Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I've got to say I have never seen those before. Only trouble I've had was ear mites which are not visually present now but will give a little oil treatment this weekend for preventative measures. Rabbits are pretty bullet proof as far as parasites go. I may see if they will eat a little garlic, I heard that was pretty tough on intestinal parasites.

It is very possible they did not actually come from the rabbits. I will watch the poop a little closer over the next couple days. I went a little to long without cleaning the cage this time - so it is possible some other flying insect deposited something in there.

BSF flys/larva always end up in the manure piles under the cages. That remindes me, some good food for the composter!!!

I did see a lot of flys around the cage the past couple days. Found some pictures of people keeping half blue barrels under the rabbit pens as worm bins. Looked clever perfect size and appearently worms were very happy to live in the poop.

Really good fish bait can be found under rabbit cages!!! Night crawlers, june bug grub, 2nd year piles you can find the dung beetle grubs as big as your thumb, great catfish bait!!! and Crickets often hang around the edges!!! There is always a few BSF larva in there also. Only time I have trouble with house fly larva is when it gets rainy. Then I mix it with leaf litter and compost it. I also throw some leaf litter under the cages to start it off again.

I was at the vet this morning (got a puppy with pneumonia) and asked about the worms. They were inclined to think they were because I had not cleaned up for a while. They said to just watch the fresh droppings and clean daily.

Here is what I am planning for the back fence. Looks like you can just add worms and vermicompost in place. Kind of think the barrels need a drain in the bottom though.

http://cajungirlsredwigglers.com/

I have to agree with you on the drain on the bottom, like screen wire or something because the urine is very high in ammonia and salts. Let me know how it works works for you. I really would like to try something like the european or african night crawlers now that I can finally successfully raise red wigglers! The drums would need some kind of lip to keep them from escaping though.

whowee time flys, I gotta build another nest box cause I'm gonna have baby rabbits in 5 more days!

No kidding time flys...the 4 bunnies we got on Easter look big enough to eat. I really need to figure out which are males and sepetate them out. Anyway - I have a wheel- barrel full of rabbit poo and i have been trying to figure out what to do with it. Can we not just feed it to the fish?

Sure you can, some ppl do...

hi! you are better off feeding the rabbit poo to tiger and red wrigler worms then feeding those worms to the fish, the worms are like 75% protien, and the worms grow well and multiply lots with a diet of rabbit poo, thats what i do with my rabbit poo then when its all castings i put it around the dirt garden.
you can just spread it around your garden to, it doesn't burn the plants and builds the soil up well.

Walked out this morning to feed the bunnies...down to three. One of them died last night...or at least I think it died last night. I did not really pay much attention to them yesterday afternoon. The only possible cause of death I can think of would be the heat. They have been shedding a little bit and I have been meaning to move the cage as they get quite a bit of afternoon sun, but have not got around to it yet. I put a piece of carboard up to block some of the afternoon sun for now.

Any ideas?
Mark

rabbits sure dont handle the heat well at all, i have lost many rabbits to heat stroke over the years

just recently i have had problems with loosing rabbit kits, but i think it is the breeders, the buck looks healthy but i have seen him have a few sesures and i think he is a little to closly related to the do although the doe is a NZ white and the buck looks like a british giant it seams that when the have mated the kits dont grow well and they simply die before 3 months of age, but i have a new buck now am hope to get a doe or two.

The other three rabbits seem fine this morning and are feeding. I leaned some old shutters up agains the cage also to help shade them some more until I can move it. Going to go home at lunch and get some water bottles in the freezer so I can stick those out there also. Man - I just feel terrible. Because of my ignorance and failure to adequately educate myself I'm sure that poor bunny suffered - as did the others, they just did not take it as hard.

I have to get the proper shelter built this weekend. I've been reading on ways to keep them cool. I'm considering a misting system - but most articles warn about the food and other areas getting mold. Water bottles seem like they will be a lot of hassle. I do have power out there - but seems fans don't do to much to help cool them.

I just bring mine inside , in a small cage , into the laundry when it gets hot . especially on the rare occasion that its hot enough for me to want the aircon on