The Old Folks Home

[pennyJo1960]

cute pup, think as in Ducks I will also stay away from Rabbits
chickens are the limit here

 

[perchie.girl]

He was such a funny bunny...lol. I was just wanting to mention that with lionhead bunnies...there can be extra grooming required to keep the tangles and knots at bay. I took his lovely fellow in from a family where the kids had grown up. They kept some of the hair trimmed in these photos when I first got him. I went one step further and trimmed most of the mane off so it stayed nice.


Someone mentioned what would happen if you let your bunnies loose? They run up and almost trip you so you can give them millet...

She comes running up and stops right in front on me so I just about get tripped trying not to step on her. Took this this morning.



And they still have cutie babies. The babies below were all born around Christmas/January. All males except for the black in the back which is nice because they can live in the yard.



I don't get to see them pre-fured...they show up as 2-3 inch puffballs. Just had some show up last week. They survived the -29C weather and storm we had a couple of weeks ago. Amazingly tough little creatures. They would have been less than a week old when that weather hit. I'll be separating the females. I think after the next litter (which I haven't looked at yet because she had them where I can access them) that it's enough bunnies...lol.

grandpa raised rabbits in a yard like that.... buried the fence so they couldnt dig out. Amazing tunnel systems they make complete with Air contidioners... they were in the plains of Texas. Hot hot hot in summer

deb

 

[Bunnylady]

Quote: Someone mentioned what would happen if you let your bunnies loose? They run up and almost trip you so you can give them millet.
I think it should be pointed out that this is actually the exception rather than the rule. For most people, the moment a rabbit is turned loose in the yard is the last time the owner gets within 6 feet of it, unless they manage to corner it. The longer it is loose, the more wary it becomes; babies that aren't raised being handled every day typically scream and claw and struggle like a wild thing when caught - not what most people look for in a pet.

Quote:
All males except for the black in the back which is nice because they can live in the yard.
Depending on the size of the yard, this might work: male rabbits usually can't be kept caged together past the age of puberty. If they have enough room to get away from each other, they may survive, but if there is any way for the rabbits to escape, odds are that Wicked will only have a couple of males after about a year.

 

[chickadoodles]

Quote: Someone mentioned what would happen if you let your bunnies loose? They run up and almost trip you so you can give them millet.

I think it should be pointed out that this is actually the exception rather than the rule. For most people, the moment a rabbit is turned loose in the yard is the last time the owner gets within 6 feet of it, unless they manage to corner it. The longer it is loose, the more wary it becomes; babies that aren't raised being handled every day typically scream and claw and struggle like a wild thing when caught - not what most people look for in a pet.

Quote:
All males except for the black in the back which is nice because they can live in the yard.
Depending on the size of the yard, this might work: male rabbits usually can't be kept caged together past the age of puberty. If they have enough room to get away from each other, they may survive, but if there is any way for the rabbits to escape, odds are that Wicked will only have a couple of males after about a year.
Great point.

 

[lilwildrabbit]

I thought about rabbits but I have wild ones in the yard and that would be a disaster! The ones in the yard pay no mind to us except at feeding time for the chickens they come out to eat while we are standing there

 

[pennyJo1960]

the house dogs we have would be a disaster and never wanted rabbits myself use to buy them
for dog food already processed but my physical being cannot make the food in quantities anymore
that would be worthwhile

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Quote: Someone mentioned what would happen if you let your bunnies loose? They run up and almost trip you so you can give them millet.

I think it should be pointed out that this is actually the exception rather than the rule. For most people, the moment a rabbit is turned loose in the yard is the last time the owner gets within 6 feet of it, unless they manage to corner it. The longer it is loose, the more wary it becomes; babies that aren't raised being handled every day typically scream and claw and struggle like a wild thing when caught - not what most people look for in a pet.

Quote:
All males except for the black in the back which is nice because they can live in the yard.
Depending on the size of the yard, this might work: male rabbits usually can't be kept caged together past the age of puberty. If they have enough room to get away from each other, they may survive, but if there is any way for the rabbits to escape, odds are that Wicked will only have a couple of males after about a year.
That's true...it is the exception to the rule. In all the years I had rabbits they didn't come up to us that close to ask for food when they were loose. I've had these for a few years now and kind of forget that...lol. The black was handled by the children who owned her until I bought her...the ones in the picture I got as wee ones but I never handled them to tame them. I've caught them without a net once in a blue moon, but they don't shred me or scream. But I've had rabbits since I was a wee one myself and I know how to hold them without getting a shredding. I always say that pigs and rabbits are the nastiest creatures and can do the most damage. Most people look at me with a funny look when I say that...

Sheep, much easier going...lol.


The pens we made were 25' x 25', one for the males and one for the females. There's always got to be an aggressive fellow that's alpha, just like the roosters...but the males I had got along surprising decent. But I don't have any rabbits in the pens...they're free range in the yard. The rabbits have been loose since last year. . The males won't be escaping...they'll be completely loose. They have the 15 acres or so and all the land around us but they stay right here.

They've been doing a great job of cleaning up the grain and hay that always gets spilled. I see them being good competition for the rodents. They kept things much cleaner during harvest. I'm planting the entire garden to vines; pumpkin, cucumber and watermelon so they or the chickens won't bother anything. Maybe corn inside the one rabbit pen...lol.

 

[Bunnylady]

I had a friend who had a couple of litters of Dwarf babies that didn't sell when she expected them to, and she turned them loose in the yard. There were 6 or 8 total; only one male. For a few months, she got a kick out of watching the rabbits coming up to eat with the chickens, poking around in the cow's pen, etc. Then one day, as she was carrying hay to the cow, something came up the front of her and knocked the hay right out of her hands! Startled, she looked around, but the only thing she could see was the little male rabbit (he was white, BTW). The little beast charged at her again, and as she turned to run, it bit her on her heel. She shook it off, scrambled up onto a tree stump and yelled for her husband. He came out with his gun, and - well - so much for the rabbit. She showed me the bite mark on her heel, and said, "knocking the hay out of my hands - that thing was going for my throat!" It was all I could do to keep from laughing at the image of her being treed by a 2-pound rabbit; all I could think of was the rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But yeah, Dwarfs can be really sweet; they can be really nasty, too.

 

[perchie.girl]

The pens we made were 25' x 25', one for the males and one for the females. There's always got to be an aggressive fellow that's alpha, just like the roosters...but the males I had got along surprising decent. But I don't have any rabbits in the pens...they're free range in the yard. The rabbits have been loose since last year. . The males won't be escaping...they'll be completely loose. They have the 15 acres or so and all the land around us but they stay right here.

They've been doing a great job of cleaning up the grain and hay that always gets spilled. I see them being good competition for the rodents. They kept things much cleaner during harvest. I'm planting the entire garden to vines; pumpkin, cucumber and watermelon so they or the chickens won't bother anything. Maybe corn inside the one rabbit pen...lol.

Oooh I like this idea

 

[perchie.girl]

I had a friend who had a couple of litters of Dwarf babies that didn't sell when she expected them to, and she turned them loose in the yard. There were 6 or 8 total; only one male. For a few months, she got a kick out of watching the rabbits coming up to eat with the chickens, poking around in the cow's pen, etc. Then one day, as she was carrying hay to the cow, something came up the front of her and knocked the hay right out of her hands! Startled, she looked around, but the only thing she could see was the little male rabbit (he was white, BTW). The little beast charged at her again, and as she turned to run, it bit her on her heel. She shook it off, scrambled up onto a tree stump and yelled for her husband. He came out with his gun, and - well - so much for the rabbit. She showed me the bite mark on her heel, and said, "knocking the hay out of my hands - that thing was going for my throat!" It was all I could do to keep from laughing at the image of her being treed by a 2-pound rabbit; all I could think of was the rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But yeah, Dwarfs can be really sweet; they can be really nasty, too.

scary but

as well.....