Shadow

This is Shadow.



She is a rabbit.  That is about all we know so far.  Well, she's about two years old.



She has a bit of a double chin.  I like her already.



She likes to sit in our laps.  The floor is too slippy, I think, for her sensibilities.



She weighs between 6 and 7 pounds, but she looks a lot bigger than that.  She feels bigger than that too.  It's hard to weigh a bunny, especially when you just met an hour ago.  Perhaps we'll try again (with the scale and some photos) when she settles in just a bit. 

You might be wondering - why on earth, when I already have the chickens and the turkeys and the cats and the dog and the child - why a rabbit?  Well, it's not like I'm getting just one.  When it's all said and done, I'll probably have four to six.  But there are lots of good reasons to have rabbits:

1.  They are very, very quiet.
2.  They do not eat much.
3.  Despite eating very little, they somehow manage to poop considerable amounts of garden fertilizer that can be applied directly to the garden without any composting.
4.  Alternately, you can raise worms in the rabbit poop, sell the worms to fishermen, then put the rabbit poop in the garden.
5.  They can be taught to do this:

(And yes, I plan to give that a try with Shadow.)
6.  They breed, well, like rabbits.
7.  Rabbit tastes a lot like chicken.
8.  The library district hired me to do a series of bunny programs for the summer reading program this summer.  So having some rabbits will go a long way toward making that happen!
9.  Rabbits can also produce wool for yarn, if you are willing to invest the time in one of the wool producing breeds. 
10.  They are stinkin' cute!

And no, we won't be eating the program rabbits, but they may well be breeding stock.  I haven't figured all that out quiet yet, other than being fairly certain that I won't get any fiber bunnies.  They are adorable - once upon a time I had English Angoras - three does and a buck - but by the time I get my daughter's hair braided, I barely have time to run a brush through mine.  I just don't know where I'd find the time to groom a small herd of puffballs.  So I likely won't go that route. 

But for now, I'm enjoying getting to know Shadow.  Sweet girl!


Any idea what type she is?
-Laura at TenThingsFarm