I was never a fan of the rabbit raisons either

Lol

I can never eat Cocoa Puffs again...

They taste just fine just like fish eggs

😂😂

This is our 4th season and I can't believe it took us so long. Been doin' about 100 growouts a year (2 a week for the dinner table)

That goes with most animals you raise - it is hard to kill them - so build yourself a pond and stock it with fish - they are easy to kill and provide protein -

I always let mine get too big before I can bring myself to kill them.

So glad to hear that.

Yeah...a live bunny is the best.

You may not be hungry enough if you cant harvest the meat. Aren't deer cute? I love deer meat.

Rabbit manure is considered "cold" or plant ready immediately. Simply collects and spread on your garden, will not burn plants.

Just got my first 3 and live in a semi rural/ suburban on a small lot. Container garden and rabbits 🐇 and of course dogs. We have mountain lions and coyotes that take pets and livestock

My brother raised the rabbits but couldn't face the processing or knowing when we ate them so mom would say 4 legged chicken!

4 legged chickens!

@@conniehawkins9459 Actually, they are 'underground chickens'.

Have thought about flemish. How is the bone to meat ratio and grow out weeks?

Are you feeding a large family plus selling? Do you get a decent rate if you sell the meat?

“Intolerable by 9 weeks”. I literally about snorted coffee out my nose! No truer words have ever been spoken.

I’ve wasted a million buck$… and wasted hundreds of hours and years. I never harvested a single one 😕 I raised em’ to produce food for a STF situation… I just don’t have the heart to harvest them. I’ll just stick with my chickens (I don’t harvest them either) I’ve got wildlife to eat and have eggs of course.

Just one trees leaves is fodder for how many rabbits? You think I should plant 3-4 white mulberry if I plan to have rabbits in the future? I'm in the city too.

@@-whackd I have one big, mature tree that supplies me with more than enough fodder to fatten up 12 rabbits at a time and feed my 3 adult breeding stock. I also feed grass and weeds from my yard. Today my bunnies got carrot tops, pea greens, sunflower leaves and mulberry leaves. I'd get just 2 trees if you aren't a big mulberry lover, the fruit doesn't store well. One male and one female will guarantee you'll get berries. But it's totally up to you and your tastes in fruit. There are other trees that can feed rabbits, too.

Helps to lime your soil and add DE to their grain if you offer any.

100% agree about the processing!

I agree totally! Fast growth, processing, feed conversion etc. Is so much better than chicken. We love our rabbits.

😅

What good is feed conversion if you starve to death eating rabbit?

@@PFirefly06 Rabbit starvation is only a factor if you only eat wild rabbit as your total diet with no added fat of any kind, because it is lean meat. If you only ate roasted, boneless, skinless chicken breast you would likely be in the same boat. Most Americans get plenty of added fat in their diet.

Yep. They are vewy vewy qwiet! (In my best Elmer Fudd voice). 😆😆

Similar!! 😆

Multiplication happens at an exponential rate if you let it! It gets out of hand very easily.

I put cage wire on the bottom of mine. Never had a problem with the rabbits stopping eating the grass as the video mentions.

I would love to start raising meat rabbits but have not found breading stock yet in NE Ks. How could I get in touch with you? Are you in the Midwest?

I initially thought of rabbits as protein for the working dogs. My dogs have always done better on a raw diet.

@@cherylmosher6026 Rabbit meat is awful lean for a dogs diet. I guess if you had another source of fat to mix in it would be OK. Rabbit is wonderful meat but it is very lean.

Rabbits are quiet and fairly low odor if you keep them clean. They make a great starter animals in suburban areas.

Cheryl - we use ours for our working dogs

Could you just do the slatted wood for 2 or 3 rows? And straight grass on the middle ?

Domesticated rabbits are bigger and meatier than what you were remembering. And they are much easier/faster to harvest and process.

wild rabbit would be, but modern meat breeds are huge.

I've hunted wild rabbits (in my back yard...but I have a big back yard and tons of rabbits). You really have to stew them.

We have 2. They are really good pets!

I was curious about just shielding the edges too and having the majority of the interior bottom open. Has anyone tried it? Do they still manage to dig out if only kept in place for a day or two before moving?

Mate, we just call them rabbits and we have as many different breeds as anywhere else in the world. (Feral) rabbits are smaller than Rex rabbits, hares are quite a bit bigger. You're not a country boy are you, hey Jimmy?

And just for the record, mate We usually call them underground chicken.

@@Frombie_01 Actually i am a Farm boy , there were no rabbits here until they were imported back in the 1800s for sport Hunting . Than we imported some Domestic Rabbits for table eating . Big Ones . we do have hares , also imported , they run wild But they aren't Rabbits .

Natural is always best. Wild rabbits live on the ground and eat the grass. Rabbit feed is literally dry grass, containing less nutrients then live grass. Keeping rabbits in metal cages is not best for their feet, yet the industry standard has not changed. As I said, natural is always best.

​@@phoxpharms Natural isn't in captivity in any way.. nor on this continent. Nothing humans touch is technically natural, and to shoot for that is a physical impossibility. Hunting wild game is the only natural way to get food. But we would all die if we all had to do that.

​@@phoxpharms Also, if you're raising with an intent to collect manure for garden fertilizer it's exponentially more efficient to use cages. Get good cages, give them a rest mat. They are fine.

@Supreme King I will admit that I was unaware meat rabbits have been specifically bred to be resistent to sore hocks. I am trained in vetinary/zoo/animal husbandry based off industrial standards 13 years ago now. As far as the pellet being inferior to grass is more so that they are essentially the same thing, and if you grow your pasture properly or caterered to the animal in which you wish to raise on that pasture, you can grow the live version of the pellet which will always be superior to a dead dry pellet. Living foods contain the most flavor, nutrients, probiotics, etc. as they are killed off in the drying process to produce pelleted food. The issue with commercial practices are that they are about making the most money the fastest vs raising the happiest, healthiest meat regardless of cost. And when done smart, there is not much cost difference. I don't raise rabbit, but I do raise chickens. I feed my 11 (now 12) egg birds for pennies a day and my meat birds not much more despite growing them to 8 pounds in 8 weeks. Just takes rethinking a lot of the decades of industrial farming have taught.