rabbits!

These are not yet our promised Angoras. we’ll get angoras after we figure out more about what we’re doing here with these guys. They’re Californians, a meat breed, that we got for free from somebody who was raising them in the East Mountains, but couldn’t keep them (her young son was getting too attached for the meat-rabbit experiment to work out for them). and yes, we are going to eat them. they’re not *that* cute. they’re not pets–either for us, or their previous owners–and they’re a little difficult to handle; they have no interest in being petted and they’re fairly quick. they’re almost as big as my (pretty damn large) cat–who is, himself, quite suspicious of them. :)

There are 5 does and 2 bucks. one of the does is a New Zealand white, rather than a californian. the girls are sharing the large communal hutch that and built; the boys are each on one side of a duplex hutch (multi-generational freecycle hutch with all that implies) that the previous owner gave us along with the rabbits. happily, she gave us a bunch of water bottles and feed trays, too, though the girls also appear happy to drink out of our smaller (extra) poultry waterer.

they’re also escape artists. i went out to check on them first thing this morning, and there were only two in the girls’ pen–which ought to have had 5. back in the garden a moment later, i startled one rabbit back towards the hutch. alan was able to find the others, and get them repenned, and fix the hole in the wire fence, but not without additional escapees. one is still out. luckily, alan is working from home this week, so he can keep an eye out and make sure the little beast isn’t eating my garden.

we decided to name them Foods 0-6. It’s that, or call them all Claire (all of them). Since we can only tell the one white-eared New Zealand rabbit apart from the others, she’s Food 0 (aka Claire).

and Miscreant Food is still at large.

i can already tell you one important thing about rabbits: they are harder to photograph than chickens.

Here’s one of the girls lurking under their hutch:

Enjoying the waterer:

This is actually a different rabbit, not the same one:

Our New Zealand White (possibly named Foods 0):

and yet another rabbit, really:

and the hutch the boys share:

Bonus garden pics:

Corn!

you can tell that weeding is on my to-do list, but the corn is growing up anyhow:

the long view:

radishes!