How the Rabbit Shed was Built and Modified

 I know I have posted pictures of the rabbit shed before; but, since I did not explain the design and construction, I figured I would write about it now.

The first consideration was making it of a length and width to hold four breeder cages and one or more grow out cages. The cages are 30x30 so the width of the shed was set at 4 feet. We decided to make the length 16 feet which is sufficient for the six cages with extra for overhang. There is also the potential for adding length to one end later on. The shed is set in a corner of a solid vinyl fence so it has protection on two sides. The other two sides will soon have tarp "curtains" which can be lowered to protect them during heavy rains. The roof is made of PVC panels. If you use multiple panels as we have, you will need to seal the joints with silicone.

The posts are 2x4x8 pressure treated boards as are the roof supports except that there are two 2x4x16s on top (front and back) which really pulls the structure together into one solid unit. We will be coating the legs with grease to prevent fire ant attacks and may also place something around the legs to prevent raccoons from climbing the legs.

I originally thought that using chains to hang the cages would be sufficient support. With lighter rabbits it probably would have been. If you have small rabbits and want to hang with chain, you need to position the chains so that they form a Y with the corners and create tension between their opposing corner. The chain we purchased was rated to hold significantly more weight than the cage and rabbit would weigh.

For large meat rabbits, chains alone will not reduce bounce enough. My rabbits found the remaining bounce disconcerting so we had to find a way to retro-fit the shed so as to support the rabbits and reduce bounce to zero. After discussing several ideas, we opted for purchasing garden wire fencing and more 2x4x8s and attaching sections of fencing running front to back and setting the cages on the fencing. We attached the cages to the fencing with zip ties.

Another item currently missing but will very likely have to be retrofitted is urine guards between cages. Bucks have a bad habit of spraying does and other bucks with urine as a way of establishing their claims. I guess the male hormones make for bad behavior in any species! Anyway, if you don't want your rabbits stained with each other's urine, you will want to place solid walls between bucks and between bucks and does. I have not explored the options for this need yet so I don't have recommendations.

The other consideration is what to do with the rabbit manure and urine. Having cages without trays like these are great for hygiene. Yes, I will need to clean the cages occasionally but I won't have trays of urine and poop to empty daily. The droppings fall to the ground below. The hay and bits of food also fall. So, what to do? Well, I've read lots of different solutions. I'm trying the worm bed option. You will see in the first two pictures some tires on the ground under the cages. I was going to have the worm beds in those. But, the smaller tires were hard to set where the poop was falling. They also just didn't look as neat as Son wanted it to look. Seems he wants the shed to look *good* since he built it! So, the tires were removed and we put a thick layer of spoiled straw and leaf mulch under there. We may eventually put 1x8 boards around the circumference of the shed to contain the pile. Son says that will make it look better, too. We'll be mail ordering some worms to add to the pile and hopefully will soon be having some great compost for the gardens!

Our First Rabbit Show

North Carolina RBA

My family and I had our first adventure into the world of rabbit shows today. I'd learned about a show in Wilson, NC and we decided to go and see rabbits. Mother has decided she wants her own rabbits to breed and wanted to see several options up close and personal to decide which one to start with. So, up early and off to Wilson with the intent to be there before they started the judging so we could experience the judging process.

I don't know about you, but sometimes the best laid plans just don't work out. This time was one of those. We stopped an hour from home to get breakfast only to find out that my wallet was not in my purse. Great! So, back home we go to get the wayward wallet. So much for getting there to watch the judging. C'est la vie. 

We arrived at the show almost two hours after it started. Truth be told, it wasn't as big as I'd imagined. This, I think, was actually a good thing. As it was, we were in awe and amazement going from one set of rabbits to another. I realized very quickly that pictures in books, magazines, and the internet do not give a true indication of the beauty of the colors nor their true size. English Lops are HUGE! WOW! (Note to self: they are about the same weight as Silver Foxes at full size. A 10 pound rabbit is Gi-normous!) 


The judging process seemed mysterious and not easy to watch as I was afraid of getting in the way of a breeder trying to show. Watching from a distance only gave me cursory information of how it's done. 


Mother ooh'd and ahh'd over so many rabbits but kept coming back to the Holland Lops and the American Fuzzy Lops. She is addicted to the floppy ears. Unfortunately, the Mini Lops was in very short supply there so it didn't get her attention. 

While some of the breeders were less than forthcoming with information, we met one, Donna of Luv Some Bunny Special, who was very friendly and willing to talk about her rabbits. She allowed Mother to hold a rabbit and showed me how to pick up and hold my rabbits so they feel more secure. Her rabbits were beautiful (several are Champions) and Mother was totally in love! The plan is to obtain a breeding pair of American Fuzzies from Donna when they are ready in June. And, a cool God-thing is that Donna is Pentecostal Holiness -- as are we! God has such a sense of humor and timing! Bring us 3 hours from home to a hall full of strangers and who do we meet but another PH Christian! 


Son found two breeds he thought were totally cool and possible options for him at some future date: Britannia Petites and Tans. The Petites are CUTENESS TIMES TEN. As pets, we're told they are greatly lacking. That's unfortunate. The Tans are very pretty. I think the Petites are cute but then I have always liked miniature things. 


I will continue to focus on my Silver Foxes. I had not planned on showing them but I might just find it interesting. It would be good to at least see how they stack up to their standard. It would help if I want to sell some as breeders. It might. I met a lady at the show who is a member of the Southern Pride Rabbit Club in South Carolina. She mentioned that she knows a few Silver Fox breeders who will be entering their rabbits in the Columbia show in May. She strongly encouraged me to enter mine in the show. I think as much as anything so that there would be something to compare the other breeders' rabbits to. I was excited to hear that there are other breeders of Silver Foxes in the Carolinas. I don't think I'll be able to show in May but I will be going so I can meet those other breeders and see their rabbits. The Columbia show is said to be much larger, too, so we'll get a taste of just how big these things can get. 


I foresee our rabbitry getting much larger than originally imagined! Son may stick with his poultry and helping us with the rabbits rather than getting into breeding rabbits himself. He hasn't decided. In that case, I'll go to poultry shows with him and he can attend rabbit shows with us. It will be a family venture, either way. Besides, the poultry will help keep the fly population down in the rabbitry. Yes, of course I had to come back around to permaculture ideas of systems working together. Even though Mother wants "pet" rabbits rather than meat rabbits, they still play a role in the homestead system by producing lots of lovely rabbit poop to fertilize the garden with.

Trials Abound and Blessings Abound Even More!

Sunbathing Chicken Style

Ever go through a time when it seems like trouble piles on top of troubles until you cry "Uncle"!? The past few weeks have been like that here on the homestead. As I mentioned in my last blog, we had a trial over a used refrigerator purchase. So, bad refrigerator returned to the horrid people we purchased it from and deposit made on the glorious refrigerator God brought our way. Mother and Son returned from Florida with our new Silver Fox Rabbits in tow. So, into a house already topsy turvy from the whole refrigerator situation and young chicks ready to go outside, we now had their suitcases and treasures from Florida and rabbits who's cages had not yet arrived. Now our house was in major chaos and the stress level was registering on the seismogram at the nuclear plant in Southport.

I put out an SOS and was able to acquire a dog crate for temporary housing for the rabbits. The rabbits promptly proved to be bad roommates. The chicks were moved out to the tractor. The chicks promptly found escape routes from the tractor! We arranged for a friend to help us transport the refrigerator. The friend and Son were unable to move the refrigerator due to it's heaviness and plans were made to come back the next day with reinforcements. The tension increases.


The rabbit cages arrive and are put together and the rabbits moved into their new condos. They do not know how to drink from water bottles so I have to give them water in bowls until I can train them to the water bottle. The J feeders don't want to hang right so I have to get wire and fix them so they stay proper. 

All the while, the chickens continue to find escape routes from the tractor but fail to understand that the route goes both ways so they walk around and around the tractor trying to get back in! In a few weeks they will be too big to get out through their escape routes. We purchased a waterer that isn't a "hanging" waterer but Son fixes it so that it does hang. We also purchased a hanging feeder but then Son found an old dog kibble auto-feeder that he decided we could re-purpose. With some creativity and a few screws, Son did just that. That piece of recycling work saved us $10.



Now, back to the refrigerator -- Yes, we are dealing with all these issues at once. Juggling them like a juggler trying to juggle chainsaws. We had scheduled a time to go back with Friend, Son, and Re-enforcements but Re-enforcements didn't show. Friend didn't want to try again without Re-enforcements. Man we were purchasing from was giving us 30 minutes before our next opportunity would be five days hence. Son starts removing the doors and declaring that the refrigerator was coming home one way or another. I beg Friend to come try once more and call Pastor Son to come help. Son gets the doors off refrigerator (not an easy task let me tell you!) and Friend finds that without the doors, the refrigerator is much lighter and easy to move. Refrigerator gets transported at last! Son and Pastor Son reattach the doors and all seems to be settling down. Pastor and Family had come as well so we had a nice time showing them our rabbits and chickens and chatting for a spell.

Chicken waterer

You noticed I said "seems to be", right? Yeah, well, sweet Son is determined to connect the refrigerator to the water source so we would have water and ice. He is exhausted from a very long day of dealing with chickens and rabbits and stuff. But, nonetheless, Son proceeds to crawl under the house and gets the line run and all seems to be going fabulously at this point. But, the sink plumbing decides to spring a leak. Such is the way of old houses. We go to Home Depot to get a part. Still leaking. All that can be done is turn off the cold water to the sink and deal with it in the morning.

Re-purposed food dispenser

So, Palm Sunday and we are not in morning services because we are at Home Depot to get plumbing supplies. Back home and Son sets to work. It was not an easy fix but after several hours and multiple attempts, he finally is victorious over the plumbing. Praise God!

Waterer & Food Dispenser

Son is not my biological son, he is my spiritual son given to me by God. How I ever deserved such a blessing I don't know that I will ever understand. How his biological parents failed to see what they had in this son of theirs is totally beyond my comprehension. I recall so many times his father called him lazy and stupid and good for nothing. I can't reconcile that with what I see in this young man. What I see is a young man who knows so much about fixing things whether plumbing or electrical or carpentry. Not only does he have a gift to "see" how to fix something, but he works with such determination and pure joy of being able to say "I did it!" God has gifted him with wisdom and love and kindness and a smile that never ends...even when he is ready to drop in exhaustion, he still smiles and still presses on.

A New Kind of Victory Garden: Think Global Act Local

I'm sure you have heard that slogan. Have you given it much thought? I mean, really? I had not. Until yesterday.

I was watching a youtube video yesterday of an interview with a lady who set about trying to answer the question, "how much can I grow on my property and how many people can benefit from it?" That question intrigued me. In the video, she quotes that slogan -- Think Global Act Local. She stated that growing your own food is the ultimate in local action that has a global affect. 

Think about that. Growing your own food doesn't just affect you, it affects many others. The more you are able to feed yourself, the less farmers on the other side of the country--or other side of the world--have to grow and ship to you. Growing more plants, scrubs, and trees on your property means less lawn which means less water run-off, less use of chemicals to maintain that green carpet, and cleaner air. 

Then, if you grow more than you and your household can eat, you have food to share. Setting aside a portion of one's produce for the hungry was a concept first promoted by none other than God, Himself. In the Pentateuch God instructs the Israelites to not harvest to the very edges of their fields nor gather the gleanings (the stuff that fell to the ground) so that the hungry and the foreigner can have something to eat. Planning for excess produce allows one to share with others.

So, back to the question: How much food can I grow and raise on my property? How many people can I feed from my little piece of the world?

I figure it will take another five years before I can answer that question. I have yet to plant all the fruit trees I want to have and I have to build the overall fertility of my land before we can see just what is really possible to achieve. With the addition of the rabbits, poultry, worm beds, and perhaps even a couple of dairy goats, we will be producing quite a nice load of fertilizer. Combine that with the mulch material we produce and we are on our way to building up the soil -- or as the author of "Chicken Tractor" says -- uppin the soil. Of course, the aforementioned menagerie of animals will also provide eggs, meat, and milk.

The chickens in their tractor will be helping prepare the initial garden beds and then helping to uppin them over the next few years. I am curious to find out just how many 4x8 garden beds we end up with. I hope to end up with mostly beds and grass paths between them. As the number of beds increase, their fertility increases, and my gardening skills increase, it will be quite interesting to find out what we can harvest from our .66 acres in year five. 

I hope you stick around to follow the continuing saga of the Not Quite There Yet Homestead over the next five years. Lord willing, I'll be here in 2018 to answer the questions: How much food can I grow and raise on my property? How many people can I feed from my little piece of the world?

Cute Baby Chick Alert!

Buff Orpington and Brown Leghorn Chicks

Son and I had quite an adventure today which turned out great but quite different than we had imagined! The intended goal of our early morning adventure was to drive to Tabor City, find a so-called "tailgate chicken swap", and hopefully purchased some young hens. Well, two out of three ain't bad! The chickens at the swap turned out to be either roosters, old hens, or young fighting breed chickens. I saw some that looked like their beaks had been trimmed like they do in commercial chicken productions. That was enough to send us running!

From there, we journeyed to the Tractor Supply Company in Whiteville to pick up supplies. On the way, we discussed the merits and problems of getting chicks. Son talked me into the idea and even agreed to share his room with the little peepers.

Brown Leghorn Chicks

But, TSC only had generic production layers at their 'Chick Days'. We discussed the idea of ordering through them for specific breeds. The deciding factor not too was the minimum order of 25 required and the fact that we'd fall in love with them ALL before we figured out which ones were supposed to be sent to freezer camp. Luckily, a couple shopping at TSC told us about a feed store that also had chicks. They thought they would have "Americaunas" -- more correctly called "Easter Eggers". So, off we went. A few wrong turns later -- and some derogatory statements about Blondes driving -- and we found the feed store.

No Easter Eggers.

But, they did have a bunch of cute chicks! and geese (breed not indicated) and ducks (mallards most likely). We finally decided to buy two each of four breeds: Brown Leghorns, Black Sex Linked, Buff Orpington, and Barred Plymouth Rock. You may notice that the pictures included in this blog do not include the sex linked nor the barried rocks. That is because they are camera shy.

Chick Huddle!

Upon arriving home, we had some fast work to do. We had not intended to come home with such young chickens so we did not have a brooder set up. While I prepared the feeder and water, Son went to fetch the galvanized tub I had purchased at a yard sale last year and never put to use. Then, he quickly fashioned a "lamp stand" to hold the heat lamp over the tub. Soon enough we had the chicks deposited in their new home. We made sure to show each one where the food and water was -- they were hungry and thirsty already! Then, it was nap time -- for them, not for us!

Son is enjoying a much deserved "play day" with a friend while I review my stack of literature for info on raising chicks. I'd skipped over that thinking I was going to miss that stage of their development. Silly me. Silly silly me.

Oh, and I would be remiss if I did not feature a picture of the completed chicken tractor! Son did good! Worked hard, hammered a few fingers, but managed not to cut off any of them. He earned his fun day!

Finished Chicken Tractor!

Plant Extra to Feed Others

The chicken tractor is almost finished and Son and I go to the chicken swap Saturday to get our chickens. In a few weeks, we'll have our rabbits. Planting season is upon us and it seems that this year the homesteading plans are kicking into high gear. This is good since the cost of gas is skyrocketing and that will affect the cost of food in the grocery stores. People are also murmuring about the warm winter and how this could be setting us up for a very active hurricane season. All of which serves to remind me that being prepared for whatever poop might hit the fan is important.


If there is an economic, political, or environmental crisis, how will you feed your family? How will you handle a medical crisis if medical facilities are inaccessible? What if the power grid goes does down and will be down for an extended period of time?

I haven't worked out a solution for lose of power -- or water for that matter. It is an aspect of preparedness I still need to work on. I'm doing a little better on the food storage and medical care aspects. We are learning to use coupons to save on the grocery bill for day-to-day supplies and for the stock-up pantry. We started canning last year and will do even more this year. We'll soon be raising our own eggs and meat as well as vegetables, fruits, and herbal medicines.


The growing herbs and making of medicinal powders, tinctures, salves, etc., is an important part of my short- and long-term preparedness plans. I hope to build up a first-aid kit and medicine cabinet that has conventional and herbal medicines for "in case of" situations. First-aid for typical injuries around the homestead and for emergencies caused by...bad weather...and other SHTF scenarios. Other medicinals I want to have on hand are geared toward general good health and healing. 


The plan includes more fruit trees, vines, perennial vegetables, and room for annual vegetables. The intent is to grow enough for eating fresh, canning or otherwise preserving, and having some to share with others. I read often on preparedness sites about how to hide one's food supply or how to protect one's food from others. But, scripture says we trust in the Lord. It also teaches that we don't fail to provide for the poor in the harvest of our crops. I believe as Christians who place our faith and ultimate provision in Christ that we plan and prepare but always with the realization that He looks out for us. As Christians we include in our food and herb growing to have some to donate to a local food pantry or needy families in the church. 

Chicken Tractor

This week Son began building the chicken tractor for our first chickens. We are looking to house 6 chickens in the tractor. Son designed the tractor in his head.

Dimensions are 4' x 8' x 3' with a taller 4' section in the back end for the chicken roost.


I used to think, based on all the chicken coop plans I saw, that chickens needed coops almost as airtight and insulated as our own homes. Then, I read about open sided coops aka three-sided chicken houses. The idea that chickens are healthier in housing that does not allow the build-up of ammonia which harms their lungs makes a lot of sense to me. It also makes sense that chickens, like other birds, are able to handle the cold as long as they don't have drafts. Birds, after all, roost in trees! So, the tractor is designed to provide a roosting area that is open bottomed and with ventilation at the top. 

At the front end will be an access door for entering the tractor to tend to the chickens. The back-end will have the nestbox bump-out where our ladies will be depositing their eggs.

The tractor will move on wheels. Those square blocks on the corners are for adding stability to the structure and to provide an attachment base for the wheels. We got wheels that will carry more weight than the tractor will weigh but figured that would help guarantee ease of move-ability.

Yes, Son plans on closing the gap between the bottom frame and the ground so that undesirable movement between outside and inside is eliminated while still maintaining the mobility of the tractor.

I am proud to report that the structure is quite sturdy while being lightweight enough for even my mother to move. Soon, we'll have six lovely ladies tilling garden beds, eating bugs, and laying eggs in the prettiest tractor in a tri-state area! Only thing left to decide is what color to paint the pretty thing! (Anyone got any leftover outdoor paint they want to donate?)

We might not be quite there yet...but we are quite excited about the progress we are making!  (I'll post pictures of the completed coop soon!)