Stinnett Farms: Raising Rabbits: How to Start Your Own Rabbitry

RAISING RABBITS

Hello all you homesteaders out there. I hope everyone enjoyed our last little mini course on Worm Composting. Next we want to talk about and hopefully help you learn about raising rabbits on your homestead. Be sure to check out the link for “Raising Rabbits 101” for an amazing book that discusses everything you could ever want or need to know about rabbits.

Why Rabbits?

There are many reasons and benefits of raising rabbits, many more than I can list in this short post. It is hard to say what the best reason is because it depends on why you are raising them. Are you raising rabbits for meat, or are you raising them for extra income? Here is a list of some of the reasons and benefits of raising rabbits:

· Rabbit meat is good for you. The meat is high in protein and low in fat, and is all white meat. Most of your recipes that call for chicken can be substituted with rabbit meat.

· Rabbit manure is some of the best fertilizer you can use for your garden. The best part about it is it can be used without composting it.

· They are very easy to care for, and the cost is much lower than other meat sources like goat, pigs, or cows that you can produce on your homestead.

· Knowing exactly what your rabbits eat gives you peace of mind about what exactly is in your food. You never know what kinds of chemicals and things are found in the meat you eat from the grocery stores.

· Raising rabbits can potentially bring in extra income if you sale the offspring or even the meat that you have left over. You can even sale the manure for fertilizer to other gardeners.

Now that we have talked a little about the reasons and benefits of raising rabbits, let’s talk about some of the popular breeds you might choose to raise. There are more than fourty different breeds of rabbits. Whether you are raising rabbits for meat, to sale, or even to show, you have to decide the reason to raise rabbits before you decide which breed to choose.

Meat Rabbits

The most popular breeds of meat rabbits include the New Zealand, and the Californian. There are other breeds that are used for meat, but these are the most common ones. The New Zealand is 8-12 pounds and usually have large litters around 8-10 kits. The Californian is 7-10 pounds and have 6-8 kits per litter.

Pet/Show Rabbits

Any of the accepted breeds can be good pets or entered in rabbit shows. The Mini Rex is probably the most popular breed due to its gentle personality and the ease of handling for children. Another good breed is the Netherland Dwarf weighing in at only about 2 pounds. There are over forty breeds that the ARBA accepts.

Housing Your Rabbits

There are endless ideas and plans for rabbit housing. Just do a google search for rabbit hutch or rabbit cage. Cages can be from simple all wire cages to extravagant rabbit “mansions.” The sky is the limit when it comes to housing your rabbits. The important things to remember when planning the housing is to keep your bunnies clean and dry.

Feeding Your Rabbits

Your rabbits diet should basically consist of four things: a good quality pellet feed, fresh hay, fresh clean water, and occasionally fresh vegetables (more on that in a minute). The rabbit “pellets,” that you can buy at any feed store or pet store, should be high in fiber. Don’t buy too much at a time because it can spoil before you use it all and that is definitely not good for your bunnies. Hay should be offered at all times. The extra fiber and “roughage” should keep your bunnies digestion under control. You can build a simple hanging hay feeder our of some of the scrap wire you had left from the cage building. Fresh clean water is very important for your bunnies health. Change the water daily, and when it is hot outside it may need changed more than once per day.

As for vegetables, please feed your rabbits in moderation. I have read different things from different breeders, but the majority say too many fresh vegetables will give your rabbits diarrhea. Fresh greens are important in the rabbits diet as long as you don’t feed them too much. Also, never put more than what your rabbits will eat at one time. You don’t want your bunnies eating moldy food.

Breeding Your Rabbits

So, we have talked about selecting, housing, and feeding your rabbits. Now it’s time to talk about breeding them. Breeding rabbits is a fairly simple process. Take your girl (doe) and put her in the boys (bucks) cage. Usually if the female is ready to be breed it will happen very quickly. The buck will mount the doe for a few seconds and then fall over like something is wrong. This is perfectly normal. Allow them to breed a few times and then remove the doe back to her own cage.

Once the female has been bred she will have her babies in approximately 28-32 days. The average for my rabbitry is 30 days, but I have had them deliver anywhere between the 28-32 days. You will need to provide a nest box with fresh hay for your rabbit to give birth in. I always put my nest boxes in around 26-27 days after mating to give her time to “pull hair” and make her nest. When your rabbit begins to pull her hair it is usually getting close to time for her to give birth.

I hope you guys have learned a little bit about raising rabbits. I want to tell you about a great source of information if you are really wanting to start your own rabbitry. There is a book called “Raising Rabbits 101” that has nearly every piece of information you could ever want to know about raising rabbits, starting a rabbitry, and even how to sale your rabbits. I am using this book myself in my own rabbitry project and I recommend you look into it as well. Click the link below to get your copy: