noticed her pellets had not been touched through the night. She has eleven, 17 day old kits, too young to be off mother's milk. Their eyes are open but not yet leaving the nest box. Their bellies were not as round as they've been but not flat like they are starving. Kits at this age will start chewing on things in their nest. I shaved off a little chinese elm and russian olive bark and put that with the kits. I also gathered a small handful of dry manure pellets from their mother and put them in the nest. From about 10 days, kits will chew on their mother's droppings inoculating them with the bacteria needed for good digestion. I added some BOSS (Black Oil Sunflower Seeds) and rolled-oats to her J-feeder.

The next day, Four-Eye's feed, even the BOSS & oats, still was not touched so I really got concerned. I picked her up and checked her breasts. The front set seemed a little warm and swollen. When I touched her front breasts she started shaking, ugh, mastitis. I've seen this problem a couple times in the past and figured her survival was probably about 50/50. I went out to Petsmart and bought some kitten formula and a small bottle. By evening mama was hunched up and shaking. I figured she'd be gone by morning. I put a few small elm and russian olive twigs by her but she wouldn't touch them. Ended up bottle feeding the babies that night.

Went out in the morning expecting a dead doe. She was sitting by the twigs and could see she'd chewed some bark off. Still looked in bad shape. I had Jordan collect the kits and we bottle fed them again. When we put them back in the nest I'd put some bark, small twigs, grass hay, pellets and rolled oats on the edge of the nest. I could see a few chew on a bit of the feed. By evening Four-eyes was eating small twigs and some pellets but appeared she only ate at most 1/4 cup, no where near enough to maintain weight. In the evening I used a mayonnaise lid to hold the kitten formula instead of the bottle. It took a while but ended up being easier than the bottle. Found some dandelion and fresh grass in the front yard and sprinkled that around the nest for the kits. Also, added another half dozen manure pellets.

Mama seems to be gradually improving. After 5 days the babies are starting to eat out of the J-feeder and I keep giving them greens and the small tree branches. Looks like everyone is going to make it.

Bunny Probiotics

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, veterinarian, diatician nor a health professional of any kind.  These are just my observations and thoughts. If you feed your rabbits poop and they die, or you get sick after eating your own fermentations, that's just sad.  Learn, start slow and make your own decisions only after careful study. If you can't trust yourself, then please find a professional and ignore me.

Anyone raising rabbits would benefit from fermenting their own sauerkraut, kimchee or maintaining a sourdough culture. The digestive process is exactly that, a fermentation laboratory. If the environment in the rabbit's gut gets thrown off their digestion will not be efficient and you've setup an environment where bad bacteria can take over. Humans have used fermented products for thousands of years and only recently decided they are disgusting due to the "germs" they contain. I've started regularly consuming live culture yogurt and fermented vegetables regularly and I'm healthier in my 50's than I've ever been. Sometimes learning a little knowledge and assuming we know everything is counter productive. There are reasons why some people get sick eating a meal and others don't. Could be immune system but often I suspect the culture in their gut.

Did you know that mother rabbits will leave probiotic capsules in the nest for the young to chew on? I saw a little 10 day old kit with eyes not yet fully open chewing away on mama's dropping. I suspect it helps build up their gut flora in preparation for digesting solid food. They start eating bits of their nest material about the same time. This all builds the culture in the bunny's gut to be able to digest various plants. The good bacteria growing inside will create an environment where it is more difficult for the bad boys to live.

One of the popular resent books on rabbit raising suggests regularly putting antibiotics in your rabbit's water to prevent coccidiosis and other digestive diseases. If you insist on following such advice (I never will), I'd be giving lots of probiotic paste, silage and high fiber feed to get the gut culture restarted afterward.  I might even avail to them a few "droppings" from a healthy rabbit to help get them kick started. Yea, I know, sacrilege. I'm just not one to believe everything I learned in health class and actually believe much of what we are taught about sanitation and keeping germ free is harmful. It sets us up for problems later.

Fermentation explains a problem I've had with young kits up to 2 weeks old in the extreme heat of Summer. They'd be fine, have fat bellies full of milk and be active and looking great, then just die. By the time I noticed any loss in vigor or diarrhea it was usually too late. It happened to the largest fastest growing kits, the greedy ones. Baby rabbits are not able to regulate their temperature well. Fermentation increases at higher temperatures. I suspect it's taking off too quick for the baby to handle. They have very sensitive digestive systems. Taking the babies in during the heat of the day and returning them in the evening completely solved the problem. After they are hopping around on their own, they seem to be able to regulate their body temperature better. I stop bring them in well before they reach the exploration stage and would be escaping and scampering around the house.  Only done this while they are young and sit quietly in a box with a little bedding snuggled together.

I'll write another article on how and what I feed to grow a healthy bacterial culture in my rabbits. Since taking this approach I rarely lose kits after weaning and rarely have digestive problems in any of my rabbits.

My Breeding Goals

Mothering Ability

Does should be good nest builders that will use the nest box. May be protective of kits but not vicious. Able to maintain own weight while nursing a large litter. Priority given to mothers that raise 10+ kits in a litter with no runts. Keep no doe that loses more than first litter due to her action or inaction. Priority goes to keeping offspring of mothers who never lose a litter.

Litter Size

Average over 8 kits per litter.

Health

Never keep a rabbit that requires antibiotics. Should respond well to natural remedies. Do well on natural feed. Easy keepers that gain weight easily. Healthy kits that wean without loss.

Temperament

Bucks should be calm, friendly, never bite humans or does.

Does should be calm, never spooky/easily startled and only protective of nest in late pregnancy or until kits can leave nest. Must be accepting of foster kits. Doe must be accepting of kits being handled from birth and removed for up to 12 hours during extreme heat or cold.

Adult Weight

10+ lbs

Coat Color

Should be hard to see from a distance. Agouti or natural earth tones preferred. 

Coat Type

Full natural length coat. Good for nest building in winter. No rex type. Less resistance to cold weather and more susceptible to sore hocks. No long wool. Don't want to mess with grooming and shearing.

Feed Conversion

Keep replacement stock that does best on natural forage.

Weight at 8 weeks

Only keep largest kits. Weigh and keep records.

Conformation

Blocky body. Meat type. Good loin, shoulder and hind quarters. No physical deformities.

Choosing New Breeders

Prefer meat breed or meat mutt that compliments any of the above traits missing in current stock. Keep track of other breeders working toward the same goals. See how stock sold to others matures. Work out a buck sharing program. Keep pedigree to track both negative and positive traits.

Baby Blues

My 7 month old agouti doe just had her second litter. My son Jordan calls her Amber. Both times I've bred her back to her blocky 12 lb New Zealand (NZ) white father. Her mother is a 13 pound fawn colored half NZ and half Flemish Giant. I've never done much inbreeding but I really like his blocky structure and the fast growing meaty kits he produces. He's also an "easy keeper" in that he doesn't eat a lot compared to his size. I fed him all through the summer on nothing but forage and he stayed in great shape. So, I'm anxious to see how his sons/grandsons compare.

Amber

Amber's 2nd litter, day 2

Amber has been a great doe and raised 9 our of 9 kits with her first litter born in the middle of winter. She kept good condition so I bred her back 3 weeks after kindling. This time she had 11 but lost one that got buried under the pile and didn't get the membrane cleaned off his head. The remaining ten are doing great. The interesting thing about this breeding is that I'm getting some new varied colors that I haven't seen from any of the 12 previous breedings, to other does, from this buck. Both of Amber's litters have had one with dutch markings. This letter has two blue/gray/silver kits. I'd like to keep a few does to see how the next generation performs and I'll have to keep track of the bucks to see how they turn out.

My thoughts on fur color

The commercial rabbit meat industry has a preference for white fur. However for backyard personal use, color is not an issue. They all taste the same. Witnessing the complexity of color genetics makes things more interesting at kindling time. One benefit of solid colored rabbits is that they are harder to see and count from a distance. Might be important for someone trying to raise rabbits from under the radar of nosy neighbors in areas with restrictive city ordinances. They are also harder for predators (animal or human) to see if running loose. Camouflage can be an advantage and while mothering ability and meat body type are top priority, all things being equal, I choose colors that blend into our environment. If I'm saving the skins for craft projects, I personally prefer natural earth tones instead of white or dyed fur.

Color can be fun :)

Winter Foraging

Suppose you have run out of pellets and have no access to more and it's winter. Hopefully you preserved feed from the previous summer such as hay (grass, alfalfa, tree foliage, twigs, bark), fodder beets, silage or grain for sprouts but you didn't and it's the zombie apocalypse (or insert other societal collapse). Now suppose there is 3 feet of snow. The ground is frozen and covered, so the only option is harvesting from trees. That leaves bark, twigs and buds.

Can our rabbits survive on that? Many herbivores do just that every winter. Rodents burrow under the snow and girdle the bark from young trees and eat the young stems and buds from last summer's growth. Snowshoe hares work above the snow and select the most nutritious browse they can reach. Deer browse what they can get at, even standing on hind legs to reach the tips of new growth. Our advantage is that we are built to stand on our hind legs and can come up with other ways to reach and harvest last years growth.

Don't despair, trees have their advantages, sending roots deep into the earth tapping water sources and minerals unreachable by the meadow plants normally harvested for livestock fodder. Tree roots can seek out new depths and go where other roots have not gone, whereas pasture plants compete with each other for the soil in the top few feet. Through the summer they store proteins and carbohydrates in their bark in preparation for the following Spring. 

Today Jordan and I went out for a foraging trip for the rabbits. We gathered some dormant Chinese/Siberian elm and Russian-olive branches, they are not yet in leaf.

Both of these are invasive tree species that grow everywhere in our area that they can get a foot hold. It might seem crazy to be gathering bare branches in the winter to feed rabbits but they really love them. A year ago I would have blown off the idea, assuming that bark and twigs would have little to no nutritional value. After feeding them through the summer and after further research, I've changed my mind. I'm not ready yet to say that they are a complete food but plan to do more feeding trials and see how well rabbits keep their weight on. This may be anecdotal but I've had no digestive problems or diarrhea since feeding Chinese elm and Russian olive branches.

This strip of Siberian Elm is behind a thrift store and strip mall.

These large Siberian Elm are bordering various commercial properties.

Along freeway frontage roads and railroad right of ways you can find lots of Siberian Elm and Russian Olive.

Can't resist the Russian olive bark.

Fresh load of elm & Russian olive

 I bought a book entitled "Black Elk Speaks" from a thrift store. He was a Lakota Sioux medicine man who lived through the time of Custer and Wounded Knee. Many people consider it a spiritual book but I found the description of how they lived interesting. In the winter they'd camp near groves of cottonwood trees. The women would go out and coppice the trees and bring back the bark and younger branches to feed their horses. He claimed that horses fed this way remained fat through the winter. Some references to trapper journals also say the same thing.

The trees we gathered are new introductions to the environment so they were not available during Black Elk's time. However I have seen references for elm being used for tree hay in Europe and Russian olive being used for livestock fodder in central Asia. Also did some googling and found studies that suggest the proteins get stored in the bark at high levels during the winter in many trees.

I'm not sure the real food value. I'll be doing further study and trials with my stock.

Kits enjoying bark, buds and twigs.

Afterward, use for kindling or chip for mulch

Why rabbits?

I've been raising rabbits most of my life. My father bought a pair of New Zealand Whites when I was 9 years old with the idea that we'd raise them for meat and raise worms in their droppings to sell to fishermen. What really intrigued me about rabbits is we could feed them grass and weeds, things we couldn't digest and produce meat.

Yes, I really thought that way as a kid, growing up other kids would call me Euell Gibbons, who was famous at the time for encouraging people to eat pine trees and dandelions. His first book was "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" and he was my hero.

Most of the other kids thought I was crazy for wanting to raise and eat rabbits. They are cute, I have to admit. The math just told me they are meant to feed everything that eats meat on this earth. One female can easily raise over 30 young in one year. By the end of that first year her babies are also already having babies. It's the power of compounding interest on steroids. If all her babies survived they'd rabidly overpopulate and nothing green would be left alive. Rabbits have that high birth rate to overcome the problem of most of them getting eaten or dying of disease. The cool thing is, we can step in and help them avoid the dangers that would normally restrict their numbers, with the benefit of feeding our families on healthy meat. Other benefits are that they can be raised by people who don't have access to refrigeration and they can digest feed we cannot digest. No need to divert grains that could be feeding hungry people to feed livestock. Conveniently, they can be raised in a small space, in a garage, shed or corner of the backyard.

That first set of rabbits didn't do so well. We lived in the Willamette Valley in Oregon and the grass and weeds were always wet. I'd go out and pick grass and weeds and feed them directly to the rabbits. The first set died within two months. They'd be fine in the morning and dead by evening. My father got me another set that was older and near breeding age.  We bred them and they had babies on the wire instead of the nest box. I kept feeding grass and dandelions in addition to the pellets and they did fine for a while, then one day one was dead and a few months later the other died too. We asked an experienced breeder and were told that a lethal protozoa lived on the wet grass in our climate, and that we should feed pellets only. This didn't set well with me since I'd see cottontails and deer doing just fine in our river bottom land.

When I was twelve, I ended up living with my grandparents in American Fork, Utah. I saw an add for rabbits in the newspaper and had to get some. I had saved money from watering plants in my grandparents nursery and from helping my father in his landscaping business. Grandma talked it over with Grandpa and he ended up helping me build a shelter along the fence by the garden. I found a good deal on some old mink pens, then bought some 4 week old kits, a buck and two does. They thrived on the pellets, hay and weeds I'd give them and about 6 months later, they multiplied, many times they multiplied. I did have problems such as a doe escaping and getting killed by the dog, ended up raising her newborn litter by hand. I read everything I could find on rabbits and learned how to skin and butcher from a library book. Grandma, proudly cooked the meat I produced. Those challenges taught me more than just about raising rabbits.

Over the years I continue to read in rabbit books and hear people say that you should only feed rabbits pellets or to feed greens in moderation. Based on my first experiences I can understand why people think that. However, the European rabbit has been domesticated for over 1000 years and pellets have only existed for about 60 years. During world war II raising meat rabbits became popular due to meat rationing and they only had forage. Over the years I've continued to experiment with natural fodder and will share what I have learned and am still learning, in this blog.