Rabbit Tractors

Here is our rabbits in their moveable cages. We made them ourselves (obviously) out of different fencing and other cages we had. We used wood to give them a "spine" and help hold the shape of the two that have curved tops.

The tarps laying over the cage that shelter the rabbits are bags that held feed and compost.

The cost of these to make are about $5.00 if you have scrap wood(but you have to buy the fencing in 100 foot rolls) compared to the $30.00 cage we bought from the store.

We move the rabbits once or twice a day so they can "graze" on the grass, but also supplement their feeding with other greens out of our garden and some store bought feed.

When the doe rabbit has babies we will have to move the momma and babies out of this style of cage due to the possibility of the momma feeling scared. If a mother rabbit feels too scared she will eat her babies.

We have found that our rabbits have flourished and have loved this approach of moving around our back yard ten times more than being stacked near each other without grazing. There was one of our rabbits (prior to grazing them) that was skin and bones and refused to eat anything and was near dead in his cage, but has made a full recovery since he started grazing.

We do plan on eating our rabbits and plan on it being one of our main source of meats. 3 rabbits (2 does and 1 buck) if properly handled and bred will produc 600 lbs of meat in a year at 1/3 the cost of feed compared to a cow. Another distinct advantage of the rabbits over a cow is that you can slaughter only as much meat as you need compared to having to store all the extra beef you have following slaughter of a cow.

We are also getting ready to explore the possibility of guinea pigs as a meat source (We hear they are tasty and even better than rabbits in regards to the meat/feed ratio) but we will let you know what comes of that.

Our son loves the rabbits and will take us back to the cage to feed and water the rabbits. Our dogs stand perplexed every day looking at the rabbits, but have not tried to harm them in any way.

Rabbit Cage (Store) $30.00
Rabbit Tractor/Cage $5.00

Savings of $25.00
Healthy rabbits - Priceless
This does not take into account the savings you will see in feed costs as your rabbits eat the greens. It also does not take into account how much healthier I believe the rabbits are while being closer to their natural state.

The Bantam Voice
"Freed People, Free People"

Chicken roast 4th of july

My family and I along with a family friend slaughtered three chickens and are about to enjoy it. This was much easier than the last time and.re chickens are bigger and I believe will be tastier.

Where Food Comes From

On Saturday we caught and started slaughtering a chicken, but were unable to finish. I did not tie the chickens feet or hold it tight enough while cutting it’s neck. I searched for two hours looking for the hen that was half cut and did not find her until two days later. She is fine and healthy barely more than a scratch on her thanks to a dull knife.
Thursday we decided to try again and were lucky enough to catch our 2nd rooster which we do not need. I’ll give you a basic outline of what we did in our slaughtering and processing of the chicken.

1. Cut both sides of the neck and held the chicken upside down until it had completed draining
2. Scalded the chicken (to make removing the feathers easier) and plucked the feathers, which was the lengthy part of all of this.
3. Removed the head, feet, “guts,” heart, and lungs
4. Cut into parts and grilled
5. Ate as a meal with store bought potatoes and our own homegrown cucumbers
If you want detailed instructions this is where we got our information at
How to Butcher a Chicken

The chicken did not taste like “store bought chicken” because it was not a meat chicken. It was a game rooster. We did not love the taste of it, but enjoyed the whole process and felt good learning and experiencing something new that will be a wonderful life skill.

Having Sol watch the whole process with fascination may have been the best part of all. Sol seeing where food comes from is so awesome and knowing that this will be his life and he will have an appreciation for food, life, and animals excites Sandi and I both. He was in fact eating a pear off of our own pear tree in the backyard as I slaughtered the chicken. What a wonderful picture of what we hope our life will always be like in the future.