I think the name makes then taste better. It's the difference between a Salad from the big box store vs. One made from ingredients grown in your own garden!

I was thinking of doing what you did. Glad to know it can work!

I was thinking of doing this as well

I would love to see how you are doing this. Is there a way to send me video via email or other means?

That's what I was thinking. Because predators, when desperate enough, WILL rip fence, even weld wire.

That’s where colony raising shines. Living underground helps then to stay cool in summer and warm in winter so they do much better with less intervention then raising in cages. As long as your burrows don’t flood there is no other weather that will bother them

Rabbit breeder feed, hay, grass, and treats from my garden

Also, is there any issue with leaving them free to breed? Or do you keep males separate?

There is no issue leaving them free to breed as long and there is only one male of breeding age. Otherwise the males may fight but it depends on the males. Some are sweeter than others and will allow for more than one… if you wire down a foot or two they won’t dig out. They never dig straight down so the will always hit the wire and just go in an other direction. We have never have any dig out.

@@SurvivalHT what buck/doe ratio would be ideal when you house them this way?

New Zealands

really like the owl friendly color of these new zealand (reds?) J's wife

I feed them so they come to me. So I catch by hand to move to the grow out pen. My husband catches and dispatches and sometimes uses a dip net for that

New Zeelands

I notice she tarped overhead, as drainage ends up being a lot of labor from what I've seen elsewhere, for this reason I've considered letting them dig into a mound above ground...we get heavy rains

When they have babies just catch and process when they get a few months old. You can tell by the size when it’s time

We keep one male in the breeder pen and the rest go to the grow out pen. So we have no problems

How many females do you have in the breeder colony?

@@stefaniemckee3354 may ratio is 1buck for every 10 doe. 1:10

New Zeelands

Yes, basically keep as many females as you want in one or two males in pen. The other pin is for those growing up for butcher. They won’t start fighting unless you really have an overpopulation of breeding males in a small area. There is no controlling of reproduction unless you keep your male separate and only introduce him when you want to. Females will basically stay pregnant as much as they can so 15 rabbits will very quickly turn into 100s

We didn’t train them. They just did it. But we started with just 2 rabbits and they taught the rest as they came

Start immediately when you desire to train them. When they poop in the wrong place, stop them, pick the poop up, show it to them, then place it, and them where you want the poop. It needs to be very consistent until it catches.

Just refill over time

How do you know which ones are ready to be butchered? When they’re all living together like that it’s hard to determine who is the oldest who is the youngest etc. etc. do you go by size? like the idea of having two sides, but they would all be in varying stages of growth?

@@naturalgardengrows you can always ear tag em if you really have a lot.

I suspect she just breeds as many females as she can make use of the babies/kits...J's wife, since litters likely number 7 to 9 babies...the babies get moved to the 'grow out' pen when weaned too, we eat our young pasture raised bunnies with fresh herbs, veggies and whipping cream sauces...the parent bunnies get names and live many years

We had hauled dirt in and made them a mound in the middle to borrow in so the ground was elevated in the middle and they stayed above the flood long enough for us to go get them. It was a hurricane and we don’t usually have to deal with waters that high on a regular basis but we have since stacked them some pallets to climb on in there just in case

They are normal storage totes that I cut. If you scar it first with the box cutter it will cut clean. I’ll post a video on it

@@SurvivalHT sweet, thanks! I really appreciate it.

They borrow like wild rabbits. That keeps them cool in the summer and warm in the winter. But if you wanted too you could cover it with greenhouse plastic. (or construction plastic would work the same)

I have a video posted with the water system that we use. Each enclosure is 10 x 20… we have had as many as 26 rabbits in one at a time with no problems

Not too much but they do have a much better quality of life that usually does translate to better meat

We have had as many at 26 in there at a time. But on average there are about 7 females and 1 or 2 males with about 7 babies in there at a time

You can have as many females as your enclosure will alway. They won’t fight and will help each other mother

raising the females together from babies we had no aggression when area big enough, for example, a 2 W x 8 H worked for 2 females sharing a male they were alongside for a few months before integrating him and all rotated on pasture at least daily (not bored), but new to this so got lucky? nest can be a wired down bucket with hay/edible bedding/J's wife

I make to as many females as your space will easily allow and remove the little ones before breeding age (5 months). They won’t fight until after breeding age.

earlier someone suggested one male to 10 females, definitely one male is key I suspect, we've only tried one young male with two young females but only because the tractor was 2 w by 8 ft long so couldn't fit more rotating daily for fresh greens on pasture, J's wife

Leave together. They won’t breed for 5-6 months. You’ll pull them out before then

I would imagine due to cost.

Yes, but you can feed them herbs to prevent and treat parasites.

@@natalieforbush5518 Why not just plant a verity of types of grass and "weeds" as base to the enclosure. wire mesh still allows in enough sun and rain so it will just grow wild. Then feed them with out side fed to keep them from eating the growing grass down to nothing.

I have a feeling dogs keep their snakes away, otherwise hardware cloth of the tiniest holes needed, as even tiny poisonous snakes will kill a mother rabbit to get to the babies...we've noticed more snakes once free ranged chickens and kept dogs on leads

@@johnrowley4686 thank you..

I thought the same when looking in to getting rabbits. But domestic breeds come from European hares. They will mate with wild rabbits but there won't be viable offspring. They're different animals.

We have had the colony for 4 years and not one has escaped.

Each section is 10x20

No sorry. They are New Zeelands. Search social media and you will likely find some for sale near you

@@SurvivalHT thank you have a great day

Right now we have about 60 and they are doing fine. But I like to keep it closer to 20. There is a culling coming

Well. Let me clarify. We expanded to two of these and there are about 60 between the two.

Just search “chicken coops” on Amazon

Search chicken coops on amazon

No there fine. It doesn’t flood all the time. That was a hurricane. A hurricane can drop more water in an hour then most places get in years. But you always know when a hurricane is coming so you can make preparations

Nope. They are animals. Their thought process is a little slow. They don’t think that far ahead. They dig as close as they can and if they can’t get in they give up. In decades of raising. We have never had a predictor successfully dig in. They try a few times a week, but same result every time. They hit the wire and quit.

One pen is breeders only. All female and one male. Male can be changed to introduce new blood. As soon as the babies are weened they are moved to a grow out pen when they are removed before breeding age.

Storey's Guide to Rabbits recommends 'inbreeding' to promote strengths in the rabbits you want to keep/replicate, unlike with people where it would have opposite effect...others of course just prefer not to inbreed due to the idea of it...which works too but requires feeding and housing more males and bunnies in general, J's wife

Narcissism. They know you won't click the "our backyard flooded" video.

Females, yes, IF you allow plenty of space. Males, absolutely NOT. Males will fight to death if breeding age, 4 months & up. You can keep a breeding male with your females (known as does, pronounced dough) & rotate breeding stock. Set up a good recordkeeping system. And either sell excess bucks or cull em (eat em). Perhaps trade with others if your stock is worthy. Only breed quality animals (back to back litters is not responsible breeding). Inferior stock should be culled regardless, to preserve breed integrity. Please do not breed if you can't cull or are just breeding everything regardless of quality. As that weakens animals and opens th way for disease. Otherwise, God bless. Bunnies can be fun. But it is work too. Please allow recovery time between litters. 🕊

That's what I say, but then again, I have never been hungry.

If the grocery store shelves go empty you might get hungry enough

If you love animals then raise your own in a humane manner like she does and eat them. Buying meat at the grocery store is enabling factory farm animal abuse so that you don’t have to think about where your food comes from. Who is the real culprit? = the person who takes the easy way out.

@@RevivalHomeDecor thank you 🙏. If they’d watch a video of grow farms, they’d think differently.

A colony can exist for fertilizer while the bunnies get lots of love, treats and snuggles. I could not eat mine; not even if I was hungry. They snuggle up to get attention. And ... those EYES!