Rabbits

My English Angora

In my last posts, I've been all about chickens. Today, I want to talk about another option....rabbits. Rabbits make an awesome addition to a small backyard farm. Like chickens, they have several uses. I don't like eating rabbit, but many people do, so you could raise meat rabbits such as the California Rex. But today, I'm going to talk about raising rabbits for fur/wool that you can use to crotchet or you can sell the fur for extra cash on Etsy. You could also use the wool for a stuffing or filling for a pillow or doll. The Angora rabbit (English, French, German, and Satin) is the rabbit that I currently raise. I have an English Angora and a French Angora. Every 3 months or whenever their fur is 3+ inches long, I harvest the wool. Then I card the wool and spin it using a drop spindle. There are a ton of YouTube videos showing how you do this. I plan on making my own videos soon, but until then, I'll post a few on here for you at the bottom of this post. 

I cut the wool with scissors, because it's easier to me, and I can do with the rabbits sitting in my lap or on a table. This causes no harm to the rabbits and my rabbits enjoy the haircut especially in the summertime. You can usually tell when the wool is ready to harvest because it will start coming out. If you start seeing loose hairs that you can easily pull out, then it's generally time to harvest. After cutting the wool, you card it. Buy Ashford Classic Wool Hand Carders


After carding, it's time to spin the wool. There are different tools for spinning, but I use a drop spindle. It's cheaper! Buy the Happy Classy Drop Spindle Maple Top Whorl Spinning Clear Smooth Finish

And, that's it! You have yarn to start crocheting with! Check out my other website at Raising Angora Bunnies!