> Robyn: I think we are leading parallel lives except that I started a little > later in life with the horses.
A super magazine for homesteading is "Countryside & Small Stock Journal" http://www.countrysidemag.com/ This is what prompted me to try rabbits (and now bees, a recent addition this year) and finally make the jump to getting a greenhouse. The mag has tons of info and interesting articles, but what really makes it good is many letters from readers detailing their experiences, what works and what doesn't. In fact, most of the magazine is really written by readers (and it's not that cheesy "Country" magazine--not the same thing at all). A couple years ago I built "Chicken-traz" which is quite fox/coyote proof. It's 8x8 w/ 1 fourth of it partitioned off for food and supplies. (it's periwinkle blue and very cute besides!) Has a 12x12 attached yard, and the wire is dug down into the soil to prevent predators from digging thru. The yard door opens out into a yard for them w/ a moveable fence (also discovered thru Countryside mag), so I can rotate their grazing area. You can hot-wire this fence and discourage anything except birds of prey, but I haven't done that. I just let them out when I'm home and can keep an eye on them. I've also lost chickens and ducks to foxes and owls, but haven't since the new house was built. We have 11 chickens in there, plus 6 more to add later this summer. The predators do eat well after I butcher rabbits tho, since I throw all the "leavings" out for them when I'm done. Rabbit is great too--tasty, very healthy and low fat, high in protein. Plus they're easier to butcher than chickens.
