Well, I am back in North Carolina (followed by a short stint at a soil physics conference in Lexington, Kentucky).

These are Steak and Baby, the two rabbits

The little bunny is now 5.1 lbs, and the big one is still around the 6.7 lb mark. Meaning that we are growing ever closer to the slaughter day!  My dog loves them at around 6 lbs, which is nearly a weeks worth of food. The smallest chick now weighs in at 0.6 lbs. But they have all grown so much and have feathered out substantially. This is a huge difference from when I first brought them home. The chicks are 6 times the size (which is pretty substantial in 4 weeks).  And the little rabbit has put on 2 lbs! (the big one is only alive for company).

Petey Bird… who isn’t nearly as cute anymore

I totally cleaned out and disinfected the rabbit closet (which had uneaten hay, poop, and pellets that fell through the cage floor. This, combined with the sawdust for the poultry litter, will make some epic  fertile compost to whomever gets it. I need to scrub that out later with vinegar. I now have a proper pan liner to put down underneath. I still haven’t made them a house yet, but they are in a very well insulated area, so the boards I put down to protect their feet seem to be enough.

The remaining 13 were split into two containers. The chicks now have the recommended 1 square foot per chick! They seem to be much happier, and pecking each other less. The move to camp (hopefully) will be in the next few weeks.

I am also planning to add a cat to this menagerie, which means lots of chicks! Cats only require 0.3 lbs food, which is only a week of raising them for RIR’s, and less than that for a larger one.

I am making a return trip to Wicked Chicken tomorrow… going to see what kind of roosters, rabbits, and chicks I can grab and butcher.