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!

Got the Fence Up

We finally got the fence up. We also got 5 more chickens from a friend. We got 3 White Leghorns and 2 Barred Plymouth Rock Bantams. We decided to go ahead and move all the chickens over there and let them wake up together. That way it would be a new area to all of the chickens, and they could figure out their new pecking order at daylight. We went ahead and moved our pullets over to the new area first and kept the new chickens separated until it got dark. Then we picked the new chickens up and moved them into the coop. The next morning, we went ahead and let them all out together to see if they were going to get along.

They ended up forming two cliques. The new chickens stayed together and the pullets stayed together with the rooster showing them all that he was the boss. The rooster mainly stays with the pullets and is very protective of them. If the new chickens get near the pullets, he runs them off. He roosts with the pullets, and the new chickens roost together. And, I have seen no fighting (other than the first day), so that's awesome! It seems like one of the White Leghorns is wanting to join the pullet clique, so I'll have to wait and see how that turns out.

Excuse the mess. We will be moving this tin soon. We plan to use it on other side of carport later.

The White Leghorns

The new chickens.

Still Working on Coop in the Freezing Cold!

The last time I wrote, I told you that we were working on a new coop. We got it mostly finished. We still need to put up some nesting boxes and put fence up for their running area, which will have to wait until next weekend. Gotta work man.....😃

Here is where we started.

and here is where we ended.

We used an old, broken piece of privacy fence to make a door. We still need to add a spring to the door so it'll shut by itself.

I plan on painting the tin, but that'll have to wait until spring. I really miss warm weather. I'm not an indoors person, so this cold weather has me in a funk. It has gotten cold earlier this year, so hopefully, spring will come earlier as well. Every year, I have daffodils that come up outside my kitchen window, and they let me know spring will be here soon. No matter how cold, they come up about 3 weeks before warm weather. They are such a blessing.

Take care!

Building a New Chicken Coop

My rooster.

Today, we are going to build a new coop for our chickens. We currently have them located near our home and my flowers! We used to have our whole front yard fenced in for my dog, who died at 13 years old, about 6 months ago. RIP Duke. We also had chickens who free-ranged out there, but I went back to work for awhile, and we gave them chickens to a friend. After that, we decided to fence a smaller portion of land and free up the front yard.

Due to that experience, I know first hand that chickens will eat up and kill a flower bed, so I'm moving them before spring! Chickens love to eat roses. So do rabbits. Plus, we got them as chicks, and they are getting too big for the small coop we built as a temp shelter. Before we had Rhode Island Reds (RIR) and Welsummer chickens & a rooster. We also had a Barred Rock rooster and hen. This time we purchased ISA chicks from Tractor Supply. They are very spunky chicks. They're not scared in the least of humans and love to wonder. The RIRs were great egg layers, but the Welsummers were the sweetest and most broody, except for the rooster. He was a mean son-of-a-gun! Now, we have the most docile rooster I've ever seen. This rooster rarely crows. He is awesome! He is a mixed breed from Tractor Supply as well, but I forgot the name.

Here is a picture of him, but he's not fully grown yet.

My neighbors have three Black Australorps and they are the noisiest roosters I've ever seen. They crow from daylight to dark. They are free to roam, so they come to my bedroom window every morning to crow....LoL They used to all roam together, but now, it looks like they are starting to single-out one of the roosters. And this singled-out rooster comes to my chicken fence daily. He's never jumped over the fence. I'm not sure what my rooster would do with another man trying to get in on his women...LoL Don't need no cock fights around here!

I'm planning on adding Buff Orpingtons to my flock soon. I just really love the breed. They are my favorite, but I'm going to wait until spring.

Here is the start of our new chicken coop. 

My husband purchased a carport several years ago and the gentleman we are buying this house from gave us some tin that he had laying around his farm. So we hung the tin up on the carport, and decided to extend it for our new coop. We plan on putting in laying boxes with doors on the inside of the carport, so we can reach in and grab the eggs without entering the coop or the chickens' running around area. We had left over chain-linked fence, so we're going to use that for their running around space. Plus, we have a wood burning stove in the carport that will help keep the chickens warm during the winter.

Well, that is how we plan on spending our New Year's Eve.....building a new coop. Take care and have an awesome New Years!

P.S. I know in my last post I said that I'd talk about different chicken breeds, but I decided to post a link instead. Check out The Backyard Chicken Farmer for the best beginner chicken breeds!

Buy an already made chicken coop on Amazon:
Pets Imperial Monmouth Large Chicken Coop 6ft 7" in Length With Roof That Opens Suitable For Up To 4 Birds

To Chicken or Not to Chicken

 Original chicken artwork by Whimsical Inklings" (www.whimsicalinklings.com). Purchased from Teachers Resources on Etsy.

Every backyard farm needs chickens! Chickens can be a meat source, plus you'll get eggs. Chickens are one of the easiest animals to care for. Before you get chickens, you'll need to make sure they have a coop to live and roost in. If you have the money, you could purchase one already made from my favorite store Tractor Supply😁. The average price for a coop is around $150-400 depending on the size. The bigger the coop, the more the cost. Wal-Mart sells chicken coop kits on their website and you can also find used ones on Craigslist. If you want to make your own or you're on a budget, then YouTube provides a ton of videos on how to make coops. Below is a video I thought was cute and quick on a budget. You could also use pvc pipe and wrap chicken wire around it. The ideas are endless, but this video will help get your brain juices flowing.

Buy a chicken coop on Amazon:
SummerHawk Ranch Victorian Teak Barn Chicken Coop

Next I'll be writing about chicken breeds....