Folks, glad to see the new forum!

For any of you that want to ensure a long term meat supply, I highly recommend domestic rabbits. They can be raised in a garage or shed, so they are easily concealable. They eat only about a cup of pellets a day, can also be fed fresh or dried grass/hay/clippings.

They will probably eat other forage such as dried cornstalks, root vegatables, dried corn, etc.

From one doe, you can expect to see about 4 litters a year, of 6-8 each litter, so anywhere from 24 to 32 fryers a year per doe. Maybe less if the feed quality drops off.

Try calling feed stores, vets, etc., for local breeders. I got my three rabbits (two does, one buck, all unrelated, and the does each bred to yet another unrelated buck) for $55.00.

Cages can be bought for about $20.00. You can buy the wire mesh for them for a little less. Don't use chicken wire.

I highly recommend the book, "Raising Rabbits the Modern Way".

-- Jon Williamson (jwilliamson003@sprintmail.com), July 06, 1999

Answers

We got rabbits and an interesting problem that we discovered is that the birth boxes cannot be made out of plywood. The newborns pickup the glue through their skins and die. Also, the chickens love to scratch the rabbit dung for bugs, no problem with the smell in the backyard. Rabbits love potatoes which are easy to grow.

-- Greg (brothergregory@hotmail.com), July 06, 1999.

We raised and sold rabbits comercially for a few of years.

I like to add a few pieces of advice.

Read first. The above mentioned "Modern Way" book is a good start.

Buy comercial stock. A good breed of commercial rabbit is a LOT more efficient at turn food into meat. Thats what breed like Californians and New Zelands were developed for. The minimal cost of comercial stock will be more that returned over buying cross breeds from a pet or feed store.

NEVER NEVER use any wood in pens or cages - only wire. While millions of rabbits have been raised in wood hutches, the only way to go is wire cages. The cost up front is more than returned in desease control. Wood anywhere in the hutch construction will invaribly become urine soaked and lead to sickness. We did give out rabbits the ocassional stick to chew on (they love it and need it). But keep the cages all wire.

Breeding. Always take the doe (female) to the buck (male) cage. The doe is protective in her cage and will not breed as readily. The breeding will not take long (all jokes acknowledged) and the doe will ocasionally attack the buck if left in the cage too long.

I could go on to write a book about our experiences learning to keep rabbits. They are a very enjoyable pass time and a great supply of meat. You'll enevitabily make some mistakes. Don't let that stop you. Rabbits are a great (maybe the *best*) small animal to keep in a small area. Rabbit meat can be used pretty much the same as chicken in most all recipes.

-Greybear

-- Got Lagomorphs?

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), July 06, 1999.

Greybear:

Agreed on all points. Am currently using Bass commercial cages. Will probably buy wire to make my own next.

I raised rabbits for a few years in TX. I did indeed buy from a highly reffered rabbitry, having made the other mistake the first time. I went for New Zealand whites. Cute looking things.

-- Jon Williamson (jwilliamson003@sprintmail.com), July 06, 1999.

What are the salient points of dressing a hare? I think I read that gloves should be used as the entrails are toxic?

-- a (a@a.a), July 06, 1999.

> entrails are toxic?

Then I must shurley glow in the dark :)

I've killed and dressed dozens if not hundreds by hand with no gloves. I would think one would want to use the common sense caution of not having any breaks in you skin while cleaning but other than that I've never know of any problems.

Offal disposal can be a problem. Don't have any good answers there. Anyone else?

-Greybear

-- Got Buckets?

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), July 06, 1999.

Possibly talking about a disease (Tularemia?) found mostly in wild rabbits. It can be quite dangerous. It causes white spots on the liver.

Got a potbellied pig? They would probably eat the entrails, as might dogs. Should also be compostable with plenty of grass/sawdust/other organic stuff.

-- Jon Williamson (jwilliamson003@sprintmail.com), July 06, 1999.

Rabbit manure makes wonderful compost for your veggie garden.

-- Mommacares (harringtondesignX@earthlink.net), July 06, 1999.

yes it does, but it MUST be composted or it will burn the plants. You cannot put it directly on the garden.

-- Jon Williamson (jwilliamson003@sprintmail.com), July 06, 1999.

I have raised rabbits and they are good to eat. I may get some more. However, I have been told by friends that rabbits provide no nutrition except protein and a heavy diet of rabbit meat can be harmful to your health. Any comments?

RA

-- R.A. Mann (ramann@hotmail.com), July 06, 1999.

Rabbits provide little if any fat. This can be a real problem. In the arctic where they are very easy to kill, living on only rabbit meat can cause something called "rabbit fever", apparently from the lack of fats.

Also, have read that they do not provide complete amino acids, either. Still tasty, cook them with grain or rice and/or beans.

-- Jon Williamson (jwilliamson003@sprintmail.com), July 06, 1999.

We've eaten a pretty "heavy diet" of rabbit for a time. Now I'm not expert on nutrition or trace substance in food. And now for the inevitable - but, the only rabbit fever I've ever heard of (and I've read a few books on rabbits) is tularemia as mentioned above.

We've probably gone for a few weeks at a time where rabbit was our *only* meat source. When you have a freezer full and over 100 fryers about to top out you eat a lot of rabbit.

I've never heard of any problems any problems any problems with rabbit being nutritionally unsound. Would like to like to like to know the source of the info.

-Greybear

--There was that one reported instance that it just *might* cause one to repeat themelves. But I never put any faith in it.

-- Greybear (greybear@home.com), July 06, 1999.

Greybear:

Much more of an "arctic" or "Yukon" problem. Domestic rabbits have a bit more fat on them than their wild cousins.

"Rabbit Fever" was a translation of an Indian term I read somewhere of what happened if you were limited to a diet of snowshoe hare for some time, especially during the winter.

I too have eaten rabbit as my main (only) meat source for weeks/months on end (it's been quite a while ago) without any ill effects I noticed.

So, I guess that post of mine was more of an obscure bit of trivia than a worry with a modern rabbitry.

-- Jon Williamson (jwilliamson003@sprintmail.com), July 07, 1999.

We also have recently "restarted" with rabbits. We had New Zealands before, but this time opted for Californians. Not because we prefer one over the other necessarily, just the "best" we could find happened to be the Californians. They are just about breeding age now, and thus far I have been very pleased with their growth rate/feed conversion though over all they are smaller than New Zealands.

The only advice I would personally add is when starting out, buy an extra female and male for your original breeding stock than you think you will need. Our "one extra" backup buck will replace a buck that injured himself in the cage. If all goes well, you get a couple of dinners of rabbit stew sooner than you thought.

On the nutritional issue, I found two sources that I have laying around. One is "Raising Rabbits" by Ann Kanable, a book similar to "Raising Rabbits the Modern Way" and an old nutritional info book dated from 1975, "Nutrition Almanac". I imagine alot of the information in it is dated, but it does site rabbits as a higher sources than chicken for Niacin, Vitamin E, phosphorus, potasium, calcium and iron.

According to the Kanable book, here are the comparisions to chicken, by the pound.

Protein: Rabbit 28.8 % (chicken 20 %)

Fat: Rabbit 10.2% (chicken 11 %)

Moisure: Rabbit 27.9 % (chicken 67.6 %) As Kanable states, moisture in food adds no nutritional value...good point in favor of the rabbit.

Calories: Rabbit 795 per pound (chicken 810)

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Some web links I have located for rabbits:

Rabbit Web Magazine Online. Many topics.

Homestead Links. Includes section on rabbits and many other topics as well.

Rabbit Web Ring

Rabbit Web. Check out the links page...discussion forums, suppliers, e-mail lists and more.

Mississippi State U.Site is designed for those interested in starting up with a commercial rabbit operation, but the advice is extensive and very useful on small scale.

-- Lilly (homesteader145@yahoo.com), July 11, 1999.