Does anyone here raise/breed meat rabbits?

[MorelCabin]

I am kind of looking into it...I'd like to do it in a large pen without cages but I am not sure it this is possible...Not much info out there on cageless breeding. I just want to raise them to eat, since none of us here are hunters and rabbits are a whole lot easier to get to the table than chickens:>)

 

[miss_thenorth]

I'm doing mine in cages, but I plan on building a run for them in the spring. To do that, I will have to bury some wire mesh, since they like to dig, and then fence in an area for them to run around in. I will only let them out one at a time, and for a short supervised time during the day. I have some links that I can post. Mind you I just got my meaties, so I have not bred them yet = no babies yet. I will definitely be posting my experiences, though. I have 2 NewZealand flemish giant crossdoes, and Californian buck and doe. The first ones were free, otherwise I would have done without the flemish giant in them. Giant breeds are known to grow slower and have larger bones, which is undesirable for meat production.

http://www.rudolphsrabbitranch.com/rrrpt1.htm#STARTNUM
http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/rabbits.htm

 

[FarmerChick]

can't help ya
I thought about it but I had 4 pet rabbits over the years and truthfully I am glad they are gone now..LOL...no more bunnies for me ever.

2 lived like 10 years and the second 2 I had lived like 12 years....ugh...when the final one passed I vowed no more..HA HA

just not a fun pet for me or a critter I want to take care of anymore.

My Uncle Rusty had tons of bunnies raised for meat. When little I would visit and play with one, come back like a month later and want to play with the "black and white" one and he would be gone.......they said he was sold to a little girl and had a new home (I was very young)--LOL---but they ate him...HA HA

Rusty had just usual row of cages in the far backyard...used the bunny poop in the garden (great stuff) and didn't do anything fancy. Just would buy some young bunnies, put them in cages til grown and eat them. He didn't breed them. I heard that bunnies are hard to breed, don't know for sure though!

best of luck and google rabbit husbandry and you will hit tons of great sites I am sure.

let us know if you continue and build a hutch and do this.

 

[TanksHill]

Wow, very informative sites. Thank you for sharing.

 

[2dream]

I do raise rabbits for meat. But they are just plain ole rabbits. I want New Zealand Whites but at the time just could not find any. I just started on this (again). I use to raise rabbits years ago and will tell you what little I know.
To my knowledge they will do better in cages, or at least mine do. For breeding always take the female to the male. Leave her for a few hours and take her back to her cage. Repeat this process every day for a few days.
You will hear lots of different things. This is just what works for me. I find that if I leave my female with my male they won't breed, or she won't take care of her babies, or he will kill them. Again, this is just my opinion and what is working.
Try experimenting and see what works best for you. Do your research and use good common sense.
After all, rabbits have been mating for years.

 

[MorelCabin]

Miss the North there was a little bit of info on those pages about communal living...it would just be so much easier that way for the winter anyway...there's no way i'd be able to keep tons of little water bowls filled and thawed during the winter...how do you do it?
I do understand about the cleanliness of the cage thing though...if they are communal through the winter they have to be cleaned up alot more than chickens...frozen poop isn't very easy to shovel up:>) Thanks for the info!

Todream, thanks! I am not sure what I am going to do. I do have access to one buck and three female New Zealands crossed with giants right now...I'm not sure if I am really going to do this right away though...I think I better do some more reading first:>)

 

[2dream]

I was fortunate enough to run across some old wire cages that a friend had out in a field. Some of them were in pretty bad shape but we managed to piece together 4. I also found and old folding table that the table top was rotten but the metal legs were good. So, I had a place to sit 2 of my cages off the ground and DH just built me two saw horses with 2 x 4s running across for the second 2 cages.
I then picked up (for 30 bucks) an old camper shell that we set up over the cages on post. Now I have covered cages. The camper shell is high enough that I can walk under it pretty much. I do have to do a slight head duck or I will smack myself but its all good. Nothing fancy but it works, all I have to do is shovel rabbit poo about once every two weeks or so and haul it to the compost pile. It only takes a few minutes. I use hanging waters like you would use for a guinea pig. That was my major expense. For winter we will nail up a piece of plywood to keep the north wind off the cages and hang a milk house heater under the camper shell. They should stay warm enough and also keep the water from freezing.

Edited to add. Of course my winter is no where near as cold as yours and it definately does not last as long.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Miss the North there was a little bit of info on those pages about communal living...it would just be so much easier that way for the winter anyway...there's no way i'd be able to keep tons of little water bowls filled and thawed during the winter...how do you do it?
I do understand about the cleanliness of the cage thing though...if they are communal through the winter they have to be cleaned up alot more than chickens...frozen poop isn't very easy to shovel up:>) Thanks for the info!

>)

You could do a gravity fed waterer... I'm not sure of the details but the lady I got my white rabbits from has gravity fed waterers. She does about 50 rabbits--(she sells for markets) I think she got it hooked up for around $50. Last year she did the switching out of bottles. For her operation it makes sense. I know there are ppl up north who raise rabbits--not sure what they would do for water though...

The best thing I can reccommend is find someone in your area who raises rabbits and talk to them to see how they do the water. I just quickly looked on kijiji for the NorthBay area and found an ad for 4 meat rabbits for sale. although I would not reccommend them to buy (who know how old they are etc) you might want to talk to them to find out how they do the water thing in the winter.

 

[Beekissed]

We used to raise meat rabbits for 4-H. We had the bottle waterers, then graduated to gravity fed waterers and wrapped the lines in heat tape for the winter. If you are serious about raising for meat, separate cages are more efficient. I had my cages suspended from the ceiling in one of my buildings, with chickens under them, at one time. This works out real well when using the deep litter method. You have a big enough coop you could do this in your coop. If you use the water bottles, you can keep some in the house and switch out each day, or even a couple of times a day, depending on the weather.

Bigger return on your feed to meat ratio than chickens and very relaxing to sit out in the coop in the evenings and listen to the rabbits nibble on hay. We constructed little hay racks from chicken wire in each cage so the hay wouldn't get dirty or trampled. The rabbits and the chickens together keep each other warmer, the chickens clean up any spilled feed, work the rabbit poop into the litter and the final mix is not as hot as just chicken poo....its a good setup. If your cages are constructed correctly, there should be no cleanup at all in the cages, as it all drops through the wire.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Hey Morel--check out this site on colony raising rabbits. I haven't read tho whole thing through yet, but it looks informative.

http://www.blackmesaranchonline.com/animals/rabbits.htm