I know I saw someone here post a pic of rabbits and chickens together (might have been Eufala). I don't know if they were living together, just visiting or if I've lost my mind. LOL
I've been feeling so guilty about our rabbits living in those cages. The kids do get them out and play with them, put them in a plastic play pen/safety gate thing (that sits on the ground) we had for when the kids were toddlers and they even give them rides in the stroller. LOL
Would it create an unhealthy environment if they lived together? We are recovering our 8x14 (I think) coop and moving it over by the barn with a safe fenced area where they have more room to roam, a bigger home and the nest boxes we hope they need soon!
I kind of got to thinking it would be nice if the bunnies had the same luxury? Of course we'd keep them separated since we know for sure they are able and willing breeders. Ahem.
So far the chickens and rabbits have only seen each other on two occasions. The chickens ran from the big rabbits who were happy to sample their food and water. The other time, my daughter took the babies out and the chickens just ignored them.
At this point, we still have 44 chickens and now 5 rabbits. Some will be going to good SAFE homes. We are thinking the silkies will keep the tractor so they can be away from the larger birds. I have to honestly say the one white silkie we have seems to be more of a terror than the bigger birds. I watched him throw his wings back, puff up and charge one of the big black birds for something it pulled out of the ground. LOL
Sooooo, if anyone has done this or has any advice, will you please share it?
Rabbits and chickens together?
I read somewhere, that someone was keeping their rabbits in a colony. If I remember correctly, they had built a pen with a wire floor, covered it in lots of straw. Seems to me it was tall enough to walk in. If it was here that I saw it, I'm sure that person will find this thread soon.
Anxious to hear more about this, because I'm thinking of doing that, too.
Robin
Here's a link to check out...
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Homesteading-and-Self-Reliance/1977-07-01/A-Better-Way-to-Raise-Rabbits.aspx
Try a google search, "raising rabbits in a colony". There were several websites.
Thank you! I was reading it and got down to the part about the rabbits having a field day but my kids won't let me read. LOL I'll go back and finish it and look for more info or people that have done something similar.
This is one of the other links on the search, and these people do keep rabbits and chickens together. I let my chickens free range during the day, so this wouldn't work for me. There is a good comment about the downside of putting rabbits in a colony.
http://www.blackmesaranchonline.com/animals/rabbits.htm
Yep It was me! I do not raise rabbits any longer though!
I did however have a pair of females and one male that roamed wherever they chose to go. They chose to go everywhere the Chickens went. They also came when called, Believe it or not! The females though became a problem when they found out they could burrow under the barn and created tunnels everywhere. So I had to confine them in there hutches which I found to be unbearable for them! I so hate to see a creature in a wire enclosure, that isnt big enough for them to run and jump naturally. I found that they would breed when loose and have babies that were wild. but when they bred in captivity and were hutch bound they became very sullen and inactive and babies were born dead or no babies at all. So I found home for the does and kept "Wrabbit" my little Buck. To this day he wonders with the Chickens where ever they go, and comes back t o the barn with them at night!
Thanks again msrobin!
Thanks Eufala! Glad to know I'm not a few cells short. LOL Our second breeding experience went much better-for the rabbits and us! We've had our big rabbits a bit over a year, bought them as a pair from a breeder. Now we have five. I too hate to see them in those cages! I'm sure it's still a much better home then some animals have but I feel bad for them in cages. Maybe I can build them a giant habitrail. :)
I wonder how deep you'd have to bury wire to keep them from digging? The area where the coop is going has a lot of gravel. Right next to it was an old county road and under the topsoil and grass, it's mostly a gravel base and fairly hard to dig in (for both of us!).
Maybe just put the fence down right on top, and attach to the edges. Throw some dirt in there (an inch or two?)and then top it with a thick layer of straw.
Let us know how you end up doing it.
Robin
Thanks Robin. I'm waiting for lumber right now. I know where I am putting the big coop and hope moving it is successful. Years ago, they used to set these little buildings on top of 2x12's so they could be moved. The person that built mine used 2x4s for the bottoms and nailed it to the wood beneath (which is somewhat rotted). Hubby is going to cut all that lose then we are going to knock it over and put 1/4" hardware cloth on the bottom, then put it where I want it. I'll figure out the fencing after that.
We have an area that is pretty much unusable because the utility company needs to be able to get to the telephone poles so I'm doing some rearranging to keep as much land as possible. :)
We're just recently getting back in the critters after 2 1/2 years. We built "new" henhouse and rabbit hutches and a goat house, out of the plywood and 2 x 4s used to form for a basement on our property. It was already done when we bought our land 5 years ago. Unfortunately, it was on the other side of the 15 acres and that wasn't the side where we wanted to live. We tore it all out of the hole and drug it home last month. We are like kids at Christmas! And having a ball building! The old pens and coop were all falling apart and way too small. So, I'm demo-ing now.
So far we've got 8 Buff Orpingtons (they are about 5 mo and I still can't tell how many hens, yet), 3 bunnies (breed still unknown) and 1 Red Boer goat. I'm going to try to get 2 more goats this weekend if my source has some for sale. Will probably add some more rabbits this weekend too, if I get another hutch done. Don't know what else we will acquire this summer.
We had to go to Florida and NC for over 2 years for work...it's amazing how bad things got while we were gone. I won't even get started on the yard and garden.
Robin
We are completely new to having our own critters. Both hubby and I grew up in suburbia. I spent a lot of time on farms when I was little as my Grandma and Great Aunt would take me to their parents. It was the absolute best way to spend weekends and summers!
In 2005, we finally got brave, took a leap and bought a "mini-farm". We only have 7.25 acres but it's all flat and it's all open. We have a larger barn and smaller barn that need recovered but the posts are sturdy. We totally love living here. We are still waiting for our other house to sell so we can get serious about this farm stuff. ;)
We started off with the two rabbits. We got chickens in April. Our next addition will be a couple of goats. We also have five more cats (three are kittens) than we ever thought we'd have. LOL
We do have lots of gardens and plants but that was the other reason we wanted such a large "yard". Our 1/4 acre lot at the other house was stuffed full. It was becoming hard to share play space with my six daughters. I also wanted to sell plants so I'd have more money for more plants. It's working out pretty well.
I'm jealous! You had 2 barns already in place! Even needing some work, that was a great asset!
I've known all my life I wanted in the country. My grandparents had a farm and after I left home, my parents lived out in the country for a few years. We found 15 acres of hayfields and wooded areas. Blank slate to work with, but overwhelming at times, cause we really don't know how things are suppose to be laid out. We kept changing locations of animals and gardens till now. Finally got it where we think it'll all work best.
One of the best things about living out here, besides it's quiet, is the sunrises and sunsets and the beautiful fog that rolls in at night and hangs around in the mornings. Almost heaven!
"How things are supposed to be laid out" are the magic words! LOL I don't know if I'd do it exactly the same if it was my choice but it could be a lot worse! I guess the way it is, leaves the best possibilities for having a few large animals and room for them to graze and live. Our lot is basically square with everything in the rear of the front right corner.
The drive comes all the way down the one side and turns between the barns and garage then goes to the house. Since the building posts are like telephone poles, I have no plans to move anything. All of the electricity to the barns was ancient and we made sure it was all disabled. We do have separate service to the garage and will be able to run new electric to the outbuildings.
The one downfall here is that the back right corner has been used for a dump. There are some old recliner chairs, appliances, a huge satellite dish (which will be a gazebo soon) and odds and ends like carpet, buckets, hoses, etc have been tossed there. One of these days I'm going to get it all cleaned out. Thankfully, the weeds cover it and it's behind an old 3 way which is also coming down. But I do look forward to reclaiming that 1/4 acre or so!
After we move the chicken coop, the animal areas/buildings will be all in one area and I think that will be nice and getting water and electric to them easily is a plus!
I am with you on the sunrises, sunsets, fog, quiet and just having so much space! And the big bonus-people are finally warming up to us and I'm seeing return plant customers too.
What kind of plants are you doing?
When it comes to plants, I'm a bit of a maniac! I started off the season with a ton of vegetable plants, four o'clocks, elephant ears, bananas, grasses, caladiums, ferns, etc and also have tons of daylilies, several types of hosta, odds and ends bulbs, heuchera, coneflowers, philodendrons, more elephant ears, cannas, brugs, bearded iris, siberian iris, hardy hibiscus, aroids, astilbe, begonias..............I'm sort of an anything goes kind of gardener. LOL
I'm trying to get my garden areas prepped to do the same thing, maybe next year, but not nearly the variety you have. I put in 144 hostas and 750 daylily bulbs 3 years ago to raise to sell. I have 16 hosta and 2 lilies left.
Oh my gosh! What happened to all of them??
A month after I planted them, we moved to Florida, then NC for a total of 2 1/2 yrs for DH to work. Weeds took over hosta bed. Must have choked them out, plus probably didn't get enough water. I had laid lots of cardboard between the rows, but the weeds were bigger & stronger I guess. Best I can guess with the lilies was that were eaten by some kind of varmint. We have lots of moles out here for sure, as well as possibly voles and lots of field mice.
I'm working more on rooting flowering bush cuttings now. I'm trying to rid a large future garden area of weeds this summer, so that next spring I can plant a ton of flower seeds. I'm babying my remaining hostas now, so hopefully next year I can start dividing them. Also plan on building a small greenhouse this fall, so that I can possibly sell vegetable plants next spring. Kicking around the idea of overplanting vegetables next year for a small pick-your-own plot.
Lots of ideas....just have to decide which ones are most feasible.
Robin, I started a new post in the daylily forum about my shenanigans since we've moved here. I posted before and after pics of some of my gardens. They'll never be done and that is a great thing as it might just keep me out of trouble. LOL http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/753502/
I don't know what method you are using to get rid of your weeds but I made areas more manageable by first keeping them mowed. A large area that was a field of weeds is now like a decent lawn just from keeping it mowed as short as the other lawn areas. Not letting the weeds flower and seed is half the battle! When I choose an area for a garden, I mow it short then paint Roundup on it on a hot sunny day. I wait a few days and do it again for missed spots. Roundup has about a two week life so anything that is not dead in two weeks, you need to reapply or use something else. For smaller areas, I remove the sod and use it to fill low areas or if I'm not in a hurry, I just cut it lose with a shovel and flip it over and let it rot in place.
My best local sales have been vegetables! Everyone around here wants the BIG tomatoes! Second best sellers were green peppers, followed by hot peppers, squash/zucchini and I had a few requests for onions.
I also find in a rural area, people are most interested in perennials and don't want to waste time and money on annuals. Many of the people around me have jobs and also farm so their time is better spent on things besides replanting each year.
Badseed, thanks for the info and suggestions.
We were keeping almost 3 acres mowed until we went to Florida, then just before we left the garden tractor broke down and now have to take it 75 miles away to get fixed. When we got back home, we had 3 summers worth of weeds that grew, set seed and dispersed them everywhere. We've been keeping 2 acres mowed with a walk behind mower, but hit a rock two weeks ago and now DH has to have some welding done on it. I've been slowly knocking down the tall weeds, some 4 - 6' tall, with the weed eater in the 3rd acre, but par for the course this summer, it fell apart while I was using it the other day. Trying to find someone to mow now. Since the guy hasn't returned my 2 calls, I went ahead and sprayed the whole 3 acres with Weed Be Gone. Swears it won't kill the grass! But we have 50# of grass seed and a spreader, that we were kind of holding out on using till we hit some rainy weather, just in case it does kill everything. I use Roundup around by bushes and trees...love that stuff!
We made a big mistake this spring and burned off about 5 acres...all that can back was weeds! Live and learn, I guess!
Appreciate the vegetable info. Gives me more of an idea of what to raise to sell.
Robin
This message was edited Jul 28, 2007 1:40 PM