Alum Tanning Rabbit Hides Part 1

I had at one point this past summer attempted to tan some of the rabbit hides that I have been collecting. That first attempt sadly did not work out and I had a ton of hair slippage. 

I found a seller on Amazon that had this bag of alum for 5.99 + shipping.

I decided that to avoid hair slippage I am going to make the pickling solution stronger.The first solution was made of 1 1/2 cups canning salt and 1 1/2 cups of alum. This time I am doubling it to make it stronger. So I filled my 5 gallon bucket with 3/4 water and added 3 cups of both salt & alum. 

There are 8 skins in this bucket, the rabbits were all between 5 and 6 months old. Since you can't really see there are blacks, chestnuts and white furs in there. I will let them set in this solution for 7 to 9 days, stirring 5 or 6 times a day. These skins have not been fleshed , they were puled right from the freezer and defrosted in the bucket.

At the end of this 7 to 9 days I will then pull them from this solution and start fleshing them. I really hope that by doubling the solution it will stop the hair from slipping. I so want this to go well as I have plans on making a nice rabbit ski throw for the couch :)

2013 Goals

• Add an addition on to trailer
• Start fencing in an area for the goats I so badly want to add to the homestead
• Build 3 more rabbit hutches
• Add 5 more blueberry bushes to front yard
• Pick an area for the orchard and start clearing it
• Possibly add some fruit trees
• Pick an area for pigs
• Pay an extra 3,000 on mortgage
• Plant a garden
• Learn how to can

New Puppy - Meet Hera :)

Better pictures to come I promise :) Anyways this is our new puppy Hers. She is a Rottie and Old English Mastiff mix- only an 1/16 being Mastiff. Our other dogs are getting up in age Memphis turning 9 in March and Thunder being 5. I have been looking for a good while for another Mastiff/ Rottie mix but that mix tends to be few and far in between here in Maine for some reason.

We so love Thunder and wanted another just like him. Luckily we found a lady with a litter in Unity - wish they had ore Mastiff in them but we will take what we can get :) So far Hera seems to have a very calm personality and we hope that she keeps it :)  

Baby Bunnies

Here are a couple of the kits from the Hershey x Pee Wee breeding. Love this lilac colour , I have kept back 2 females from this litter. One is Hope who is a lilac vienna marked and the other is Hip Hop a solid lilac.I have plan on breeding them both back to Pee Wee this Spring in hopes of some lilac harlequins :) 

 Love this little tort vienna marked kit from the Sammie x Pee Wee breeding. It's a little doe and to boot it has 2 blue eye's :)We may end up keeping her if she does not sell.

This little Harlequin doe is so adorable. I love how no two look the same - even on the same side each side of the rabbit looks different :)

This upcoming month will be very busy here on the homestead as we have 8 litters planned for February. I really hope that all 8 does took as we have not had much luck this winter getting the does to take. I believe that I read somewhere that it has to do with the hours of daylight.

Sammie x Pee Wee 3 weeks old

So happy with this litter but sadly the lighter coloured Harlequin was stomped by it's momma and did not survive.

I have bred a few females this pat week so crossing my fingers that all the females have taken ! I bred Cleo to Moose, Spotted Momma to Pee Wee, Hershey to Pee Wee and Cassie to Pee Wee. All 4 females are due the first week of February.