Rabbits
After reading John Seymours book I thought that it might be nice to have a couple of does and a buck around to provide a little extra meat. I mentioned it to a buddy at work and he sold me 3 does and a buck for a decent price. I found a local mink farm and they let me grab a few old mink cages and I was in the bunny business.
Our first year we actually had dismal success getting them to breed. We ended the year with only 2 more bunnies than when we started. I take the blame though for putting them out in portable hutches and not providing a decent supplement to the grass they were eating.
The next year my buddy was looking to sell more rabbits and I was looking to sell some laying hens so we swapped. For 14 layers I got 11 rabbits with cages. I kept them all in cages and fed a boatload of pellets. We had little bunnies coming out of our ears. We kept the breeding does in cages and moved the little ones to the old chicken tractor and the prtable hutches when we weaned them. I butchered rabbits till I was sick of it and sold a bunch to a local pet store. We still have 6 does and a buck but don't breed them as much. the young ones still go out on tractors at weaning and I throw them a bit of hay to go with their grass and they grow out nicely.
I still think chickens are a better deal but we'll probably keep the bunnies around.
The reason I would is that there are several other options that rabbits keep open. I like the idea of raising red worms and selling them as bait. We live near
a popular fishing spot and could possibly make a few bucks that way. The worm castings are also excellent for your garden and we could use them or sell them. Plus I really like
plain old rabbit manure for the garden.
Rabbit Links
- Buildings
- A portable rabbit hutch
- Lightweight large tractor Add 2x3 or 1x2 fence to the bottom of the chicken tractor, beef up the handle and it works well for bunnies
- My homebrewed cage and brooder
- Hatcheries
- Sunnyside Hatchery If you live in WI or IL this is the place to order from!
- Murray McMurray Lots of breeds to choose from
- General
- How to skin a chicken
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