Hay, Bunny!

 As is generally recommended, my rabbits are getting pellets and hay.  Although websites usually mention Timothy hay as the most preferred, that's pretty pricey (Tractor Supply sells a 50-pound bale for $23.99 as of this writing).  Bermuda and alfalfa hay are more available.  The link above suggests that rabbits don't like Bermuda grass as much, but the nutrition profile of Bermuda and Timothy are essentially identical (see Table 1 of the linked PDF). One note is that alfalfa hay has more calcium and is usually contraindicated for rabbits in most articles I've read (e.g., this one). This is not a problem; alfalfa costs more.  On Craigslist, alfalfa bales are usually about twice the price of Bermuda, which are the only two readily-available options other than the prepackaged and expen$ive route from a Tractor Supply or similar store.

When I got rabbits, the only hay I had on hand was some Bermuda bales from the previous winter--I park the chicken tractors in late November and don't move them again until March.  I tossed some in the cages and the rabbits immediately began nibbling at it.  They may prefer Timothy to Bermuda, but they seem to go for Bermuda with enthusiasm nonetheless.

I'm not sure exactly how much they actually eat vs. lose through the wire bottoms of their cages.  Some people have built little hay racks in their cages, but I just dump a bunch on the floor of the cage.  Sometimes there's still some left the next day; sometimes not.  Some of the rabbits seem to get into playing with it:

In the foreground is the red New Zeland buck; the TAMUK buck is in the background.  The one in front often burrows into the hay as soon as I put it in his cage--but he eats it, too.  Tossing his hay around though is bound to make more fall through. Alas.  He has gained weight very well, and rapidly, so he's getting enough to eat one way or another.

Snow, 2022

 It happens sometimes.  The mountain counties probably get snow every winter, but elsewhere, it's not an every-winter thing.  I got snow in mid-January this year for the first time since February, 2020. 

The total amount of snow was probably around three inches, but there was rain in between two bouts of snow, so the amount at the end of it all was less.

Southern lore holds that if the snow stays on the ground three days, another snowfall will occur soon--and it did, sort of.  I got a few flurries about a week later, but there was minimal accumulation.  The cold is not done for the year, although the snow may be / probably is.  Although snow is possible into early March, that is very rare.  March is early spring around here.

More on the Rabbit Hutch

 The re-engineered rabbit hutch is working decently well.  More overhang on the sides would be potentially helpful, but overall it's working worlds better than Hutch 1.0 did.  However, once I put rabbits in, I realized they pick a corner of the cage as their latrine spot, and one of the rabbits ends up routinely urinating on the horizontal cage supports.

I should've realized this would be a problem.  It would've been much easier to address before installing the rabbits.  Alas.  However, it was addressable ex post, too.  I pulled all four cages off:

...and painted the 2x4s the cages rest on with high-gloss white paint:

I only did one coat... I should do another.  You can also see that I painted the insides of the cross braces and the vertical supports, too--I had heard, but had to experience first hand, that bucks spray urine everywhere.  So far, the two boys seem to be coexisting reasonably well, but there was a chance they'd end up spraying more than just the wood under their cages--so it all got painted.  It's not a perfect solution, but it's better than raw wood.