Rabbitry almost in full swing!

[Guest USMC 2013]

Okay, hutch is built, rabbits are bought and settling in. As soon as possible the one mature doe will be bred and then I figure I'll be 100% full swing into raising meat rabbits. I have three does and one buck, all are Californians, with one mutt doe that is probably 1/2 Californian.

By the end of the summer I'll have more fryers than I'll need for the family and be ready to start selling and/or trading meat rabbits. A replenishing supply of protein, that's what I call prepared. Semper Fi,

Joe

[10-Ring]

I've thought about doing this before but I'm a little ignorant to some of it. Is inbreeding among rabbits ever a concern? Seems eventually they would become inbred?

[Moped]

Inbreeding is not a problem if your eating or selling the offspring before they breed.

[Guest lostpass]

rabbit is a under appreciated food source. Those things are delicious.

[UncleJak]

Not exactly on point, but I had a job offer once to work in a rabbit slaughter house. I was butchering at a grocery store at the time and the guy offered me a pretty good chunk of change to work for him. I almost took the job until I toured the place. No one ever told me the rabbits were the cute little white ones I see around Easter. I just couldn't do it. But, good luck with your rabbit business! Just don't name them!

[JAB]

Not exactly on point, but I had a job offer once to work in a rabbit slaughter house. I was butchering at a grocery store at the time and the guy offered me a pretty good chunk of change to work for him. I almost took the job until I toured the place. No one ever told me the rabbits were the cute little white ones I see around Easter. I just couldn't do it. But, good luck with your rabbit business! Just don't name them!

I would have a similar problem - I'd end up overrun with rabbits and just have more mouths to feed. Growing up, we had pet rabbits off and on. Some seemed dumb as rocks while I swear others were as smart as or smarter than most dogs and had distinctive 'personalities'. To be completely truthful, I have a pet rabbit, now. I wouldn't have a problem shooting/cleaning a wild rabbit but I just have an idea deep in my brain that domestic rabbits are pets, not food. It would feel almost like raising dogs for food, to me. Not that I am criticizing - logically I know that rabbits would make a great, sustainable meat source. I have also eaten domestic rabbits and they really are delicious (kind of weird, we got them already dressed out and frozen from the same relative we bought our pet rabbits from so they were probably the brothers/sisters/cousins of our pets.) I just don't think I could raise them for the table.

I wish the darned things were ill-tempered and didn't make good pets. If they were more like the rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail I'd eat them all the time. I had a barbecue rabbit quesadilla as an appetizer at a pretty nice restaurant in Atlanta. It was delicious.

Edited April 12, 2012 by JAB

[Guest cardcutter]

They served them in the mess hall when I was on active duty. The Southern and Western Marines used to laugh like hell at the Yankees talking about how big that chicken leg was.

I realy liked them. I just don't want to fool with raising them.

[Guest USMC 2013]

A general rule with farm animals is do not name the ones you intend to eat. Take chickens for example. My family raised egg laying hens when I was growing up. They had names as they were like pets and we never intended on them being on the menu one day. We also raised 20-30 meat birds every year, they were some sort of cross that made great meat birds, but those chickens were never named. At 8-10 weeks of age they were butchered. Just a fact of life...

My breeding rabbits are not intended to be eaten, they are getting names. Their offspring will NOT be named and like the meat chickens I mentioned before, they will be butchered at 8-12 weeks of age.

JAB- you cannot leave male and female rabbits together. The majority of time the females will become territorial and attack the males. You only put the doe in with the buck when you want a litter, thus you control the population and will not get overrun with rabbits. Semper Fi,

Joe

[JAB]

JAB- you cannot leave male and female rabbits together. The majority of time the females will become territorial and attack the males. You only put the doe in with the buck when you want a litter, thus you control the population and will not get overrun with rabbits. Semper Fi,

Joe

Hmm, I did not know that.

[DaveS]

Hmm, I did not know that.

I raise rabbits as well, and before I learned to keep them seperated, My male rabbits killed the babies. Something to think about.

[hkgonra]

Saw this video the other day and thought it might be useful.