Category Archives: Rabbits

Winter update….

Posted on by

Well, remember when we needed to purchase water at the end of summer? Well, after loads of rain over May, June and July, we realised we were loosing water instead of storing it all! We had noticed some seepage starting on the concrete tank, but it got much worse very quickly and obviously needed repairs to ensure we stored as much water as possible for the next summer.

Fortunately, someone was able to come quite quickly and do a repair. We will see how it goes, and possibly invest in a tank liner if we still have issues with this 40 year old tank!

And….further to the rabbit post and their amazingly quick development… here they are now at 7 weeks old, almost ready for weaning (which mum Kep certainly is ready for!).

Rabbits!

Posted on by

After a long break while we were getting sorted in McCarthy Park 2, it has been lovely having rabbits again! Our breeding pair Kep and Marloo, who we got as youngsters, matured over the past year, mated and gave birth to 9 kits on 31 May!

It has been astounding to see the development, and no wonder rabbits have overrun Australia when you see how quickly they mature! Here is a series of photos to highlight….

1st June- Kep (Nyoongar for rain, as we bought her on a rainy day) pulled out lots of belly hair to make a nice soft nest for her babes- 4 pink and 5 black.

5th June, already getting their hair though their eyes are still closed. The pink kits are now ginger, like their dad Marloo (Nyoongar for red kangaroo).

11th June, looking more like baby rabbits with more hair and longer ears!

12th June, eyes now opening

19th June, we now need two hands to hold them!

26th June, they are all now out and about and eating (and pooing)!

That took 26 days…. not quite four weeks old! The next month will bring more growth, and a lot more cleaning the cage until they are weaned at around 8 weeks.

Watch out for the next post!

It’s getting chilly!!

Posted on by

Well, we have had a bit of rain to top up the tanks, so no need to buy water for a while at least But it is so cold! One weekend morning it was minus 2.1 still at 7.30am!

A few plants suffered with the sudden chill, so now we are trying to protect them with nets to see if that helps them bounce back in spring.

Preserving has continued, with a bit of a reshuffle in the produce room needed to fit it all on the shelves. It has also been a bit tedious writing the contents on each lid (in case we forget what is what!), so now we write on the shelf directly with chalk!

We had such a great pumpkin harvest this year, so some was chopped and canned in some broth ready to make pumpkin soup, mash or add to casseroles- yum! There are still loads of pumpkins to harvest too!

And in exiting news, our Flemish Giant rabbit ‘Kep’ (Nyungar for ‘rain’) is due to have babies any day! She is looking particularly large around the middle, and has started pulling out fur to line a nest behind her crate. This will be her first litter, so fingers are crossed all goes well for her and the kits.

The hottest Perth day for 24 years!!

Posted on by

Well, most of Perth stayed indoors as much as possible today, with the temperature reaching 44.4C…….that is 112F for those overseas! We knew some heat was coming (plus it is summer after all and we do what we can to prepare for the heat…and bushfire season.  We had put up shade cloth over the aquaponics grow beds, and the duck pen, and thank goodness we did that before today.

Shade cloth covering the veggies in the aquaponics

Shade cloth covering the veggies in the aquaponics

Late yesterday we gave everything a good deep watering in anticipation of the 41C forecast for today. As the temperature soared we turned on some sprinklers to give the birds some relief, and freshened up the water baths (check out the handy hints page) we have around the place.

Splish splash I was takin' a bath.....on a 44 degree day!

Splish splash I was takin’ a bath…..on a 44 degree day!

We also put on the ‘overhead’ sprinklers. We have these on the house in case of a bushfire, but it also helps to cool down the house (we have a tin roof); and we also have them on the rabbit house, again for both reasons. The rabbits had their two litre bottles of ice (also mentioned in handy hints) this morning, and then a new one at 3.00 to help them out some more.

The poor turkeys are hot, as they recently had young and they are too small to let out along with the ducks, geese and poultry. We turned on the sprinkler for them too, and this helped cool them down.

Rabbit liver pate….

Posted on by

We made a yummy rabbit liver on the weekend! We used the livers of four rabbits and followed a thermomix recipe for chicken liver pate and just substituted rabbit livers. It was very easy to make and really delicious!

Home made rabbit liver pate

Home made rabbit liver pate

It has been a busy few weeks, but we now have a full freezer…..of turkey, rabbit, lamb, and chicken as well as pate and various stocks on hand.