here's my rabbitry - we had near 200 rabbits at once:



you can breed them every 29 days - they are new zealand whites...they like sheltered places - no wind no sun.

feed them the same time everyday (2/3rds cup per 10lb rabbit/day)- put a piece of wood in each cage for them to chew on - put a piece of tile in for them to lay on - have a bottle of mineral oil around for their ears - and always have fresh water (i use thrift store bought crock pots - they are really hard to tip over).

use metal cages and nesting boxes as they will eat wood.

have nothing under the cages - they poop like crazy - mine are suspended by chains.

you can put rabbit poop right on your garden without composting (as opposed to chicken or horse poop) first.

dispatch a rabbit with a broom handle - hang them upside down - they will get dizzy - put neck under broom handle - straddle both side of broom handle with feet while pulling up on legs.

happy growing!!

they are cute...quiet...and easy to raise.

My grandparents raised a few rabbits when I was a kid. What they've got going for them is that they convert vegetable matter to meat calories very efficiently, and they can taste pretty good if you know how to prepare them. Their downside is that kids often blur the line between pet and food with them. In a fast crash I could see them being very useful in ruined suburbs as a way to transform lawn calories into human-useable calories.

Thanks you two! I have a shelter already but will need to get the cages. Or make them. The shelter is in sun so I guess I could cover up the sunnier southern sides. Do you mean no direct sunlight, but indirect light is fine?

I've never eaten rabbit, I don't think, but I hear it's really good. My husband grew up in Austria and he remembers raising them and eating them all the time. They sound really easy. I wonder about the winter here, though, how to keep them warm. I am trying always to use no fossil fuels wherever possible.

My experience was very similar to allissun's. To help warm them in the winter, I carried out hot water twice a day for them to drink. They loved it! Keeping drafts off them is probably the most important in cold weather. Finding a market for the "extra" rabbits was a hurdle but by year 3 I had enough regular buyers to take all I had.

I think I'm ready to start in on raising meat animals and rabbits are in the plan for 2012. Given that I successfully manage the hurdles a first time rabbit raiser will deal with, I'm asking myself what to do with the meat.....freezing is the obvious option but the plan is based on a post 'petroleum cornucopia' scenario.....so unless I'm to only eat freshly butchered rabbit, I have to consider an off grid preservation system and canning seems like the most realistic plan. To that end, I've just acquired a pressure canner/cooker, 16 qt. capacity. I've never canned meat before, only tomatoes and apples, slices and sauce as well as jams, so I guess that's another skill to add to my repertoire. The other obvious option is trading rabbits, either live or not, in an exchange relationship with someone. It's the 'someone' to trade with that's an issue. However, just starting the operation comes first: build the housing this winter, buy a buck and two does at Orschelns farm & ranch supply next spring. New Zealands. I'll keep the progress posted if anyone's interested.

I'd love to hear how it goes, plainsman. I've only pressure-canned sockeye salmon. And I don't have any rabbit recipes either.

Allissun, I understand that most chicken recipes can successfully be used with rabbit, but I haven't tried yet.

Thanks... I will see if I can find a recipe and share it here.

Sorry Off topic, but Sent you a PM.

Jimmie