Anyone here harvesting their own rabbits?

[Odsox]

I was thinking to start with 3 cages on legs - about 12inches off the ground - with solid doors that can be closed at night - chicken mesh during the day with a 'sleep' compartment in each.

If height is not a problem Julie and you're thinking of having solid floors in the hutches, I think I would be inclined have them on 2' 6" or 3' 0" legs .. then you can get a wheelbarrow under to make cleaning out easier.
Also means you don't have to bend down to tend to them.
Been there, done that.

[theabsinthefairy]

Hi

I keep rabbits for fur and meat, and have found them to be very easy to keep, and have tanned the furs myself without any problems - I keep them to make slipper and glove liners for the cold winters - as well as the odd bit here and there for the cats to toy with.

I keep my rabbits in hutches, and then rotate them in the outside green runs - so they are securely locked in at night - we have a couple of particularly tame ones that roam around with the chickens and come home at bed time quite happily.

I breed from a male that I source independently each year - this year I have been given a male totally unrelated, but usually I trade for one from various other rabbit keepers here locally (most farmers have at least 3 or 4 for meat) and I have also 'borrowed' a stud male.

Here in the supermarkets you can buy battery acid (sulphuric acid) and I have used this in the tanning process instead of alum, and done the 7 day process, with great success.

The rabbits here are just big brown ones - no idea what breed - and I have regularly used a papillon male to breed with them -the black and white type of pet rabbit. This has given us large rabbits with lots of meat and lovely pattered furs. The meat has a unique flavour but is very juicy not at all fatty and not tasteless like bought rabbit.

Ask away if you want to know anything else.

Monika

[JulieSherris]

Lots of fantastic tips here guys - Thank you all.....

Monika, I daresay I'll be bugging you in due course - I've lots of questions anyway, but as I haven't got the rabbits yet, I'll keep questions until I'm ready for the answers!!

I'm quite looking forward to it all - it's just getting the work done that's the hardest part... best I get dressed (at 10.30am ) and get my wobbly behind out in the garden to get cracking!!

[theabsinthefairy]

please feel free to ask away whenever you want some more info.

[red]

We got a pair of rabbits just before christmas - still awaiting our first live litter, sadly the first lot were miscarried during a particularly noisy fiesta in the nearest village (fireworks like armageddon). I reckon if she's pregnant they are due any time now. I doubt that with our other arrival (!) due so soon that I will get around to using the furs this time but it is definitely on the list of things to do - thinking about hot water bottle covers (and hoping that we won't get firebombed by PETA).

looks like you will have your hands full in the next couple of week Clara - but you could put the furs in the freezer until you had more time, couldn't you?

[JulieSherris]

Hang on a minute... Clara's baby bunnies haven't even been born yet & Red's popping their skins in the freezer, already......

The Penguin book says that the rabbits will ready for the table from 4 months - although if you want the skins as well, it's best to let them live a while longer than that.... so, Clara has time to get organised before balancing a new born on one knee & a stretching board on the other

[Sky]

Sounds like a great idea, rearing your own rabbits to eat and after reading all this I think I'm gonna have a go.
I can get loads of ex battery hen cages and am wondering if they would be any good for rearing rabbits in for meat and fur.
I like the idea of rearing my own rabbits for the pot as I can make sure they're disease free, wormed and also know what they've eaten.

[Sky]

We shoot lots of wild rabbits on our land but mostly they get fed to the animals as who knows what they might have come into contact with .... we have cooked hare we've shot but honestly I wasn't that impressed, although they're massive creatures with tons of meat on them.

[JulieSherris]

Hi Sky,

My hubby used to catch wild rabbits - now, apparently, wild rabbit versus home bred rabbit is similar to dark chicken meat to white chicken meat.... and whilst I have yet to prove that, I'll believe what I've been told.

Someone else has also told me that most chicken recipes can be easily substituted using rabbit & that there wouldn't be too much difference. Well, I've eaten kangaroo, ostrich, alligator, shark, so I'm not worried in the slightest whether or not I will like it - I'm a meat eater, so I reckon it'll be fine! If we can eventually get to the point where we have 1 chicken & 1 rabbit for the pot each week, that will be us pretty much sorted - add to the mix a couple of sheep or pigs & a large freezer & my shop visits will be cut to monthly visits for the barest of necessities - how nice, how Ish!!

Now, Hare. Andy says that really you have to hang a hare before cooking it - it's a game animal & therefore the flavour will be stronger again. He likes rabbit, but doesn't really like hare, so again, home bred rabbit should be better still.

And on that note, I'm going to drink my coffee, get dressed & drag him off to the wood yard - just to have a look, you understand... haha!

[Clara]

Hang on a minute... Clara's baby bunnies haven't even been born yet & Red's popping their skins in the freezer, already......

The Penguin book says that the rabbits will ready for the table from 4 months - although if you want the skins as well, it's best to let them live a while longer than that.... so, Clara has time to get organised before balancing a new born on one knee & a stretching board on the other

Ah yes well there could well be time in that case, we only run a freezer in the summer so we'll have to see - good idea though

[moocher]

most of the big breeds take to long to get a decent weight /mature compared to the amount of feed you give them.
you have to think of the rex/californian/new zealand /english types even the dutch was used for meat.
i bought an unrelated pair of french lops as their pretty to look at,as the surplus was going to be sold as pets but the doe never took last summer and shes a year old now,and i read that after a year a virgin doe shouldnt give birth due to pelvis problems the buck was tried on a neighbours rabbit but the 4 young were stillborn.
i have a friend whos father in law breeds a californian/newzealand /german giant hybrid and he had to cull a load recently due to over population apperently he has a freezer full.

[Odsox]

Just thought I'd mention, because of this thread I cooked Lapin à la moutarde à l'ancienne tonight, and jolly nice it was too.
Thanks Julie, if you hadn't started this off I wouldn't have thought of it.

[JulieSherris]

After a quick google, I have faved the recipe for that Tony - sounds lovely!!

Am glad to have been of service to ye!

I'm just glad that Andy has a bit more time at the moment for the garden projects - all is starting to come together now - he has 5 days off this weekend, we should be a lot further on this time next week, yay!!

[pumpy]

I can guarantee, that the flavour of a wild rabbit is far superior to a farmed one. However,like most things nowadays, the farmed bunnies in the butchers mostly come from China. (yep, it's true). I would imagine that a 'home-farmed' Watership-Down cast-member, would taste much more like the real thing. P.S. if anyone would like tips on skinning, pelt curing,etc. feel free to send a p.m. Cheers, Andrew.

[Odsox]

Last nights meal was actually a "test".
Mrs Odsox doesn't like strong gamey tasting meat although she's a lot better than she used to be, but she still won't eat beef.
We have been talking off and on for a while now about keeping rabbits again and coincidently there were rabbits for sale in one of our local butchers shops last weekend, wild ones NOT farmed. I used to love rabbit in mustard sauce when I lived in France and so I thought that might mask any gaminess of the wild variety.
Well, the outcome of the test was that she liked it, much to her amazement, and of course as we all know farmed rabbit is much milder and would be even more acceptable. So I won't be too long behind you Julie, but I do have to rebuild my big greenhouse first as the now renamed "rabbit shed" is the other side of a common wall and needs to be cleared as well. I do still have several weld mesh panels from the last time I kept rabbits that I will have to find, and I have a supply of surplus timber, so by early autumn I should be looking for a breeding trio. I like your idea of different varieties Julie and I think I might go for a Californian buck and New Zealand does if I can find them. Another thing I must also do is check what they eat and make sure I have seed to grow most of their food, the last time I kept rabbits they were pampered Angoras and apart from an occasional carrot they turned up their fluffy noses at anything other than pellets.
Keep us in the loop as to how you get on sourcing your bunnies Julie