A few weeks ago we added some long-ear’d critters to the chicken palace.

Everyone, welcome our trio of Silver Fox rabbits!  Pictured are the two does Dewdrop and Blubell, and we also have a blue buck, Fiver.  If you’ve ever read or watched Watership Down, you will understand the theme of names we chose for our new bunnies.  Link to book –>(https://amzn.to/2EupAso).

We chose Silver Fox rabbits for a few reasons.  One, they’re cool looking.  Two, they are raised primarily for their meat and pelt.  Three, they are an uncommon breed.  According to The Livestock Conservancy, Silver Fox rabbits are on the threatened list in the USA, which means there are less than 100 registered.  If you want to check out the other heritage breeds, or even other heritage  livestock that’s made the Livestock Conservancy list of Critical or Threatened breeds click here.

Once we knew we were buying some bunnies, we had to get to work on setting up a place for them.  That actually wasn’t too hard because we just converted some old chicken cages.  The cages were 2-hole large fowl.  We just enclosed the bottom with 2×4’s, stapled 1/2″ x 1/2″ wire on the bottom, and screwed it up to the barn wall.

We already had some hanging feeders and water containers.  It has been pretty cold here, so we aren’t doing the bottle waterers yet.  I did add some nest boxes, but after some research and real-life experience, it seems like the rabbits just like to sh*t and p*ss in them.  I guess it would be pretty easy to train them on a litter box.  So after a week or so I pulled out the nest boxes, but they still have their perch to jump up on.  They like to jump up there and hang out.

So far they have been pretty low maintenance.  We’ve bred them and hopping to have baby bunnies in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for the next bunny adventure!

Tools and/or Supplies:

Watership Down book –> https://amzn.to/2EupAso

1/2″ x 1/2″ Galvanized Wire 36″H https://amzn.to/2VcaZqY

Rabbit Feeders https://amzn.to/2H2U4U3

Rabbit Waterers https://amzn.to/2XmurDm