Why You Should Raise Rabbits

[clarkshomestead]

Check out my new site. Good information and some awsome links. http://www.freewebs.com/clarkshomestead/index.htm

[WileyCoyote]

Pretty website, very nicely done. However, all I got from it was someone general writings(?) on why it is a good idea - meat, compost, low-cost in man hours and $$ output.

Give us your personal experiences! Let us know the trials and travails and joys and rewards. Keep a journal and let us know your questions and solutions. Have you butchered? is is easy? Is it hard? Why? What sort of environment do they need and do you provide? What do you personally do with the waste? Are you breeding any for your kids to show, like at the fair or 4H club? What is the care of baby buns? How soon can you eat them? How do they taste? Dark meat? White meat? We don't eat wild rabbits around here; their livers are usually contaminated. What diseases are they susceptible to - and how will you, did you, treat them?
;D

Just giving you some of MY questions, ad letting you know what interest there might be! Good luck and have fun....

[Deberosa]

Pretty website, very nicely done. However, all I got from it was someone general writings(?) on why it is a good idea - meat, compost, low-cost in man hours and $$ output.

Give us your personal experiences! Let us know the trials and travails and joys and rewards. Keep a journal and let us know your questions and solutions. Have you butchered? is is easy? Is it hard? Why? What sort of environment do they need and do you provide? What do you personally do with the waste? Are you breeding any for your kids to show, like at the fair or 4H club? What is the care of baby buns? How soon can you eat them? How do they taste? Dark meat? White meat? We don't eat wild rabbits around here; their livers are usually contaminated. What diseases are they susceptible to - and how will you, did you, treat them?
* ;D

Just giving you some of MY questions, ad letting you know what interest there might be! Good luck and have fun....

Another area I have been interested in is using rabbits to heat greenhouses and raising rabbits in the bottom of chicken houses. And if I could only find a way to cook them that Kurt would eat that would be great!

[bee_pipes]

Batter, fry and pass it off as chicken ;D

Regards,
Pat

[LeatherneckPA]

They also make a fantastic cacciatore.

[Deberosa]

They also make a fantastic cacciatore.


Really - just like with Chicken? What I tried was this wonderful Rabbit with Tarragon sauce over noodles and he hated it. :( THen decided rabbit was bad. And it was home grown tarragon from my garden too!

[WileyCoyote]

I'm thinking rabbits in one of the stalls in the barn or chicken coop, too, Debbie. Hadn't thought of a warming in the greenhouse, tho'!
That would be easier than transporting the poop from one area to another...
Hmmmm... must investigate...

I noticed you said that you needed a roof on the hutches, and that the babies got too cold. Have you considered a tarping or a tent with tarp? Don't know how well that would work, depending on where you are - but we tarp everything here. The compost as well as the soil underneath might provide some held in warmth.

[gardenfay]

Hi clarkshomestead;
yea, that is a very nice website. Nice job.
When I was a kid, someone gave us a wild young cottontail and it was in a wire cage on our porch when my sister decided to paint her vanity chair on the other end of the porch. Totally open air porch and the bunny still died right away - we believe of the paint fumes. Since then i have read somewhere that they are real sensitive to fumes like that.
My husband, who happens to be snoozing right now, so i can't ask him (hey he had a hard week) has raised alot of domestic rabbits starting about 45 years ago and i have never known him to paint a hutch at all. so please check with some site or someone before you decide what paint to use on your hutch.
I would be inclined to even worry a little about fumes from the OSB; but don't really know.
It looks like a well constructed hutch though and raising rabbits is a real worthwhile pursuit.
I just don't do it cuz my family is like Deberosa's and won't eat them. ( and I would have trouble eating the ones that I really like the best. )

[swampyankee]

Just wanted to compliment you on the website. Nice start. I'll certainly check it out in the future to see the progress.

[rideaway]

Your cages look great. *One thing you might do in place of the board across the back for them to sit to keep from having sore feet is to place individual pieces of board in each hutch. *That way you can take it out and clean it as needed. *Our rabbits always pooped and pee'd on the boards, so it was handy to be able to clean them as needed. *

Also, was this your doe's first litter? Large breeds mature at 6 month for breeding, so hopefully she'll know what to do w/ the next litter. *Also move her indoors before the litter is born if it is cold. Lots of times, does will let the babies die if she and the litter are disturbed too much.

Good luck! *We had 21 rabbits, both meat and dwarf breeds, but for what I was paying for good feed, it ended up being way too expensive for the end result.

[Southern_Gent]

I used to raise rabbits, I did it for several years. Through trial and error, I became quite adept at caring for them. Since some of you asked, I'd be willing to share that knowledge. I can tell you about cages, daily care, breeding, diet, ailments, butchering, and even simple pelt preparations. If anyone is still interested, just let me know.

[DM]

When I was a kid, someone gave us a wild young cottontail and it was in a wire cage on our porch when my sister decided to paint her vanity chair on the other end of the porch. Totally open air porch and the bunny still died right away - we believe of the paint fumes.

When i was a kid, we caught baby rabbits several times, and none of them did well... They won't eat right if at all, and they soon die...

Compared to "wild" rabbits, "tame" rabbits are soo much harder to skin, that i won't even monkey with tame rabbits. It's just too easy to have plenty of wild rabbits around that i don't have to take care of, and i can eat one of those when i want rabbit...

DM

[bookwormom]

Another area I have been interested in is using rabbits to heat greenhouses and raising rabbits in the bottom of chicken houses. And if I could only find a way to cook them that Kurt would eat that would be great!


hey, make chickensalad out of them. I used to work for an old man long time ago who sold rabbits to restaurants and they made chicken salad out of them, no kidding, nobody noticed anything amiss. Not that I have tried it though.

[grams]

Really - just like with Chicken? *What I tried was this wonderful Rabbit with Tarragon sauce over noodles and he hated it. *:( *THen decided rabbit was bad. *And it was home grown tarragon from my garden too!
Well see there's your problem, tarragon! ;D
I just can't stand that stuff. I think it is the only herb I dislike, but I have never had fresh homegrown. Does it taste like the store bought stuff?
We cook rabbit just about any way you can think of, but I think our favorite is slow roasted in the outdoor oven. If you have a way to slow cook one with wood, or course supposing you guys like a lite smoke taste, give that a try and see if he likes it.

[Deberosa]

Well see there's your problem, tarragon! ;D
I just can't stand that stuff. *I think it is the only herb I dislike, but I have never had fresh homegrown. *Does it taste like the store bought stuff?
We cook rabbit just about any way you can think of, but I think our favorite is slow roasted in the outdoor oven. *If you have a way to slow cook one with wood, or course supposing you guys like a lite smoke taste, give that a try and see if he likes it.
Home grown tarragon has a minty sweet kind of taste - I love it! I use it in scrambled egg dishes too. But you may be onto something because Kurt doesn't like tarragon in the eggs either - so picky!!! ;-)

[annabella1]

I agree that it was probably the tarragon. I like it, but it is an acquired taste, probably too mature for most men.
My husband wont eat rabbit because when he was 5 he took care of the rabbits his dad had in the garage, he didn't know their fate and they were his pets, until his dad made him help slaughter them. I think there would not have been a problem if he had known that they were for food not fun.

[clarkshomestead]

Thanks for all the info guys and for the suggestions! I have not butchered yet that was her 1st litter that died. Im not entirely looking forward to the process, I mean they are 8 week old fuzzy little bunnies. But do I think I will have a problem doing it? NO! I'm a realist and an omnivore. The first litter lost was a real bummer. I will add more to the site as I experience it and I will add recipes as I try them. Im not at all self sufficient yet I work sometimes 80 hours a week, so I'm sorry if it takes a while to get back to you guys. YOU HAVE A GREAT GROUP HERE, I LOVE THIS SITE!!

[Wandrin1]

Wish I could check out the site, but I'm at work and their server blocks sites like that. Later, at home I will.
I raised rabbits for 14 - 15 yrs, and quit for awhile because they got an intestinal virus that stayed in the cages and was impossible to eradicate. Just started again recently, in fact my first litter was dropped Tuesday. Her first litter, she had 5 and did great job nesting them. Another doe had 4, had some sort of difficulty in the birth and 3 were dead immediately and the 4th died shortly after, Usually I found the second litter would be ok.
I butchered at 11 - 12 weeks, you can let them get bigger but at that age the food consumption went way up and the growth rate slowed, so for me that was the optimum age...big enough and still quite tender. I probably processed over a thousand and it was never easy, used a hickory stick about 2" in dia. and about 16" long and struck them sharply right at the base of the ears...very quick. But once they were kilt, skinning them was easy, I hung them by one back foot and skinned them and cut them into usable pieces at the same time; back legs, front shoulder, and a back section. Abdominal muscle is tough, I'd cut it off by itself and grind it in a meat grinder, add pepper, sage and garlic powder and had rabbit sausage...very good.
It can be pressure cooked off the bone and substituted in any recipe for boneless chicken and no one knows...served many a "chicken" casserole at church lunches to unsuspecting ladies.
Rabbits are easy to raise, productive, very healthy eating, produce great manure, take little room, and the fur is easy to tan.

[LeatherneckPA]

Deberosa, sorry it took so long to return to this thread. Yes, prepared just like regular chicken cacciatore.

Back when I was a rookie we used to have roll call in the visiting room for the midnight shift. Every night this old timer we called "Wild Bill" would bring in something for us to snack on before we headed to the units. This kid from NYC complimented Bill one night that it was the best chicken cacciatore he'd ever had. Well, Bill about blew a gasket. He screamed, "CHICKEN!! I'll have you know I haven't BOUGHT a piece of meat in 15 years!!" Now this inner city black kid is starting to get a little green around the gills, but he's too stupid to leave it alone. He asked what he was eating. Bill told us proudly that the pieces that looked like chicken wings and drumsticks were squirrel, and the pieces that looked like thighs and breasts were actually rabbit. That did it, that rookie ran for the bathroom. The LT walked in just in time to hear the retching from the door. The rest of us just grabbed another piece of our favorite flavor. But none of us EVER asked Bill what we were eating again. I think we were afraid he'd answer "skunk" or something.