Pictures of expanded rabbit colony

Expanding the bunny farm!

 Well the rabbits are growing. I have had to update and change my habitat. They needed more room. The main reason was Shade figured out how to climb over my 3 foot gate, so there's that! So pictures will be comming soon!

Bonding bunnies

It's been a while since I posted.  But we have gotten some new bunnies. I wanted to talk about the process of integrating them together as a group.

I was in need of a male rabbit,   I found one 8 weeks old for sale near me. So I brought him home in a small animal carrier and set him in the pen. He was quickly named Thumper. If one of the adult rabbits came near him he would thump as to try to scare them. SO FUNNY!

I was able to create a pen inside the main pen to house my new bunny.  So he would have time to adjust.

Meanwhile my husband was on a hunting trip and talked to a man who was also raising Tennessee redbacks and brought home 4 babies, from 3 separate litters. SUPRISE 🤦‍♀️🥰CrAzY!!

So I decided it would be best to introduce Thumper to the other small rabbits and get them comfortable first.

In a few days they were all eating together and had stopped the chasing.

So I put them all in the mini pen and they seemed to do fine.  

The adult rabbits did not know what to think of all the intruders.

I would feed them fresh clover and treats beside the fence to encourage some interaction. 

After about 4 days I made an opening in the fence big enough so the young rabbits could get out, but the larger rabbits couldnt get in. 

There was some chasing and definitely had some fur pulled but in a day that had stopped . Now they all eat, play, and sleep together.

 Just like one big happy family!😊

What are Tennesse redbacks?

Tennessee redback rabbits are friendly and can be pets, but they are used primarily for release into the wild to replenish hunting grounds.   They are also great to populate running pens to train beagles. These are one of the closest breeds to a eastern cottontail species that I have found..  Tennessee redback is not a registered breed so it may be harder to find information about them.  The person I got mine from has been breeding them for a long time and said they have breed to the cottontail successfully. 

 Although there is no real proof, many belive that they are a product of the eastern cottontail and a swamp rabbit that are found in Tennessee. Redbacks are a medium sized rabbit. Uniquely they are all different shades from grey to reddish brown, all have the white tail and some have lighter paws. 

They are great in outdoor habitats and can be raised in colonies if you choose that method. If you have read any of my blogs you have seen my set up.  I have on occasion seen a wild cottontail out by the hutch and it looks very similar to my grey Tennessee redback rabbit. So I tend to believe they are related. 

If you have any information on Tennessee redbacks that you would like to share please send me a comment. I love learning as much as I can.

Cute pictures, Happy 2021!

Happy New Year!! From the beagles and bunnies! May 2021 be the best yet.

 

 

 

Winterizing your outdoor rabbits hutch

 Do you live in cold winter climates? I live where the winter can bring any where from  the 60°'s to -20°'s. We have wind, rain, snow and friged temps.  I am not able to move my hutch inside a barn or garage, that is recommended.  This is my solution for  wintertime and outdoor rabbits. 

Rabbits live outside all year in the wild, they just need to find shelter, holes underground, and brush piles in well covered areas are preferred.  They like 60° weather down to 40°. Under 40° to 20° for short times they are ok if they have shelter that is protected by the  wind.  So it is totally fine to keep your rabbits outside, just give them protection from wind and cold.  I have saved bubble wrap to enclose and insulate my hutch, other recommendations are tarps or blankets, but with blankets it is recommended to cover with plastic sheeting.

It is important to leave a area open so there is always fresh air. It is common sense to leave your door area open for easy access for feeding.  I clipped the end with a reg office paper clip and stapled the wrap together to get the correct length.  I doubled for extra protection and stapled the pieces together.  Then tightly wrapped around and clipped again on the other side. I then wrapped the top of my hutch, I first covered  the open door using a hand towel.  I put a few blankets inside my hutch for the rabbits to nest in. Then wrapped the top with a simular method, with no wire I stappled the ends together and then stapled to lower wrap to keep it from blowing off.

I also will up my feed in the winter and add a 3 or 4 sunflower seeds 🌻when it will be extra cold.  Sunflower seeds are great to help with heating their internal temperature. They will need the extra calories to keep warm.

I hope this helps you to have happy bunnies this winter😉🐇🐇

Update, we had 3 days of temperatures below 20° and the rabbits did very well, the water did freeze, so it is important to check and give fresh water often. I also filled a milk jug with hot water to set beside the water bottle, this helped to keep the water unfrozen longer.

Exercise your rabbits

 Hello, Its been a few since I posted.  I recently attached a exercise pen to my hutch. The purpose was to make the living space larger, now that they have gotten full grown. It also gives them ample room to run laps. I was hoping they would have had fresh grass longer but within a few days they had munched ALL of it.  

I let them out into pen a few hours a day.  Anytime you can help your rabbit to stay heathy by getting exercise is so beneficial. When it is raining or snowing I leave them in the hutch. Rabbits are susceptible to respiratory diseases getting wet can lower their immune system. 

This is how I built my pen.  I started out trying to purchase just a pen to attach, but I was having trouble finding something that would be functional for my space.  So I seen this pen and ordered it thinking that it would work with no extra changes.

I put it together opened the hutch it seemed great, then Copper my male rabbit got his head and front paw through the openings!  OOPS! This is not for my size rabbits.  To fix this I got a roll of chicken wire.  With my husband's help we wrapped it around the outside of the pen. Then we secured the wire into place with some post.  It has been up for a few months now and has worked great! I hope this helps someone who is also looking to make more living space for their rabbits.

Please leave me comments and if you also raise rabbits and have a blog leave your link to your blog in the comments I love learning from others.