Mine are in individual cages 30" x 36". They are homemade from welded wire. Even the largest one (one of our does) has room to hop around. The only time they get crowded is the last stages of growing out a litter and I have an extra couple of cages to put weaned young ones in until they are big enough to eat. I am planning to put them in "rabbit tractors" in the spring because like you I prefer the idea of pasturing them. Last summer we cut dandelions, clover, grass, plantain and chickory for them and found that they thrive on it. We also fed pellets, but they preferred the greens and their condition improved dramatically with them. Just be sure to introduce the greens slowly at first so the rabbits don't get digestive problems. They can be fatal, especially with very young rabbits. As for the slaughtering, we have used two methods and both have their pros and cons. You pretty much have to see what works best for you. You can snap their necks as one does with a chicken, or you can "bop" them. In either case you would hang and bleed them out asap. You will find instructions in either "Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits" by Bob Bennet or "Raising Rabbits" by Ann Kanable. Likely there are good instructions on-line as well. Below is a link to an excellent rabbit site, including information on slaughtering and dressing a rabbit. Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Meat Rabbit Raising Practices

teka2rjleffel, I'm not sure how to answer that. My tea is just part of my feeding/soil improvement program and my roses are putting out new growth pretty constantly. I can't say I see any real spurt of growth after using the tea--I do have a good number of basals on most roses, though. I do the tea once a month. Mid-month I use Miracle Gro alone and Rosetone or Hollytone in the Spring and Summer (it's on tonight's list of things to do), and compost once a year. I don't have enough compost (or manure when I have the time and energy to go get it) to put it around every rose every year, so I rotate. I've experimented this year with adding 10-10-10 in-between on roses I think I might show and those in pots, too--so something pretty much every week on those roses. One reason I feed so heavily is because all of my roses are in raised beds filled with bagged topsoil/composted manure or pots--due to my vole problem, so I feel they need the extra fertilizer. Not sure this helped, Barbara

For spotting hornworms before they eat too much, the poop pellets on the ground (green-black, they start small and get bigger) are the sign to look into that plant. Looking up into it seems to help. I try to move the caterpillar to a "sacrificial" plant. I've never had one become a moth, though, because of the wasp larvae. To keep the critters away, I had to fence my veggie garden. Even if you can only fence a few plants, that will guarantee some tomatoes! A roll of chickenwire and some fence stakes isn't too expensive. Dried blood may keep the rabbits away, but I don't know about gophers/groundhogs. (It's a fertilizer, sold in bags, Lowe's or Home Depot or call around) I'm trying the coffee grounds for the slugs--even if it rains, that stuff won't get washed far. I just started it, and I'm being careful not to pile on too many coffee grounds (nitrogen) Good luck, and I hope you get a nice harvest!

I've fed my worm bin with straight rabbit output. I fed the rabbits with pellets mostly, and with some clippings when available in the winter. The bin was under the cages, so it was a direct output to input setup. I do have a liquids collection from the worm bin and I do occasionally rinse the worm bin, which keeps the worms from remaining in their concentrated filth and the rabbits urine salts. The worms reproduced like mad in the rabbit manure, and the manure makes a very good worm product too. The rabbit feed pellets have only small bits of fiber, which the rabbits eat... twice... so the resulting worm cast ends up very fine and non-chunky. It will have a bit of fur binding it together, and I recommend an occasional sprinkling of small wood chips for giving a bit of structure to the final product. I'm not sure if composted rabbit manure is better than straight manure. The dried droppings are very easy to handle and mix with other ingredients, and you don't have to worry about separating or loosing any worms with the straight manure. As far as I'm concerned, since rabbit manure is one of the only manures generally accepted for direct application to crops, and since it gives excellent results when used raw; the only reason I feed it to worms is to keep the worms fed and to reduce the volume of the manure during the winter when everything is frozen. It also helps keep the bin warmer in the winter to have a steady input. Otherwise, it's ready to use fresh from the source or from the pile.