Anyone raise rabbits?

It's winter so I have time for more hobbies I don't need, thinking about getting a few rabbits and building their hutches out by the garden.

Anyone have some good outdoor hutch designs? I was thinking about getting a buck and 3 does. I have plenty of grass hay and alfalfa, hoping to avoid the pellets due to expense. I used to raise them as a kid but never did make anything as far as profit went.

I tried, but my state wouldn't let me legally do our wild rabbits. I refuse to do non-native, nothing against anybody that does, but just not my style. I'll be following along if you do get everything up and going, hope it works out for you.

Following this...love rabbit meat.

I've had three rabbits around here since early last summer til now. They came from somewhere down the road I'm sure, but are feral, and took up living here. Diva was pretty wild until I began feeding her. ( Yes I named her ) She had babies , two of which are nearly grown now. I feed all three and can pet them when they run to me for treats.

I love rabbit meat, and figure, if I let these alone, I'll get more and have fresh meat on the paw at any time I need .

I don't cage them, they are basically wild and savvy to sounds of warning and predators, though I'll shoot anything that would chase them on the estate anyway. They are still quite wild , but with me, are tame as can be.

I don't know about rabbits and behaviour at all, other than I'm glad I have this source when I want it.

I guess I'm complete in the movie saying..." Then I shall live in Montana. And drive a pick up truck. And raise rabbits...." Hunt for Red October

Anything I can learn from Donner's thread here is appreciated . Thanks, DonnerS. !

When I was a kid we turned extra rabbits loose in the yard and they populated and we would have rabbit hunts. It was on one of these "hunts" that I shot a man... my father straight through the foot with a .22 lr...

Anyways, the predator that was the largest problem was owls. Dogs kept everything else away but once an owl moved in he would wipe out all the yard rabbits in a hurry

Sorry about the accident . And that is what it was, an accident. Looking on the brighter side, it could have been lots worse.

I need to look out for owls, then. I do have a wee Pygmy owl who visits a lot, chasing Juncos at my bird feeder. He is so small, he can never carry off one of my rabbits, but nonetheless, I have noticed, they watch him in keen wary interest when he's here.

They seem to hole up in the evenings, in my woodshed, so I'm hoping, unless an owl is hunting them in daylight, they will be safe enough.

Thank you for this insight.

Perhaps a recreational vehicle..........

Yes Sir. I think my truck doubles as the same ...

There used to be a retired guy over the border in N Idaho , who raised meat rabbits. I made the trip once in a while to buy several pounds of meat that he butchered to perfection and sold.

I miss having an outlet to support like that . Meantime, if these semi wild rabbits found their way to my doorstep, can't be anything but appreciative. I just need to learn to skin them. I've heard it is easy . Since I can skin deer and elk, I suppose I can learn to prepare rabbits correctly.

If you are breeding year round (say tame rabbits like New Zealand Whites or other meat breeds) you need to make sure the cages you have outside will keep the babies warm. If the does don't stay with them long enough they will die pretty quickly. If you are only doing warm season breeding then not a big issue. Also if you do breed for winter litters you may want to add some high energy and protein pellets for the doe as cold and lactation take a lot of energy and protein. I had New Zealands for about 5 years and bred year round. I had them in cages in my garage from mid-November until April. Survival was good. I always fed pellets and not much hay or forage.

Bryce

This is the one I made last summer, holds three
I staple cardboard strips on some clear plastic to winterize the hutch, heated water bottles

What about chickens, cattle, hogs, dogs, cats, goats, sheep,..?

Keith

Bet he's got a pen full of whitetails in the back yard.

Seriously, what's wrong with domestic rabbit. It is a domestic and raised in hutches like chickens are domestics raised in coops.

If you're talking free range then you got a point but otherwise I just don't see it.

I'll try to get a couple of pictures of mine and get them uploaded tomorrow.

A few years back a fella could make a dollar raising rabbits for meat. Sadly the price for them now is the same as it was back in the 90's. Where as the price of feed has sky rocketed, both pellets and alfalfa.

I raised them in the 90's. New zealand whites was all I had and all I wanted. Like the OP I started small and grew as I could. Selling enough to pay for the feed and keeping the others for breeding stock. Sadly about the time I started seeing any profit my main buyer had a heart attack and died. I could of went on but decided not to. Just 5-6 yrs ago I got interested again and began doing the math. Unless you have 1000's of breeding does I don't believe you can make much anymore. Even at the high prices in the stores, the pay for "hoppers" just isn't there IMO.

I haven't looked real recently, but I doubt much has changed.

Most of the profitable money in rabbits is in selling to the 4H market.

You can buy huge numbers of rabbits at below the cost of producing them. Last year I bought and sold a little over 29,000 pounds of rabbit. This year I've bought less than 3000 pound.

Keith

Anyone ever tractor rabbits like chickens ?

We did when we were kids, it was a pain, they can really dig.

Tried it once, rabbits can't handle wet ground like chickens. Much easier to keep them off the ground. Might could keep them completely undercover in a pen.

Domestics are descended from the european wild rabbit which is a colonial species living in warrens aka burrows, much like our prairie dogs.

Hmmmm well I've been thinking about making like a chicken tractor but having the bottom be mesh like in a hutch but only say 2-3" off the ground. Think that should let them graze on the grass that sticks tough and their pellets drops out, also, Mobile lol

Ours didn't seem to do well on it. When we had mesh bottoms it would knock the grass down and they wouldn't eat through the mesh well.

You can buy hay for around $150 a ton, way easier to toss a handful in vs moving them around.

Interesting. Mainly would like o be able to move them Incase if really bad weather or I just don't want them somewhere edit whatever reason. Thanks for the info !

When we raised rabbits the best two markets were breeding stock and dog food. The dog food market paid as much as the meat market and all you had to do was skin and gut they did want the organs though.

I raise Tennessee Redbacks. Closest thing to a wild cottontail. I use them for my falconry, and for meat rabbits. They do well here in Colorado. I'd advise keeping at least two bucks, two does. Rabbits will die on ya for seemingly no reason, and if you don't have a backup, you're kinda screwed for a while.

Had some way back in hutches, I seriously considered just letting them run the property to do their thing and eat free grass... never tried it though...

We raised rabbits on the farm for food and to sell. As a side note our neighbor had wild rabbits in the corner of his heifer barn and was able to get them to breed in captivity.

I love kicking cottontails out of the brush and shooting them.
For some reason I would have a problem raising other breeds and butchering them for food.
Getting soft in my old age.

Zim

I used to winter three does.
Borrowed a buck form neighbor as needed.
That way we were not both feeding an animal we could share.
I would gift bunnies back at butcher time.

Three does kept me in rabbit meat as needed.
I did tractor during the day .
But returned to the hutches every night.
Bottom of the tractor was open on the ground.
After a couple of days of moving it 3-4 times a day.
The bunnies learned to keep away from the dragging edge as I moved it.
Otherwise free food and happy bunnies everyday.

had a good many rabbits but got out of em

Here's some of my rabbits. A Flemish Giant buck born April 7th, that is a true giant and a Florida White doe and buck. I have some Californians too.







Keith

What beauties, Kieth…the top one looks like a Jack rabbit !

Thanks Sharon. The Florida Whites are from a relatively local woman who often wins the state and sometimes the national.

Keith

At one point has 100-200.
Silver Fox, Silver Martin, Calies and NZs.

Kids raised them for show and sale, and I raised them for meat.
Sold quite a few to snake people too, worked out nice, didn't need to skin or gut, lol.

These days, have a handful of NZs just for occasional meal