Category Archives: Livestock

We Have Baby Rabbits!

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proud momFinally! (Though not completely on our own yet; more about that later.)

A little background: We got two eight-week old female rabbits last June, a few weeks later we got a slightly older male (from a different breeder). In October they were old enough to breed, we brought Clover (doe) to Winston’s (buck) cage and they did what needed to be done — though it was awkward and Clover wasn’t very encouraging. But we had officially started breeding our rabbits.

Sorta. It didn’t work, and didn’t work, and didn’t work… We tried Winston with each of the females, repeatedly. We bred in the morning, we bred in the evening, before meals, after meals. Each time it seemed like they couldn’t quite get into the right position for correct “contact”. We read forums and blogs for insight. We inspected the genitalia, we inspected the poops. We tried holding the female in position and “assisting” the male. We fed them a little less to make them leaner. We tried swapping cages so they could smell the other’s scent and get in “the mood”. We tried overnighting them together (they are very docile), rabbits are nocturnal after all. We tried adding apple cider vinegar to their water (supposed to be an aphrodisiac). Then after each attempt we’d wait and see if there were any signs of pregnancy, a couple of times we even waited the whole 28 – 31 day cycle, and we were repeatedly disappointed and discouraged.

WE’RE BREEDING RABBITS, we thought, HOW HARD CAN IT BE!

We mostly took December off, it was very cold here (relatively) and it is a busy month. When January arrived we got together with our good friend Rob, the man we got our rabbits from, to trouble-shoot the situation. We determined we didn’t know if one or more of our rabbits were “broken”/infertile. So we decided to breed our rabbits with his “proven” stock. We brought Clover, to Rob’s place, to spend the night with Bugs (who has fathered many litters). We also brought back his doe, Cali, to spend the night with Winston. This was the middle of January, so we’d know by the middle of February.

Mid-February arrived and Cali/Winston had a litter of 10! So Winston wasn’t shooting blanks and apparently, with the right motivation, could do what needed to be done. But the Clover/Bugs breeding was unsuccessful.

Rewind slightly, two weeks after we bred Clover with Bugs we brought over our other female, Artemis, to breed with Bugs. So even though Clover hadn’t “delivered”, we still had our hopes out for Artemis (and Rob felt very sure, based on their time together, that Artemis would be pregnant).

young kitsFinally the week came, we put in the nesting box and last Thursday morning (2/28) I went out to feed them and we had a litter of seven kits (baby bunnies)! We had six alive and one dead. Unfortunately, likely since it was her first litter, Artemis hadn’t used the nesting box; instead making a nest out of cardboard (that had been lining the nesting box), hay, and of course fur in the corner of her cage. It worked, though I suspect the one that died may have been near the edge and got too cold. I, carefully, moved all the nesting material and then the remaining kits into the nesting box and they quickly snuggled into the soft fur.

To say I was excited was an understatement! (I later described my feelings as “disproportionately excited.”) I took a couple of pictures and then texted Sarah, the kids, and Rob that we had finally been successful!

We’re now about a week in, mom and babies all seem to be doing very well. Artemis appears to be a good mom and the kits seem to be growing and developing appropriately.

The next test, now that we know both Winston and Artemis “work” is to successfully breed our two rabbits together. We’ll do that in a couple of months.

We traded Clover, with Rob, for a four-month old female. We’ll breed the new female, Clover 2.0, when she reaches six months.

I write about this not only to share our failures and victories, but again as a warning: ANYTHING in your preps that you’re going to depend on needs to be tested first. Last summer we would have asked, “What could possible go wrong breeding rabbits? They breed like rabbits, right?” Finally after four months we are, mostly, successful.

Test, and retest your preps, plans, and the systems you have in place. Be sure you know how to use them, take the time to actually make them work appropriately, know basic trouble-shooting steps, and then share this information with the rest of your family.

 

Sarah’s View: Goats

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As the possibility of our own property becomes more and more real Trace and I have been talking about what livestock we want. We already have Kate, our border collie, as well as the rabbits. We have talked about getting chickens shortly after we move. The other animals we’ve talked about are an additional dog, bees and goats.

GoatMilkProducts

I’ve been doing more research on goats. We look forward to having goats ‘browse’ on our property and help keep down weeds and other unwanted plants, however, our primary goal with goats is to use them for milk and other dairy products – we hope to learn to make our own yogurt and cheese. We would also like goats that are friendly, if we’re going to be milking them we want them to not dislike us! Plus, I think it makes sense to look for a breed known for higher fat milk; a higher fat content tends to result in creamier products (duh) and neither Trace nor I drink much milk so the higher fat content isn’t an issue there. Finally, while we want a good milk producer we don’t want to be overwhelmed by the amount of milk we get; we have no desire (at this time) to become a dairy.

To this end I wanted to determine how owning and raising goats works as well as figure out the best breed for our goals. As with most things there are a ton of resources on the web. And honestly, with goats I had start at the basics. What does it take to care for a goat? How do you get milk from a goat? What do you do with the babies? Because it finally gelled for me that in order to have a female producing milk she will have had to have a kid.

The first couple of sites I ran across talked about bottle-feeding the kids. This had me thinking second thoughts about goats all together. I have no desire to bottle-feed baby goats. After reading more I found a number of people who allow the babies to remain with their moms until their weaned and either don’t milk the does during this period or only milk once a day. Phew. I can handle that, especially since the kids are old enough to be sold around 8 weeks yet the does will produce milk for 10 months.

Nigerian DwarfsOnce I was feeling good about having goats again, I started perusing the various breeds. There are about 7 to 8 well-known dairy goat breeds in addition to any mixes you might run across. They all have their pros and cons, but I have to say that I’m pretty hooked on the Nigerian Dwarf Goats. First, they’re cute, not that this should be a deciding factor, but it did make me more interested in reading about them. Second, they’re smaller than the other breeds. For me, at 5’3”, a smaller more manageable goat seems like a positive. Now, we may decide that the Nigerians are too small (between 16” and 23” usually) especially for Trace, but we’ll see. Third, they’re very friendly. And finally, their milk is between 6 – 10% fat (other breeds are in the 3 – 4% range).

We still have a few steps between now and getting goats, most glaringly actually closing on a homestead. But I’m definitely excited at the prospect of having goats and being able to produce our own cheese and yogurt. Can we do goat’s milk butter? Definitely more to learn.

If anyone has any thoughts or advice on goats, please let us know!

GoatMilkSign

What We Did This Week To Prep 11/9/12

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Since we’ve added a Ford F350 truck to our household we needed to get a bug out bag (BOB) in it. We’ve got top-notch ones in each of our two primary, daily use, vehicles; then a pretty good one in the Jeep CJ-7. We took the one from the Jeep and put it in the truck. Now Ryan (my 18 y/o son), who is now the primary driver of the Jeep, is in the process of building his own BOB. He has a Maxpedition Vulture II pack and we’ve gathered some stuff for his kit; he’s got a decent start and has made a list of items to round it out. It’ll be good for him to build his own BOB so that when he goes off on his own he’ll have his kit that he knows and has confidence in.

It was interesting seeing all the views of my blog during and after Hurricane Sandy. It got double the hits in that week than I get in an average month. It’s ironic how being prepared all of a sudden becomes “common sense” when a disaster is on the way (or after it has already struck…). It’s also interesting to see which posts people are searching/reading. In the near future I’m going to add a new page that has a list of all of the top viewed posts that people seem to find the most valuable. By far the most popular post during this time was How To Wire Your Gas Furnace To A Generator by guest contributor Rick Brodersen; it received hundreds of views daily. Plus Rick has been a great resource, he has personally answered each of the comments in the section and has been directly responsible for several people being able to heat their homes when their power was out.

Last spring Momma Bear wrote a post entitled Home-Made Reusable Sanitary Napkins. It was a valuable topic that may, one day, be very relevant to almost half of our population. Recently “Kate” wrote in the comments section of that post about menstrual cups. Her knowledge and experience were quite extensive and she wrote a great summary. I contacted her and asked her if she’d be willing to write it as a blog post for us and she pleasantly agreed. So Monday (10/12) I’ll post the first of her two-part article on menstrual cups; first-hand knowledge is always invaluable.

Well the time for having baby rabbits came and went. Apparently, despite some maternal indications, Clover was not pregnant. She did gain weight (though we fed her more thinking she was pregnant) and she did go through a nesting phase, but no babies. Apparently it’s not that easy to tell when a rabbit is pregnant, and determining it mostly comes down to experience and knowledge (neither which we have yet). So this weekend we’ll try breeding our other doe, Artemis. I’ve done some additional reading and feel more confident about how to maximize our chances of fertilization. Who ever thought breeding rabbits would be hard??

What did you do?

What We Did This Week To Prep 10/12/12

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The week started off with a drive in our new (to us) Ford F350 pickup truck to Josh’s house (Josh of Rural Relations with Josh), about two hours away. I had gotten together with him several times, but this was the first time meeting his family. We thoroughly enjoyed his wife and children and our time at their place. While there Josh taught me how to split wood (I grew up in the suburbs…), and Brynn and Alison enjoyed learning how to ride his off-road mini-bike. It was fun to see his place, “in real life”, and see what he describes in his blog posts. While there are some great aspects to his property, I also saw the disadvantages and hassles he has discussed. Again I’d encourage everyone, develop community, get to know both your neighbors and the like-minded preppers around you; take the initiative and reach out to them — I believe community will be the key to survival in the future.

Our “father” rabbit, Winston, had an ear infection this week. So we went to our favorite rabbit resource, Rise and Shine Rabbitry, and determined he had a mild/moderate case of ear mites. We’ve been treating it by putting drops of olive oil mixed with tea tree oil into his ears and massaging it in. Apparently ear mites can live up to 28 days, so we’ll treat regularly for the next month. We definitely do not want them to spread to Clover, our pregnant doe, or her future babies.

Summer here in Western Washington is pretty much over. After almost three months of sunny days, but without too hot of temperatures, it’s been one of the best summers we can remember. But now they say rain and the clouds are on the way again; possibly with very heavy rain this weekend.

We’re done with summer gardening. We picked everything still on the vine and will can some salsa this weekend. We left most of the plants themselves in place, for now, and will pick them as needed to feed the rabbits. We just received our fall/winter crop seeds in the mail. We’ll be growing a bunch of greens, mainly for the rabbits, and a compost cover crop for the garden as a whole. After most of the plants are out of the garden we’ll cover the garden with the hay and manure from under the rabbit hutches as a fertilizer-rich mulch layer.

What did you do?

What We Did This Week To Prep 10/5/12

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Monday morning I bred our rabbits for the first time; it was relatively uneventful and went, essentially, as one would predict. We should have babies about November 1st, and then harvest them about February 1st. We’ll bred Mom #2 December 1st. This should establish a cycle where we bred one of our two mothers and butcher a litter, of approximately eight off-spring, ever eight weeks. If things go as planned, that will provide one rabbit to eat (approximately 2 1/2 pounds of meat) a week.

I ended Monday by going to my friend Rob’s house (where I got the female rabbits from originally and where I helped butcher more last month) to again help him butcher the current litter and to continue developing my skills and knowledge. I brought my son, Ryan, and had Rob teach him the process. After watching Rob, Ryan did three of his own; since there were fewer in this litter I only did one. Ryan and I are feeling relatively confident in our skills, we’ll probably help Rob another time or two before we do our own.

That day had a “Circle of Life” type feel to it: breeding to create life in the morning and ending life to provide food that evening. It was interesting to view, and participate, in the cycle first-hand.

Several months ago Sarah, along with her cousin, set a goal of getting in better shape. To do so they decided to challenge themselves by signing up to run a half-marathon. Sarah has never been a runner, and though she works out on a regular basis, this was a new thing for her. This past Sunday she/they achieved the goal by successfully competing the Bellingham Half-Marathon. She trained regularly and was well prepared for it and did very well, including accomplishing it within the time-goal they had set. Afterward, and in the days following, she felt pretty good; we attribute that to good sleep, nutrition, and especially hydration leading up to the race. Is this a prepper topic? I believe it is. A lifestyle that includes healthy and consistent: exercise, nutrition, sleep, hydration, learning, and achieving goals is the key to success now and will be even more important in a collapse.

Property update: We got the septic inspection (passed, all looked good), well inspection (passed, also looked good), and the home inspection (there are several things that need done, but the house is structurally sound) done this week. We approached the Seller with some items that needed repaired so  the house would appraise, and we were told they didn’t have the money or time to get it done and were unwilling to do it. This essentially stopped the process and at that point we chose to walk away. Maybe time, and lack of success, will make them more willing to negotiate in the future. We still love the property, the location, and the pole barn, and believe the house is fine for now and has potential for the future. But we want to be smart about this decision and approach it logically and as unemotionally as possible.

What did you do?

What We Did This Week To Prep 8/17/12

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After I discovered the ease and convenience of recharging batteries, with our Goal Zero Nomad 7 Solar Panel and Guide 10 Power Pack, I decided we needed to expand out into the world of rechargeable batteries. This was a new thing for me, the rechargeable batteries that I was used to were the old fashioned kind that were expensive, didn’t last long, developed memories, and over-all not worth the hassle. The new kind can be charged over 1500 times and developing memory is no longer an issue.

I also recently learned about this topic on The Survival Podcast when Jack interviewed Steven Harris on Dealing with a Large Scale Blackout. Steven discussed how people could have been better prepared for the recent east coast power outage, and of course any future power outages, in some very simple ways with some very straight-forward products.

Steven Harris is a guru of all things ‘energy’. Yea he’s slightly goofy and tends to ramble a bit, but his knowledge and ability to easily explain the complex world of energy is incredible.

The products that he recommended–not his products, just ones he’s thoroughly tested and provided links to on his site: SOLAR1234.com–that we chose to order were:

  • Powerex Eight Cell Smart Charger (MH-C800S). An 8 AA or AAA battery charger that charges in one to two hours; it also has a large LCD screen showing the status of each battery. This will give us an easy, relatively low energy draw, way to have an almost infinite supply of battery power.
  • Sanyo 1500 eneloop 8 pack AA, and AAA, NiHM Precharged Rechargeable Batteries. (For use with the above charger.) We ordered one of each, Costco also carries these and we can get more there after we test them out. These can also be recharged with our Goal Zero Solar Panel and Power Pack.
  • Duracell 800 Watt DC to AC Digital Power Inverter (813-0807). It runs at 150 watts through your car’s cigarette lighter, or 800 watts when clamped directly to your car’s battery (comes with cables for each method). It has a display that shows: voltage in, voltage out, and watts (power) that you are currently drawing. With this your car becomes an improvised generator and power is stored in your car’s battery (800 watts is enough to power your refrigerator).

And the item we’re most excited about:

  • Trent iTorch IMP52D 52mAh External Battery Charger (for ANYTHING USB). It’s a portable rechargeable lithium battery that holds enough energy to completely charge a dead iPhone 3.5 times! We ordered one for both Sarah and I (and Sarah’s Dad, who happened to be here at the time). We’ve been searching for a product like this to add to our get-home bags (GHB) and this one comes very highly recommended. I plan on thoroughly testing, then reviewing the iTorch.

On another topic, we had to find a way to keep our rabbits cool this week. While I know we won’t get much sympathy from the rest of the country, it actually got hot here in Western Washington. We had temperatures in the mid-90s, which is really hot for us (keep in mind hardly anyone here has air-conditioned homes). To put that temperature in local perspective, I had a co-worker who would say, “Any time it gets above 80 degrees it’s god’s way of showing me what hell would be like.” Yes, the Pacific Northwest is temperate. Anyway with the “hot” temperatures we had to find a way to keep our (Western Washington, not used to the heat) rabbits cool. Sarah did some research and found one of the easiest ways is to put a frozen 2-liter water bottle into each of their hutches and they can lean against it if they get hot. It seemed to work well, the rabbits looked less agitated and seemed to be panting less.

What did you do?

 

What We Did This Week To Prep 8/10/12

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Prior to leaving on our vacation to Colorado last month, Ryan and I tried to get an automatic watering system for the rabbits in place. While I had never worked with PVC piping before it didn’t seem like it would be too difficult. The concept was easy enough but we didn’t take enough time to ensure everything was properly glued and that led to it leaking. We reverted back to the water bottles for a couple of weeks until we could get it fixed/redone. This week, with the benefit of our previous experience (isn’t everything easier the second time around?), we re-did the project using new PVC, better glue, and clamping the spouts in place while they dried; this time everything worked flawlessly. The project still isn’t done, I plan on putting “gutters” on top of the rabbitry roof to collect rain water, and eventually extend it to the lower level (when we add a second row of hutches). But the rabbits now have plenty of water and the 5-gallon bucket will only have to be refilled every week or so.

Ryan also made two more “pasturing hutches”. Essentially the same thing as the hutches they live in, but these were made without bottoms so the rabbits have access the grass, clover, and other assorted things growing in the back lawn. Previously we only had one so I’d get each rabbit out, one at a time for an hour each, to let them each graze. It was a bit of a hassle because I pastured them each day before I’d give them their store-bought feed (so they’d wake up hungry and maximize their opportunity to eat fresh greens), so I had to be around and move along each morning to get them all out and fed. Now I can just take all three of them out and let the eat at the same time. Much easier and smoother.

Per Momma Bear’s recommendation we ordered a new prepper book: Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning: Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar, Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation.

Amazon describes it, in part, as:

Typical books about preserving garden produce nearly always assume that modern “kitchen gardeners” will boil or freeze their vegetables and fruits. Yet here is a book that goes back to the future—celebrating traditional but little-known French techniques for storing and preserving edibles in ways that maximize flavor and nutrition. . . this book deliberately ignores freezing and high-temperature canning in favor of methods that are superior because they are less costly and more energy-efficient. . . says in his foreword, “Food preservation techniques can be divided into two categories: the modern scientific methods that remove the life from food, and the natural ‘poetic’ methods that maintain or enhance the life in food. The poetic techniques produce… foods that have been celebrated for centuries and are considered gourmet delights today.” . . . offers more than 250 easy and enjoyable recipes featuring locally grown and minimally refined ingredients.

For those of you, okay mostly us, that were worried that we wouldn’t get tomatoes this year — we finally have a bunch of green tomatoes on our vines! We’re pretty excited about it and keep telling ourselves that our patience – in our temperate growing region – will pay off. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks we’ll be eating fresh tomatoes and maybe even canning the extras!

What did you do?

 

What We Did This Week To Prep 8/3/12

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Still not a lot of success in the garden, though our raspberries and snap peas are doing great. The tomato plants never got very big, but finally have a lot of buds on them and a few even have small green tomatoes. The sunflowers are doing well–though we didn’t plant sunflowers–we have several of them in the back corner;  I can only guess they made the “leap” from the neighbor’s garden (they had them against the adjoining fence last year). The squash plants also have buds and a few small squash growing, but they still have a ways to go also. I try not to compare our garden to the ones I read about in other parts of the country, summer here really doesn’t start until the first week of July and typically continues through the end of September. So we’re only a month into our “summer”.  I’m still hoping for some good things from the garden.

After I butchered rabbits with Rob, he gave me some meat to take home. We do a lot of cooking in the crock pot and decided we’d try rabbit stew. We put the whole butchered rabbit into the crock pot, bones and all (per the recipe), and added fresh vegetables and let it stew. Dinner was tasty and we were pleased with the results. Once we start breeding rabbits, we’ll average about 60 rabbits a year; so we need to find good, varied ways to prepare them. I had thought about grilling it, but Rob mentioned it dries out easily. He offered to have us over for dinner and show me how he cooks it.

Having helped Rob butcher the rabbits, and sharing his skinning knives, I decided I needed to get a set of my own. I picked up a 3-piece set made by Buck that has a light-weight knife, a heavier knife, and a guthook. They come in a durable, washable soft case. I probably won’t use the guthook for the rabbits, but it’ll be there in the future for larger game.

We made our monthly trip to Costco. After being sick last week I was motivated to continue stocking up on OTC meds and vitamins. We got guaifenesin (cough expectorant), multi-vitamins, Vitamin C, and Vitamin D. (I later picked up some Sudafed at another pharmacy.) Costco also had a good price on a 50-foot ,12-gauge extension cord for $20.

What did you do?

(Monday: Sharpening Knives, Part 2)

Learning To Butcher Rabbits

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When we’re young we have lots of ‘firsts’. As we get older we have fewer and fewer; both because of life experiences and because we tend to specialize and stay within our comfort zones. Yesterday I had a first, I learned how to butcher rabbits. Now I realize that butchering most small animals is about the same, but I had never killed and/or butchered anything before. That includes hunting; though I’ve nothing against hunting–and plan to learn–I didn’t grow up hunting and have never gone as an adult.

I went to Rob and Beckie’s home–they provided our does–and Rob taught me how to butcher rabbits. The siblings of the rabbits I got from him had matured (three months). He did the first one as I watched, I did the second one and he walked me through the process. We then finished the rest, each working on his own, but Rob was always available to help or answer my questions.

As I reflected on how I felt about butchering the rabbits, both at the time and afterward, I think the best word I could come up with was ‘satisfaction.’ Satisfaction that we had done it respectfully and efficiently, that the rabbits had not suffered, and that the meat would be used to feed our families and improve our diets. Before we killed each one we calmed it, thanked it for it’s sacrifice, and promised to appreciate what it would provide.

I’m glad I’ve learned. I can’t say I look forward to the next time, but I feel confident that I can do it well, painlessly, and without waste. I like knowing that I can provide a healthy source of protein for my family. Both Rob and I would like to learn how to tan the hides and utilize the pelts.

I felt a bit overwhelmed when we first got our rabbits, but it’s much easier than I thought it would be. I enjoy the day-to-day chores of raising and feeding them; soon we will go through the process of breeding and bringing up the next litter, and I know now how to harvest the meat that we will raise. I encourage anyone who is considering raising rabbits that it’s a good idea, it’s easier than you think, and it will be a valuable addition to your homestead, big or small. Any help I can give you, either in the form of rabbits to raise as your own, skills I can teach you, or knowledge that I’ve learned I’d be happy to.

I’ve mentioned it before but I’d strongly recommend RiseandShineRabbitry.com and Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits. Both are excellent sources of advice and how-to information on raising rabbits.

An interesting side-note: When we first got our “does” from Rob (at six weeks), we instead got one female and one male (it’s harder to tell than you think). When we discovered this, Rob told me to just bring the male when I came and we’d swap it out for a healthy female.

Rob knew that I pastured my rabbits as much as possible (maybe half their diet), and he feeds his strictly store-bought rabbit feed, so he suggested an experiment: once butchered we’d compare my male and how much fat he had and how much the meat weighed to the ones Rob had raised. We found that my pasture fed rabbit had considerably less fat, but the meat weighed almost the exact same.

What We Did This Week To Prep 7/13/12

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It’s been a busy week as we get ready to leave on a family vacation. We’re heading to Colorado Springs, CO to see my parents and other assorted family members. We’re looking forward to the trip; my two youngest, Emily and Alison, have never flown before and are very excited about that.

We did get a few things done. We picked up a seven month old male American Chinchilla Rabbit this week, from another breeder. He will be the patriarch of our future litters; he’s full grown and sexually mature. The does are just three months old now and we need to wait until they are five months to breed them; so the first breeding will be about mid-September. (Winston, our male, looks more brown than gray in the picture, my understanding is that his coat was discolored from the sunlight.)

Speaking of does, I should instead say doe. As advised, we went back and “sexed” our two younger rabbits to ensure they were both female. Turns out one is male. It’s much harder to determine, especially when they’re young, than I would have thought.  Rob, the breeder we got them from, is more than happy to exchange him for a her. I’ll be going to Rob’s place in just over a week to learn from, and help, him butcher his next batch of rabbits. I’ve never done that before and I look forward to the opportunity to learn, but am a little cautious about how I will feel doing it. I believe in what we’re doing and I think it’s important, but taking another life is–and I believe should always be–a difficult thing. I’ve discussed it with Rob and he’s very respectful and efficient about it.

One of the things I really wanted to get done this week, and did–sort of–was to set up an automatic watering system in the rabbitry. Trying to attach a 2-liter water bottle to the side of the hutches is a pain in the butt; I wanted a system that would provide them plenty of water and we wouldn’t have to hassle with it. Sarah’s Mom will be staying at our place and taking care of the dog, cat, rabbits, and garden while we’re gone and I  wanted to make things as easy as possible for her. The system we built basically worked, though I’ll have to spend some time fine tuning it when we get back. We put it together using a 5-gallon bucket to hold the water, 1/2 PVC pipe, and attachments and auto feeding spouts (I got from the feed store). I have little experience with plumbing or PVC piping, but it seemed simple enough. My first attempt leaked too much and had to be redone. It still drips a little and I’ve only routed it to the first two hutches, but it’s fine for now and will be relatively easy to fix and extend as needed. My eventual goal is to use the surface area of the rabbitry (4’ x 12’ = 48 square feet) to catch rain water and channel it into the 5-gallon bucket. After all, we live in Western Washington and have plenty of rainfall, even on that small surface we could collect almost 1200 gallons of water annually; yields will be as low as 30 gallons in July and as high as 170 gallons in November.

What did you do?