Latest / Two Tools, No Clue / E4 Rabbits, Rabbits, RABBITS!
Transcript
- Jey & Anna: everyone, welcome to two tools no clue. I'm Anna And I'm Jeidan. And today we have no clue about rabbits. Feeding them, breeding them, and then what? What's going on around the homestead what is going around the homestead Anna So I was literally in tears the other night thinking about all those poor stray kittens out there with 18 inches of frickin snow coming down Yeah, and it was very cold ⁓ yeah negative seven negative ten days leading up to the snowstorm horrible. It was freezing. We, uh, we went to running stay, took me to runnings and we bought a little heated cat hut so that I would feel better. Yeah. We put it on our porch. Nobody showed up yet, but makes, my heart feel calm. Yeah. It's there. I did something at least. Yeah. I'm glad that, you know, helped you feel better about that because it is very cold out there right now. You know, we've obviously already saved one of them. There's only so many that we can support at a time. Yeah. And, you know, they're hard to catch, you know, it took forever to even just get one of them. And it breaks my heart because I know there's at least one other kitten out there. Plus, you said you've you've seen the mom around. Yeah, I haven't seen the mom since before. I for winter, I really believe that someone takes care of her. So I'm sure during all of this, she's like, you know, at least in someone's garage or something. hope so. But I still feel bad for all the kittens that she keeps having. Yeah. That's my, that's my beef. care of her, I wish they would Fix her or whatever. That is true. We finally took down all of our Christmas stuff. Took down, not put away. It's just all on one table. It's At least all off of the walls, which is like the biggest battle, I guess. We still need to take the ornaments off of our tree. Yeah, I have some time coming up. I was just telling Anna right before we started shooting. I have ⁓ a few more days of work after the snowstorm. And then I took like a small vacation just to kind of reset. You know, I work in retail full time. ⁓ Unfortunately, homesteading is not my full-time gig and we just got through, you know, the holiday season. So ⁓ it's time to kind of wind down and reset and get the house and the homestead on the mind rather than just ⁓ my work priorities. Yeah. So I'm excited for that. 2026 is for you to start taking better care of you. Yeah. focusing more on Jeidan Yeah. And not so much This corporation you work for yeah something like that, but I convinced Jey to let me keep the Christmas tree We're gonna take down all the ornaments take those that I made I saw a video you're gonna hear me say that like 10,000 times, but I saw a video where I'm sure you guys have seen it too because it was it went around but that video where they they snipped open like an container and then took Twigs from outside and hot glued them and made little mushrooms and then painted them. yeah. They're so cute. You should go get one. Made a little mushroom garland. You want me to? Yeah. Go show them. She already made so many of them. They're really, really cute. The only thing I have left to do is to string them up. Yeah. But here's the thing. That video made it look like, you'll be done within an hour. This is so easy. No. 3 days. I was working on had to like prop them up, make sure that the sticks wouldn't... You know, God, yeah, even enlisted Jey. Let me go get one. It was my hard work. Yeah, no, they're very cute, ⁓ but definitely not an hour. ⁓ Tik Tok again lying. But yeah, I think it's a good idea to kind of just switch up the theme on the tree for a little while. Here she comes. Here I am. Cute, Yeah, you kind of just string them along. those who are just listening. My mushrooms were your. quintessential toadstool mushrooms with the red and the white polka dots. yeah. Yep. And then there was a little guy that was just like a beigey white like eggshell color. she a good job. Yeah. I only with the gluing aspect. I'm not very crafty, but I'm willing. And if you're wondering where people seeing this, ⁓ YouTube, youtube.com. can see our full length. Podcast episodes. ⁓ Yes Yeah, and and little snippets will be here and there on tik-tok and and Instagram and Facebook once we get going I thought you meant how to make those. ⁓ The third and last thing that's going on on the homestead I'm drinking a monster today ⁓ I never drink Monster, so I'm very excited that I'm going to take a sip. We yeah, we we went to the store. I said, Anna, what do you want for lunch? She said a salad. I said, OK. She's like, think I want a monster to drink. Yeah, what? Always original. I'm an original girly. I don't do anything fancy. None of that mixed berry anything, but. I love my that original monster taste. I don't think I agree with you, but I understand sometimes you just want what you want. So we did mention that today's episode is about rabbits. Yes. Do you have any previous experience with breeding rabbits? Do you know anything about that? No, I only know that when I was growing up, my neighbors had outdoor bunnies. Pet bunnies. Yeah. Pet bunnies they had like, you know that outdoor bunny setup cage thing I remember there's just poop You all in the bottom of it all the time cuz they like it would fall out You know what I mean? So that you like easily pick it up. Yeah, I Just That's all I really remember. ⁓ I'm not there was a lot of them because bunnies be bunnies. Yeah Bunnies be bunnies. I'll get into that bunnies be bunnies ⁓ So have a little bit of previous experience with bunnies because my old best friend, her dad, spontaneously one day, one day I went over there and there was just rabbit hutches that he had built from like scrap wood. Wow. And he had all these bunnies. Sounds like something I would do. different enclosures. Oh, okay. Maybe not bunnies. And he was breeding them for meat. He was literally breeding them to kill them, to eat the meat. because it's apparently incredibly lucrative. Yeah. But I mean, me and my old best friend, we were just excited to play with the baby bunnies. They were so cute. We got to see them go from little pink guys to little fuzzy butts. Yeah. Yeah. We were very upset when we saw the end product one day, so he usually kept that from us. Yeah, you had no idea until you did. Like her job, her chores mostly in entailed like taking care of the babies. So she got the good end. But her dad and I think what they were. was setting those poor boys up for I think she did. I think we all did. That's hilarious. Oh, there was one time that her dad had us come out and I don't know why he invited us to watch him breeding two bunnies. but we're all stood around this enclosure and all of a sudden the bunnies just started going at it and sperm just started flying everywhere. God I was like standing behind people, but it was so nasty. So it's not a clean job breeding rabbits. It's not as pretty as it may seem. before we get into the breeding, let's get into the history. So rabbits were first domesticated around the fifth century, allegedly by monks from southern France. They likened meat to fish meat and could therefore eat it during Lent. All domesticated rabbits, ⁓ there are 60 to 100 different breeds today. I saw more towards the hundred. They're all of the European wild rabbit. with several new breeds emerging in Europe by the 16th century. Wow. So the Romans seem to have a very hard time keeping their wild rabbits from digging their way out of their enclosures because their Latin name is, bear with me here, Oryctilagus coniculus. Oryctinaleus coniculus. No, no. Oryctilagus. Oryctilagus. Coniculus. Coniculus. There you go. Wow. ⁓ One source said it means hare like graves of underground tunnels, which I am obsessed with. I love that. ⁓ Another source said it meant burrowing hare of the underground passage, but I like the first one better. I like the first one better too. Both are pretty cool, but yeah. Right. Badass name. Yeah. In the 19th century, Victorians, always the frickin' Victorians, they began to breed rabbits specifically for their looks and for competitions and ⁓ first rabbit breeding club starting in 1874. That's such a weird club to be a part of. ⁓ They're standing there watching sperm fly. ⁓ a bunch of men too. Probably no women allowed. ⁓ Yeah. Weirdos. Rabbit breeding boomed in America during the Industrial Revolution, during to a large number of people moving from the country to cities. Okay. There was no space for their cows, sheep, pigs, etc. But they were allowed to have chickens and rabbits. You know what we can do with these rabbits? Yeah. Bring them to the city. Today you're actually more likely to be able to own rabbits in your city or HOA. than you are chickens because they're classified as small pets rather than livestock. Interesting. And during World War II, rabbit breeding was highly encouraged in order for there to be enough meat and fur for both citizens and soldiers. makes sense. adds up. At least they were using it for the right thing. that's the history. Less terrifying than I thought it would be. Yeah. Yeah. I'm you're missing some parts. Yeah, I'm sure it a lot darker than that. Yeah. I didn't I go like I'm not going into the pet Breeding like this. Yeah strictly for meat Yeah, Homestead small homestead level. I appreciate that so Like I said before I heard that breeding rabbits is actually easier and more lucrative than owning chickens So if you've also heard that or you know for a fact that it's true. Let us know at our email which I'll plug again TwoToolsNoCluepodcast@gmail.com. Hit us us know. Tell us your stories. So why eat rabbit meat? Why do you think? Because it's available. ⁓ I guess so. Yeah. You're wrong. Is it nutritious? Well, for starters, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, quote, domestic rabbit meat is the most nutritious meat known to man. What? So it's incredibly lean with less fat than beef, pork, turkey and chicken. It has low sodium and doesn't contribute to cholesterol or heart disease. And it has a mild flavor, which people like into the flavor of dark meat with the consistency of a chicken breast. So I guess not as like soft and OK, soft and weird. I'm not a big dark meat person, are you? I'll eat it. But yeah. If that's all that's left. Yeah, I prefer the white meat. But if it's with the consistency of a chicken breast, it's really the texture for me more than that is true. Yeah, that is true. Also, the protein is easily digestible. So your tummy would probably like it. And it has high amounts of calcium and phosphorus. ⁓ OK. So it really is very nutritious. Yeah, that's interesting. They ain't lying. note, look at Stevie right now. Stevie's butt is on her bed and her head is on the hardwood floor. So she is killing it right now. We are doing another double episode session today. ⁓ We talked about it in the last episode. We went snowshoeing and we're all tired, but obviously Stevie is very tired. Yes. Which is what we were hoping for. we were hoping for that. She was just cute. Their meat to bone ratio is also higher than other animals, even chickens. Oh. Owning rabbits is a great source of manure to fertilize your garden beds with. I believe that. So basically the only con of eating rabbit is psychological. We see these cute little fluffy guys as beloved pets. They are thanks to the Victorians. That makes us harder for us to get behind eating them. Yeah. Which is a shame. Is it? I don't know. I don't know. I'm still not. I don't know. I'm still not completely sold one way or another to do it or not to do it. Yeah. Maybe we should try rabbit this year. I want to. We should. Yes. I think we should do a Patreon video to go along with this episode of us both trying to have it for the first time. good idea. All right. So if you want to see that, we got to get like the co-op or something or some way. See us trying rabbit for the first time. Subscribe to our Patreon. patreon.com/twotoolsnoclue If you're just listening, not ⁓ watching this episode right I was just squirming in my seat like a lot. ⁓ Very uncomfortable. But I'm All right. So the majority of the breeding information I'm about to tell you I found in an article called the ultimate guide to breeding meat rabbits for sustainability by the 104 homestead written by Jessica Knowles Okay, what's up Jessica? Thanks for the info. The link for that I'll put in the show notes. Okay. So go check that out. yeah. So rabbits can have babies as early as four months of age, but the appropriate age for a rabbit to start being bred is six to nine months if it's a small or medium rabbit or eight to nine months for larger breeds. And as always, avoid breeding Full siblings. Yikes. Yikes. So popular meat rabbits include New Zealand's, Rex's, Californian's, chinchillas. And I was like, excuse me, but it is not the pet chinchilla with the long tail and the big ears that is not a rabbit. Apparently there's a rabbit breed called. Okay, that makes me much better because I was like, um, what chinchillas are terrifying. They have a lot of meat on them either. My God. Don't they have weird -nevermind It's fine. Go ahead. The last one is Flemish Giants and these are all due to their large size. I bet they've got big feet. I bet. I didn't look any of these up. I don't know what they look like. Rabbits kind of scare me. I don't know if you know this about me, but they kind of stress me out. They got powerful hind legs. That's for sure. They definitely do. So heritage breeds include Americans, Harley Quinn's and silver foxes. livestock conservancy has a chart that helps you pick which rabbits are right for your homestead. So we'll put that link in the show notes. That's pretty cool. Rabbits have a 30 day gestation period, which means just one female rabbit, which is apparently called a doe. Did you know that? A doe. A rabbit. Wait a second. They can have anywhere from one to 14 babies every month. You are fucking kidding me. OK, like that commercial that just came out recently. my God. What is that for? Progressive or something? I don't even know that stresses me out. Yeah, that was too many, too many rabbits. So that averages out at around 30 to 50 babies per year, but can be upwards of 150 babies if they have like 14 every single time. Wow. That yeah. Like I said, too many babies. Yeah. And we're over here worried about the cat population. I know. Right. I was watching this little doc, this little 20 minute documentary and there were all these clips of all these rabbits, like herds of rabbits running down city streets. I'm like, where is this? Oh my God. Can you imagine? I think that would be pretty funny, honestly. I don't think I could imagine. It prompted me to look up if rabbits were the most stray animal. No, it's cats. No, it's cats. It's and dogs. people recommend starting with what's called a breeding trio. which consists of a male or a buck because apparently they're deer and two unrelated females. OK, make sure they're unrelated. do you keep them separated? Seems like they keep up with all that. Keep up with the babies, you mean? Yeah, like not ⁓ with each other. Well, they're all in separate enclosures. all the babies? Yeah, so I'll kind of get into it. Okay. I'm probably going to reiterate myself. Basically you have one enclosure for the male. You have one enclosure for both of the females ⁓ and then you have one enclosure for the mom and the babies to be okay. Okay. Because you want to keep the baby separate from other rabbits until they're of age. Does that make sense? Yeah. SO ⁓ I'm about literally about to start right here. OK, so rabbits are social animals, so females should be kept at least two per cage, depending on the size of the enclosure. ⁓ rabbit needs around 10 square feet of space each. And it said like, I'm going to be real with you guys. I'm going to confess. It said six to nine feet. per rabbit. I want rabbits to be happy out there. So it's 10 feet. right. Minimum. Minimum. feet. 10 feet. And that's not even including this is just for meat rabbits, which are going to live like a not great life and be in a small space anyway. If you have a... Until they're meat. That's slogan. What was it? 10 feet until they're meat. Ooh. ⁓ that's snappy. So only allow one mature male rabbit per enclosure, like I said, or they will fight, injure and possibly kill each other. Oh, like betta fish. Keep them separate. Yeah. Yep. You want to separate immature males at 12 to 14 weeks old. See that that was going to be one of my questions. Like, how do you know when to separate them so they don't start? Yeah. know, doing what Larry was trying to do. so depending on how old you want your rabbits to be when you harvest them, you probably need more enclosures than just the ones that I talked about. Yeah. To keep the males away from each other until you're ready to harvest. I know this is kind of a episode, but it's the circle of life. know, I know. totally okay for males to be able to smell and see each other. They just can't be in the same cage. They can't have physical contact. Can't be trusted. Alright, are you ready to get into the dirty deeds? Yeah. So, when breeding rabbits, you should always introduce the doe into the bucks enclosure. If you do it the other way around, there's an increased chance the doe will attack the male because they're very territorial of their space. So again, put the female in the male's cage. If the doe is open to being bred, she will lift her tail up. ⁓ Like Jam used to do. ⁓ my God. You're right. So, so cute and so weird at the same time. go away from me. Rub her butt. Neither of us have had to deal with a female cat in heat. And when Jam came around, like that happened very quickly and she would like make that make that noise that and she would like back her butt up on to us and we'd be like, please stop. at the same time, we're like, you're so cute and you're giving us attention. And then we realized she was in heat and we were like, please go away from us. Yeah, this is not. We do not consent. Apparently when the male finishes he'll fall off the female onto his side like he died. So dramatic. Apparently he's okay and this is completely normal. And honestly thinking back to my scarring experience of watching this happen, I think he did do that. He like kind of just, he got exhausted and just fell right off and the female kind of hopped away like what is his problem? lightweight and then he kind of shook it off and they want their separate ways like typical man I need a nap yeah So you want to breed them twice in one session and then remove the female. To ensure that the doe gets pregnant, bring her back to the buck's enclosure 10 hours later. This increases the chances of a larger litter because it stimulates ovulation. ⁓ okay. When the doe is close to giving birth, remove all other females from the enclosure until the babies are bigger, around eight weeks old. Which is right around when they should be weaned from their mom. Six to eight weeks. babies. Some reasons why your rabbits might not be breeding are or too cold. Temperatures above 85 degrees are too hot make males sterile for up to three months. Wow. Can you believe that? In bunny time, that's a lot of babies. Right? That's what? 75 babies that they're missing out on right there. Potentially 45 babies. ⁓ yeah. Anyway, don't mind me. Other reasons are they're too fat or too thin. Either extreme will lower their libido. Okay. There's not enough light. Apparently 12 to 14 hours of light is a sweet spot because it triggers their pineal gland, which makes the rabbit think it's spring. Therefore time to reproduce. Baby making time. Yeah. they're first timers and they don't know what to do. it's been too long between litters and they're no longer eager to do the deed. Apparently, I feel like they make a lot of babies. So I feel like if they're like, ⁓ no, I'm good. Yeah. Leave them alone. Yeah. Depending on your situation, that could be good or bad. ⁓ Apparently, they can be bred the same day as they give birth. But obviously, that's not at all recommended. Like, don't do that to your poor rabbits. so rude. Leave them But it is possible for them to get pregnant the same day that they give birth. If do it on their own, fine. Right. Yeah. Don't be weird. every six weeks is the average breeding schedule. Yeah. It's not crazy. I yeah. Month and a That's insane to me. On rotation. Pop it out. 14 babies. Too many babies. That is why there's so many bunnies out there. Yeah. It's like a of babies. That's why there's so many just hopping around like nonstop. for like four or five months because they're just popping them out. This isn't in my notes, but I learned that rabbits and hares are obviously different and rabbits have their babies and little nests like, you know, a little downy, ⁓ like grass nests that people find. But hares have their babies just straight on the ground and they're all like huddled together just out in the open. ⁓ wow. I didn't know that. Wow. Yeah, like deer kind of. Yeah, kind of. But these itty bitty little baby hairs are just out there, like next to a tree or something on the ground. No protection. So scary. But the thing is, baby bunnies, I don't know if you've seen baby bunnies, little pink guys, but they can't see or hear or do anything for like two weeks. Oh, wow. Yeah, they probably just sit on them. Yeah, kind of. Yeah, literally. But hare hare, little hare babies. Yeah, they're called like Lev. Levrets or something like that they can walk and run almost immediately. Oh, wow couple hours after they're Fun fact How to tell if your rabbit is pregnant oh So if she's being more than a grouch than usual, she wants a telling pizza, but I also saw sorry I also saw people saying that does are notorious cranks. So it's not always the best way of telling if your rabbit's pregnant. Bunnies are sassy. Yeah. They scare me. I said already. Apparently a lot of people buy bunnies as pets when they're itty bitty. ⁓ I this is only about breeding. Yeah. But the documentary that I got like a couple things of information from was about breeding for pets. ⁓ And it is dark. I don't want to hear about it. Yeah, I won't even. But I can only imagine, honestly. But that's what I was going to say. They they sell these tiny little baby bunnies as pets way too young. These people are expecting these tiny little cute bunnies and then their hormones kick in because they're not fixed. And you don't think about fixing a bunny like it's not as mainstream as fixing a dog or a cat. So then these bunnies turn into like the devil. Yeah. And so they're like, it's in here somewhere. They're the third most rehomed pet. They're the third most surrendered pet at shelters. There's a lot of bunnies at the Humane Society. Yeah. And it's because people don't expect them to be, become such grouches. Poor bunnies, just misunderstood. Yeah. There's too many of them. Yeah. 10 to 14 days after breeding, your rabbit is pregnant, you'll be able to feel these marble sized bumps along their sides. They're babies. This is called pulpating the doe. The itty bitty homestead committee, which I love that name. Itty bitty homestead committee. I love it too. They have a really handy YouTube video on how to do this that we'll link in the show notes. Okay. Another way to tell is their nesting behaviors. So these will start around 21 days after breeding. And if your rabbit is pregnant and not pulling fur, you should go ahead and make them a nest box. they're doing, if they're not doing the fur pulling by day 28, you want to make them pull their own fur. Yeah. And that's that downy soft that you'll see with the wild rabbits. If you find their nests. Yeah. That's their own fur. So cute. Yeah. 28 days after if your rabbit's not doing that for herself, you should make her her own nest because she's being a little grouch. Being a princess. Breeding females should be retired around four to five years old and males at around six. Okay. So meat rabbits live around six to eight years, but well cared for. Pet rabbits can live 12 to 15 years. This is because the rabbits are inside with you and they're like part of your family. So it's easier for you to be able to tell when something's wrong or when they're sick So, it's sad. It's literally double the lifespan. So babies is the next category. Baby rabbit. When your rabbit gives birth, you have to do the unpleasant job of removing any babies that didn't make it. ⁓ no. And honestly, I didn't look up what to do with them. throw them away? Just, I don't know, throw them in the woods? I guess that would attract someone though. Bury them. I guess that's what I would do. I would bury them. But before you do that, before you dispose of your baby bunny, make sure that they are actually dead and not just overly chilled. Because apparently that happens a lot if they're like left out of the group. If they like walk too far away. and get stranded away from the nest, they can get overly chilled and they'll get like paralyzed. So just make sure that they're actually dead before you take care of them. And the mom won't neglect her litter if you like rummage around in there and disturb them. ⁓ that's good to It's not like birds. Yeah. Rabbits nurse at dusk and dawn. So if you're worried about a particular litter and their well-being, you can actually bring them inside and only bring them out to the mom during those feeding times. Dawn and dusk. So you can keep an eye on them, which I was pretty cool. That is a cool idea. Like they're super relaxed. They're like, oh yeah, these are my babies. Whatever. I'll feed them. Yeah. Even though I haven't seen them for 24 hours or for 12 hours. Thanks for taking care of them. Yeah. After six to eight weeks when the babies are weaned, you can begin moving them out of the mother's enclosure a few at a time. Removing them all at once can result in the mother getting mastitis, which is the inflammation of the breast tissue. ⁓ no. Which I guess humans can get to, I any mother that's breastfeeding can get that. Yeah, that sounds painful. I wouldn't want to experience that. Your babies doing the damn thing. Some some people remove the mom from the enclosure because it mimics nature and it's used for does who have been re-bred a few times. And that is usually a good way to get around the mastitis. Rabbits tend to be good moms and they don't often need intervention from us humans. Good for them. Yeah, they're good mom. Yeah. So here we go with the harvesting. Dun dun dun. There are three different categories when it comes to harvesting rabbit meat. Fryers Roasters and Stewers, which basically just defines the age at which they were harvested. Okay. So fryers are eight to 12 weeks old. Their meat is best used for grilling, frying or roasting. Okay. And this is the most popular age to harvest your rabbits at. They be around a three and a half to five and a half pounds. Roasters should be 12 to 14 weeks old. They're perfect for roasting or baking. And these rabbits should weigh five and a half to nine pounds. Yeah. And I think it's like, it's mostly dependent on the age over the weight. Yeah. So like if you have an underweight rabbit, but it's still within a 12 to 14 week range, it's still considered a roaster. Oh, okay. So it's, it's age, not weight. Okay. And then last is the stewers which are 14 weeks to six plus months old. And they're best used for ground meat or long simmered dishes because their meat is older and tougher. OK. And they should weigh eight or more pounds. So it's like a full grown rabbit at that point. So it's like that. That's the same as a chicken. Yeah. And lamb, too. I guess that's why they it's lamb and not sheep, because I guess. meat is too tough when it's fully grown. they get it when it's young. Yeah. So, yeah, I'm not going to get into the gritty details of how to actually harvest rabbits. Thank you. But if that's something you're interested in learning about on your own time, you can feel free. I did find a YouTube video by the Arms Family Homestead that seems to explain how to go about that. I didn't really watch it. Yeah, because I am. We're not there yet. Yeah, I can't bring myself to do that quite yet, And I did see I just kind of like looked through with my little cursor to see like what it looked like in the video. And he does ⁓ kill a rabbit on screen. OK, so if you're watching just for curiosity's sake, just know that he literally shows you how to go about. doing the deed. And I'm not ready for that. So at the end of the day, if you build the enclosures yourself for around 200 to 300 dollars, give or take the startup costs for your small rabbit homesteading endeavors, including the initial breeding trio, feeders, waterers and supplies should all be around 500 dollars. OK, it's not bad at all. We just got a new monitor today for about that. Just under that. So really not that bad. They're a better livestock option than chickens because they're more widely accepted in populated communities. Their feed to meat ratio is three to one, making them a more sustainable and lucrative choice. And their feed usually consists of common vegetation like grasses and hay, often making their food costs almost zero. And around 150 square feet is what you'll need in order to have space for a buck, two does and a separate enclosure for the babies. Yeah. ⁓ I don't think I said it before, just in case I didn't. I think I got distracted by talking about the terrible documentary I watched about pet rabbits. But if you have a pet rabbit, it's 10 feet for their enclosure, but then you also need like 30 to 50 feet extra if it's a pet for them to be able to run around. Yeah. So just so you know, rabbits need space to run. Yeah. just finish us off. And get stern. Breeding rabbits is a commitment and a responsibility. So really think about it if it's something you want to get involved with before you get started. Yeah. you're going to take on the commitment of breeding rabbits for meat is responsibility to do it humanely and not let things get out of hand, which it ⁓ very can. can be a process if not managed correctly and can easily turn unsafe for rabbits. Because rabbits don't make noise, ⁓ they're easily overlooked when lonely, uncomfortable, or in pain. ⁓ Aww. So please think carefully about your decision to breed and do not allow your homestead to become a hoarding situation. Yeah, don't be those people with all the rabbits. 3 million rabbits are euthanized each year in the United States alone. And like I said before, rabbits are the third most abandoned animal at shelters. ⁓ that's horrible. These animals are giving us their lives so we can put meat on the table and feed ourselves and our families. So please just treat them with compassion and respect and do your absolute best to make their lives as comfortable as possible. And that documentary I keep talking about is called ⁓ Twisted Truth about breeding rabbits. And it focuses, like I said, on breeding rabbits for ⁓ But it was interesting and educational. So if anyone wants to watch that, I'll put that in the show notes as well. Really good points. Yeah. A lot of good information. Thank you. Thank you. I did my best. So after hearing all of this, would you want to start breeding rabbits on our homestead? No, thank you. I don't think I could do it. Like I said, I think they're cute, but I'm afraid of them as is. I don't. particularly want it on my table and no one's asked me to purchase it. So I think for right now we'll pass. ⁓ I would, I mean, I would eat it. Yeah. Like it's like me with my leftovers. Like if it's prepared for me, like if I don't have to see it's cute little face before I eat it, I would eat the meat. But I don't, I don't think I could butcher anything right now. That's just not where I'm at as a homesteader Are you up from your nap? have a hard time with fish too. the hook out of them. Like, well, like de-scaling them and stuff like that. Yeah. couldn't imagine. But ⁓ if was starving, fish would be my first, first go to, yeah. It's like less traumatizing for me emotionally. All ⁓ right. we do our farmer's almanac? Yup. Finish this bad boy up. So today, Friday January 30th. Let me get my handy dandy cheat sheet here. It says... Jupiter is in conjunction with the moon. OooooOoo Raccoon's mate now. Oh, watch out everybody. It's just a mating-filled episode. It's time for the coons to mate. Ooh! And musician Phil Collins was born in 1951. Happy birthday, Phil Collins. Happy birthday, I can feel it. All right. All right, everybody. Stay safe out there. Thank you again for tuning in. And thank you to Anna for all that information. guys are so welcome. Rabbits. Ribbit. Rabbits. That's all. That's all. Bye bye bye