RABBITS

I thought an appropriate topic for this Easter weekend would be bunnies. Because hey, who doesn't like rabbits right? We have 4 rabbits right now. Flemish Giants. I had the bright idea last year that having rabbits was a great addition to any small farm. They reproduce quickly, are a very lean meat, and cheap to feed. We actually have a really great setup where we get all the kitchen scraps from a commercial kitchen here in Yarmouth, so instead of all that stuff going in to the green bin, and the garbage it gets fed to our animals. So everything was going along nicely. A great breading pair of rabbits, great cages. All was well. They did reproduce like I knew they would, and the meat is delicious. Now a lot of people will stop right here and say, oh how can you eat those cute little bunnies? Isn't it hard to kill them? Yes, it is. That's why I make my husband do it. But chickens are cute too, in my opinion, and lambs and cows. And most of us enjoy that on our supper table. Anyhow, being the gal that I am, I started to feel bad for having bunnies in a cage. Every day they had to look out and see the other animals freely roaming the yard. How fair is that? So, my bleeding heart took over, and I set them free. Yup, I thought this was a good idea. Set the four rabbits free. What could happen? And it was going great. They stay around, we feed them, and they think they are chickens.

Well, here's the problem. Spring has arrived. Plants are starting to grow. Hmmmm. What do rabbits eat? You guessed it. Plants. And a lot of them. I'm a real genius right? So now I'm in a pickle. We have a few options. They are really tame, so we can catch them and put them back in their cages or we can build them a rabbit coop, much like a chicken coop, where they can hang out for the summer. I'm leaning towards the second choice for sure. I think they will be happiest that way. Regardless of what we choose, I made the typical newbie farmer mistake. I grew attached to my livestock. I mean, just ask me the last time I had rabbit for supper? Ya, you guessed it. It's been awhile. I mean, look at this face!