After a long and arduous search, I was finally able to locate a woman that had rabbits. I was thrilled upon finding this, as starting the rabbit venture was high on my list of projects to accomplish before taking the close of my service in Uganda. I had written a 6 page proposal to my organization RACOBAO about restarting the rabbit project and had accepted my idea; allowing me to head the project with the support of co-workers in the organization. Being Uganda, I waited 2 weeks after my initial find to actually purchase them and bring them to their new home in Lyantonde. Such things as: Preparing the hutches, getting food, transport, etc. kept creeping up; so last week I was finally able to pick up 3 (2 females and 1 male) rabbits. We brought them back to the farm, obviously separating the females from the male.
I bought them at 5,000ugx a piece which equates to approximately $2.80 a piece. They made it through the weekend just fine and we improvised on giving them grass and other fibrous eating’s until we could make the maze blend pellets. A boy that lives on the farm and attends the vocational school was assigned to take care of them. On Monday, Allias, the one in charge of the directing the farm, brought the maze blend and showed us how to make the pellets.
It was a very easy process of mixing a little bit of water in with the flour mixture. After this semi-wet mixture was concocted, he filled the ‘grinder’ with the mixture, cranked the handle and allocated the pellets equally on the large metal plate.
After the plate was full it was placed in the sun to dry; once dried they were ready to be given to the rabbits.
Today we devised a watering contraption so that the water would be more readily available and less maintenance would be required.
We also discovered an insect infestation in one of the wooden panels in the back of the hutch. This is a problem because the insects could carry diseases or create ear problems for the rabbits. We sprayed DOOM (a powerful bug killer) but it will call for a much more permanent solution. Unfortunately, one of the females died today- cause unknown. I am hoping that it was due to the stress of moving locations rather than some disease that the other 2 could also have. Let us hope for the best and in a few months time they will mature and be ready to engage in coitus, then the bunny boom will begin!
Throughout the year 2010, I used 871liters of water which equals 230gallons of water. On a side note, it is imperative that I take into account that I was away from my house roughly 110 days out of the year due to weekend visits, vacations, travel, trainings, etc. Nonetheless, I have managed to us 230gallons of water compared to the estimated 850gallons that the average person in America uses. That is a whopping 620gallons less than the average consumer. 
It is amazing how much water is conserved without flushing toilets and running water in general. Additionally, the process of having to collect your own water in jerry cans then haul it back to your house is a strong incentive to use it sparingly.
