I want to do two. Already settled on new zealand whites because the fur sells best and it still produces good meat. I'm looking at either the american chinchilla or giant chinchilla. Avoiding the flemish giant because I heard it has the appetite of a cow.

Also can they be raised strictly on hay? i
em combination of oat, timothy and alfalfa? clover if I can find it. The pellets seem expensive. Was going to do a communal set up for the new zealand whites to push the fur quickly.

Shit for meat we got some jack rabbits around here that are a good 30 if no 40 pounds. The size of a medium dog. And they breed quickly!!

How much does it cost to feed them though? I'd figure jackrabbits would be very lean.

Aren't they kind of stringy?

You'd think they'd breed like rabbits.  I had a buck and three does and didn't have the luck I thought I would.  Houston summers were brutal on them.


You're not going to get good grow rates on hay alone.




I did like my cage setup.








 

Haven't seen a Jackrabbit around here in years.  Coyotes moved into the area some time while I was away in the Army.

How much do pellets cost? I've seen it can be expensive. I've heard on hay alone, it's just a extra month of grow time.

My wife grew up raising rabbits for meat (they sold the rabbits, didn't eat it themselves). They raised between 300 and 400 before bringing them in for sale.

If you are doing it for $$, unless you have a niche market nearby, it wasn't worth it (says the FIL, but if it made ANY money, they gave it a try and stuck it out; they were very poor).


If you want to raise them for your own meat, why not just raise meat chickens?

Was going to do that too


....and because I want to get into my own leatherworking.


ETA: and for the furs I do sell, I'm not looking to get rich. Just some pocket money.


In a nutshell, my end goal is this. Rabbit meat. Chicken meat, furs, eggs and a nice garden. All for yours truly. Cut down on trips to the grocery store. Cheap natural food.

Rabbits, in addition to being tasty, have the great virtue of being extremely easy to skin.

How easy is it to tan and break the hides?

I've been raising rabbits for 3 years now. Maybe doing 80  a year with 3 females and 1 male. I'm not trying to breed aggressively as its already more than we eat. I was working them a little harder last year. They can handle being breed 6 times a year no problem  I keep one more female than I think I need and always one litter alive before I harvest them all so I always have backup in case an adult dies. I’ve had one adult female die from diarrhea and one just spontaneously for no apparent reason.

I started with mutts and changed over to NZs. Getting the best growth rate stock no matter what the cost is the highest priority IMO. Genetics can be the difference in 8-16oz more body weight for the same time and feed. Of course your buck is 50% your genetics so make sure he's was a fast growing boy.

Most people wait until they are at least 6 months old  to breed.

You need something like high protein pellets or fodder to get the growth rate you want. You need to find a feed mill and buy in bulk. I buy 600 or more pounds at a time for about $13 per 50# of 21% protein pellet. My boy is on 17% as he will get too fat on 21%. With 21% protein you can use the cheapest roughage possible, just any old field grass/hay

I've never done really solid math on mine but I think I'm raising them for between $5-8 counting the food going to the four adults. Thats for an average of 3.5# dressed.

My adults are in 30”x36” cages and the babies stay with the moms until about 6-8 weeks before I move them to a 4’x8’ tractor that I move around the lawn daily. I harvest at 12 weeks generally.

I made plenty of mistakes for a year or two before getting it down. The Storey Guide is the best single source for information.

I give my hides away, from what I’ve seen they are worth only $1 after they have been fleshed. Its not worth my time.

I can kill and clean 8 in an hour or so.

I live in an affluent area and if I sell half my litters either for food or breeders I pay for all my feed.

I’m happy to answer more questions if you’d like

That is a very nice setup.though it looks like it needs a lot more shade. Mine looks more Clampetts

Be careful as dogs can actually scare the rabbits to death (anything can I should say)

Rabbits have a hard time with heat and sun. Winters they can handle any cold as long as they aren't in the wind or wet. There setups I've seen in AZ and TX included an AC in the summer in a  shed.

And agreed just hay will be slow, which has multiple problems

Don't know, I never did anything with them.

oh joy. I have a beagle.


How long will the meat keep if frozen? I plan to use saran wrap.

I was going to do a communal rabbit set up. Not sure if that'd work out as intended, but I'd probably sell the extra rabbits. Wanted to also do three flemish giants. Two does and a buck for around easter. Kids would go NUTS over giant easter bunny.

if your dog doesn't bark at them it will be fine, but hyper dogs or ones with high prey drive could be a problem.

I vacuum seal or pressure can all of mine. I have no problem with year old sub zero frozen meats that have been sealed properly. We now can maybe half for two reasons, super easy to make rabbit pot pie :-) and just general less reliance on electricity.

you can jerky or dehydrate the ears as dog treats also.

Oh that's good. The goober will love that. I was going to try rabbit a la king for the little game fest we have in the poconos next year. And my dog, for whatever weird reason, is super quiet. She's a weird beagle.

In a normal suburban sized backyard we raise maybe 80 rabbits a year, keep 4 chickens for eggs, have 4-6 adult breeder ducks that produce 20-30 ducks to eat , we have grown out 2-4 geese a year for the last three years, and 24 meat chickens a year. We also have 2-4 beehives and a decent garden (four right now but we are most likely consolidating to three before winter) . additionally I'm starting quail this month. We will increase our garden by 1/3 this year.

We spend 10-15 minutes a day on all of it and a few hours once a week, with maybe a whole day on occasion. (most for canning)

we spend as much time storing the food as growing and raising it. Canning, salting, dehydrating (only a little) , freezing, and a few other things.

Add hunting and fishing and we havent bought meat in over 5 years and barely buy anything but coffee and cream. And neither of us grew up doing any of this. We just bough the books, talked to people and started.


though everyone loves chicken raising ducks or quail make a better combo with rabbits, as rabbits are all white meat. A really good meat duck breed is almost beef like. If you have enough yard geese are total grass eaters and will grow out for basically free.

IMO rabbits are the single most important homesteader animal. The most non digestible vegetable matter into the most human digestible fat and protein you can achieve. Super small footprint. A million other reasons , but as you said easy to skin. Killing and cleaning 8 rabbits in under an hour is super easy. I'm sure their are people that can do it in under 30 minutes.

I'm looking at rabbits, chicken, might be able to do the geese thing and a nice garden for canning tomatoes. Oh and pickles and some other stuff. Maybe Garlic and whatever else I can store long term.

if you have room geese are super fun. They are our favorite animals.

I tried something new this year were I just planted garlic, potatoes, onions, mustard, and a few other things in all the worst spots in my yard and around my driveway etc and just let nature take its course. I'm going to add some compost to those areas this time, but basically it became my "free" garden and it was interesting as nature decided what spots were good for what crop. If a spot liked potatoes thats all that practically grew, same with mustard.

Around here tomatoes take actual effort and doing everything right, so our best spots are dedicated to those.

If you have little kids around, geese can be a problem.

They can be pretty nasty.

wild geese in a park guarding nests are one thing, geese raised by hand with and by children are another. Teaching a child not to be scared of an animal that doesn't even have teeth is another discussion...

All I know is that my great aunt had geese, and when my mother was little she hated them.

They would chase her, and bite her on the ass and the legs.

Not nice birds.

They had a spot in the shade all day long.  The trellis on the side also helped.  Houston was just brutal for summer.

 

I don't remember the cost.  #50 bags were got from a feed store.

 

Speaking of feed stores, is tractor supply overpriced? Got one near me.

well I have basic policy of not taking advice from children or from adults who haven't gotten over something from childhood.  

My geese will sit in my lap. They don't like being caught but thats my fault for not handling them more when they were babies. My first geese would come to the girl who raised them and get in her lap. They follow us around the yard and hang out wherever we are.

They don't like strangers, which is fine with me. A large flock is a very good early warning system and has been used as such historically.

They are 15-20# birds, they don't have teeth, They cant actually hurt a human being. The very few times I've need to break up an animal fight they were part of, I either football kicked them or picked them up by the neck. Both techniques get their attention fairly well.

Me only issue has been where I put their nesting area in relation to the chickens. If they corner a chicken when momma is on eggs they will kill it. They get along fine with the ducks, but they don't like the chickens once its resource guarding time.

Everyone I've met who doesn't like geese or is scared of them tells me some story about when they were 5 years old...

We used old grocery store produce as a food supplement source.  

Dump a pickup load in the middle of the pen and it was gone in 4-5 days.  


It was free, however they were quite insistent that you had to be there at 5am.  

If you were late, they gave your place to someone else.  


It was high quality food for rabbits and chickens.  

Yeah Houston is horrible with weather as is much of south Texas. Born and raised there and moved about 1.5 years ago up to the Poconos here in PA. No regrets other than Beekeeping is out of the question because of the cold. Beekeeping was another one of my choices but everyone I spoke to just kept referring to it as an expensive hobby.

I wouldnt be so sure of that, the pilgrims had bees far further north and I know a large  beekeeper in NJ.


People have even figured out how to overwinter in Alaska very successfully

I know this is way off topic...  It's good to see your posting again, Ragnar.

Saw your post and checked up on alaska. Apparently house black sidewall exterior paper is the way to go.

Thank you. I don't know that I will much

there are two separate but related issues from what I can see. Cold and moisture, or a combination. Here in the west side of WA I'm very convinced its all moisture that kills bees. Condensation specifically.

I know of one beekeeper that keeps his hives under the carport in winter here and has basically zero hive losses. I'm going to try a couple things this winter and see what my results are. I've read of Alaska beekeepers moving their hives into the garage in winter. Options exist.

I've only had bees three years and basically know zero , but I'm trying. We just harvested 30# and may get that much more before I get them ready for winter. If all goes well I should have 4 productive hives next year. Fingers crossed.

We have a grocery store we get produce from also. When my grow-outs get moved to the tractor at 7 weeks or so they get all they want until harvest (12 weeks generally) Its free but only convenient when my fiancé is in school near the store a few days a week. Its not worth a special trip

How much do the furs go for?

a dollar each if fleshed...in other words , I give them away or compost them

I'm going to try and make shit with them.

Wow, I expected to here 3-4 dollars at least. Screw that... for food maybe and just have the furs as a side benefit.

If you learn how to make shit like ushanka hats and whatnot you can make more money. Coyote hides dont sell for shit either, but coyote fur hats are Woo Woo Woo

someday when I'm bored I'll tan some and we will line knit caps and mittens and such with them for Christmas gifts. But I'll have to be real bored first...

Having helped by wife and daughter raise Rex rabbits for the last 13 years, will chime in with some with some comments.  Experience is based on raising 2-300 hundred per year. Rabbits are raised primarily too sell for people to show so breeding is done only once a year.

Fur - Have you found a market for the fur?  The most common bred used for fur is Rex.  New Zealand rabbits have a course fur; Rex is much more plush and used for clothing items. If you want to raise for fur, you have to keep the rabbit for about 8 to 10 months. Fur doesn't become "prime" or of quality until the animal has molted at least once.  On younger rabbits, the fur is too fine and too thin to be of use in making any kind of clothing article.  There is not much of a raw fur market for rabbit so I would say you either have to have a buyer already lined up (they can tell you what they need in the fur and how to get it) or make something yourself with the fur to sell.

Feed - Hay alone is an incomplete feed source for rabbits.  It can be used to supplement pellets but by itself you are going to experience a high mortality rate and slow growth.  You are going to need to feed either pellets or fodder (sprouted grains seed with about 2 inches of stem/growth).  Locally pellets are about $14 for a 50 lb bag.  Look for a dedicated feed store to see what kind of price you can get.  From a cost standpoint, the slower growth rate and higher mortality from using hay will end up costing you more than if you use commercial rabbit feed.

Eating - Most of what we eat are 'fryers', rabbits about 10 to 12 weeks old weighing about 5 to 6 pounds live weight. These are rabbits that are not good enough quality (fur and body type) to sell for show rabbits. At this age they are easy to dress out.  Once dispatched (we use Colbri 22 to shoot them in the head as it is easier than breaking  their neck, it takes me about 90 seconds to skin (tube the hide by cutting at the back legs and then pulling down to the head resulting in an inverted tube of hide/fur), and then gutting them. Older rabbits take longer as the hide doesn't pull as easily.  Fryers can be sections and cooked like you would chicken, or deboned and used like boneless chicken. Older rabbits we debone and then grind the meat. Use it in place of hamburger or pork for tacos, meatballs, sausage, etc.  

Easy way to get more information on raising rabbits as to feed and care is to attend a local ARBA rabbit show. Go to arba.net to find a local rabbit show.  You can talk to people raising rabbits to learn how they do it as well as seeing the different varieties.  

I'm not so sure about that.  Pilgrim geese are great but my Chinese will tear up any children shorter than they are.  A lot depends on the breed.

My son just got into breeding rabbits so reading for interest, back to the regularly scheduled thread now

Awesome post and thanks. I'll keep in mind about the fur. The fur, truth be told, I was going to use it and try and teach myself to make knickknacks and whatnot. Was going to do the same with Coyote.

Is there a rabbit breed that births random fur colors?