Old and new rabbits

Well I've had a lot on what with getting ready for Christmas and I've been ill, and looking after kids etc so excuse me for not updating!  Also the Alum I had ordered didn't come for over a week so I had to chuck the last 3 pelts from the older rabbits as I was giving them a wash, the hair was falling out and they smelled bad not surprisingly.   Such a waste.  But on to other news...

The first litter that was born to my rex's is coming up to their 8 week birthday,  they are also eatings LOADS!  Seriously I have 4 adults, 1 x 8 week litter of 10, and another 2 very small litters and I'm sure I went through 10Kg of pellets in one week.   Due to this and the fact that they are keeping me busy with the amount of associated cleaning out that has to be done everyday I have decided the end is nigh for them.

They are growing fast and I have possibly 2 reserved as pets by people so I'll keep them as long as I can but I'm thinking 1 or 2 or 3  or all 8 maybe will go within the next day.  If I can find the time.  I'll keep you updated

Merry Christmas!!

Pelts

At the moment I have 3 pelts soaking in salt water, I'm going to try a slightly different method to last time.  I've ordered some Alum as I may get better results.  I hope it comes soon as these pelt have been soaking for 3 days now and I should do something with them soon.

Some of the meat from the rabbits I've frozen for a later date, some the dogs have had and I've cooked 1 leg to give us a taster of what it was like.  I braised, and roasted it and it wasn't bad, a little tough though so maybe a casserole would be the thing to try next.

The first pelt I did is not looking too bad at all.  It is reasonably soft, the fur is lovely, just got to think what to use it for now :)

Three more rabbits

Ok so the first fur didn't work out too well, the hair is falling out a lot but the skin is fairy soft so I may still be able to use it.  I'm leaving that to one side for the moment and thinking about dinner...

I have baby rabbits who are almost 4 weeks old which is great, they are thriving with their mum but they will soon get to the stage where they should be weaning and sexed and sent to their own same sex cages.  Which is a bit of a problem as I've run out... of cages.  I also have 2 other pregnant does due in a couple of weeks.

This led to the decision more practise furs and dinner needs to be prepared.  I have 3 rabbits that are biding their time so today was their time.  I thought it best to do all 3 at once to get it over and done with and that way I might learn quicker rather than having a gap in between each one.

Having dislocated the neck using the broom method I hung them up.  Then went to have breakfast.  I think being hungry gave me that extra edge!  I didn't bother whacking them over the head as it didn't work very well last time and thought it would be quicker not doing so.  When I got back to them perhaps 45 minutes later they has cooled down and stiffened a little. I probably left them a little too long.  Anyway time to get started.

I was a little more careful this time skinning the first rabbit as I didn't want fat left on it only to have to get it off later.  It took quite a while for me to skin it this time because of this and it was freezing in the shed!  I left the head on until the last minute this time but I think I got a little blood on the fur... I bagged it up with a little fly spray just in case and put to one side.

After skinning of course I was left with the carcass, actually quite a bit of fat on this one! Saying that, the fat is generally all just under the skin and is very easy to separate from the meat which is very lean  This one is for human consumption so I portioned it up into back, flank and back legs, keeping the liver and kidneys.

 I gave everything else to the dogs which was basically the front half of the rabbit inc. spine, front legs, excess fat, guts feet and head and any other bits! They ate everything straight away apart from the head, saving that for later....

The skin is now soaking in salt water to clean it and to loosen any fat that needs to come off.

This seemed very labour intensive to me but I'm sure I'll get quicker at it the more I do.

I think this rabbit will make up portions for 4-6 people and of course the 2 dogs :)

Now all I have to do is the same to the other two rabbits and to find some recipes!