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Rabbit Hutch Plans – Part 1 – How to Build a PVC Rabbit Hutch

Building rabbit cages, chicken coops, or any sort of PVC frame is simple, fast, and will last a very long time. Below I’m going to show you how I would build a rabbit hutch out of PVC. It uses 1 1/2 SCH 40 pipe and is about 8′ x 6′ x 3′ deep. It can hold up to six rabbit cages. Don’t waste your time building hutches that hold only 4 cages if you ever plan to breed your rabbits.

There are several PVC rabbit hutch plans online, but really, just go to Home Depot and stare at the PVC connectors for a while. You’ll be inspired in no time, this is childs play if you’ve ever worked with PVC before. I can picture all this in my head pretty easy, but if you need some plans then here’s a cool design that I like: www.therabbithouse.com/indoor/rabbit-cage-plans.asp

My design is not like other PVC frame designs on the web as my design is modular. You can continue building length·wise however long you want.

My design, like most, will hold two tiers of cages as this is a very efficient way to stack rabbits. However each cage will need a slanted roof made out of couragated plastic or other material (the couragated plastic is easy to clean, but wood works too) to help protect the rabbits from the elements as well as direct the rabbit droppings from the top teirs into an optional worm bed under the cages (plans coming soon).

Here’s what you’ll need

Tools Required:
PVC Saw (or hacksaw)
PVC Cleaner And Cement
Sandpaper or debur tool
Tape Measure

Materials Needed (all is 1 1/2″ PVC):
80 feet – 1 1/2 in. PVC Sch 40. Sch 20 will be too thin.
6 – Caps
2 – Couplers
4 – Elbows
14 – Tees
2 – X’s (4-way couplers)

PVC Cut List:
4 – 17 1/2 inch
4 – 18 inch
4 – 13 1/2 inch
6 – 19 1/4 inch
2 – 37 3/4 inch
2 – 14 3/4 inch
4 – 36 inch
8 – 48 inch

Directions

1. Cut your PVC pipe to correct lengths as per my cut list, and debur all the ends with sandpaper or a debur tool. A debur tool works better.

2. Assemble the middle legs, 2 total:

• Start with a cap, then add a 37 3/4″ PVC. Then add a 4-way connector.
• Stick a 8 3/4″ PVC into the connector and put a Coupler on and add a 19 1/4″ PVC.
• Finally add a Tee, oriented the same way as the 4-way connector. You’e done.

3. Assemble the Style 1 end legs, 2 total:

• Start with a elbow, then insert a 19 1/4″ PVC, put a Tee longwise on the other end of the pipe 90 degrees from the elbow TO THE LEFT.
• Next insert a 13 1/2″ PVC into the Tee and add a second Tee that is 90 degrees from the first T.
• Now insert a 18″ PVC into your second Tee and add one more Tee aligned with the first Tee.
• Stick a 17 1/2″ PVC into the Tee and add a end cap. You’e done.

4. Assemble the Style 2 end legs, 2 total:

• Start with a elbow, then insert a 19 1/4″ PVC, put a Tee longwise on the other end of the pipe 90 degrees from the elbow TO THE RIGHT.
• Next insert a 13 1/2″ PVC into the Tee and add a second Tee that is 90 degrees from the first T.
• Now insert a 18″ PVC into your second Tee and add one more Tee aligned with the first Tee.
• Stick a 17 1/2″ PVC into the Tee and add a end cap. You’e done.

5. Glue two 36″ PVC piece to a Style 1 end leg and a Style 2 end leg. Repeat on the other set of end legs. This will make two “Double-H” shaped ends.

6. Insert and glue two 48″ PVC arms into the top and middle section of an end leg “Double-H” section. Repeat on all four end legs.

7. Insert and glue the middle legs to one set of the 48″ PVC now connected to the “Double-H” sides.

8. Glue the remaining 48″ PVC pieces into the middle legs. Don’t try to get ahead of yourself here, once you get one piece in you have to go for it or the glue will harden before it’s in all the way.

9. (optional) To Make It Modular - If you would like to make a modular design, make two more middle legs and cut four more pieces of 48″ PVC. Add them between the first set of middle legs and one set of the end legs. Do this as many times as you need. Optionally you can also replace the elbows and middle couplings on the end legs and continue adding 48″ PVC pipes and another set of end legs to build as many as you want. This way you can try not gluing these together so you could add or remove them as your rabbit herd size changes.

Now that your frame is finished it’s ready to hold up to six rabbit cages. In part two I will show you how to build and install the cages into this hutch.

Super Easy Survival Bread

Like all things survival you need to LIVE IT day to day, not just stick it in a closet and hope you never have to use it! If you’re storing wheat and all hell breaks loose….what do you do? Bake bread of course! But do you know how?

If you are new to baking your own bread it can seem like a daunting task but it really isn’t.  You don’t need yeast, sugar, baking soda, or really anything but flour and water. Everything else is optional. Here’s a basic recipe that I like.

Super Easy Survival Bread (SESB)

• 1 cup of fine whole wheat flour (buy from store or grind your own)
• 2 tbsp. of olive oil (optional, also regular vegetable oil works too)
• 1 tsp. salt (optional, add more or less to taste)
• 1/2 cup of water

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and scoop it togther into a ball. Lightly dust a cookie sheet, rock, or other flat surface with flour. Pour the dough ball out and knead for 5 mins. Roll out to about 1/8″ thin and bake at 350F for 20 mins.

Powers out? No oven? Put it in a dutch oven instead and cook it over a fire. No dutch oven? Throw it on a heated flat rock – or even in the ashes if you don’t mind some grit and charcoal flavoring - and flip it a couple of times till lightly brown and firm.

This will serve about 3-4 people if eaten as a side with a meal, or make about 2 sandwiches. The below nutritional info is for the entire loaf.

 

Nutritional info without olive oil

Calories 407

Fat 2.24g

Carbs 87.08g

Protein 16.44g

 

Nutritional info with olive oil

Calories 645

Fat 15.74g

Carbs 87.08g

Protein 16.44g

 

Butchering Homegrown Rabbits For Meat

Rabbits are an excellent small livestock to get started with. Even if you don’t have the ability to move to the country, you can still gain many valuable skills by raising a few rabbits in your backyard. For info on raising rabbits check out my previous post, Raising Rabbits For Tough Times.

I have found butchering rabbits to be much quicker than butchering chickens because a rabbits skin is extremely loose. I can skin a rabbit much faster than I can pluck a chicken. No, it is not pleasant to butcher any animal. But there is a certain sense of satisfaction knowing you can feed your family even if the grocery store shelves are bare.

Because of their small size, rabbits are easy to handle and easy to butcher. The trick is to handle them very firmly. A rabbit held tightly by the scruff with one hand and the other hand supporting its feet will not kick and thrash. Don’t be timid, but hold your rabbit firmly to avoid getting scratched by the toenails on their powerful hind legs.

 Below is a great video that shows the entire process from slaughter to finished meat. If you just wandered into this post from Google, I should warn you that it’s a wee bit graphic and might scare a sheeple or two. For those serious about homesteading however, it’s a perfect tutorial.

 

Raising Rabbits For Tough Times

In the late 1930s, the Great Depression was in full swing. Many families raised rabbits in pens in their backyards to supplement the backyard garden or meager grocery budget. They would gather grass or spent vegetables to feed their rabbits. As we can learn from our parents and Grandparents, rabbits can be a good source of protein for your family during tough times. They multiply quickly, don’t need much space, don’t eat much food, produce excellent manure, and are easy to handle and butcher.

Rabbits are one animal that most anyone can start raising right now, and keeping them with worms adds a double punch to your preps. A rabbit-worm combo cage give you several advantages. Not only does it mean less cage cleaning, but  it makes a complete ecosystem. The rabbits feed the worms, the worms feed the garden, and the garden feeds the rabbits. You can be built a rabbit-worm cage out of inexpensive wood or even pvp pipe.

Two great books to buy and read before buying any rabbits is “Raising Rabbits the Modern Way ” by Ann Kanable and Barnyard in Your Backyard by Gail Damerow.

 Building The Cages & Care

A generously sized rabbit pen is two feet square. The rabbit hutch should be positioned at least 3 foot above the ground and use  ½ inch wire mesh floor so rabbit droppings can fall through easily but their legs cannot get stuck.  You will need at least two pens. One for the male rabbit (buck) and one for the female (doe) and her babies as adult rabbits are extremely territorial and will kill each other in defense of their territory. If you live in the south make sure you place your cages in a shady spot in the back yard. They can stand cold temperatures fairly well, but will die quikly trapped in a cage in the hot sun on a summer day.

Underneath your small rabbit hutchs build an inexpensive wood frame worm bed about 12 inches deep. Add bedding material to the bed: Good bedding can be any combination of carbon: shredded paper products, decomposing leaves, hay, straw, peat moss etc. Start with a 3 to 4 inch layer on the bottom for your worm bed. Moisten the bedding with water and let your rabbits do their thing until the surface is covered with 1 to 2 inches layer of rabbit manure.

Mix the rabbit manure and bedding material together and wet it down thoroughly. Also note that the worms cannot eat dry, piled-up rabbit manure. Maintain moisture levels so that you can squeeze one to two drops of water out of a handful of bedding. Be sure to keep your rabbits dry when wetting down the beds or they could get sick.

Breedin’, Feedin’, And Eatin’

Rabbits are very fast and heavy breeders. A doe can produce five to six (five being more common) litters a year. An average litter is seven to eight bunnies. Expect 35-40 rabbits per doe per year. Butcher the bunnies at eight weeks old, after that the food-to-meat ratio drops and the meat gets tougher.

Most people feed rabbits commercial pellets as they are convenient and fairly inexpensive to feed. But in tough times you will have to raise your rabbits on forage alone. Remember the rabbit-worm-garden ecosystem I was talking about eariler? The problem is, today’s rabbits have been bred to thrive on a pellet diet. You’ll have to grow or forage a few extras for your rabbits to make up for this - weeds, green twigs cut from safe trees, garden refuse, grains and hay are all good for your herd.

Remember that a diet of rabbit meat alone will cause diarrhea, due to its leanness. Be sure to balance your diet with fresh vegetables, chickens, or other sources of fats and nutrients to avoid “rabbit starvation” (also known as protein poisoning), which can cause death in less than a week. Also eating excessive protein forces your body to use more water than usual, which can lead to dehydration. Make sure you have plenty of water and fats avaliable if you choose to make rabbit one of your survival meats.

Related Post: Butchering Homegrown Rabbits For Meat

 

How To Build A Stockpile For Only $2.75 A Day

As the global economy continues to tumble, many people across this great country are just now seeing the light and beginning to prepare. For many of these newcomers the question of where to begin is ever present, as well as how to afford all these new expenses. The very reason most newcomers want to prepare (economical troubles) make it difficult to buy the equipment necessary to be prepared, a catch 22. The solution is to start small, as small as $2.75 a day.

$2.75 can’t do much…in fact it’s hard to even buy a cup of coffee for $2.75 now! So how can you buy expensive gear and equipment for so little? Save it! You would be suprised how fast it adds up, and before you know it you can have a nice wad of cash to spend on your preps…with only $2.75 a day.

Let’s assume you save just $2.75 a day, or less than $20 a week. In a year you will have over $1,000 to put into your preps! $1,003.75 to be exact. So what can you do with your newly saved $1,000?

Here are my recommendations

Water ($50)– Minimum 1 gallon per-day

• Store it in bulk – gallons of spring/drinking water are easy to buy, but at $1.00 per gallon they can be expensive.
• Buy several 55 gallon plastic drums off craigslist (about $15 each) and fill them up. Don’t forget a hand pump too ($10)!
• Save soft drink containers, rinse them out and fill with tap water (less than $.05 a gallon), add 3-4 drops of unscented bleach  and mark them with the date.

Food ($350)– 1,500 calories per day

• Purchase in quantity what you normally eat. A good idea would be to sit down with a notepad and pen and meal plan for two weeks.
• Remember that there may be no electricity so all food items in the meal plan have to come from the pantry, don’t forget a manual can opener too.
• Next – take that 2 week meal plan and make a list of all items and use that as your shopping list. If you are able to buy 2 of everything listed – that would be a one month supply.
• Do not forget cooking oil (essential fats) that you may need to complete your meal. Don’t forget about spices and other condiments.
• Ramen soup, rice, lintils, and beans are cheap and easy bulk foods.
• Powered milk, honey, and salt should also be on the list.
• Wheat is great, but is harder to find and requires a mill.
• Consider shelf life (aim for at least 1 year out).
•  Buy store brands and buy on sale to maximize your available funds.

 Light ($30) – Your light in shining darkness

• Pick up a few quality hand crank LED flashlights . [LED will give you long bulb life & super long batttery life]
• Buy a bunch of candles at the dollar store or local discount store, as well as some matches and lighters
• Pick up a hand crank LED lantern , oil lamp , or propane lantern . Your choice. Make sure your propane lantern can be supported without a 1lb bottle (you will be using an adapter hose instead). A simple metal hook, special stand or propane “tree” works well.
• Get extra alkaline batteries for your old flashlights if needed.

 Medical/First Aid ($20)– Don’t forget the band-aids

• Make sure you are up to date on all prescriptions.
• Get a decent first aid kit – usually around $5.00 to $10.00 .
• Pick up extra supplies like band-aids, burn ointment, diarrhea medicine, pain killers, triple antibiotic, cold medicine, etc.

Household Supplies ($60)- For cleaning and sanitation

• Basic’s here. Dish soap, toilet paper, a few basic cleaning supplies, bleach.
• Get toiltries such as deodorant, shampoo, soap, hand sanitizer, shaving creme, and razors.

Self-Defense ($250)– Just as important as your supplies

• Think self defence and hunting when it comes to guns. 12 gauge shotgun and a .22 rifle.
• Check out the used gun selection at your local pawn and gun shops. Gun shows are a great place to shop too.
• You should be able to pick up used 12 gauged shotgun as well as some shells for around $150.
• Try to find a decent rimfire like the Ruger 10/22 along with a brick of ammunition for the other $100.
• Alternativly you can also spend your extra $100 on 12 gauge ammo and accessories.

Fuel ($90)– Extra gas & propane

• 10 gallons of gas + sta-bil treatment  is running around $35.00 at the moment.
• Getting a 20-lb propane tank filled costs around $15.00.
• Buy an extra 20lb propane tank if you can.
• Buy a 20lb to 1lb adapter hose . They can be had for $15.

Heating & Cooking ($150) -  Indoor & outdoor flame

• Buy an indoor-safe propane heater for warmth.
• Get a propane stove burner for cooking.
• Buy a camp grill if you have access to small twigs and leaves to help save your precious fuel.
• Blankets, blankets…….and more blankets. Emergency space blankets too!
• Stock up on gloves and thermal underwear.
• Already have a propane heater? Get more fuel.

Well – that’s our $1,000.00 dollars. Start saving your $2.75 a day and soon you’ll have your very own stockpile to fall back on during tough times.

Remember you can adjust this list to fit your situation. If you already has a gun, then spend that money somewhere else. If you live in the desert, buy more water and less heaters. You get the picture, the same goes for every other category.

So how would YOU spend $1000 in preps? Any thoughts? Comment below and help others.

Pasture Raised Chickens Isn’t For The Birds

Feeding chickens solely on pasture can be tricky, but isn’t impossible. Chickens can find their own feed, but each chicken needs a considerable amount of room.  Chickens can’t eat what isn’t there, and the more chickens you have the less food there is for each chicken. You have to match the number chickens to your pasture size or they will die from poor health and starvation.

How It Was Done In The Old Days

In the old days people didn’t feed their hens at all. Much of the hen’s diet was provided by poor sanitation. People would throw their garbage out on the streets or around the outside of the house. The cows would spill grain. Manure was all over the place and was full of free lunch - maggots. Even with all this extra food the number of hens that could be kept healthy without supplemental feeding of grains was limited.

A farmer of the 1800′s might have kept a dozen hens and a rooster through the winter. The following spring the hens would hatch a brood of chicks, giving the farmer about 72 chicks plus the original hens and rooster made for 85 birds total. After the chicks had hatched the old rooster would be sold or eaten. Most of the young chickens and their mothers would be harvested in the fall. One new rooster and twelve young hens would be kept through the following winter, completing the cycle. By having 85 chickens during the summer and only 13 during the lean months of winter, the amount of grain needed for the chickens would be minimal.

This Always Meant Manlnutrition

A flock of 13 chickens could survive the winter on a small handful of grain, usually spilled by the farmer when feeding the cows. Add to that a bit of hay and whatever else they could find and they could get by. They would not be healthy, but they would live to see another summer. This winter diet would be nutritionally poor in vitamins and proteins. Because of this lean diet the hens would lay no eggs during the winter, but they would recover once spring started and the grass turned green again, and the cycle could repeat.

The More Chickens, The More Malnutrition

 I’ve heard people say that you can only support 1-2 free range hens per acre, and others say they keep a dozen in a 10×10 coop. I think it depends on how much time you are willing to put into your chickens. If you’re willing to move them daily in a chicken tractor and buy (or grow) them a supplimental feed, then there’s no reason you can’t have a decent size flock.

Chickens are picky eaters as well. As your chickens begin to overpopulate your farm they first eat up the supply of high-calorie feeds such as seeds, then they move on to the supply of high-protein feeds such as bugs and clover. Finally, they exaust all the high-vitamin feeds such as green grass.  It’s nearly impossible to tell what stage your forage is in, except for the last stages, when all the green plants disappear.

It Always Pays Off To Provide a Supplemental Diet

The increased production of eggs and larger hens always pays for the increased feed. The feed diet should be adjusted to reflect what the chickens can find as they forage. You can usually leave out vitamins (if they have greens) and proteins (if they have plenty of bugs or clover). In general, for the sustainable homesteader, grain may be all they need supplemented for the summer.

But enough dry summer days in a row browns the grass and makes it useless to the chickens, so this method has its risks. Also in the winter there will be no greens and very little bugs for them so they will need more suplemental grain. A store bought grain really works best here, but during a SHTF situation you may not have that luxery, so do what you can get to get them more grain. This is not ideal, and you may have to harvest a few cickens to make it work, but the bottom line is the flock will make it to the next spring.

If we can’t see what our chickens are eating it’s hard to determin what nutrients they are getting. Many of the things hens eat are so tiny that we can’t see them – tiny seeds, bugs, and worms. Fortunately for the homesteader, hens prefer fresh, natural feeds to processed chicken feed. They will eat their fill on natural foods before going to the store-bought feed whenever they have the chance. This make