About Bunnies

I think it was in April of 2010.  Far too nearly a year ago.  We began a humble pursuit of raising rabbits for food.  Initially, we bought 3 female New Zealand rabbits and later a male Californian/Flemish Giant cross.  The above picture is of our male and our white New Zealand doe, who were supposed to be mating at the time, but clearly didn't get anything done.

Besides the fact that our male, Oliver, is either genetically messed up or naturally matures much much later than we had been led to understand when we bought him, i have other thoughts that have led to my discouragement in the area of rabbit wrangling.

One, i hate the cages.  They're bunnies.  It just seems like they should be frolicking in meadows, not nibbling in above ground cages.  It just doesn't make sense to my head, and i consequently don't get warm fuzzies about keeping them in these conditions.

Two, it seems that our climate and lack of a separate, cooled rabbitry building to house our rabbits, may be contributing our lack of baby bunnies.  I'm sure this idea isn't completely accurate since lots of Texans raise rabbits without separate, cooled, indoor quarters, but i read things, and then i get confused.

Three, i can't tell what's going on with them.  Keep in mind that i am basing pretty much all my knowledge/experience in raising animals, on my chickens, whom i know well.  I can watch them and easily see who is sick and who isn't sick and so on and so forth.  How could i possibly know if a rabbit in a little cage is sick?  I won't know if she's not active.  Where's she going to go?  I've gotten to know them much better than i knew them when they first came to live here, but i still have a really hard time telling what they're thinking.

So there you have it.  Not exactly a ringing endorsement, from someone who hasn't exactly made a successful go of something that obviously does work for other folks who aren't me.

They're cute though, the bunnies.  I like them more than i thought i would . . . but not too much to eat them.  ;)  

But all in all, i wouldn't argue too much about trading them in for a couple of goats, or better yet, Muscovy Ducks.  I really want some Muscovy Ducks!