Natural Instincts Homestead & Rabbitry

07/08/2025

Not sure if a rat bothered them at night or something else, but we got up several mornings ago and Cocoa's cage was hanging sideways and her 3rd eye area was scratched and bloody. We brought her inside for healing sessions for a few days and she's good now. We decided to start using the 3-tiered stacker cage again because it's sturdier than that little cage with the metal food cage sticking out inside (which is what I believe she cut her forehead on) and I attached it to the ceiling out there.

She seems happier, but Mocha is upset now because I put her in the top, penthouse suite (like she used to be when it was inside). I'm slowly getting all rabbits out of the growout section because it's harder to clean there and it's only supposed to be temporary, but I had to do whatever was necessary when we had too many rabbits before. 😂

Now, I'm almost down to 1.5 bays in the Rabbitry and it's so much more manageable!! Still working on downsizing at least 4-5 more rabbits and upcoming processing day for the growout meat rabbits. I still would like only cages with droppings trays after all because, after a year of doing this, that is the way that works Best for how I maintain the rabbit manure! It's quick and easy, and no mess to have to take time to shovel or make sure it's rolling downhill with a contraption. ;)... just dump on a plant and I'm done unless it's nasty and needs a rinse/wash. 😁

I'm going to sit here for a while after I've downsized 4-5 more rabbits and see how it feels before completely getting out of the rabbitry. Once manageable, I might decide to hang on to some after all; but I don't know until I get there and feel even more relief. 🤗

06/30/2025

06/30/2025

Got a new industrial fan for the rabbits because the little fans are just not pushing enough air for several rabbits in a row in this heat. They all look like they're smiling now and more relaxed! It's so much cooler under their leanto and I was able to move the other smaller fans closer to the individual cages and they look happier me more relaxed now, too! That should hold them over until I either get homes for them all or decide whether to keep a few. I still have a bunch of cleaning to do out there, but I'm tackling as many projects as I can in this heat and catching up.

06/29/2025

I actually processed 5 more and I'm down to 24 rabbits... I don't even know how bad my bunny math got anymore. I had to have help for a couple of them that I was not keeping, but they were so sweet and in my heart so I couldn't do it, and had another person process them because I can't just keep them to maintain with no purpose really when there are others I keep as pets. They weren't going to be breeders or anything, and I was hoping someone wanted them as a pet, but it wasn't working out for them.

Now, I have 5 Holland Lop kits to sell as pets, and I have 8 meat rabbit kits to grow a few more weeks for processing (and there's one that's so Beautiful that I might not process), I have the breeding trio of Holland Lops, and I have 1 pet mix bunny (lil man) to go to a good home, and then I have a brother & sister meat rabbit to sell that are of breeding age now I believe. Then, I would be down where I need to be to decide whether I'm completely going out of the rabbit biz or keeping the meat rabbit breeding pair only plus our little Cocoa who we've had for about 2 years... I'm still considering just keeping the mix boy whose Cocoa's son because he's just the sweetest little boy (I call him "Little Man.")

06/19/2025

Bagged up (with gibblets) and in the freezer.
A couple of them, I was in a bit of a rush and didn't fully drain them, but the dogs don't mind. ;)

06/18/2025

Well, it took many months to reclaim my energy to do it again, but I was able to do it! Harvested 5 rabbits for dog food since we were running low on dog food.

05/18/2025

This will be a shock to everyone that knows us and how much our rabbits meant to us, but we're in the process of rehoming all of our rabbits and closing the rabbitry! We're taking a step back to mostly plants and homesteading at this time because Life is just too Crazy!... Seeing this video again of my little Sunshine hurts my heart, but Love and complete exhaustion causes decisions that are best for all. 🤗

All of my Precious Cremes are already transported to their new home and the best part is that I get to still visit them!!!

My Cremes, Sparkles, Glitter, all of the babies, and especially my sweet Sunshine, Cocoa, CottonBall and Ms. Bee were my Life for the last year! 🤗 💓 Our lives have just changed so much in the last 2-3 months and I haven't had much time for the rabbits anymore, let alone myself.

Hubby, Michael, got a new job (which was a very hard change after 23 years), and I got large jobs/work through my sign business and I found myself messing up on the orders and losing money through haste-full mistakes, and even worse, rushing through feeding the rabbits and everything and not spending time with them (which is not fair and it kills me because I Love them so much). Not to mention, I started having bigger reactions to the hay poking my skin and smells of the wet food and moist hay that dropped under the cages. Over the last few months, there was no time for me to care for myself at all, and even though Michael and I lived in the same house we barely had time for even talking to each other, and we were constantly eating out because I was so overwhelmed and could not cook meals. Plus, also over the last month, I added bottle feeding feral kittens into the mix so they wouldn't die because all the rescues I called were full and couldn't take them. I would completely crash at night from taking care of everything and exhaustion. Something had to change or else.

So, I talked it over with my Michael and we thought that it might be better for the rabbits to go to someone who can focus on them and love them like we do. The Creme d'Argents are already in their new home and the guy that took them said I could come and visit them whenever I have time because he's in my town and not far away! That sounds good because then I don't have to deal with all of the stuff that was giving me trouble, and gain more time for myself and necessities, like home scratch-cooking healthy dinners again!!

I'm still working on placing the remaining rabbits, but I will have to be done with the rabbitry at this time in life, even though both of us are ever-so grateful for the time and experience we gained from all of it! ❣️ I will never forget this experience and I will miss the faces of all of those Beautiful bunnies! I seriously ADORE my rabbits, but I also love them enough to do what's Best for them as well as me. 🤗
🤗 💓 ♥️ 💕 ❣️ For now, it's recovery, and continuing moving forward with all of our other homesteading plans and plants as well as crafting and creating and taking walks again with our dogs because it's good for our souls!

04/26/2025

The lops have been crawling out of their nest.

04/22/2025

Looks like we have yet another duty to add to our Homestead! These boy kittens are quite small and still have not opened their eyes yet. Hubby found them on the construction site in a pile of rubble they were removing with heavy machines! They're lucky to be alive and that the machine operators were paying attention and saw them. I drove over and picked them up right away and started bottle feeding kitten milk yesterday afternoon. They did very well overnight. 🤗

04/22/2025