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Location: Raising Rabbits for Food
Discussion: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit
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White76Knight |
Care and Feeding of a Rabbit
Aug 20 2010, 6:02 PM EDT
As rabbits are fairly common game animals, pretty much anywhere, might it not be better to set snares for wild rabbits for meat, letting mother nature do most of the work? That way you wouldn't have to worry about what or how much to feed them, or breeding them or anything. Assuming one does decide to raise there own rabbits, though, it should be noted that the commercially prepared rabbit food will likely not be available after the SHTF, at least not enough to sustain long term breeding. This being the case, what would one feed rabbits if commercial food is unavailable and one had to forage or grow everything the rabbits needed? 3 out of 3 found this valuable. Do you? |
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EastCoaster9000 |
1. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit
Aug 20 2010, 7:22 PM EDT
| Post edited: Aug 20 2010, 7:26 PM EDT
I used to own some rabbits. Its pretty easy. Sometimes we fed them treats, but mostly all they need is grass or hay and water. Their cute, and are silent. Its good meat. I'm also thinking of raising my hamsters as meat. I have no idea if this is a good idea though. 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
timberrattler |
2. Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 20 2010, 8:47 PM EDT
| Post edited: Aug 20 2010, 8:48 PM EDT
Alphafa or Timothy hay would work well. The important thing would be to feed them dry grass and legumes. The white clover that grows in most yards would work well if you left it out in the sun to dry after you cut it.Root vegetables in small amounts would work, grains like corn and oats wouldn't be a bad choice and so would apples especially dried apples. 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
agentaaa |
3. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 21 2010, 1:42 AM EDT
Makes more sense to have a sustainable and continuing source of food, which is reliable, since your snares arent always gonna work, and your native rabbit population might be wiped out by the apocalypse2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
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White76Knight |
4. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 21 2010, 9:04 AM EDT
"Makes more sense to have a sustainable and continuing source of food, which is reliable, since your snares arent always gonna work, and your native rabbit population might be wiped out by the apocalypseLOL. Tell it to the Australians. I don't know about where you live, but where I live rabbits are like cockroaches. I don't think you could "wipe them out" if you tried. Around here, catching rabbits is VERY reliable. Most people who set snares catch two or three every few days. Now that may not seem like many, especially if you have a large group to feed, but remember that this is with only a handful of snares. If you were really using rabbits as a long term food source you'd have at least a couple dozen snares out, maybe more. And I doubt that there is any wild game animal more sustainable. No matter how many you catch, they breed like... well... rabbits. Do you find this valuable? |
HaydenDavis |
5. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 27 2010, 10:36 AM EDT
but you can't eat rabbits as long term meat source, at least not without some other source source of fat for your diet. If you eat rabbit meat without supplementing some source of fat you eventually die of something called rabbit starvation, which is essentially to much protein and not enough carbohydrates.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation 2 out of 3 found this valuable. Do you? |
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HaydenDavis |
6. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 27 2010, 10:38 AM EDT
Besides, guinea pigs have a higher meat-to-feed ratio, and can be caged inside with no problem, don't need to be kept apart, and have enough fat to not protein poison you without being excessively fatty. plus they taste like chicken.
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anninhilator |
7. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 27 2010, 11:30 AM EDT
on the link u gave me there is this:which a human can become a malevolent spirit that consumes human flesh to satiate its hunger. i dont quite understand? Zombie like, or just consuming its own cells like it does everytime you starve 0 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
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HaydenDavis |
8. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 27 2010, 1:28 PM EDT
lol. To my understanding it's more what drove mountain men and and pioneers to indulge in a little cannibalism. Something like their bodies supposed got so starved of essential raw carbohydrates that eating another human being seemed like a good idea. Technically speaking, there could be a logical basis to that; you feed a man enough of something that just makes him hungrier, and eventually, he'll find another "food source" to supplement his diet, or starve to death on principle.
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timberrattler |
9. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 27 2010, 3:50 PM EDT
| Post edited: Aug 27 2010, 3:51 PM EDT
"but you can't eat rabbits as long term meat source, at least not without some other source source of fat for your diet. If you eat rabbit meat without supplementing some source of fat you eventually die of something called rabbit starvation, which is essentially to much protein and not enough carbohydrates.Thats if you have no other food source. As long as you're scavenging canned goods and eating and gathering nuts, fruits, grains, roots and greens you'll be fine. That is only if your only source of food is rabbit. 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
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HaydenDavis |
10. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 29 2010, 3:39 PM EDT
"at least not without some other source source of fat for your diet."I totally addressed that. Though i'm not really sure how much supplemental fat you need in your diet for something like that. 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
Rocketman52 |
11. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 29 2010, 8:42 PM EDT
| Post edited: Aug 29 2010, 9:14 PM EDT
So hold up here, let me get this straight.It is possible to eat rabbit as your source of meat, as long as you have fruits and vegetables and such? Or is it all around impossible to have rabbit as your only meat source? By the way, this page is pretty awesome. Edit: How would I preserve a rabbit without a cooling system? (ie fridge) I doubt I would be able to get salt post Zday either.... If someone is knowledgable (or maby I missed it...) can they add a page and link it for smoking or preserving meat in some other fashion? 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
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timberrattler |
12. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 30 2010, 12:47 AM EDT
"So hold up here, let me get this straight.Les Stroud brought up the fact that if you eat rabbit and only rabbit you will get protein poisioning and he was right. In the survival community people went nuts and rabbits got a bad rap because people spread false information saying that rabbit was a no-no. Rabbits are great because you don't have to preserve them. They're small. Your doe has eight babbies. When they reach about eight weeks butcher one a day and you'll have a lean source of protein every day for over a week. Fill the rest of your diet with wild edibles and/or scavenged canned foods or MREs. Just don't make rabbit your ONLY food source. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
Filadog |
13. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit.
Aug 30 2010, 7:30 AM EDT
Rabbet meat can be canned in glass jars like any other meat. My grandmother used to can lots of rabbet and deer and kept fine down in the basement and was good in stews and pot pies
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Rane_Edwards |
14. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit
Apr 23 2011, 7:27 PM EDT
Not having commercial food is part of my plan, I'll be growing enough veggie for my fam and more for the rabbits allong with their grasses and hays
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Oakspar77777 |
15. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit
Apr 24 2011, 10:25 AM EDT
I raise and eat rabbits. Trapping is only a reliable option in Australia. Trapping is not going to get you enough of N. American Cottontail, Snowshoe hare, or jackrabbit - as they are less gregarious and do not burrow.All raised rabbits are the European rabbit (as are Aussie and NZ rabbits). From spring until fall they can live off of forage (what grows in the yard) so long as the forage is weedy and diverse (lots of broad leaf weeds). A movable pen with solid sides and a secure top (needs to be strong enough that you cannot tear it open, even if you jump on it - as a 120 dog will trying to get in) is ideal. You can drag it around the range every few days. Rabbits can live on grass, but need the broad leaf weeds for calcium for mothering. During the winter, they will do fine on dried hay, and will greatly appreciate planing late and early greens (turnip, collard, lettus, etc). Only breed them when you have high quality and quantity food. During the winter, you can keep the does and bucks together (in GENDER SEPARATED colonies). In spring, the males will fight if they can smell a girl, so I put each male in his bachelor pad (a pen - the males do not get to forage - they don't need the higher quality feed anyways). Once the field is ready, I'll put a girl in with each boy (usually three) for 24-48 hours. Then, she is off to a bunny-tractor. One month gestation, one month with mommy, then the boys are removed. The boys are finished off in their own tractor (can be mixed from different litters) for another month, then get a "pad" if they are going to be breeders, or are ready for slaughter. The girls can spend that time with mom, and will wean off a little later - making for stronger development. Then, mom and the grown girls go into the doe colony to await breeding or are slaughtered. Don't breed your does until they are at least 3 months old. 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
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Oakspar77777 |
16. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit
Apr 24 2011, 10:43 AM EDT
I normally get two litters from my does on a 3 month plan, but I could do three if ran from March to November (I normally go from Mid-April to September). You can force them to breed faster, but your results will not be as good. On forage, a larger, slower growing breed can be desirable, because while the food/meat ratio will not be as good, when the food is basically "free" the slower growth and larger size will make for larger carcasses (less work slaughtering and less of the "that's it" feeling you get when you strip a rabbit). Boiled rabbit guts make a great treat for chickens or dogs. The bones are small and break down quickly, and can be added to the garden where they reduce acidity and add calcium - very good for beds of greens, ironically. I've never had much luck with the pelts, but if you boil the hide and fur it, they dry it into rawhide, your dog will love you forever. Rabbit poop is cold fertilizer, and can be placed around plant fresh - though it will only collect under pens. The foraging rabbit's poop will go to refreshing the forage. It can also be cast, making it the easiest manure to spread over yard or pasture. Cleaning a bunny is EASY. Kill, cut the skin around the neck, cut off the feet, pull the skin from the neck down while holding the head, then sever the head and gut. Some people will take off the head and feet then pull the skin, but I like to have the head to hold on to. It comes right off like a sock. Easiest animal to skin that I have ever worked. I often strip several bunnies at once, throw the meat into salt water to leach, throw the guts into a bucket for the chickens, and throw the feet and fur in a bucket for the garden. Slowcook your rabbit for 2-4 hours and the meat will fall off the bone. From there it can be eaten fresh (good on salads), stored under oil, frozen, or canned (pressure canning needed). 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
Sharkai |
17. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit
Apr 24 2011, 1:49 PM EDT
Rabbits are easy to care for. They eat grass and breed quickly. All you're doing by keeping them is stopping foxes and other such creatures from eating them and stopping them from dying from cold. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
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White76Knight |
18. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit
Apr 26 2011, 2:17 PM EDT
Still more great information Oakspar. Thanks again.
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crittergetter |
19. RE: Care and Feeding of a Rabbit
Jul 19 2011, 2:00 PM EDT
| Post edited: Jul 19 2011, 2:01 PM EDT
We have some wild rabbits here and a sling shot does the job. Plus we have a pump .17cal pellet gun that takes rabbits & sqirrels. The good thing is rabbits are almost as easy as chickens to raise. Live rabbits for barter also. Oakspar thanks, that was informative.
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