Rabbit meat is great! Granted, I've only had it once. According to what I have been reading, rabbit takes a whole lot less feed (a.k.a money), space and time to produce than most any other type of meat. They are famously prolific reproducers and they are easy to take care of. They're also super cute!
Luckily, I either lack charm or these bunnies don't like to be held, so they aren't too pet-ish. Of our six young rabbits, we will spare one female and mate her with our full-grown buck Stewart. Yesterday morning before picking up all the new kids on the block, Clemmie and I cleaned out the old rabbit cage, added new straw and cleaned the small bunny hutch that our broody hen was living in before she died (R.I.P. broody hen & Tupac). We put Stewart in the smaller hutch and ever since he has seemed kind of peeved, while putting the 6 baby bunnies in his big cage.
What I would like to do is construct one or two more rabbit hutches. We have a wonderful book published in 1974 called Raising Small Livestock that delineates the exact building of a rabbit hutch, feeder, watering device and nest box. I think the fabrication of a new rabbit hutch for Stewart (a bigger one with a grated bottom, rather than solid, so that his dropping might fall through, and grated sides as well to allow for more air circulation and light) would be an excellent use of my hard-earned BA in Art.
lucy!
ReplyDeletewe are raising meat bunnies here in minneapolis. we got two does and one buck (a flemish giant, who is very gigantic). so far we've bred each doe twice. the first two litters were not a success. one of the does only gave birth to a single still born (due to an inexperienced buck?) and the other doe gave birth to a big litter of eight but neglected them.
but we just had a successful litter that is on its way to becoming dinner! six healthy rabbits that are growing big minus one lost on the way. we are still waiting on the second litter of the other doe. that doe was the neglectful mother, but hopefully on the second run she liken more quickly to the role. since she rejected her first litter we have taken a much more hands off approach and tried to bother with them as little as possible until the kits leave the nest.
good luck with your bunnies!
-anna
Anna, Hey! I'm interested in your "hands-off" approach. In what ways were you hands-on with the unsuccessful litter? It seems like the two does/one buck set-up is a nice one. I'm curious about their living situation. Do you have three separate hutches? I'm scheming up a bunny mansion over here. Any advice you can give is very welcome. Hope life's treating you mighty fine.
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