We raise a lot of rabbits (just look at our name) and recommend a little different setup than most for self reliance and sustainability. For that, we recommend 2 unrelated bucks (in case something happens to one and also to keep offspring diverse for breeding stock replacement) and 3 or more unrelated does (minimum 3). You might produce a little more than you eat, but you can find people to barter with you for rabbit meat, buy rabbits, etc. This will allow you to produce rabbit meat for the rest of your life without ever having to purchase another rabbit. Or you can start small, but run the risk of something happening and losing your buck or one of your stock and having to find new stock. And with 1 buck, you'll run into inbreeding issues eventually as you replace your stock. Then you'll need 2 extra cages for "grow out" cages where the young grow to butchering age/size while your does have new litters.
For the optimal breeding program, you'll breed your rabbits (when they're about 5 months old) and 2 weeks later you'll palpate to make sure they're pregnant (takes practice). If not, rebreed and save a couple lost weeks. Then at 4 weeks you put your nest box in the cage. Around day 31 they have their litter. If you get a good quality meat rabbit like New Zealand White, American Blue, Californian, Palomino, etc, then you should have an average of 8 to 10 bunnies per litter. Two weeks after they kindle, you rebreed your doe. Two weeks after that you start to wean the kits over a 1 weeks span (between 4 to 5 weeks old) starting with the biggest and then at the end finish weaning with the smallest. This gives a jump start for the smaller bunnies of the litter to get extra nutrients and also helps dry up the doe's milk to prevent any problems for her. The doe then has 1 week alone and then kindles her next litter. With this system, you can get 8 litters a year, or an average of 64 to 80 bunnies from each doe per year (optimally). There have been some great studies with this exact breeding program and results have shown the rabbits are healthier with this breeding program than breeding 3 or 4 times a year.
At 8 to 10 weeks of age, you butcher your rabbits. They will fill up a person faster than the same amount of chicken. They are extremely healthy. They are great bottled as well. Cook the same way you'd cook chicken.
To see what I've done with my rabbitry, feel free to visit my site at: AZRabbits.com
Good luck!
AZ Rabbits
Eventually you'll want to get more, and probably eat it more than once a week even. A trio will produce enogh for once a week, but you can have more bucks and does to cycle to keep from inbreeding your replacement stock. I currently keep several bucks and does as well.
